Updated 8 June 2004
The Merida 100 MTB Marathon, Rhayader,
30/5/04
Formerly known as the Kona 100 and before that, the
Schwinn 100, what used to be a once-a-year event is now a 5-event series, 3
rounds in Wales, one in Scotland and one in Austria (!) to tie in with the World
MTB Marathon Championships.
The first round of the 2004 series returned to the scenic
town of Rhayader, tucked away in the mid-Wales hills. Andrew King had planned on
doing it too but problems with his bike (like a cracked frame…) put paid to
that. The only other De Laune member there was Cliff. The weather on Saturday
was superb; I was hoping for more of the same on Sunday but was woken up at 4am
by the rain drumming on my tent. However, by the start of the ride at 10am the
clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining once again. I got a fairly slow
start (not wanting to go racing off and then die a death later) so I was tucked
in to the top 50 or so out of the bunch of almost 1000 mountain bikers as we
followed the lead car up the first 10km of tarmac towards the off-road. That was
the last I saw of Cliff as he vanished into the throng behind me.
The road climbed, gently at first, then more steeply,
spreading out the mass of riders as we approached the forest. Fireroad climbs
and some superb technical descents on narrow singletrack seemed to be the order
of the day here and the rain the previous night had served to dampen down the
dust nicely. I was ticking along at a reasonable pace; I wasn’t particularly
trying to beat my time from last year. The course had some of the same bits as
in the previous year but in different orders and, in a couple of cases, we rode
the tracks in the opposite direction too. On one section of fireroad along a
ridgeline, there was a sign pointing off to the left saying “Danger, extremely
steep descent, expert riders only. Easy route round (1km further), straight on.”
Talk about red rag to a bull. I was straight off down the technical route, very
tight switchbacks through the tightly-packed pine trees, off-camber roots but
all amazingly dry…the thick pine forest had stopped the track getting wet. I
cleared the descent without even putting a foot down which kept a smile on my
face for another few km.
Out of the forest after 50km and there was a 20km loop to
be done twice to make up the full distance. By this time my back was really
beginning to hurt, a combination of a recently pulled muscle and the fact that
I’d been doing a lot of crit racing recently. Halfway round the 20km loop for
the first time and several things happened all at once…the course was
unbelievably dull and boring with a lot of fireroad climbing, it began to rain
and my back had gone from being ‘uncomfortable’ to ‘bloody painful’. The rain,
although light and short-lived, was just enough to coat the fireroad with a
layer of liquid mud, which then sprayed up all over me and the bike. I got to
the end of the loop, rode past the feed station and turned right, back down
towards Rhayader, instead of left to do the loop again.
Twenty minutes later I was back at the campsite and my
name was put down for the 75km loop rather than the full 100km. A lot of other
riders were already home, some of the fast boys had completed the 100km in the
time it had taken me to do 75, most of the rest were fun riders on the short
50km option. I still had a great time and I’m actually quite glad I hadn’t done
the full distance as it would have turned an enjoyable event into something
approaching purgatory. My back was still slightly stiff two days later. I came
over the line in 4.18.40 to put me in 5th place in the Open category (out of the
200 or so who had done the 75km option).
Cliff meanwhile had hung on in there and done the full
100km, coming into the finish in 5.59.43 (beautifully timed there Cliff!) and
placing 138th overall and 65th in the Masters category.
