Misadventure Racing: Open5 Todmorden
End of the Open5 series for this winter and we were headed to the steep sides of Calderdale, the land of dark satanic mills, packhorse trails all over the place, and the kookiness that is Hebden Bridge. As usual, I opted to stay fairly near the venue because I know I hate early starts, so first order of the night was to find my accommodation up at the Mankinholes YHA. Easier said than done, because even in a little Skoda Fabia with a fairly decent turning circle, there was at least one junction that required a 3-point turn to get round! No pre-race paddling this time either, but at least that gave me a Saturday free to do semi-domesticated things like servicing my bike, bleeding my brakes and getting some kit washed, so at least I had some clean stuff to race in and brakes that worked properly this time out.
Dinner was a nice Korean salmon stir fry, and after some dark chocolate and a beer or two I retired to bed early. I'd booked a private 2-bed room since there was a chance a friend was going to race with me, but he realised he'd double-booked, so I got a nice quiet room to myself for the night! Morning came quickly, as it does, and after a quick breakfast and the short drive down to Todmorden High School I was ready, if not raring to go. A misty start to the morning had started to burn off by about 9:15, so about 9:20 I punched out and set off.
Bike - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1421405855
I made a few nav cock-ups on the bike, wasting a bit of time that could have helped me get a few more points on the run. Two - one on a bridleway bridge and one on a bench at a reservoir inlet - were a case of starting to look for the CP too early, and either not reading the map properly or just convincing myself I was in the right place when I wasn't. The others were just poor route choice given the terrain, taking a more direct line when a longer but better surfaced alternative would probably have been quicker. I cursed myself for one of those at the end of the bike leg, should have just used the more rideable farm lane and road grind rather than what turned out to be a humorously crap narrow muddy bridleway that I ended up pushing most of.
I'm pretty sure the way I climbed up onto the moor - up the main road to Cornholme then up past Shore - was a decent, efficient (if steep and sweary) way up onto the tops. I'm not sure whether the first 'inner' loop I did was genius or stupid, but it tagged off 3 CPs that would have been a bit more faffy to get at the end of the main 'outer' loop, although in hindsight I can see a way that could have worked. The first section of the Pennine Bridleway was one of the aforementioned nav cock-ups, and about 10 minutes of dithering. The next was another 10 minutes of dithering at the head of Cant Clough, though I think heading back down the reservoir and using the Pennine Bridleway again saved some time spent pushing and swearing if I'd used the permissive path up Rams Clough. The two dog-legs at the north end of the map both picked up low scoring, with the first one on Swinden Water requiring a lot of effort. Meeting Jeff, Eddie and Ben headed the other way there was a definite suggestion of "Ah, we're not the only ones who got suckered into this one..." Not sure it was worth the push back up the zig-zagging trail, but there you go. The descent to Widdop reservoir confirmed I was right to have ridden the Element, though, and I was very glad of a bit of rear suspension in places!
The run home was the site of the humorously crap push, and I do think I could have saved another 5-10 mins if I'd just exited onto tarmac, though that might have been debatable in the sense of the rules - farm track marked as footpath rather than bridleway, I think. Even without that, a daft choice and a lack of attention around some houses meant a detour I could have avoided, though at least it was onto a decent surface. The final CP was a 40 pointer and then it was a long, steep dive down back to the valley bottom, a minor-and-swiftly-corrected wrong turn at the roundabout in town, a final hammer down the road and into transition.
Run - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1421435849
There's not a lot I can say about the run. It was simply a token trot to the nearest (and easiest to find) CP to make sure my score counted. I'd got into transition with something like 28mins to go, so it was just a quick change of shoes and out. I contemplated going for one more - another very close one - but decided it just wasn't worth it going for a handful of points that I would then almost certainly lose in being a few minutes over time. Up the road, punch the CP, back down the road, finish. And with that, the series was over for me. Sound the fanfare, and let the fat bloke sing. What do you mean, 'he's lying down by his transition kit going "ouch"'? Typical. He'll want a beer next, I suppose?...
As far as analysis of the season in general goes, I think the series comes under the category of 'learning experiences', however I can definitely say I'm glad I've got off my backside and got out. The winter's an awful time for motivation for me, and while I can't say I've ever got to the intended point of getting much 'training' in between races, I have got out for other rides (though not really runs) and feel like I've pushed myself a bit more, physically and mentally. It's a difficult thing to quantify, since the seasonal motivation has changed as the weather has (marginally) improved, but the last race of the season definitely felt easier, mentally, than the first and second.
Over the series, I've done 20 miles of running and 105 miles of biking over 24hrs 23mins total race time, taking in 4056m (13307ft) of total ascent (and, presumably, the same in total descent, otherwise either my maths has gone wrong or I'm hovering...). I've managed to avoid running over the allotted 5hrs each time, so have not taken any penalty points. I've made a good few silly mistakes, but I've also been to a few fantastic locations that I probably wouldn't have got to otherwise. Slaidburn had my longest run at 6.4 miles. The end of the season at Todmorden was my longest bike at 31.2 miles. I've ended up 29th out of 125 who've raced Male Solo over the season, 28th of 32 who've raced three or more for a full series ranking.
As a series, all the events I've been to have been fantastically good, so big thanks to James T as the series organiser and to all the various event planners and volunteers for making them worth getting out of bed on a Sunday for. My favourite of the season, and my best result, was out in the snow at Blanchland, where I managed a really good bike and a decent-but-short run despite a knackered calf. My worst, quite easily, was the first race at Muker, where I forgot a watch, ran for too long, made a bunch of nav errors, and had horrible mechanical problems on the bike. Oh, and the weather was crap too.
There are definitely things I can still improve on, aside from the obvious two of 'get fitter and eat less pies' and 'make less nav mistakes'. I've got better - and perhaps a bit more ambitious - at planning my race routes, but I still don't plan by score. With the score sheet give-out at the start, I tend to pause only to cross out the dummies and then head out to ride/run, so there can be a bit of awkward pausing to try and read a score sheet while riding, and I've often put a lot of effort into getting a CP only to realise it's a really low scorer. That's a tactical element that I could work on, maybe taking an extra minute to scribble the scores onto the map would help. Playing to my strength and biking first has helped for the last couple of events, though a bit extra fitness and speed on foot would have helped for those last gasp token run CP dashes.
Eating and drinking is another thing I had problems with at intervals. I'm not usually short of a desire to eat, but especially on this last race, I've been lax at keeping myself fed and watered. I've only carried one bottle, which isn't really enough, so need to grab a hydration bladder for my Macpac race pack to make drinking more convenient!
Overall, it's been a great series to race in and a decent enough season for me as a racer. In a way, I'm just glad to be back doing some racing for myself, instead of just taking pictures of other people doing it. It's gone more-or-less the way I'd expected, nothing spectacular, no heroic performances, no fireworks. It's been hard, frustrating and marginally painful at times, but mainly it's been fun, and that's what I wanted out of it.
Cheers all, 'til whatever misadventure happens next!
Pyro
Dinner was a nice Korean salmon stir fry, and after some dark chocolate and a beer or two I retired to bed early. I'd booked a private 2-bed room since there was a chance a friend was going to race with me, but he realised he'd double-booked, so I got a nice quiet room to myself for the night! Morning came quickly, as it does, and after a quick breakfast and the short drive down to Todmorden High School I was ready, if not raring to go. A misty start to the morning had started to burn off by about 9:15, so about 9:20 I punched out and set off.
Bike - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1421405855
I made a few nav cock-ups on the bike, wasting a bit of time that could have helped me get a few more points on the run. Two - one on a bridleway bridge and one on a bench at a reservoir inlet - were a case of starting to look for the CP too early, and either not reading the map properly or just convincing myself I was in the right place when I wasn't. The others were just poor route choice given the terrain, taking a more direct line when a longer but better surfaced alternative would probably have been quicker. I cursed myself for one of those at the end of the bike leg, should have just used the more rideable farm lane and road grind rather than what turned out to be a humorously crap narrow muddy bridleway that I ended up pushing most of.
I'm pretty sure the way I climbed up onto the moor - up the main road to Cornholme then up past Shore - was a decent, efficient (if steep and sweary) way up onto the tops. I'm not sure whether the first 'inner' loop I did was genius or stupid, but it tagged off 3 CPs that would have been a bit more faffy to get at the end of the main 'outer' loop, although in hindsight I can see a way that could have worked. The first section of the Pennine Bridleway was one of the aforementioned nav cock-ups, and about 10 minutes of dithering. The next was another 10 minutes of dithering at the head of Cant Clough, though I think heading back down the reservoir and using the Pennine Bridleway again saved some time spent pushing and swearing if I'd used the permissive path up Rams Clough. The two dog-legs at the north end of the map both picked up low scoring, with the first one on Swinden Water requiring a lot of effort. Meeting Jeff, Eddie and Ben headed the other way there was a definite suggestion of "Ah, we're not the only ones who got suckered into this one..." Not sure it was worth the push back up the zig-zagging trail, but there you go. The descent to Widdop reservoir confirmed I was right to have ridden the Element, though, and I was very glad of a bit of rear suspension in places!
The run home was the site of the humorously crap push, and I do think I could have saved another 5-10 mins if I'd just exited onto tarmac, though that might have been debatable in the sense of the rules - farm track marked as footpath rather than bridleway, I think. Even without that, a daft choice and a lack of attention around some houses meant a detour I could have avoided, though at least it was onto a decent surface. The final CP was a 40 pointer and then it was a long, steep dive down back to the valley bottom, a minor-and-swiftly-corrected wrong turn at the roundabout in town, a final hammer down the road and into transition.
Run - http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1421435849
There's not a lot I can say about the run. It was simply a token trot to the nearest (and easiest to find) CP to make sure my score counted. I'd got into transition with something like 28mins to go, so it was just a quick change of shoes and out. I contemplated going for one more - another very close one - but decided it just wasn't worth it going for a handful of points that I would then almost certainly lose in being a few minutes over time. Up the road, punch the CP, back down the road, finish. And with that, the series was over for me. Sound the fanfare, and let the fat bloke sing. What do you mean, 'he's lying down by his transition kit going "ouch"'? Typical. He'll want a beer next, I suppose?...
 |
| Punched in and done. Pic: James Kirby |
As far as analysis of the season in general goes, I think the series comes under the category of 'learning experiences', however I can definitely say I'm glad I've got off my backside and got out. The winter's an awful time for motivation for me, and while I can't say I've ever got to the intended point of getting much 'training' in between races, I have got out for other rides (though not really runs) and feel like I've pushed myself a bit more, physically and mentally. It's a difficult thing to quantify, since the seasonal motivation has changed as the weather has (marginally) improved, but the last race of the season definitely felt easier, mentally, than the first and second.
Over the series, I've done 20 miles of running and 105 miles of biking over 24hrs 23mins total race time, taking in 4056m (13307ft) of total ascent (and, presumably, the same in total descent, otherwise either my maths has gone wrong or I'm hovering...). I've managed to avoid running over the allotted 5hrs each time, so have not taken any penalty points. I've made a good few silly mistakes, but I've also been to a few fantastic locations that I probably wouldn't have got to otherwise. Slaidburn had my longest run at 6.4 miles. The end of the season at Todmorden was my longest bike at 31.2 miles. I've ended up 29th out of 125 who've raced Male Solo over the season, 28th of 32 who've raced three or more for a full series ranking.
As a series, all the events I've been to have been fantastically good, so big thanks to James T as the series organiser and to all the various event planners and volunteers for making them worth getting out of bed on a Sunday for. My favourite of the season, and my best result, was out in the snow at Blanchland, where I managed a really good bike and a decent-but-short run despite a knackered calf. My worst, quite easily, was the first race at Muker, where I forgot a watch, ran for too long, made a bunch of nav errors, and had horrible mechanical problems on the bike. Oh, and the weather was crap too.
There are definitely things I can still improve on, aside from the obvious two of 'get fitter and eat less pies' and 'make less nav mistakes'. I've got better - and perhaps a bit more ambitious - at planning my race routes, but I still don't plan by score. With the score sheet give-out at the start, I tend to pause only to cross out the dummies and then head out to ride/run, so there can be a bit of awkward pausing to try and read a score sheet while riding, and I've often put a lot of effort into getting a CP only to realise it's a really low scorer. That's a tactical element that I could work on, maybe taking an extra minute to scribble the scores onto the map would help. Playing to my strength and biking first has helped for the last couple of events, though a bit extra fitness and speed on foot would have helped for those last gasp token run CP dashes.
Eating and drinking is another thing I had problems with at intervals. I'm not usually short of a desire to eat, but especially on this last race, I've been lax at keeping myself fed and watered. I've only carried one bottle, which isn't really enough, so need to grab a hydration bladder for my Macpac race pack to make drinking more convenient!
Overall, it's been a great series to race in and a decent enough season for me as a racer. In a way, I'm just glad to be back doing some racing for myself, instead of just taking pictures of other people doing it. It's gone more-or-less the way I'd expected, nothing spectacular, no heroic performances, no fireworks. It's been hard, frustrating and marginally painful at times, but mainly it's been fun, and that's what I wanted out of it.
Cheers all, 'til whatever misadventure happens next!
Pyro
 |
| Back the other side of a camera. Pic: James Kirby |
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