BUSA Mountain Bike Champs - Dunkeld, Scotland - 24th-25th March 2007

The location of the BUSA champs was up in the air for quite a long time, and when they finally announced they had chosen Dunkeld, Scotland as a venue, I pulled out the map and gawked at the location.  Now, being from Canada I will admit that I’m quite accustomed to long road trips, but by UK standards Dunkeld seemed pretty far up there.  Not wanting to make the journey completely on my own, I recruited mountain bike newbie extraordinaire Amber Tomas to complete the Oxford women’s team, promising her the use of my “spare” mountain bike in exchange for her services.  She, along with my usual driver/pit bitch Mike, combined to make the mighty Oxford University contingent, and we planned out our weekend road trip excitedly.

Unfortunately, disaster struck before we even departed Oxford.  Amber tore a ligament in her hand, and was ordered by her doctor to rest up for 6 weeks.  While she might have been tempted to ignore her doctor’s orders, the mere fact that she couldn’t grip her handlebars was a good indication that perhaps mountain bike racing that weekend was a bad idea.  Thus we left for Scotland, sans Amber, with the mighty Oxford team down to just me (and Mike of course).  After a stopover in Glasgow Friday night, we arrived at the site Saturday to take in a few laps of the XC course while the downhill competition was going on.  Now, this presented a significant problem, as the final descent of the XC course was also the final descent of the downhill course, therefore the most technical part of our course was off-limits for practice.  Unfazed, I rode the rest of the loop a few times, which consisted of a long climb up a dirt road, followed by a mucky descent, followed by an even muckier, awkward traverse with loads of wet and off-camber roots (one-footing it was by far the most efficient way to get across the majority of this section!) and then of course into the final downhill section which was closed.

We returned on Sunday and as I still could not ride the final descent as the Sport XC races had just started, I instead decided to watch the sport riders attempt this section in their race to try and figure out which lines I should take.  After doing this for 30 minutes or so, and watching most people bail or cock up in some way or another, I decided this perhaps wasn’t the best idea and went off to spin up the road and warm up.  I returned as the races were finishing, and thus got my one chance to practice that section of the course, which wasn’t really that bad in the end, and completely rideable if you kept focussed (which of course would come back to haunt me in the latter stages of my race…)

The race began, and we started spinning up the hill for the first of two laps.  I surprised myself by pulling out in front of the rest of the girls, although I didn’t build much of a gap as two of my fellow competitors had caught back up to me by the time we entered mucky descent number 1.  At this point, Meggie Bichard of Bristol Uni, eventual race winner, pulled away never to be seen again.  I was sitting in third behind Nicola Duggan, and I kept her in sight for the rest of the first lap and managed to catch back up to her on the road where we continued up the rest of the way pretty much side-by-side.  It was obvious she was pushing to enter the mucky descent first, and as I actually prefer to be the chaser rather then the chasee, I had no problem with this.  Thus we spent the rest of the traverse neck-in-neck, as she remained in front through the singletrack but never built up more than a few seconds’ lead.  As we entered the final singletrack descent (oh yes, this pivotal section of the course), Nicola slipped out on a rooty corner much to the delight of the downhillers who were lining the course at this stage and cheering(?) us on, and I saw that I would have a chance to get past her.  But then (of course), I got a little ahead of myself and didn’t take a very good line on the same rooty corner, resulting in a rather violent and painful endo.  I jumped back on my bike but knew my chance was gone, so I rode down the rest of the course and across the line a little annoyed with myself but relatively content with my third position.  After a little bit of first-aid to clean up my knee which managed to get banged up during my momentary lapse in concentration, Mike and I went for a ride in an attempt to satiate his singletrack needs for the weekend, and ended up riding a couple sections of the downhill course.  On a big bike, this could have been fun, however on my weenie little light racy hardtail I found the rock gardens of Dunkeld a bit intimidating.  Either way, we made it back intact for the awards ceremony, and then repacked the car for the fun and exciting journey back home, complete with some high-quality motorway services grub.  Overall, I’d say it was a great weekend, and I’m glad I was able to represent Oxford well, even if I was lacking a bit in style…

OUCC was represented recently at the Gorrick mountain bike race in Bagshot on October 24 by three riders: myself, Lloyd Pallet and Oli Parkinson. Although it was pouring rain in Oxford the previous day, the morning of the race began quite promisingly with sunshine and warm temperatures. The three of us did some creative packing in order to load three mountain bikes and three riders into Oli's car, and then we were off to the site.

A quick pre-ride of the course proved that the previous day's rain had definitely muddied things up a bit, but the entire lap was still quite rideable and generally a lot of fun. Lloyd and Oli raced in a large Sport Men's field, while I contested my worth against a whole two other riders in my category (Expert Women). While we were all destined to ride four laps, Oli unfortunately dropped out with a flat tire part way through. Lloyd finished a respectable 7th place, creeping ever closer to his upgrade to the Expert category. I managed to place second and stay on my bike, good enough for me considering the girl who placed first also leveled half of the Sport Men's field with a spectacular ride. As another bonus, the weather held up for the entire race, and it only started raining once we were crammed back into the car on the way home to Oxford. Overall, it was a great day and a good showing by OUCC, and we hope to see more club riders out there in 2005. Marcie Reinhart

Cheddar Challenge 2004

On a rainy first weekend of October, a few cyclists went out to ride in Somerset. The weather had been promised to be decent, but knowing the style of these things, most expected rain. For myself it was an abortive trip by train and then car to arrive in the early afternoon whilst the rest turned up after dark. They managed to miss the rain that marred the afternoon...

The next morning dawned and we all rode up to the central area to begin the six hours of fun we’d signed up for. Predictably, the first two laps of the course were reasonably dry, then the clouds loomed over to end that illusion. By two hours later, about half the course was totally unrideable, but we soldiered on. The girls’ team had amassed an insurmountable lead by this point, having somehow made all the competition literally evaporate! They seemed to be having a good time of it bantering with the announcers, though I missed most of it slogging around the course in the solo class. Even their mystery team member passed inspection, despite apparently being Kirsty’s “married twin sister”.... Problems with the mud continued, with Rich and others taking some big falls on the downhill section at the end of the course while travelling at a frightening speed. The mud also took its toll on others, causing many crunching chains and non-rotating wheels. Several hours later, muddy and tired, we retired to the campsite for a short rest before the night TT. We finished that event 1st (the girls), 6th (me), 10th (David) , and 14th (Rich & Nigel).

The TT was an interesting affair, using most of the rideable sections of the course plus a bit extra so it could start and end by the bar. A number of very bright lighting systems were seen, as well as a few more ‘budget’ solutions to the night vision problem. With only myself and the girls of our group contesting this bit, the others were free to watch and cheer us on. Yet another impressive 1st for the girls, whilst I managed 3rd.

Sunday was simply a nightmare from a mud standpoint. Half of the course had been changed to include a quarry section that had been closed on Saturday. This was all well and good apart from the rather hardcore downhill section that concluded it. Very few people were seen to ride it after the first couple hours of racing, and it simply descended into a bit of a farce, despite no-one apparently needing the ambulance waiting at the bottom... Whilst David and I continued the solo enduro theme with the second six hours of our Triple 10, the girls took on the novice women’s xc race. Yet another Oxford whitewash of the womens’ even ensued, with Kirsty being followed home by Helen and Clare to take all three podium spots. David and I simply continued to rack up the laps, eventually finishing 5th and 7th.

All in all a good time, despite the weather, and an event to try and do again next year!

Lloyd Pallett

A few of us went out to the Saab Solomon Mountain Mayhem 24hr race in July. A beautifully dry 10mile track was, overnight turned into a mudfest to rival the likes of Glastonbury.

Any thought of racing seriously was washed away with it. The mud reduced any traction and cornering ability to the point of hilarity as we pin balled are way down the descents and slogging are way up the climbs. Everyone was suffering the same though and so there was a real sense of camaraderie between everyone racing. The trade stands, DJs and spectators were all great and we will all be back next year whatever the weather.

John Binham

MTB Varsity 2004
This year saw the sixth annual mountain bike varsity race against the filthy tabs. The event was held for the first time in conjunction with one of the gorrick rounds. The weather was great and the course was dry and fast, so we trundled up bright and early and full of enthusiasm. Cambridge were unfortunately in good form and it seems that their excessive road riding training regime had been beneficial as they quickly took the lead. Andrew cockburn was worryingly fast and held onto the lead to head up a Cambridge 1,2,3 in the mens race. Oxford however were marred by a number of mechanical ranging from flats to a snapped seat post but still managed to put in some good performances, namely Tom and Eli who swapped road bikes for ancient mountainbikes and Helen who came 2nd in the women's race.

John Binahm

The freshers ride is a relaxed ride that takes place at the end of frershers week. Its a chance to see a few of the local riding rates at a slow hangover friendly pace. The ride normally lasts a couple of hours and any bike and level of rider are more then welcome so don't worry if you have only brought your town bike with you to Oxford . Tea and cake usually follow the ride where you will get a chance to meet some of the existing and new members from all disciplines of the club.

John Binham

Touring Weekend 2003

Varsity 2001
Sunday morn 7:00am (bleary). My promises of lovely day seemed to have tempted fate a little. Overcast and cloudy it looked worse than the previous day but we were keen to race. The Tab crew were still suspicious of out 'secret weapon' riders and wasted no time in cramming maltloaf and bagels in their cakeholes. Being dumb and feeling a little poorly, I opted for a couple of cups of Robs fine strong black brew and an apple! My undoing, I am sure. A quick spin to Broad Street to meet the OUCC team and bad news, Matt Caines had managed to break his gear cable prepping his bike for the race. Last minute maintenance is our forte. Ah, I love the smell of GT85 in the morning. Dave Whittle to the rescue and Matt C was rolling, phew. While we spun out to Bletchingdon the Tabs used their minibus (a seedily converted Royal Mail van) but had to make a second trip because they had left a pair of SPD shoes at Rob's.

The race was supposed to start at 9:00am but with faffing (which course do we use?) and general milling about the flag (Chris Waddup's hand) didn't go up until 9:45. The course was definitely more suited to MTBs (sorry Rob), some of the MX track was very rutted. The bottom section, near the canal, was nicely boggy and after a couple of laps had turned to sticky porridge that threw you all over the place and dropped your speed to walking pace. Most of the course was really fun with a couple of twisty singletrack sections and a bunnyhop bars. There were few places to rest during the lap and the pace dropped seriously during the race. I reached a personal record in slow-motion cycling and had to be revived with a mars bar at the finish line.

After the prize giving (prizes courtesy of Bikezone Oxford) the Tabs split to race home for a boatie outing and we had a chillin' ride home in the sun along the canal quick showers then Sunday lunch at the Radcliffe arms. Then off to Dave W's to loll around with fat tummies. What a perfect day.

Tym Burman