It’s been a busy few weeks for Mountain Trax – Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team as preparations continue for our expansion in 2014. The email inbox is a hive of activity and important meetings are being organised. However there are still a few big races remaining this year including the two final European Marathon World Cups in October and the Manx Telecom End 2 End this weekend.
This was my first trip to the Isle of Man. On arrival by ferry you immediately notice the undulating hills, the green pastures and the pretty seaside promenade of Douglas. The island is still very undeveloped with most of the land being used for farming. The sea is never far away giving breathtaking views from up in the hills. I was a little surprised my Tom Tom sat nav didn’t have mapping for the Isle of Man. Good job we had an OS map. We now know our way around pretty well. John from Vermont Images has probably driven 99% of the roads on the island during his support duties this weekend! Learning the roads wasn’t made easy though as the Manx people seem to think everyone will just know their way around so don’t bother with signposting roads. We learnt that an A road is quite often a single lane country road and a B road is pretty much a farm track.
I’d heard lots of good things about the event and was excited about racing. We had one major disadvantage, the Manx Telecom End 2 End race rules state that only the top 100 from last year would be gridded, the juniors would then start 2 minutes after the top 100, the other 1550 riders would start another 3 minutes back. Us newbies therefore had a bit of time to make up. Fortunately the race organiser did allow me to start with the juniors but there was still going to be a big chase to close the time gap. The race could be won on fastest time but this turned out to be a tall order working alone to chase down the leaders’ 2 minute lead whilst those leaders rode together sharing the work between the group. Conditions were dry (unlike Saturday when we had heavy rain). However the wind had picked up and a block head wind on the first 10 miles of road was a major disadvantage to us chasers. I used too much energy on the road towing along a group of riders who mostly refused to do any of the pacing on the front. We did close the 2 minute gap to the back of lead group just as the race entered the first offroad section. Nick Craig, Elliott Baxter, Matt Clinton and Edward Perry quickly had 2 minutes on us again as we got stuck as the trail tightened up the first climb forcing us tightly packed riders to dismount and run.
Ben Thomas strips off. Chasing is hard work. Photo: John@Vermont Images
The route is pretty special covering some spectacular terrain, mostly on rocky natural trails and it tests your strength and bike handling skills. The new man made trails in the plantations were great fun and well built with a slate surface which proved to work in all weather conditions. Every road crossing was packed with spectators applauding each participant; the support was similar to the races out in Europe.
Once over the first climb I’d made up some good places – as the groups spread out it was easier to overtake. All day I was overtaking little groups on the uphills and on the downhills. By two thirds of the way through I passed Nick Craig who’d punctured on the Pipe Line trail. I’d finally found a similar paced rider to ride with for a while and we were making a good pace. Dropping him on a tricky descent just after the last feed point I was up to 4th place with 3rd and 2nd within sight. Suddenly they were out of sight again. I’d missed a turning and was now hurtling down the steep hillside on the wrong descent. When I realised panic set in, do I carry on and join the track down the bottom of the hill or do I ride back up the 25% gradient climb to the top? Up the hill I rode, 12 minutes I lost! Think I need to get windscreen wiper for my sunglasses, or maybe I was too busy looking at the view of the sea, or maybe I just need glasses!? Had I not gone wrong I probably would have finished second overall as I’d started 2 minutes after the 2 riders who had been just in front of me so I would have been placed ahead of them on elapsed time. Instead I was 10th overall. Oops.
Despite the lost time I still did won the senior category and put in a performance I can be super proud of chasing hard alone all day whilst the lead group were working together up front with their 2 minute start gap. Scott Bikes UK supported athletes had a good day out with Nick Craig in 5th, myself in 10th and Thomas Craig in 12th, those bikes are fast! Sadly Tim was forced to miss the race due to illness. I’m sure he’ll have great fun if he attends next year’s event.
Thanks to our hosts at Ballacamish Farm for a wonderful stay. The 112 acre working farm was the perfect base our stay on the island with all our needs catered for. As we speed towards Douglas to catch our 8 o’clock ferry talk has already begun about returning for next year’s event which takes place on the 14th September 2014. Next year I’ll be gridded at the front allowing for a much better opportunity of having a proper race with the leaders. This year was an excellent reconnaissance, next year we’ll be back to concur the Manx End 2 End.