This was our normal northern loop with the slight amendment of cutting across 'The Slay' to Fosbury Hill rather than going around the base of the hill via Oxenwood, consequently it gives you a great views across the Hippencombe, South out of Andover, through Anna Valley and Monxton then cut across towards Weyhill on the Monxton Lane, then the long slog through Clanville to Hampshire Gate and Conholt, and onto the Chutes Causeway, which we rode along until the bridlepath which cuts along the top of the ridge line to Fosbury Hill, it runs through an area known as the 'The Slay'. Dropped down to Fosbury and then the long loop home through the Hurst Bournes, Long Parish, Wherwell and the Clatfords. In total 64.33 kilometres with 433 metres of ascent in 3 hours and 47 minutes.
0 Comments
Scott MTB Marathon - Round 4 was at Wantage and covered the Ridge Way, something I'd not ridden before. There where a selection of distances from the Mini (25km) to Monster (75km). I arrived on the Sunday morning and registration was efficient - got a goody bag in which was my Personalized Number Board, a nice touch - which you name and event entered on along with your race number. As with these sorts of events it was a timed event, not a race which is obviously a contraction in terms and led to some moronic behaviour on the trails but more on that later. So the 730 riders who had signed up congregated at the event village for the off, it would be a mass start - following a lead out vehicle for a couple of kilometers before turning off the road and onto the first section of byway.
The Event Village was organised with food and registration all laid on, in fact if you felt like it you could have camped over the weekend in Wantage's Memorial Park. It was a big event for the town, as the local Mayor turned up to wish us well. The start was delayed by 15 minutes, and then we were off. As with this type of event if you are not a racing snake at the front of the pack, you end up queuing at various points along the trail, due to road crossing's, going from byway track down to single track and at one point a wooden bridge with a steep ascent on the opposite bank. As with all these event's the further into the ride you go pack gets strung out and soon the trail opened out and you could enjoy some really nice long stretches of single track. I really enjoyed the area, there is a nice mix of single track and byways which allow you to knit together a very nice ride. The byways where flinty and dusty and rather rutted in places due to the passage of farm vehicles, so you ended up with two columns of riders going up and down the tracks, the single track was generally under shade and slightly muddy again rutted in places, the full suspension soaked it up with ease, again the 29er made for an efficent ride and we could keep the speed up when allowed. Unfortunately early on there was a lot of impatience at the changes between byway and single track, and some oaf rather than queuing like everyone else decided to do a do or die maneuver which didn't succeed and ended up landing on my front wheel. Luckily the only damage was the stem was twisted by a few degrees and it didn't mar the rest of the event for me. When i was traveling over in the morning the downs which the Ridge Way cuts where shrouded in mist, and it looked like it was going to be a coolish day, really should of checked the weather forecast, as the mist was burnt back and it proved to be a gloriously sunny day. So according to my gps app, we covered 53km's and had 772metres of ascent. On return the the Event Village, we received a finisher's t-Shirt as a memento of the day. |
Archive
January 2023
|