Chicken Skin Handbags

Midland XC Series Round 1, Sherwood Pines

After a successful days drinking on the Saturday, Mick, Pete and Duncan decided a nice ride in the park was in order on the Sunday, and there’s no better ride in the park than entering round 1 of the Midland XC series. Stating ride in the park, that’s not to say it’s an easy race, far from it as we found out.

Last year the race was a decent 7 odd mile course and you did two laps. A good workout but not too much to kill you. So the boys went down to Sherwood Pines expecting much the same. However to their surprise the race board stated that it was a five mile course and riders were expected to do 6 laps. The maths didn’t work out, that’s 30 miles in total. That’s not a Sunday morning ride.

After recovering from the shock and an extortionate £17 out of pocket the boys lined up on the start line. For the first time in a long while there was quite a lot of banter from the fellow riders. Normally there’s always some serious bloke on the start line putting a stop to any banter.

Enduro 6, Trentham Gardens

This is definitely a recommended event for all budding riders out there, one to keep on the calendar. Really it’s a mini Sleepless in the Saddle, a great warm up for the year ahead.

The weekend started well. The team arrived on Saturday and found a nice little pitch in the middle of the camp. Pete took up the opportunity of entering the race on the Saturday afternoon. A little taster of things to come. He finished the race in a good 16th position. The rest of the day and night was spent relaxing around the BBQ.

For this event the camp consisted of the usual crowd, Janet (head chef), Rach, Sam and Dennis (main sponsor). However, Duncan’s second appearance with the team brought some extra appreciated support in the form of Alex and Rach. The team just gets bigger and better.

Sunday morning was a misty one. Mick arrived at around 7am to wake the rest of the camp. The teams were complete. Mick and Duncan would fly the Chicken Skin Handbags flag on one side of the pits whilst Dave and Pete would be on the other. Before the boys knew it they were lining up on the start line ready to run the Enduro6 gauntlet.

The rules were well set out and really quite simple. Each team was allocated a pit area. The pit area was closed so no-one could enter or leave whilst the race was taking place. All tools, food and drink had to be in the pit during the race, no outside assistance was allowed. So whilst one rider was on the course the other had to wait in the pit.

Pete and Mick had been nominated to do the first lap. This included a short run of about 500 metres (unlucky). The gun sounded and all 300 or so runners tried to run at the same time. Of course this pitted out to a little scuttle until there were a few gaps between people. Then followed some major congestion just round the first corner, where the course narrowed. All in all not the best run anyone could want. It was more of a mini gallop really.

Pete came in first and set off on the bike. Mick was a couple of minutes behind. The first lap was very frustrating. Too many people and not enough room to pass by them. The course was very demanding and some great technical single track. Of course on the flip side of the coin if you want to go downhill you have to firstly go up hill. So the organisers built in two really tough climbs to destroy everyone.

After an hour and a half Dave and Dunc had completed their first laps with big grins on their faces. Everything was going smoothly. That is until Pete’s second lap. He rolled up into the pits with a nice 6inch graze across his chest. Apparently in the technical rooty section he went head over heels and landed on a tree stump. Not a pleasant experience. After a lengthy consultation with the first aid team he was advised to not carry on. Feeling a bit short of breath he went to the hospital for a check up. Thankfully everything was OK.

So this left Dave to complete the race on his own. He dug in and managed another 4 laps on top of the 3 already completed. A valiant effort to finish in the top 80 teams.

Mick and Duncan had an uneventful race in comparison. Everything continued to go smoothly through out the race. Both finished completing 4 laps each and ending up in the top half of the field. 47th was an excellent result.

Kona 100, Rhayder

The weekend began with the long three and a half hour drive to Wales. Luckily the plays off finals were on to keep us occupied. The day had been a mixture of sun and rain. Luckily when Mick arrived Pete and Dave were sat in the sun with a cool bud in their hands. A great start to the race weekend. This goes against all recommendations.

'First rule of fight club - no alcohol before a marathon'

After a quick beer the team headed into Rhayder to have a scan around the place. This was Dave's first 100K outing so he hadn't been to Rhayder before. After watching a group of lads playing run over the stuffed Parrott and visiting a couple of the local watering holes the team headed back for an early night. That's if you call 11pm early.

'Second rule of fight club - get plenty of rest before a marathon'

The camp was pretty noisy all night with people milling about and a down pour of rain, but the team slept quite well in preparation. Apart from Pete that is, who has a 1952 sleeping bag that doesn't keep anyone warm. Apparently 'Ronhill tricksters are really warm to sleep in' (quote Pete). No more comments needed.

The morning was quite bright and it looked like the weather was going to be quality. The camp had gone from a cool surfy looking party on the Saturday night to a gay pride march. All the riders were pottering around with their all in one Lycra suits. Not a pretty sight really.

After a hearty breakfast and some tinkering around with the bikes the team were on the starting line waiting for the count down. Unusually the team were in plenty of time and not rushing. This must've been the influence of Dave, as it's never been seen before.

'Third rule of fight club - Test the bike before Marathon day, don't tinker on the day'

The count down came and went with the usual anticlimax of not being able to move because there are too many riders. Eventually the team were away and climbing into the hills. There was a good atmosphere with everyone chatting to each other as they ride. The country lane climb eventually pitted away and the team entered the wooded section single track. The weather had played its part over night and the track was a river of mud. After walking the majority of it all riders appeared out of the wood and onto a Forest track with a good 20 minute climb ahead. These Forest tracks are renowned in the 100K's. They make up the majority of the climbing.

The most memorable parts of the ride after the first 10K were a really steep and technical track that wound its way down through the trees between to Forest tracks. The corners were steep and every rider's skills were put to the test. A really triceps burning descend that was both fun and exhausting. The other memorable section was the second mud slide that was part of the loop and so had to be completed twice. It rained twice during the race just to top up the mud even more. Mick at this stage was zonked and so lost control and made the only fall of the ride ripping his riding top. However it was a soft fall into the mud.

Through the ride the team stuck together until about the 50K mark. Pete was in good form and so was powering up the hills way ahead of Dave and Mick. After the 50K mark it was apparent that he could achieve a time faster that last year so he headed off trying to beat the 5 hour 50 mark. Dave's turbo training also seemed worth while as he was moving at a good constant steady pace. Mick nearly bonked around the 55K mark. However with Dave's guidance and a life saving food station his energy returned to help complete the whole ride.

'Fourth rule of fight club - Train before a 100k marathon'

The times of the team were good. Pete rolled in comfortably at around 5 hours 21 minutes whilst Mick and Dave finished in 6 hours 6 minutes.

Mountain Mayhem 24 Hours, Eastnor Deer Park

The weekend of 26th of June was a memorable one for Team Chicken skin Handbags. ‘Mountain Mayhem’ what an understatement.

This year’s event had been moved to Eastnor Deer Park near Ledbury. The team should’ve known anything that close to Wales would be hilly. However it never crossed their minds, all the team could think about was the fact that they didn’t have to ride the worst field in Britain anymore.

Dave and Rachel were the first members of the team to arrive on site. They started the camp set up before the management, Dennis, Janet and Katie arrived shortly after. The sturdy team van did it’s job carting all the equipment to the camp.

Pete and Sam arrived early evening with Mick arriving shortly after them to have a taster of one beer before the event. Tim, not feeling 100%, had a good nights sleep at home before making the treck around London on the Saturday morning

The camp was on a massive grass field and was packed with all the usual teams, bikes and equipment stalls. One particular stall was interesting. It held the latest navigation system that can be downloaded onto any PC. That evening they had a 3D map of the course which was explained to the team in great detail. It didn’t look to bad on the screen. Little would the team know that one of the climbs was as monstrous as it was?

The team viewed the firework display before getting a good night sleep. At about 5am the rain started and the Mayhem began. Dave reconstructed the camp to keep it out so head chef could prepare the pre race meal.

The morning flew and before anyone could blink Dave was lining up on the start ready for the race ahead. The gun went and Dave set off on the run. He performed a good 800 metres before racing up the start to collect his bike, complete with luminous cabling, for the first lap of the race……….and the rain was still coming down.