The info:
There was an Enduro style mountain bike race in Scotland, at
Selkirk which stands high above the Ettrick & Yarrow
Valleys. It is an area rich in heritage & inspiring natural
beauty, but above all it provided the playground for the
most loved course in the Merida Marathon Series.
~ Bicyclemania Ride ~ Someone at
the paste party said to Chiefy "There are a couple of small
climbs on the course"
"What a load of bollocks, it felt like you were climbing
to the heavens". But the pay-back was the downhill's,
not just fast fire-roads but boulder strewn tracks with
twists and turns which would catch some people out (Big
time)
~ Downhill root infested runs ~ Turning off a
fire-road and into a wooded section seems straight forward,
but for the steep tree infested slops with there 'Touch
me & I'll bring you off fingers fanning out in all
directions' tonnes of riders were spun in different
directions to the one they wanted & some even kissing
trees at 20 mph.
~ Feed Stations ~ Plenty of food
to be had bananas, energy bars, High5 drink and water. With
the warm dry conditions the riders were taking on bucket
loads of liquid to help them say hydrated & hopefully get
around the tough route.
~ The Home Run ~ After the last
feed station on the 50km route it was a long, long leg
sapping climb over about 4 mini summits to the trig point.
Then a long downhill run between the heather and streams to
the finish. But half way down lurking in the under-growth
was the BikeMagic photographer waiting to snap the unwary
biker who crashed out in the mother of all water holes.
'It was not that deep, but travelling at warp speed you
could of had an under-water swim'
Thumbnailed
pictures
To many bikers
made it hard to climb
Nice single-track
section by the woods
RIDER
CATEGORY
NUMBER
FIELD
RANKED
TIME
Chiefy
Vet's 50km
1134
227
86th
04:58:31
Bicyclemania.co.uk
*
g r a s s r o o t t r a i l
& m o u n t a i n b i k e
r i d i n g *