10 Under the Ben - Sat 31st May 08

Have bike, have wife, have kid…we’re off!

Following the arduous but increasingly view rewarding journey north we finally got to Fort William around tea time on the Friday. With a quick check in at the guest house we were reluctantly back in the car for a quick 5 mile trip to the Nevis Range where the 10 Under the Ben event village had been assembled. Surprisingly when we arrived it was fairly quiet so we promptly made our way up to the Nevis Range centre at the top of the gondola ride where registration was taking place.

Only at this point I think I realised what I had let myself in for, when listening to other riders it seemed everyone else was taking part in a team….oh how sensible they are, but where’s the fun in that? Now, accepting this as the point of no return, I gave my name in exchange for an electronic ankle tag.

So, after a very quick look around at the top Kay, Oliver and me set off on our journey downwards back to the event village. Deciding there wasn’t a lot happening at this point we made our way back to base camp.

By this point, Caroline, my third support crew member (3 – Kay, Oliver, Caroline) had made her way down from Ullapool to join us for a huge pasta tea. Huge is probably not the word, in fact mammoth with lots left over is probably more apt. Got slightly carried away with the Fussili !!
Friday night saw me have the best nights sleep in months and I woke up extremely refreshed and full of adrenalin for today’s race. Two bowls of porridge for breakfast and I’m now full of a mixture of adrenalin and Scottish oats.

We got to the event village for just gone 8.00am and as it happens we got a really good car parking spot right next to the course which turned out this was going to be my support / rest area.

Dressed in my racing attire (sorry folks there was a bit of Lycra going on) I ambled over to the compulsory race briefing, not sure why it was compulsory as they never told us anything new from what I had read in the event programme. Back at the car I got myself together, dressed, wheels on, seat in, water on board, checked seat height, checked I had my water, checked I was dressed! And I was ready for the off.

The start area was now very busy, so after a last toilet check I get myself nicely positioned somewhere near the front of the pack which presented a few photo opportunities for my support team.

After a fumbled count down we were off, to a very slow pace as riders sorted themselves out and gradually got both feet clipped in and pedalling. The pre race lap must have been around 3 miles which soon had us coming back through the transition area and off to start the first official lap.
I made good pace round the first lap completing it in around 1hr 5mins and after a very short stop and another photo I set off for lap 2.

I found it hard to pace myself against other riders as there were riders of all abilities and also team riders who were going all out on their laps. So keeping my head down I plodded along at what I thought was a sensible pace.

Lap 2 seemed to be quickly over and after a short rest I was away on lap 3. Things were going well! By this point the sun was getting very hot and the white stone tracks were throwing heat back at me from every direction. The good weather meant the tracks were on the whole very dry and fast. In terms of mountain biking, the whole of the course was fantastic and consisted of a bit of everything from rocks, roots, drops, berms, fast downhills, river crossings, boardwalks and plenty of other things to choose from. To have this on my doorstep would be good!

Now, when it comes to punctures, I have never seen so many people with tyre lever in one hand and a semi inflated tube in the other in one day. I kept wondering when it was to be my turn, surely these rocks were not going to let me get away with 10 hours of riding at full psi? I must have had someone looking out for me on Saturday because smooth rolling with no technical issues was the order of the day for me.

Nearing the end of lap 3 I decided now was the time to take a longer rest before setting off once more and for some unbeknown reason to me I made the fatal mistake again (I didn’t learn from the Merida in Wales) of eating too much. After a good rest in the shade and now full of bananas, cereal bars, sandwich and energy gel I sumped back onto my bike for yet another hour plus in the saddle. Lap 4 wasn’t good, it hurt and I felt sick…I seriously thought this was going to be my bail out point, how could I do anymore feeling like this. Granny ring on all the hills to conserve energy I finally made it round. Back to my support team who amazingly told me I looked better than I did when I came in off lap 3! Time for a drink, change of plasters on the hands to protect the blisters, banana and that was it this time, no gourmet pit stop to be had.

Reluctantly but at the same time willingly I lifted myself onto my bike once more. Lap was good! Felt loads better, picked my pace up slightly and got round another time. Some of the sections, in fact, one in particular which was a bloody steep short climb had me taking the bike for a walk but I figured better to walk a small bit and feel better for the rest of the ride. I nearly did myself a mischief at the start of lap 5, a very steep drop with a few steps plus tiredness equalling complete lack of concentration had me entangling my plums in my handlebars! This I decided was also to be walked on my next lap.

My personal target, for whatever reason, was to do 6 laps, and so with that in mind off I trundled for the last time into Scottish mountain biking bliss. In fact, lap 6 felt great, it was fast, my legs felt good, the hills seemed a bit easier again and even the blisters were not hurting as much. Inner strength, second wind, whatever I were to call it, it got me round and quickly. But, truth be told, I was glad to see the finish line for the last time and have my end of race photo taken.

Electronic tag handed back, miniature bottle of Whiskey received and a check of my times, I decided this was now time to go home.

All in all a fantastic event. Carloline did ask, about 10 mins after finishing, if I would do it again? Still not given her an answer, but the answer would be a definite yes. I can’t wait.
A huge thanks to Kay, Oliver and Caroline for supporting me on the day, I could not have done it without them.

And, to top it off, a fantastic amount of sponsor money raised for the Thembalitsha organisation.

All round big smiles

Now looking forward to Mountain Mayhem in a couple of weeks…

Final ride stats

6 laps - (approx 63 miles including pre race lap)

ride time (including stops): 9hrs 44mins

in the senior solo male category i finished 45th out of 88