London Phoenix rider Werner van der Merwe went to Costa Rica to compete in the 4-day stage race – La Ruta de los Conquistadores. Here’s his account of the race…

Day 1
14 November saw me and 500 other mountain bikers line up for the start of the 15th La Ruta de los Conquistadores – a 4-day stage race from the Pacific coast to Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The day started for us with a 3:00am wake-up call followed by breakfast at 4:00am. You would think that getting up this early would be difficult but a mixture of excitement and nerves helped in overcoming the sleepiness. I was a bit nervous given that I was cleared by my doctor to do mountain biking again only a week before (knee ligament reconstruction following stupid ski accident in May) and the previous year’s stage 1 drop-out rate was 40%.

Stage 1 set off from Jaco beach at 5:15. The reason for the early start was to allow participants twelve and a half hours to finish the day’s 95km. It sounds like a lot of time but if you take into account all the mud and the fact that you have to do 4400m of vertical climbing you start to understand why they allowed so much time. We started off quite fast on the tarred streets of Jaco but the pace quickly dropped to a crawl (for me anyway) as we hit the gravel climbs. After a while I had to get off and push the bike just to get my heart rate under control – seeing that it was hovering in the 90%+ of max range and there was no end in sight for the climb. Finishing the first set of climbs I thought there would be some time to sit back and recover, but that was not to be as we hit the muddy sections and stream crossings. The mud was so sticky that the back wheel wouldn’t turn and I had to stop and wash the bike at most stream crossings just to get it to turn again. The second part of the stage was all about climbing but luckily it was mostly on paved roads. It was rather nice when I caught the leading London Dynamo rider on the longest climb. I only wished I had my LP gear on that day. The last hour of the stage got quite hard for me and I was wondering why I was putting myself through this pain. However, when I finished and saw my position I was pleasantly surprised and fired up for the next day.

Day 2
The 6:30 start to stage 2 was delayed for 15 minutes or so as the leading motorbike wouldn’t start but after a couple of tries at kick-starting the bike they swapped motorbikes and we were off on the 75km stage. Although the stage was much shorter than the previous day it had a lot of climbing (3600 vertical meters). There were a couple of steep sections and it is always a bit worrying if you see the riders in front of you zigzagging up a paved climb. You know that it is steep when you are struggling to get up a paved road while standing in your granny gear. Mud wasn’t really a problem for most part of the day but as usual race organisers like to hit you with surprise section in the last couple of kilometres. In this case it was a mud feast section where at one point a cameraman had to help us up a muddy bank. Just after this particular section I found myself in a pool of muddy water up to my thighs. While you are struggling through the mud you just want it to end but afterwards (showered and fed) you think ‘hey, that was actually fun!’ You realise why some people are elite racers as Sue Hayward (Trek/VW) was running down the last muddy section while I was struggling just to keep upright.

Day 3
Day 3 was a special day for me as it was my 30th birthday and my brother was arriving from Australia who I haven’t seen in 2 years. The day started off great with me being called up to the leaders’ starting block (top 30 in the open category and top 5 in the other categories). This was a first for me as you have to realise I have only been cycling for a bit over 2 years. Unfortunately the day took a turn when I got my only flat of the race and lost 20/30 minutes trying to fix it. At first I was trying to fix it with tubeless plugs but didn’t see that the nail had gone through the sidewall as well. After 3 plugs I realised that I had to put a tube into the tyre but by that time you are so frustrated at seeing more and more riders passing by. Finally I was back on my bike and was riding hard to make up some of positions. The last part down into Aquiares was great fun as racing through the coffee plantations at full speed in the rain certainly gives you an adrenalin kick. Luckily I arrived at the finish without any crashes, but not everybody was that lucky. I saw one bike with only half a handlebar (respect to the biker for getting to the finish) and another biker was looking to buy a new helmet as he only had half a helmet in his hand and. Incidentally I saw helmet guy the next day with half of his face swollen up.

Day 4
Stage 4 was the long one (120km) all the way to the Caribbean coast. I wasn’t sure what to expect of the rail sections but in the end I was grateful for taking my full suss. The railway bridge crossings were the scary part of the day. Some of the sleepers were so far apart that you could easily have fallen into the raging rivers below and cycling shoes aren’t the best for grip on rain soaked sleepers. Most of the stage was hard and fast and I was really glad to finish on Playa Bonita beach after 23 hours 1 minute and 51 seconds of racing over the 4 days. A quick dip in the sea, shower and massage and I was feeling like a person again. In the end I finished an unexpected 22nd in the open category. As always you hate it while you are doing these stage races but afterwards you are talking to racers to find out what other races you can enter.

We rode this event with Alan Parkinson of South Wesern Road Club. This is his account (and photos) of the ride…
Last Saturday saw me meet up with some of the London Phoenix for the Trailbreak ride around the North Downs starting and finishing at Bramley (Surrey). As usual I passed David Steele and Abi Armstrong cycling out from the nearest railway station. Then I met up with Nick Morrison in the car park, where he was pulling on his shoes, and ripping off the straps at the same time. Does he know his own strength? The last member of the group was Jason Clark, all fresh from the previous weekend exploits in Thetford Forest.

With everyone’s bike sorted it wasn’t long before we were all out on the trail following a disused railway path heading south. This is part of the “Downs Link” path that runs from the North to South Downs. It wasn’t long before we hit our first boggy section, which was impossible to ride, and meant walking through the gloop. Oh, the fun of mountain biking! But soon we were climbing up and away from the mud to the paths thick with fallen leaves and hidden gullies – ready to throw you off your bike at a moment’s loss of concentration.

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As we had chosen the longest 50km route we had to navigate the two unmarked extension sections that the medium course didn’t cover. This can be hit or miss, especially as the rest of the course is well marked and doesn’t require too much map reading. I was enjoying the route, climbing up through Hurtwood Forest and then thrashing it down the single track, only held up by the occasional fallen tree or fallen Phoenix rider across the path. Then on a descent a dog overtook me – it was on a 20 mile run with his mtb-riding owner! Now that was one fit dog. We were soon back in Bramley for a well-deserved Chilli and cuppa lunch. We got round with no mechanical or punctures. Result.

Thanks to Alan Parkinson of South Western (London) Road Club for the report and photos.

New London Phoenix member Andy Nash recently entered his first road race at Dunton. His aim was to try and hang onto the main bunch but he was strong enough to finish in fourth place. He said “I loved it – different from mountain bike racing in that there was more thinking involved, and there were periods of intense work followed by a bit of rest. I didn’t realise how much 4th cat would in fact resemble the races I’d seen on TV, with team tactics, attacks, breaks, the personal planning required throughout the race and so on.”

He’s written an account of the race, and wraps up the report with some tips for those thinking about entering their first race and some details about the Imperial Winter Series at Dunton.

Click here to read his report.

London Phoenix riders achieved success in all categories at the first round of the Thetford mtb race series at Santon Downham as we were treated to well organised event, an excellent course, good weather, and beautiful autumnal colours – particularly in the singletrack section called ‘Colour Your Life’.

The Phoenix jerseys could seen from quite a distance in the depths of the forest. Paul Troughton came second in the men’s 2 hour race, just over a minute behind the first place rider. Stuart Lockyear came 4th in vet’s 2 hour race. Stuart and Alex Christians (15th in the 2 hour race) rode together for most of the race putting in some impressive lap times. It was good to watch them eat up the singletrack a twice the pace of others, though Stuart maintains that this wasn’t planned, he just couldn’t shake Alex off! He said “we then both sprinted for the line to complete the 4th lap, only to realise we were going to have to do a fifth. At that point, I had to sit up and he pulled away. Alex was nursing a bad cold, so he did very well.”

Nick Morrison, Jason Clark and Dan Jenkins also finished the 2 hour race in the top fifty, while Simon Pemberton managed a couple of laps before his frame snapped depriving himself a potential top 15 place in the 2 hour mens event.

Abi Armstrong managed 3rd place in the women’s 4 hour race despite getting trapped behind the 2 hour race participants at the start and having to work her way up the field. Liz Rice completed 6 laps but had to take time out to deal with an exploding inner tube!

David Steele was delighted with his 6th place in the vet men’s 4 hour race. He said “usually in these 4 hour events the hard racing finishes after the 2 and a half hour mark leaving the rest of race for cruising around as the field gets so strung out, but not this time. It meant I could never take things easy and admire the view and the colours of the trees as the racing went on until the last lap.”

Philip Pearl and Douglas Baker also completed the 4 hour race. Douglas is particularly admired for his taking time out of the event to have a three course brunch!”.

We hope to have even more riders at the next event on 2 December – see you there!

Photo courtesy of Mark Cozens www.mphotography.co.uk

Full Results .

London Phoenix riders took three of the top ten places in round two of the Herne Hill cyclocross series on 3 November, winning the overall race the seniors and the veterans categories. Paul Troughton won the race by a comfortable margin, while Stuart Lockyear won the veteran’s race despite puncturing on the last lap. Gary Lingard achieved seventh place.

Photos courtesy of Paul J Wright
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Look out for us or join us at these mtb and cyclocross events over the next few weeks…

25 Nov – London League cyclocross round 8 – Lancing
1 Dec: Herne Hill Cyclocross series
2 Dec: Thetford Winter Race Series, Norfolk
9 Dec – London League cyclocross round 10 – Brighton
16 Dec – London League cyclocross round 11 – Herne Hill
27 Dec – London League cyclocross round 12 – Sidcup

…and on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings throughout the autumn and winter, riding in Epping Forest.