Douglas F Shearer

SXC 2011 Round 5 - Perth

After partially rupturing a thumb ligament in June, I had several weeks off followed by several easy weeks on the bike. I rode 10 at Kirroughtree, but was suffering from thumb pain and cramp. The week after I started to feel niggles in my right knee, similar to my left knee earlier in the year. I rode the Selkirk Marathon anyway, and despite a painful hour or so in the middle, I finished second senior and eighth overall.

I planned to ride round the Perth SXC round, knowing it would likely involve lots of stops for stretching. Unfortunately the date I had in my calendar was still a provisional date, a week later than the actual event. 9pm on the Saturday night was very busy for me, giving the bike a quick wash and getting things together. Not ideal preparation, but then I wasn’t expecting much anyway.

On race day I rode a practice lap with Eddie Addis and Megasmith. The course was awesome, as I remember it being last year (on that occasion I ended up not racing due to illness, watching other people race was torture). Lots of rooty singletrack, steep up and down, and multiple tough climbs made for a great loop. It was dry too, ignoring the huge muddy puddle near the end.

On the start line it was just Rab Wardell, Chris Pedder and myself, not exactly the turnout of the year. Injuries had blighted the field, with Gareth having a broken collarbone, Dave a bad back, and Rob two broken wrists. Oh well.

Off the start line it was Rab that took the lead. I followed Chris’ wheel before jumping him into the first singletrack to get a clean run at the rooty climb. Rab disappeared about half a lap in, out of sight for the rest of the race. I could see Chris behind me for the first two laps, catching me on the climbs, with me putting a little time in on the descents.

By the third lap I couldn’t see Chris, so had to just plod round at my own pace, stopping on the fourth and fifth laps to stretch out my sciatic and ease the pain in my knee. I rolled in for a second place finish, Rab taking the win. Turns out Chris broke his rear mech, completing his clean run of DNFs at every SXC round.

I was pleased with second, but after trying for seven years to get on the podium, sometimes coming very close, it wasn’t the way I wanted to do it. On a more positive note the result meant that I finished second overall in the series, with Gareth taking the win.

Full results can be seen on the SXC website.

SXC 2011 Round 3 - Comrie Croft

Round four of the SXC series was at the fantastic Comrie Croft trails, a trailcentre, but none of that gravelled mince. A steep double-track to start, onto some grassy switchbacks (more headwinds here, what is it with races this year!). Another steep double-track up, then down a little. Then the real stuff started, a steep switchback single-track with some great little exposed rock sections, a fast descent to a burn then back onto a muddy double-track with plenty of line choice needed to stay out of the mire. Down some steep rocky single-track, then a fast twisty moorland descent before a super steep double-track section back to the start-finish.

I got a good start, slotting in behind Gareth, Dave and Rab (the return of Rabulous!). On the double-track climb I passed Rab, but Gareth and Dave were already pulling ahead by this point. In a similar manner to Aberfoyle I had the mince dialed high for the first two laps, as I was hitting every bad line on the descent. I pulled over to let Rab past, but he’d had a bit of an issue so I was letting Rob past instead, no problem, he was on good pace.

Rab made it back on the climb, then I lost the pair of them when I unshipped a chain at the bottom of the single-track climb. More time lost as I crashed on the descent avoiding a backmarker, I was on my own from then on.

The later laps went a lot better, the last being pretty tough as the course had taken it’s toll on me. I rolled in for fifth, nine minutes down on the winner, another solid result. Gareth took the win, a nightshift tired Dave second, Rab third, and Rob fourth.

More at the full results.

SXC 2011 Round 2 - Aberfoyle

Aberfoyle is a bit of a classic venue on the SXC circuit, having seen a number of different courses on it’s steep hillside over the years. This year saw the return of the dreaded Heart Attack Hill (HAH), a steep bottom-gear climb of several minutes, mostly on slippy surfaces. Those of a weaker demeanour could opt-out, and take the forestry road itself, though this came with a small time penalty due to it’s distance.

The first section of descent was down an off-camber technical loamy section, lots of roots and rocks to put the unwary offline. There was a short forestry road sprint after this, followed by a super-fast rutted descent, across the forestry road at the bottom, and onto a supremely hard off-camber traverse before joining the forestry road again. A minute of high-speed big-ring gentle descent took you to the last section of singletrack, being fast singletrack with some tight turns and plenty of line choices in it.

At the start things went pretty steady, a group of six at the front; Gareth (GT Racing UK), Rob Friel, Si Ernest (AW Cycles) [who I initially thought was Chris Pedder after a growth spurt], Niall Frost (XC Racer) and James FM (Pedal Power). On the first lap we were to avoid HAH and go round the forestry road. Once we got to the steep sections Gareth started to float away, with James and I giving some chase before Si finally engaged the after-burners and gave Gareth a proper chase.

Down the first few descents James was apologising profusely for getting in the way, not that I was bothered as I for some reason had the mince dialled up high for the first two laps, before finally getting it together on the third lap. Niall came past me on the second lap, mentioning something about me getting him back on the climbs.

By the fifth lap I could still see Niall, and could see he was having a bit of trouble on HAH, as he got off then managed (much respect for this) to get on and get going again. By the end of the lap I had caught him, had a bit of legsplosion related banter, then dropped him along the forestry road to the bottom of HAH.

Gareth took the win, Si was second, Rob third, James fourth, myself fifth and Niall sixth.

Thanks to Emma for doing my bottles, and I-Cycles and Innerleithen MTB Racing for the help and support. Also thanks to Norman and the rest of the chaps at Squadra Porcini for the great course, and the SXC volunteers for the great event.

Full results are on the SXC website.

Other reports can be had from Si and Niall.

Technical Aside: When building my new bike I had a lot of concern for two races on the calendar with respect to gearing; this one, and the Selkirk Marathon. For as long as I’ve run 9 speed I used the standard 44-32-22 chainset and 11-32 cassette. Switching to a double limits both the top-end and the bottom end. The top-end isn’t a worry, but the bottom end is. HAH was only really doable for me in the granny ring last year, though I did manage it in practice using the middle ring, but decided it was too hard on my legs for six laps. I ended up going for a 40-28 chainset and a 11-34 cassette. This gave me a 21.41 inch gear as opposed to the 18.56 inch gear on the double. Turns out that this was more than low enough, worst fears averted. Much respect for Si Ernest who raced on a single ring, giving him a 36:36 lowest gear.

SXC 2010 Round 1 - Kirroughtree

The SXC kicked off at Kirroughtree for the second year running. Given my poor result at Kirroughtree last year, I wasn’t expecting anything great from it this year, especially as it was to be my first race of the season. The course had been greatly improved, with the long fire road sections broken up with challenging natural singletrack, and some of the fine rocky trails that were missed out on the last visit. There was even a few super steep loamy climbs to contend with, just my cup of tea.

The field was just as glittering as the year before, with Paul Oldham making the trip up for some early season action. At the start I knew Paul was right behind me, so I took it easy till he came past then jumped on his wheel. I couldn’t hold him for long, but got into the first singletrack in about fifth place. By the end of the first lap I was in sixth, and would remain so for the remainder of the race. I could see Giles Drake of MSC up ahead almost all the time, and closed within fifteen seconds of him going into the last lap, but was unable to catch him as little hydration meant I was suffering cramp pretty bad on the steep climbs. Luckily I had enough in the tank to hold off Alex Glasgow who had punctured earlier in the race.

I’m pretty chuffed with sixth place in the first race of the season, the preparation and training is definitely starting to pay off. Thanks to Steve and Linda at the Cairnholy Old Farmhouse for the fantastic accommodation for the weekend.

SXC Round 4 2009 Fort William

The fourth round of the SXC was also the Scottish Champs. I was hoping to reasonably well, maybe get myself a top five. This didn’t happen for me, as on the day my legs were not enjoying the three big-ring flat sections, and I lagged quite a bit towards the end, eventually ending up in eleventh place.

The course was awesome though, with the super steep start section, then some of the climb from 10 Under the Ben two weeks before. Then into an awesome natural descent, full of stumps and dropoffs to catch out the unwary. I honestly wonder what it would have been like had it rained for several days before the event.

Muchos respect to Andy Barlow for finally adding the Scottish Champs to his Palmares.

The SXC site has results, and images are available from Colin Robinson.

SXC Round 3 2009 Laggan

Laggan is not usually one of my favourite races, the big-ring climb straight up a forestry road with a man-made descent straight back down is usually pretty unexciting. But for 2009, a few hundred meters of natural singletrack had been added to the climb, making things a lot more interesting, and leaving a few people like myself on the ground.

First lap was straight up the forestry road, with the singletrack climb only being ridden for the remaining laps. Thankfully everyone kept their heads on at this point, and we cruised up before having a bit of a sprint in the final few hundred meters for the holeshot into the descent. I got into fifth position, which I held all the way to the bottom.

Onto the climb again there was a little group of five of us, with four riders up ahead. I blew apart the group I was in with a big effort on the steep part, so as I could be first into the singletrack. This worked well, and only Jack Richards and Bruce McLeary were able to come with me. Jack had a little tumble on the exit to the forestry road, leaving Bruce and I to our personal battles.

On each of the remaining laps Bruce would gain about five seconds at the top of the climb, and I’d take it back on the bottom of the next climb. This continued until the last lap where I caught and passed him before the singletrack. Unfortunately I followed Jack’s example, and went over my bars on the exit, meaning Bruce could put a couple of seconds into me.

Bruce ended up taking 4th place by the misfortune of James Fraser-Moodie who had a puncture. I rolled in in 6th place overall, first Expert.

The SXC site has results, and images are available from Colin Robinson.

SXC 2009 Round 2 - Aberfoyle

After my disastrous start to my 2009 SXC campaign, I was hoping for better at round 2. Things were looking up as soon as the course was announced way back in November; Aberfoyle! Compared to the berms, jumps and baby-smooth groomed trails of the likes of Laggan, Kirroughtree and Glentress, Aberfoyle is a mountain-bikers paradise. I shall bore you with descriptions of my pre-rides, the first was in heavy rain a few weeks before, which made the many steep and rooty descents slightly dicey, but altogether very good fun. The second was in dusty dry conditions a few days before, where even a sedate lap came in at under 22 minutes.

In true Aberfoyle style, it rained for the day preceding the race, and continued until at least midday of the race. Guess what? The course was even more fun! Mud made the previously easy bits between the steep bits into something technical themselves, and apart from one traverse which I chose to run most laps, it was all rideable and resulted in massive smiles on the faces of lots of riders. OK, so that’s the course looking good, how about the race?

I got off to a good start, settling into about 8th on the first forestry-road climb. For the next few laps I made pace with Dave Henderson (Pedal Power RT), sharing some embarrassing and at the same time funny moments on the traverse mentioned above. On the last lap I passed him going into the second singletrack climb, and put a bit of a gap in. We’d caught and passed Liam McGreevy (Banbridge CC) on the penultimate lap, but I could see him coming back, so I kept pushing hard up the last climb. Coming into the finish Liam was right behind me, and despite my best efforts (hampered by my choice to run large tyres finally causing my stays to finally fill up with mud), he came round me on the last corner to claim 5th, with me taking 6th (1st expert). Ace!

First year junior Kenta Gallagher (777 Racing) put in an awesome race to win the Expert/Elite category. Future superstar, right there!

Next up is the giant big-ring BMX course that is Laggan. Oh joy.

Results are on the SXC website.

SXC 2009 Round 1 - Kirroughtree

Kirroughtree was a new venue for the SXC, and given my previous racing experience on the trails, I was looking forward to it. The course was a mixture of some of the red-graded manmade trails, some natural sections, and a whole pile of forestry-road. There was little climbing or technical content, so it was never going to be my thing, but it still made for good racing.

The field in Expert/Elite was pretty top-notch, with Paul Oldham making the trip north to give us all a kicking. I got a pretty good start, and was settling in nicely. On a short rooty climb my chain dropped over the back of the cassette, despite not having done this on a ride a few days earlier. I pulled the chain back onto the cassette, and ran up the rest of the climb. While remounting I ripped the scab from my knee on the gear lever, which required me to stand at the side of the trail and think for a few moments. Jack (Richards) told me to get back on the bike, so I did.

On the second lap the chain dropped again, losing me more time. After this I used the granny ring on the same climb so I could stay in the middle of the cassette. I did go slightly wild chasing people back after these two bad laps, a bad idea in hindsight as I suffered for it in my last lap, losing about 2 minutes compared to my previous lap times. The last two laps were contended with a deflating front tyre, control under braking was almost non-existent on the last lap.

I finished 13th, not what I expected given my performances in previous weeks. Hopefully the next SXC round at Aberfoyle will go better for me.

SXC Round 7 - Glentress

Since I hadn’t finished a race at Glentress at the last 4 attempts, I had to give this round a go despite only ridden one other round at the beginning of the season.

The course was a less climbing-centric version version of last year’s, with a superb new rooty singletrack section that skirts the skills-area. I’d done two practice laps on the Saturday, and after a bit of tyre-pressure experimentation, I was ready to go.

The start was pretty brutal, big-ringing it up the fireroad. I was pretty near the back already, completely lacking in the power required to keep up. Once off the fireroad, things settled down, and apart from dropping my pump near the end of the first lap, I kept a steady pace.

By the end of my 4th lap my legs were really feeling the effort. A look at my watch told me if I wasted 6 minutes, I would get lapped, and thus could record a finish without doing another lap. After some soft-tapping, Gareth came past on his way to the win, leaving me to just cruise in. A little sprint with Richard grabbed me the second-last finishing place.

I realise this wasn’t up to my usual standards, but all I wanted was the finish, especially after a fairly sparse year as far as racing goes.

SXC 2008 Round 1 - Laggan

Just like the last two years, the first round of the SXC was held at “Laggan Wolftrax”: http://www.laggan.com/wolftrax.htm. No worries with the course then, the same fast fire-road climb, followed by the long rocky singletrack descent. But then there was the snow, which had fallen over the day before and morning. Luckliy by the time we got to race in the afternoon, there was only meltwater on the track, but a trip off the track would land you in snow. Fun!

The expert (yep, I got me an expert license finally!) race got off to the usual fast start, big ringing it most of the way up. Andy Barlow and Hamish Creber both made a good gap on the rest of the field by the top. I got into the descent in a fairly poor position, but wasn’t impeded too badly on the descent. For the next couple of laps I was loving it, doing the climb with Richard Macdonald, dropping him on the descent, then getting caught again on the flat sections. By the fifth lap, I was pretty cold, and was starting to lose my enthusiasm. I also had to stop a few times and pull my knee warmers up.

On the last lap I saw Alex McLean making up time on me round the top section, so I had no choice but to give it guttie and hope I could hold him off. He caught me just as we joined the bottom section of fireroad, but some sprinting action saw me keep my place for the lap. 13th place, not brilliant, but on-par with the sort of placing I had last year, albeit with only a month in the saddle this year.

Bring on Dalbeattie!