ACE Races 2 day Series - Lake District
Solo Success
Clive Hughes / 28.08.2007
The two day ACE races have suffered this year with the poor weather and it was a tribute to the organisers that spirits were high as we attempted for the third time this year to battle the elements as well as the course.
Base camp was in a good field, by a river in the Lowther Estate.
At registration, the maps were issued and my first reaction was surprise at the potential size of the mountain biking as anyone who has ridden using an A3 1:50.000 sheet will agree. In fact the logistics sheet said that the Saturday comprised :
2.0 Hr Mountain bike Trailquest [max 30 minute transition (remote)]
2.5 Hr Kayak Navigation [max 30 minute transition(remote)]
2.5 Hr Mountain Navigation
1.5 Hr Night Navigation
So we would have to carry running shoes (or ride in them) and be out on the hills for 8 hours before returning to base for the Night Navigation stage.
The weather was drizzle with heavy showers so I chose Skinfit Long Sleeved Klima under a Vento Jacket and Tri Shorts under cycling shorts (remove on run). Full waterproof would have been too sweaty at race pace and I anticipated that the warmth afforded by the PFD when kayaking would be sufficient.
The checkpoint grid references were handed out Saturday AM, and after plotting, it was clear that the mountain bike was actually quite compact and with only one checkpoint out on a limb looked like a fast ride was going to be needed. There was also a very crafty out of bounds on the road leading to the Kayak, which meant that the run in would be off road for everyone and potentially time consuming – an important consideration with high penalties for overrunning the 2 hr time limit.
More or less the whole field took the same initial course, and in a split decision I decided to omit a 2km round trip to a 40 pointer (500 available in total) to give myself a chance at the 70 points available at the top of ‘High Street’. When I arrived at the crux point at the foot of High Street the track looked bad, boggy and undefined, and after an initial probe I decided it was a dead loss and to keep my powder dry for the race had a long way to go.
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