Endurancelife Coastal Trail Quest
Pedalling Across Purbeck
Alli Northcott (Team: Bigpeaks.com/Innov8) / 18.11.2008
At the last minute I’d decided to enter the first Endurancelife Coastal Trail Quest event. With the prospect of 5 hours in the saddle I rushed into the workshop needing a few adjustments and repairs to my trusty Anthem (thanks Phil, Paul and Rich ... sorted!) 45mins later I set off, bound for Dorset in a horrendous rainstorm blowing east along the A38.
Being a big fan of MTB orienteering type events and having been in this neck of the woods for the DAR 12 hour event earlier in the year, I knew this was a good venue for some decent riding, a few sharp hills and plenty of great views over the south coast.
I arrived in Worth Matravers at about 10pm and set off to check out the race base, which just happened to be a magic little pub that served a fine home made cider. It would have been easy to get carried away with the live music and friendly locals, however eventually I retired to a wild windy night in the local car park!
With registration between 8.45–9.45, people began to arrive as I awoke. A steady flow of competitors filed into race base to be given maps and race bibs. As always the Endurancelife team greeted us all with smiles and efficiency, despite having to relocate the registration after most of the original race base setup had become a casualty to the very strong overnight winds.
The use of the Sport-ident electronic timing system allowed us to start anytime between 9.00- 10.00. With 4mins left in the start window … I was ready! Having looked at the map, I planned a course to clear. As I took my first pedal strokes into the force 8 south-westerly (honesty), I started to have a few doubts ...
The first hour was tough, with controls resulting either in a fierce battle against the wind, or on bridleways that with my very poor (summer) tyre choice, were un-rideable. I slipped, fell off, fell over, face planted, pushed and finally dragged my bike, so encased in mud that the wheels would no longer go round - this was going to be a test of endurance. I just hoped that it wasn’t going to be like this all the way!
With the combination of some very heavy going, soft ground and over-enthusiastic navigational errors, I’d made very slow progress in the first hour and was behind on my race plan. With 2 hours gone, I dropped a planned control. I’d also forgotten to eat and so whilst looking for the rusty buoy hidden behind some wild windsurfers down in Kimmeredge Bay, I necked one of them gel things.
SleepMonsters
