Builth Wells MTB Marathon Rd 1, 9 Apr 2023

The start was a mass start with both male and female riders doing any of the three distances setting off together so it’s fair to say there were a lot of bodies on the start line! I managed to position myself well and for the neutral section along the road I was close to the front.

The race really got underway when we turned right off the road onto a dirt track and began going up the first climb of the day. I knew it was going to be a long race so I would have to ride within myself up the first climb and not get sucked into riding along with some of the faster boys. I almost second guessed myself here when a couple of female riders came past me, but I stuck to my original plan, and it thankfully paid off as before we reached the top of the first climb I had already overtaken one of them and the other was just in front of me. At the top of the hill, we were riding into a cross headwind, so I was very thankful to find myself in a small group of men that were riding at a good steady pace. The gap to the group in front which had the leading female in quickly closed down and thanks to the men I was riding with it didn’t take too much out my legs.

Picture from National Series MTB: Man Down Media

On the faster section that followed the cross wind I made the mistake of following the wheel in front of me rather than looking for the signs indicating which way to go and we ended up going slightly off course. This split the group I was riding with in half but luckily I found myself on the right side of the split. The group then came back together on the first descent with around 10 riders in it. This came in quite handy as on the fast road section at the bottom of the hill we were able to pick up a fair amount of speed. We then began climbing again and one by one the group got smaller and smaller until there was only me and one other left. The climb then got really steep and quite technical, and I began passing some of the men. I knew once I had got to the top of this climb I had done the hardest part. The course from here was up and down rolling, the odd steep part but nothing like the climb we had just done, and we were now over the halfway point in distance.

I lost contact with the small group I was riding with on the descent, and they stayed just out of touching distance for a while. I couldn’t catch them but they also weren’t getting any further away. Then we got to a really technical descent that was steep tight and rather narrow and I could see that they were all riding solo now so I pressed on to try and catch up with them as I knew there was a fast road section coming up shortly. I managed to catch one of them but then dropped him up the next climb and I didn’t see him again. When we got to the road the group that I hadn’t quite caught very quickly disappeared up the road. The road section was that fast that I began spinning out - it was probably a good bit of recovery though for the final climb up to the finish. I crossed the finish line as first female (non-e-bike). It was a fun day out where I managed to pace my effort well and fuel well, and I finished feeling quite fresh.

Kim Baptista