Mud, Sweat and Gears Codham Park 2012
On the Outskirts of Braintree on a miserable grey wet
Sunday, a crack troop of Mountain bikers from all over the Eastern Region had
assembled. Only some made it back.
Last year I referred to this round of MSG as the tough
Codham Park, if that was the case last year then what we had this year was the
bike destroyer. The course this year was being run backwards, which meant plenty
of climbing, climbing, climbing from the start before ducking into the first
wooded section, the surface in there due to the change in weather was so slippery
with very little traction, people were tail sliding everywhere, carrying to
much speed into any corner was only ever going to end in disaster, but with
some tight twisty bits and a nice little switch back climb it was enjoyable
enough. The middle section of the course
was fairly open and grassy which gave you some respite if you needed it, or
places to overtake if you didn’t, before heading into the second wooded section.
This section must have been so much fun in the dry (should have gone over on
the Thursday) with berms aplenty and even a rock garden to contend with, it was
as slippery in there as the first section, but the dirt was far more clay like
in substance, sticking and clogging up everything. After lap one my choice of
gears had become very limited indeed and on lap 2 I was left stuck in the
granny with only a few gears on the rear cassette available, everything else was
giving me massive chain suck, my rear chain stay has definitely seen better
days. After much frustrated gear shifting
I found it possible to run the large chain ring and nearly all the cogs
on the back without too much trouble and suddenly spirits were lifted, I could
gain some serious speed and momentum and
get back into this race. The climbs were much tougher in this gear but it
didn’t matter I had the legs for it, it was on. Puncture!! That’s right, two
exclamation marks. That is how frustrated I was. I pulled off the track feeling
defeated and deflated, looking around I was far from the only one.
