14TH May PSSA Cycling travelled to Manley Manor in Hampshire for the 2022 Torq in your sleep mountain bike XC endurance race. Five riders in two pairs and one solo would race for 6 hours nonstop around the 8 mile course consisting of sweeping flowing trails, gravel climbs and one or two technical sections. The weather was perfect, blue skies and sunny with very little wind. The course was running fast as well with the trails all bedding firm, offering loads of grip.
At 15.00 Max, Simon and Steve lined up on the start line with approx. 200 other riders. An extra 1 mile loop was added before the main course to try and stop any bottle neck on the first single track. In the first forest section Steve hit the deck due to losing the front wheel in a corner and Simon had to take emergency action following another rider crashing in front of him in the same section. Luckily both made it onto the first long gravel section unscathed. The first lap was a real fight trying to get past riders who had gone too fast and were now slowing down and more crashes. However, both Simon and Steve did well and waited their time to get past and jump over to the next groups ahead of them.
After the first lap, the field was well spread out and the race started to settle. Steve handed over to Josh and Simon passed over to Paul. The second was a bit calmer with more space on the trails and not much traffic led to both Josh and Paul putting in very fast laps. The race now settled and the teams pushed hard. All four riders were very consistent with lap time and were able to make up a good position. Due to how dry it was, the dust was starting to become a problem with the trails turning up a little in the corners. However, the odd spray of water from the bottle gave some respite from the red blood dry eyes.
At 19.00 it was lights on, although it wasn’t dark in the open fields and fire roads it was getting dark in the thick forests sections. The guys pushed on with Steve and Josh in a real dog fight with second place and catching them. On the last lap Josh had 4 minutes to make up on the now tiring second place team. Simon entered his last lap with an hour until the course closed and knowing that there would be no time for another lap and approx. 40 minutes ahead of 5th place it was a case of getting around safely.
Josh putting in his second fastest lap of the day to finish and we were unsure if it was enough for 2nd. However he was just short finishing 13 seconds behind 2nd place. 13 unlucky for some. Simon managed the final lap well and was lucky to stay upright after another rider crashed half way through the A line on a technical section forcing him to come off line. However, no need to push hard so a steady last lap saw Simon secure 4th place with Paul with Josh and Steve finishing in a brilliant 3rd place in a very strong men’s open category.
All eyes now turned to the live running results to see how Max was doing. Max is an established endurance racer and was in a tight battle for the win with the second place rider. The two had spent the last 5 hours riding together trying to break each other but both reacting to each other’s attacking, in the end it came to a last lap dog fight and Max jumped clear taking time out of the other rider. A super strong ride saw Max take the 6 hour solo win 4 minutes ahead of second place.
This was the team’s best ever team results at a mountain bike event 3rd, 4th and a solo win EVER. What makes it more impressive was this wasn’t a race against other services but all the big UK mountain bike teams and riders in the UK and goes to show that the talent is there in the Service for us to enjoy great success.
As always, we must say thank you to the PSSA finance committee for their ongoing support and our two sponsors Nopinz and Fenwicks bike products. Thank you for your ongoing support.
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