<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>XTERRA UK - Tri247</title><link>http://www.tri247.com/index.html</link><description>Latest xterra uk articles from Tri247</description><item><title><![CDATA[Gachet and Guillot win XTERRA winter European Championships]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_4615.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Jeremie Gachet and Myriam Guillot, both from France, won the inaugural XTERRA Winter European Championship at Chabanon in the southern French Alps on Sunday. The course, created by former XTERRA World Champion (and third place finisher at last year&#039;s XTERRA Winter Worlds) Nicolas Lebrun, featured a 5km run, 10km mountain bike, 5km snowshoe, and 8km ski mountaineering stage.  

Gachet a former junior Winter Tri World Champ, led from start to finish and crossed the line exactly six minutes ahead of Swiss Othmar Brugger.

&quot;When I realized I was stronger on the bike than the rest of the field I decided to put the pressure on my opponents taking the lead early in the race. But I realized the first place was not that comfortable and I have been looking back to see if someone was coming back for the rest of the race.&quot;

In the women&rsquo;s race Guillot (pictured), a world-class adventure racer, put a ton of time (more than 13 minutes) between herself and former Olympic triathlete Sybille Matter from Switzerland. Two-time French national winter triathlon champion Julie Arnaud placed third.

&ldquo;I had no idea if I could be competitive in such a race&rdquo; said Guillot. &ldquo;I am used to adventure races which are not that fast but I was happily surprised to see I was in front during the run. I always expected someone to come from behind and pass me on the bike, and then during the snowshoe. Only during the ski section did I realize I could win this race when I saw the gap I had on the other girls.&rdquo;

For more information on XTERRA ski mountaineering races go to: www.xterraplanet.com
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[XTERRA UK bike course]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3294.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[With XTERRA UK now just over six weeks away, Britain&#039;s number one male XTERRA athlete, Sam Gardner, takes a look at the challenging bike course for this year&#039;s event on the 21st June and highlights the changes that have been made from the 2007 course.


 
Out of T1 and you get a little warm-up on the only bit of tarmac on the whole course and the access road to the lake. Let&rsquo;s break those roadies in gently! After about 300m this gives way to a flat cinder towpath which crosses over the river to the East side of the valley, still nice and easy but don&rsquo;t worry - it doesn&rsquo;t last long! Overtaking is no problem at all. Very soon the course goes upwards on a forest road, the sides of the valley loom high above you and you wonder how nasty Gareth the organiser was feeling when he designed the course. Depending on your fitness this climb could be ridden in the middle chainring. The surface is loose but relatively smooth and is best ridden in the saddle. Three hairpins make you feel like a Tour de France star. So far this is the same as the 2007 course. A small descent is a welcome relief for the quads but instead of turning right into the singletrack climb as in 2007 you carry on descending for another 300m to make the next climb even longer!



At the bottom you turn right up another loose fire road climb which rejoins the 2007 course. The views are great from this track if the visibility is good. Keep those gears small and turning fast, these climbs go on and on! Pacing and a good rhythm are vital, don&rsquo;t go anaerobic or you&rsquo;ll regret it! After ten minutes or more climbing on this wide track you pass the entrance on the right for the quarry where the course went in &rsquo;07. This year the climb carries on even further, out of the valley to the other side of the hill where the same fire road descends for a short distance which doesn&rsquo;t offer enough recovery before the new &#039;impossible climb&#039;. This year the &#039;impossible climb&#039; is shorter, but equally loose and steep with no obvious line, the lack of recovery will make it very hard to ride in the race. This is the first section where overtaking is going to be difficult and it&rsquo;s 20+ minutes into the bike and only a couple of hundred yards long, great for us non-swimmers playing catch-up! This short singletrack comes back out on the original fireroad. This leads up a hill past &lsquo;Woodhenge&rsquo; where we sacrificed a young virgin as a pagan offering on the prelap (not compulsory on race day!).

At this point click on this link and find the yellow trail (Skyline), if you are out riding look out for the yellow numbered marker posts. &lsquo;Woodhenge&rsquo; is situated on &lsquo;Skyline trail&rsquo; at marker point 12. Continue on Skyline, climbing gradually past a working quarry (14), watch out when pre-riding as the lorries use this access road. At marker post 16 we turn left (still following Skyline) but leaving the 2007 course. This section is still a wide fire road and ends in a small descent before turning left into &lsquo;Granada&rsquo; (17). Before all these technical sections there are gates erected to stop motorbikes (see picture), these are concreted deep into the ground and won&rsquo;t be removed on race day. Granada has been made by placing big stone slabs all the way along the track like &lsquo;pave&rsquo;, most of these are fairly level but some have big gaps between them. When wet they are slippery, avoid too much front brake on the corners.
 
As you come out the gate at the end of the section make sure you are in an easy gear as you have to immediately turn sharp left (18) up a short hill. The descent (19) is fairly straightforward but it is rocky and demands concentration, just after you cross over a heap of shingle prepare to turn sharp right over a drainage ditch and up a hill (21). Keep following the marker posts up the hill (there are a few junctions), and at the summit (25) you&rsquo;ll see the &#039;dream catcher&#039; on the left. This crazy structure was apparently used in an Oakley advert and overlooks some fabulous views, well worth taking a camera if you&rsquo;re pre-riding. The same wide track undulates and dips into the next section of singletrack (27). Short and sweet by name and by nature, it&rsquo;s a shame there are motorbike gates at both ends to stop it flowing. More gates lead you to some great little fun turns on Riding High (29), but nothing that is hard to ride, it&rsquo;s only how fast you try to go that will make it more technical.

This singletrack leads into the third consecutive singletrack section &lsquo;On the Edge&rsquo; (30). All these sections follow the contours of the hill and you can see a couple of small lakes far down in the valley to the left. If you look left you can also make out the first long fire-road climb that you did out of T1. &lsquo;On the Edge&rsquo; can be very cold, it is high up here and can be very windy, check the forecast before race day and err on the side of caution. It has a few little steep inclines which can catch you out, especially as you&rsquo;ll be tired by now, and a few drops down to the left if you&rsquo;re not careful. At the end of this section you turn right off the ridge, into a little bit of shelter and across a couple of tracks, follow the yellow markers. There is one short steep loose climb (33) where you&rsquo;ll need to change the down the gears in advance.
 
The best place to get a drink or food stop on the whole course is after marker post 35. It is a smooth, fast, straight fire road descent, put those bottles away quickly because you&rsquo;ll be heading into a fast 25mph plus right-hand bend at marker 36. This is marked as a &lsquo;shortcut&rsquo; with red and white dots on the Skyline map.

More fire roads, mostly uphill or flat, keep the trail high until &lsquo;Handy Andy&rsquo; (56) and &lsquo;Grand Canyon&rsquo; (57). Both are fun sections through woodland, &lsquo;Grand Canyon&rsquo; is pretty rocky and presents a good argument for a full suspension bike (the long fire road climbs would be quicker on the lightest bike you could get though, so the jury is still out on what&#039;s the best bike to ride). Both sections should be ridden sensibly, they are technical but OK for all levels of rider; ridden too fast and above your abilities in a race situation and it will hurt if you come off! Look out for the crazy mushroom sculpture on the left at the end of Handy Andy.

Your battered arms will be praying for the little drop onto the fire road running parallel (58) and this offers the body some respite before the next singletrack section. &lsquo;Fast Forward&rsquo; is only a short section before crossing a fire road (61) into my favourite section on the whole course &lsquo;Joy Rider&rsquo;. At first you won&rsquo;t know what the fuss is about; &lsquo;this is a wooded climb&rsquo; you&rsquo;ll be saying. But it soon skirts along the contours of the hillside, winding around and then descending into some great tight S-bends next to a stream (take caution here, the rocks are always slippy and keep your weight back on the rocky steps). You&rsquo;ll be smiling as you exit the section! (62) Until you hit the next climb, that is.
 
Mike&#039;s Climb (named after Mike Dibens, who blew up so badly it was heard back at the rubgy club ) is not what you&rsquo;re looking for now. You&rsquo;ve been on the bike for a long time, ache all over and there&rsquo;s still a run to go? At the summit of Mike&#039;s it really is all downhill. A right and a left turn on fire roads lead you into a fast landrover track with distinct wheel ruts, watch out for the foliage overhanging the left rut (9). Those of you who did XTERRA UK in &#039;07 will recognise this as the main rocky descent on the course &lsquo;Heartburn&rsquo; (10). High speed with a liberal scattering of rocks, concentration is vital at this late stage of the game, especially on the two hairpins. These are the best place to overtake on the descent if you&rsquo;re still passing other riders.

Instead of turning left down the hill at the end of Heartburn you will turn right for a few metres, it looks like a climb, but don&rsquo;t worry you turn immediately left down a grassy muddy track. Your perfectly clean bike will need a wash after this section. At the bottom you go through the biggest puddle known to man, which you can go round to the right keeping your shoes dry, otherwise the water might well go over your pedals. This track comes out on the &#039;07 course again at a gated junction. Use this next section to have your final drink and eat before the run. It is wide grassy track with sweeping bends near the end. Look out for the sharp left which goes into &#039;Diben&#039;s Drop&#039;, a muddy singletrack descent, get over to the right hand side about 1/3 of the way down and when this gets dodgy move to the left 2/3 of the way down. It might be worth riding twice in practice but with this line it can be ridden safely every time. There is a small drop off as you go over the bridge at the bottom of the hill, weight back children! Then a small singletrack &lsquo;negative descent&rsquo; (I said there was no more climbing... Call it a false flat!) up to a well-surfaced fire road where you turn left continuing to follow the &#039;07 course, left over the slag heap, down the miners&#039; track (careful with the speed).
 
A flat singletrack leads you towards home, go up the bank round the fallen tree and bunny hop the log (come on our training camp to learn these skills). At the end of this track go straight over onto the wide track, then turn left at the junction and down the hill. Halfway down you turn left into the woods (check your speed slightly) and down the final descent, bear off right through the stream. Make sure you&rsquo;re in a small enough gear to get up the bank on the other side, turn right and into then T2 is in sight and it will be a very welcome sight come 21st June. Until you start the run that is, but that&rsquo;s another story!

For a look at a Garmin trace of the course see this page on Garmin Connect.

The guys took a small camera with them on the ride, here&#039;s a complete gallery of all the pictures they shot:



For more information go to: www.xterra.uk.com]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[XTERRA UK: the Shanley Report]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_2492.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Tri247&#039;s Paul Shanley raced at this year&#039;s XTERRA UK, having already completed Ironman Switzerland and Ironman UK, and provided us with this entertaining report.



Bore da (good morning in Welsh!)

Setting off from sunny Essex early on Saturday morning I couldn&rsquo;t help but think what I was letting myself in for. Last year I was so excited about racing an XTERRA race in the UK having read and watched the races around the world. I have friends who say that Ironman and XTERRA are their favourite races of all time and both do have their similarities. Although you might not meet too many people with an XTERRA tattoo (there might be some people??) both have events all over the world and offer qualifying spots to race the World Championships in Hawaii. The distances, of course, are very different but don&rsquo;t be fooled into thinking the 1500metre swim, 30k bike and 10k run off-road is not much different to that distance on road.

The other similarity is that the venues for these races can best be described as stunning. My experience of last year&rsquo;s event was very different. The weather turned on the Saturday to what only can be described as a hurricane (the Met Office might classify it differently but then they were not camping in a field) and the race on the Sunday was changed to a duathlon for safety reasons. The event was still good, but I have to say it didn&rsquo;t live up to my expectations of a world class race series. But I am the eternal optimist so I suffered the pain of the M25 and headed towards the valley of Neath in South Wales with hope that this year the rain would be a DNS.

This year&#039;s race village had been moved to the village of Resolven, a small village built around the rugby club (race HQ no less!) and nestled in the valleys of Neath. The race car park was in a large factory grounds with a short five minute walk to the rugby club. Not really knowing what to expect I was pleasantly surprised as I walked up through the terrace houses to have a number of the locals say hello to me (I did tell this story to the chairman of the rugby club who said the locals were very friendly but then they probably didn&rsquo;t realise I was English &ndash; I think he was joking). 

Race HQ was buzzing &ndash; Wales were playing Australia so it seemed the whole village was watching the TV in the function room. Registration was in the room adjacent and was well staffed and organised. One of the organising team had a badge on saying ASK ME which was a nice idea so I took the opportunity to find out a bit more about the bike course and how technical is technical. Having been told there were a lot of climbs and the descents were tricky but very rideable I got my first warning on the run &ldquo;Have you been around the run course? You have to be careful as it&rsquo;s really tough&rdquo;. The run course? I slightly dismissed his question and asked some more about the bike and just assumed he thought I was some kind of amateur runner, wet behind the ears. (I did nearly point out the eight marathons, the two Ironmans I have struggled through. I know running and I can handle a 10k off-road run).

Once registered, I took the opportunity to watch the remainder of the rugby and have a look around. The rugby facilities have clearly seen a lot of rugby over the years and although far from new, they do give the event a real opportunity to grow &ndash; there is plenty of room for an expo outside, lots of room inside for registration/pasty party/awards. There are showers (communal but I believe they are working on that for next year) and lots of space which was used for the campsite. They do say rugby is at the very heart of Wales so it is fitting that the race HQ is in rugby club. The finishing chute actually runs through from the goals post straight through the field. You can&rsquo;t get any more rugby if you tried!

Once the rugby had finished most of the locals came outside and drank beer in the sunshine and chatted about the game. The organisers then re-organised the TV room so that they could provide the race briefing and then the pasta party. The race briefing was very comprehensive with a good deal of time spent highlighting some of the more technical areas of the bike course. Once again I hear the words &ldquo;the run is quite tough&rdquo; but take little notice and I am soon tucking into a big plate of pasta, jacket potato and salad. Over the pasta party I got the opportunity to chat with Julie Dibens who was very relaxed. Julie has had an amazing season and seems to just get stronger and stronger. It is fascinating to hear about a pro&#039;s life although Julie said she has been doing so much racing and travelling it&#039;s all bit of a blur. I also got to meet Jim McConnel, another one of the UK pros racing. Jim was really entertaining with plenty of stories about travelling and racing in European XTERRA events. One of the main topics of conversations was about Sam Gardner and an injury he had picked up which might put him out of tomorrow&#039;s race. 

After much food I headed off to my accommodation which was about 30 minutes away. I had arranged to stay at the Dulwich College Field Centre which was where most of the pro athletes were staying. Arriving late at night I immediately when into the kitchen where most of the pros were chatting and introduced myself. Although very friendly I did sense a bit of tension in the air which I suspect is not unusual. It must be difficult to travel and live so close to each other yet still have to compete against each other on race day. Having found a spare bed I got my race kit together (lots of wet weather clothing just in case &ndash; today might have been lovely and sunny but last year&#039;s experience was still fresh in my mind) and then got an early night. 

Sunday Morning
The race was due to start at 10am which made a refreshing change and allowed a bit of lie-in. For various reasons I have found the majority of the races I have done this year have started early, getting me up out of bed at four in the morning so a 7am start seemed like luxury. I made my way downstairs and sat with the pros as they all had their breakfast. The mood was generally very good and we had a good laugh about what each athlete eats before a race. (Might try to get the editor to run this as a regular feature &ndash; &#039;what&rsquo;s on my breakfast plate&#039;).

This year&rsquo;s event was going to be a split transition, T2 at the race HQ opened at 8am so everyone could put in their trainers, while T1 by the lake was opening around 9.30-ish. From the race HQ T1 was about 2&frac12; miles away which gave you a nice warm up on the bike and then chance to chat to fellow competitors. Arriving at T1 the lake looked really inviting and the sun was looking like it was going to make an appearance. The only negative was the ground was made up of broken tarmac and was a bit painful on the feet.

The swim was going to be a deep water start so around 9.55am everyone had made their way into the water. The first thing I noticed was how the wind had picked up and made the lake a bit choppy, other than that the water was lovely and I mean lovely. It has to be the clearest water I have swam in and when I inevitably swallowed some water I was pleasantly surprised about how good it tasted. I was even tempted to bring some empty water bottles down after the race and stock up my fridge.

The swim course itself was a rectangle course with jet skis as safety vehicles. One of the corner buoys had been damaged so one of the jet skis had to be used as turning point. Just before the hooter sounded the start of the race I spotted Sam Gardner turn up &ndash; it was touch and go whether he raced or not, but even with an injury it must be hard to stop the pros from racing.

Just after 10am we were off and due to the clear water I found it a lot easier to swim behind people and take advantage of a little draft. As always I find the swim goes past quicker than you expected and that was very much the case today although I think that was more to do with the course being short rather than me being a better swimmer (looking at some of the pros times I think the course must have been around 1300metres rather than 1500 unless we have some world class swimmers doing XTERRA!).

The exit from the lake was a bit tricky with some rocks and the run to the T1 was also a bit heavy on the feet with the broken tarmac (there was some suggestion that the broken tarmac was deliberate to make the race even tougher but the organisers denied this).

After a far from speedy transition I was out on the bike heading down a fairly flat off road section feeling confident and happy after a good swim. In what seems like a very short time the bike course started to climb and climb. The first climb on the bike just seemed never-ending with lots of switchbacks. The one thing you can&rsquo;t ignore on this course is the scenery and it seemed the higher you climbed the more breath-taking it got (of course, the climb itself had a lot to do with the lack of breath). A 30k bike might not seem like a long way but the climbs were steep and never ending and the downhill sections were technical and energy zapping. Very soon into the first technical bit of the course I realised that I would have really benefited from riding the course before hand to build my confidence. As difficult as the climbing is, my real problem came with the fast technical downhill sections on which I would panic. I stopped counting the number of times I came off the bike after five &ndash; luckily only one was seen by another competitor and I did swear him to secrecy as it was a very flat bit of the course.

In the race briefing we were told about the &#039;Impossible Climb&#039; which I have to say felt like every climb and I spent a lot of time just trying to turn the pedals in any gear just to keep moving forward. I am a great believer that mountain biking can help your road biking, not only in power output but also your bike handling skills. Controlling the bike is an art form, knowing not only how to pick your line but also when to put the power down and when to back off.  For the whole 30k you really do get a workout and I felt I was spending a lot of time fighting to stay on the bike.

Wales really is a beautiful place and it would be hard to give the bike course the justice it deserves by describing it here &ndash; you really do have to ride this course to appreciate how nice it is. You also have to ride this course to appreciate how difficult it is and what it feels like to come in and get off the bike. My body felt more like it had been on the bike leg of an ironman rather than just a 30k.

Into T2 and feeling good that I had survived the bike I spotted Julie Dibens chatting to the officials by her bike. She looked completely relaxed and I asked her how she had got on as I ran past and she calmly said &ldquo;Oh, good, I won&rdquo;. I racked my bike and was feeling a bit gutted that people had finished and I still had a 10k to do (even if those people are top pro athletes that seem to be winning everything at the moment). As I turned to set off on the 10k Julie shouted out &ldquo;Good luck Paul&rdquo; which was just the encouragement I needed and I left T2 looking to blitz the 10k.

As I mentioned earlier, I can run. I am not the fastest runner, but once I get into my zone I can just keep going &ndash; uphill or downhill. After about five minutes out of T2 I was soon into the forest ducking branches, jumping logs and feeling strong. Out of the forest I came to the first major obstacle which was a river that came up to just above your knees. Wading in the water actually felt nice and cold on my legs and I started to get even more confident that my legs were in a good condition to attack this 10k.

My attack of the 10k didn&rsquo;t last long. After the river you had to pull yourself up the bank on a rope. Once up the bank it started to go uphill. And then uphill, and then more uphill and then more uphill. I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s just me but all I remember of the run course is hills. Yes on the way back we did come back down the hill but it was no way as long as the uphill bits. This 10k is brutal. On its own it would be a difficult 10k. I suspect the SAS wouldn&rsquo;t even train their troops on this kind of course as it&rsquo;s just too tough. My world fell apart, closely followed by my legs. Who on earth thought of this course? It was just never ending. Like the bike course, it is hard to give this course justice by describing it here. Yes it is beautiful, very - but it&rsquo;s also brutal, very. 

1 hour 31mins 57secs for a 10k. Part of me still can&rsquo;t believe it now. 

Will you see me next year? You bet, XTERRA UK is a tough race but it has all the elements to make it a world class event. I will be back but will be looking to do a lot of things differently. These are my top tips for racing XTERRA UK (I had a lot of time to think of these on that run):


Plan ahead &ndash; I did the race as an end of season wind down. Next year it will be booked into my schedule well in advance and will be one of my key races.
Get the right equipment &ndash; the last time I used my mountain bike was at last year&rsquo;s event and it is just not up for the job. I will making a trip to the official retailer www.tredz.co.uk for a nice new bike.
Ride the course &ndash; Technical bikes courses are a lot more technical if you have never ridden them before. Julie Dibens and Sam Gardner ran a training camp a month before this year&rsquo;s event and I will be booking in to their camp next year.
Run off-road and uphill &ndash; I am not sure where I will be doing my hill training that could possibly replicate the hills in Wales other than Wales but no more flat runs for me.
Listen more &ndash; when you meet someone with a badge on saying ASK ME, listen to what they tell you.
Be hungry &ndash; The hungry fox hunts better than a well fed fox (actually this isn&rsquo;t from me but something I heard Jim McConnel say but I liked it!).


See you all at the start line in 2008.





]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[XTERRA UK - what fun!]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_2458.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Paul Bennett reports from the valleys of South Wales on the weekend&#039;s XTERRA UK race.



Fantastic fun... It was, really!  Sunday saw the second XTERRA event to be held in South Wales and I led the pros for a short time! Oh yes, on the short ride to the start of the course I was definitely in front of them... If only I had maintained this lead after the race began!

Ten o&#039;clock in the morning saw the 160+ full course field set off into the wild. The race started with a quick 1500 metre swim in the clearest open water I have experienced in my, albeit limited, triathlon career. So much better than Sherborne, Wimbleball.. and oh, so much better than London... 

Back to T1, to change kit for the relatively short 18 mile bike course. 18 miles. Sounds simple, doesn&#039;t it. But this was no simple course. Oh no. After a short, flat beginning, we enter the woods. A lung-bursting incline that seems to go on for ever is followed by a short steep technical downhill. Survived, feeling confident. But then you are met by the second lung-burster, which really does go on forever. Wow! Then a second technical bit, and a third, and a fourth with only a few miles of easy trail between. The organisers warned us about the really steep final ascent. If only they had prepared us for the rocky bits, the bits that crossed rivers across the angle of the hill, the rutty muddy bits... Wow!

I took the opportunity of this complex course to catch and overtake at least six people, placing me about ten from the back of the field.  Strangely, all must have felt embarrassed at being overtaken by this panting, groaning, slightly overweight cyclist, because they all muttered about not having ridden their mountain bike for at least a year. Yes, its challenging, but it&#039;s do-able without being a seriously hard core MTB expert. But it clearly helps!

Anyway, finally back to T2. Now the nice simple 10k run... Something we can all do, easy and non-technical. Start off well, along the flat riverside course. Cross the river, pull self out by rope on opposite side, then start up the gentle hill. Up and up we go. Coping well... Finally, finish the uphill bit. Oh (*&amp;@&amp;^!  Did I mention &#039;lung-bursting climb&#039; before? Now I can see, and experience, the running equivalent! This is seriously challenging. Feel hypo, and now reduced to walking even on the flat bits that eventually come.

This is where the camaraderie of the XTERRA takes over. Two people come past, each checks I&#039;m OK. Then my hero comes past, sees my distress and whips out the thing I need most - a tropical flavour energy gel. Who was that hero? Don&#039;t know his name (memory is a terrible thing), but it&#039;s possible he read this before you. It was none other than Paul Shanley of Tri247.com. My hero.

Spurred on by the pathetically small, but necessary, gain in energy from the gel, I manage to jog, run, and occasionally stagger to the finishing line through some of the nicest running terrain one could hope for. 

I loved it. I was so far behind the leaders that I have no idea who came first, second, or even hundredth. This course is more challenging than 70.3, less tedious than a full Ironman. But while both these events have periods of boredom and careful conserving of energy, XTERRA will have none of that. Every moment is full on. Concentration on the technical bits, the sheer exhilaration of the fast technical bits, or the lung-bursting pain (did I mention that before?) of the uphills.

Bring it on!

There&#039;s a whole photo gallery of images from XTERRA UK on the SportySnaps website: www.sportysnaps.com]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Route of the Month: XTERRA UK]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_2283.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[With XTERRA UK looming ever closer we wanted to take a look at the bike course and see just what delights the organisers had in store for us. We despatched Sam Gardner and Julie Dibens along with Harry Wiltshire to take a ride round the loop with our trusty Garmin Edge and a camera and this is what they came back with. The Garmin profile looks like this:



Because there are so many photographs in this report we have uploaded the whole album to our Picasa site and it&#039;s probably best to have that open in a second window or you can watch them here as a slideshow. All the photographs are numbered and refer to the (n) in the text.



XTERRA UK has a split transition so we won&#039;t end up back where we started. Coming out of T1 (1,2) you will get a little warm-up on the only bit of tarmac on the whole course which is the access road to the lake. Let&rsquo;s break those roadies in gently! After about 300m this gives way to a cinder towpath, still nice and easy but don&rsquo;t worry -- it doesn&rsquo;t last long! Overtaking slower riders here is no problem at all.

Very soon the course goes upwards on a forest road (3,4), the sides of the valley loom high above you and you wonder just how nasty Gareth (the organiser) was feeling... Depending on your fitness, this climb could be ridden in the inner or middle chain ring. The surface is loose but relatively smooth and is best ridden in the saddle. Multiple hairpins make you feel like a Tour de France star. Just when you&rsquo;re finding your climbing rhythm the gradient increases and you go up a steeper narrower track (5) where overtaking is tricky or impossible. Luckily this doesn&rsquo;t last too long and soon goes into a short but tricky off-camber narrow descent (6) with three deep ruts running down it, which are difficult to get out of. Getting the correct rut will require pre-riding. I took the right rut and was hitting my pedals on the sides, it was also very wet the day we rode it and extremely slippery. Be careful if it&rsquo;s like this in the race, don&rsquo;t take risks overtaking as it&rsquo;s a short section and there&rsquo;s plenty more climbing soon.

At the bottom (7) you turn right up another loose fire road climb (8), which when we rode it went ominously off into the mist (9,10). I can imagine the views are great from this track if the visibility is good. Keep those gears small and turning fast, these climbs go on and on (11)! Pacing and a good rhythm are vital, don&rsquo;t go anaerobic or you&rsquo;ll regret it! After ten minutes or more climbing on this wide track you turn off right onto a narrower track (12,13) still going uphill! There are a couple of obvious lines to take and if you&rsquo;re not on these you will struggle with very loose stones and big rocks (14,15). Overtaking here could well be a problem and the track narrows further into a singletrack where passing is impossible.

As you crest the climb the singletrack is cutting through a lot of vegetation, it becomes quite technical and twisty (16,17,18) and was very over grown when we rode it. This should all be cut back by race. The path twists along the flat for 300 metres, then starts to descend (19,20,21) staying very narrow and the undergrowth obscures a lot of the bumps you&rsquo;re riding over. Luckily it&rsquo;s fairly straight and your speed will depend on your bottle, there are no major obstacles.

At the bottom of this track you turn left onto another wide fire road, the junction is obvious but the surface is loose as you turn. This track gives your pumped up arms a few minutes respite. Use it to recover, slipstream other riders if you can because all too soon you turn sharp left into &lsquo;the impossible climb&rsquo; (22,23). We all tried it and failed miserably! (24) With a rutted surface of differing size rocks and branches and a gradient that increases gradually, it disappears into the distance with the summit in sight but a demoralising way off. It is best to admit failure before you lose all momentum and jump off and start running with the bike (24). Something to practice in training?

At the top (25), leave a little energy because there&rsquo;s no downhill to reward you quite yet. A relatively flat hard pack track, generally two bikes wide but narrow in places (26,27) takes you to another loose fire road (28). This in turn is rolling (29) and leads you to a sharp high speed right hand turn (32) marked with a burnt out car (30,31) into a serious off-road section. It starts with a short climb with loose exposed rocks (33-36). Then a narrow path (37-39) runs on the left hand side of a grassy cutting through the forest, but the path was very muddy with deep puddles (40,41), and some better lines were available to the right. I&rsquo;ll certainly be pre-riding this section several times.

As the path starts descending it joins a track that has obviously been used by 4WDs and winds down the hill, through a small stream and turns left onto a wide gravel road. This leads up a hill past a working quarry (42), watch out when pre-riding as the lorries use this access road. You then pass an ancient pagan tree circle (43,44) which we christened &lsquo;Welsh Stonehenge&rsquo;; we sacrificed a virgin quickly and carried on climbing.

Soon enough you turn right onto another slightly narrower gravel track (45). This is flat initially but then starts to descend (46) and get a little more over-grown (48). You then turn right off this track, into the highlight of the course for most people, a great purpose made trail called &lsquo;Skyline&rsquo; (49-55). Considering the rain we&rsquo;d had, it had drained pretty well, and looped in and out of the forest, gradually traversing the mountain, the surface was pretty good and encouraged you to let the brakes off a bit. There are a few tight corners, so be careful, and one very tight right hand hairpin, but this can be seen well in advance. At the end of the trail you go through a permanent wooden barrier (57) and turn left onto another fire road descent (56).

This smooth descent gives your pumped up arms a chance to relax slightly for a minute or two until you turn right onto the miners track (58,59). With two ruts running down it, it can be difficult to change lines. Generally the right rut seemed better. Watch out, you will need to brake as some of the middle corners tighten up mid bend. 

The last few kilometres of the course have several small climbs (60) and some short technical descents, but beware after three hours of racing, and the big climbs earlier on in the lap, they do sap the energy. Concentration is essential on the descents because there are endless rocks that jump out at you waiting to knock you off.

Most of the descents are very rocky and loose, one in particular is off camber and very tricky (62,63,64) and followed by a steep single track climb (66,67). Look at where you want to go on the sections and not the obstacles you are trying to avoid! The few flat sections (61,68) in between offer small chances to rest, but even these have a few hazards like fallen trees (69,70,71) and slippery bridges (65).

All of a sudden you are in the valley floor again (72). You pass around a couple of murky ponds (73,74) and join a track parallel to the railway (75). This where the run comes out so you may see other athletes. T2 is in a different location to T1 and, being Wales, it had to be in the local rugby club (76).

All in all it is a great race course. Lots of different terrain, lots of climbing, Skyline is a great trail. I am very interested to see how long the laps will take at race pace. It could be an epic race! A good biker will win XTERRA UK, that is for sure, but most people should be able to get round it if they pace themselves. In XTERRA the challenge in conquering the course is as important as winning the race.]]></description></item></channel></rss>
