Ardennes Trophy

First up was the Ardennes Trophy, an RWP cup marathon in Theux. This will be my first return to the Ardennes since the Houffamarathon of 2010, the first marathon I have ridden. I have been in the ardennes before and knew this will be a challenge. Unlike the german marathons. Ardennes marathons have steep technical climbs on single tracks. This makes climbing an order of magnitude harder then german marathons. And as I said before, climbing is my biggest weakness. Physical was going to be a challenge then. Mentally I thought this will be easier. The Ardennes are quite beautiful, and I was expecting to be riding singletracks for most of the marathon. That always makes it easier for me to stay motivated. All that beautiful sights around helps me to stay motivated and to remember why I am doing this. Also, I had the great pleasure of sharing this weekend with Tim.

Tim is an experienced marathon rider, having been doing this a few seasons now. In the car on the way to the fabulous glamping L’Escargot we had time to talk about racing, tactics and other bike stuff. Tim was displeased with his last marathon and was looking forward to see how this marathon would be like. Tim told me how he plans he’s marathon, and I wanted to try it out. It is quite different then how I have, till now, paced myself, so it would be interesting to see how it all went. After making sure the bikes were ready for the race, and eating our bowls of pasta we went to bed

The weatherman predicted rain, and a somewhat cold day. Luckily weathermen can be wrong. The day did begin chilly but it was warming up to around 17 degrees, and even though the sky was mostly grey, here and there were blue spots. Just perfect. Tim had chosen to ride the half marathon (70km, 1800hm) and I was going for the full one (90km, 2400hm), so I was starting an half hour before Tim. Around 5 minutes before the start, I took my place at the starting grid. These moments are for me the hardest. Everything is focused on riding, but I am not going anywhere. I try to keep my heart rate down, and it is working somewhat. Clicking in, last check that everything is in order and we are off.

The first part is as usual a climb. This helps spread the riders, and make the transition to the singletrack easier. After 10km Tim coms zipping buy. “Damn that guy is fast” I think to myself as we throw an hello at one another. I won’t see Tim again for a few hours. The course was technically challenging, as I expected it to be. It was also great fun. The hardest part was the finish, and not for the usual reasons.

Following’s Tim advise, I increased my pace at the last 10 km. I was passing people as the finish line came closer and closer. I knew it was not far anymore and even though I was feeling tired, I kept my pace. And there it was, the last descent. I could see the village just bellow me, I went full speed down, passing the 90km sign. “Thats it”, I thought, I am finished. I came out of the singletrack into the road, and right across into one heck of a climb.

I really wasn’t ready for this. I was expecting to be finished after the descent. I was exhausted, and I was not going to give up. So I got my chest down to my handlebar and went for it. Behind me I could three guys trying to decide if they were going for an end sprint. “Don’t you dare”, I was saying to them in my head. Either they didn’t, or I was to fast, either way, they didn’t pass me. Coming out of the woods to the finish plato I saw the guy in front of me was just 20 meters ahead. I head 250 meters to go. “I am going to get him!”. Hammering the pedals, ignoring the pain in my legs, I passed him just before the finish. Tim, Marian and Coen were waiting to congratulate me for finishing. Tim got me a beer and a hot dog. It tasted like heaven.

In the car back we talked about the race. Tim was also pleased with his result. It was a successful weekend for us both. We also talked future plans, which, as it turns out was really good.

Raid Des Hautes Fagnes

When doing a marathon, doing anything less then the full distance makes me feel like I am taking the easy route. So, when registering for the RDHF, I naturally registered for the 115km. I was not aware of the reputation this marathon has for being difficult and technical. Talking in the car on the way back to from the Ardennes Trophy, Tim told me he never did the 115km and was quite impressed with me choosing to do that. Which got me worried. If Tim, who is definitely a better mountain biker, decided not to do it, can I do it? Eventually I decided to switch to the 90km, mostly because the week afterwards I was going to ride the Allersheimer marathon, an RWP cup race. In retrospective, it was a very good choice.

The day before the race Paula and me rode to Belgium. I was so happy that Paula joined me. With me gone quite a lot for marathons in Germany and Belgium it was fun for her to join so that she would understand more what actually happens on such a weekend. We chose to sleep at the same camping I did with Tim for the Ardennen Trophy and again it was great. Sunday morning we woke up early and headed for the starting area. Paula was quite surprised by the amount of people there, She was really excited to see that many people, all sharing a passion for mountain bike marathons.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, for this race I got an Epic 29er as a test bike. For me this is the first time riding a 29er, and I was quite curious to see how it feels to ride. I loved the epic elite I tested a few weeks ago and so was having high expectations for the ride. After a short warm up I kissed Paula for luck and got to the start zone. Having Paula there at the start was great. Feeling more excited then usually I started on the race.

What an amazing marathon this is. The race starts with a climb, Like it most marathons. However, it quickly became clear that this is no normal marathon. Lots of single tracks, most of them quite technical. The numbers were similar to the Ardennen trophy, 90km, 2200hm. The actual situation was quite different. The route here was a lot more technical. Some parts were completely impossible to ride. the rest was never easy. It felt almost relentless in its technicality. Loose your concentration and you crash.

Meanwhile the Epic 29er was proving to be quite an interesting ride. It does roll over obstacles a lot easier, which is good. Then again turning it feels like trying to turn a heavy truck, which is bad. At the of the day I just couldn’t like it as much as I liked the elite. Once you get accustomed to it, I can believe it will be faster then the elite. What this bike did not have was joy. It was full of seriousness I do not feel when riding my mountain bike. At the end of the day I just couldn’t like it. Back to the race.

It was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful ride I had in the Ardennen so far. And it was exciting and challenging and hard. Crossing a river then going under an old bridge, going through beautiful forests, it was the an experience. It took me an hour longer to finish and I was much much more tired then the Ardennen trophy. Next year, I am coming back, better prepared.

Allersheimer Marathon

Next up, a week after the RDHF was this RWP cup marathon. If you have not heard of this one, I wouldn’t be surprised. Its a small scale marathon in north germany. Tim and Marijn went for the half marathon (one round), while I went for the full one (two rounds). For me, this was one to forget. The course was muddy, and boring, the weather was cold and rainy. I came somewhat unprepared for this condition. My wind jacket was not enough to keep me dry and so 2 hours in I was completely soaked. Even worse prepared was my bike. I was still using 2.1 racing ralphs from the last marathon. The RR might be a brilliant racing tire, but in the mud it just doesnt work. I was sliding all over the place. Grip was nowhere to be found.

Tim and Marijn did quite well, both finishing quite high on the RWP cup class. As for me, well I was still tired from the RDHF, I got lost on the way, which costed my 20 minutes, I didn’t eat enough, and I ended up finish dead last, DNF not included. For the first time. My motivation was at an all time low. I did however, learned to pay better attention to the expected conditions and to come prepare. This may sound obvious yet somehow it escaped me. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way I guess.

Bonus: Epic 29er review

As I mentioned, I rode the RDHF on an Epic 29er thanks to Jurriaan who arranged the test bike. I have never ridden a 29er before, and so was curious as to see what its like. Before the race I did some laps on it and was very impressed. I even told my wife just before the start “This is the best bike I have ever ridden”. Things however are not as simple as they first appeared.

Still I want to start with a short technical overview. The has a somewhat different setup from the Epic Elite I tested. The rear uses a through axle, and uses SRAM X-9 instead of Shimano’s XTR. The fork is a RockShox Reba and not a SID.

Let me take you through the points which are the 29ers advantages:

• Maintaining speed – A bigger wheel maintains its momentum better, making it less hard to maintain speed.
• Obstacle engagement – A bigger wheel has a better attack angle for obstacles, making it much easier to roll over them.

I did not notice a real advantage in maintaing speed, though I am sure that the physics are correct. I definitely felt a difference in rolling over obstacles. It makes a much bigger difference then you would think. I noticed it mostly while descending. Going down at high speeds, it was possible to easily attack rocks and roots, that would normally take effort en braking, with little speed loss. Also going down stairs is easier, with the bigger wheel. There are however certain downsides to the 29er:

• Less nimble
• Heavier

The heavier part as not true for me as my Rockhopper is heavier then the Epic 29er. For me it was a lighter bike then I am used to. The nimbleness I did notice. A lot. I am, as of now, not that skilled of a biker yet. It may very well be so that if you are really good at handling your bike, that you will notice this much less, or will be able to compensate with your own body. I, however was not able to.

At the end of the day. Event though it did perform well in the race (I doubt if I would have finished it on my Rockhopper), I just couldn’t like the bike. It felt like an efficient, heartless bike. I can see why you would choose this bike. It’s just not for me. It takes a lot of the fun out.

• The icon: Clear and unique enough to not be confused with other apps. The icon is definitely beautiful, though in my opinion it could have been a bit more abstract.
• Setting up: Setting up is as simple as logging into your google account. Works well.
• Usage: The app is responsive and slick. It feels fast and the UI is very natural. I cant imagine going back to Google Reader.
• Sync: Syncing works really well. I can’t remember having any kind of trouble with it.

As I mentioned before, Byline also caches the feeds so that you can read while offline. Traveling around europe regularly, it is possible for me to use my rss reader without the need to pay ridiculous amounts of money for roaming data (1 voor 100kb).