"Ok guys, it's going to be a mud fest
out there, let's swap our clip-in pedals for flats. That way if we
go arse-wards we can at least put a foot out to save
ourselves."
"Yeh, ok. But you do know its 10 minutes till the start don't
you?"
"Sure, it'll only take a second."
Nine and a half minutes later.
"We're about to start! Where the hell have you been?"
"Simone's pedals wouldn't come off, we'll all just have to be
clipped in."
Luckily the first part of the Helly Hansen Adventure Race involved running rather than riding through the mud. Charging through the grit-choked Surrey sludge at break neck speed attached to a mountain bike would come later, when we were one notch colder, muddier, knackereder and more likely not to benefit from clip-in pedals. But there was no time to agonize over this now.
Bang! The starting pistol saw us pound out of Hawley Army Barracks and through the woodland on the waymarked Helly Hansen Adventure Race. Panting beside me were my team mates, mountain and road biking mate Paul and his sports scientist business partner Simone, who was possibly the bravest/maddest person taking part in the event.
When the run was over, she would be splashing through rough, water-logged forest on her first mountain bike ride. With stuck clip in pedals. "And if this mud is anything to go by," I thought as my trainers slid over tree roots, "It's is going to be messy on the bike leg."
Our thigh muscles burned and we gulped in the icy December air as we sprinted into the transition, yanked our bikes from the railings and clicked into our pedals. Paul and I are both fanatical mountain bikers and enjoyed throwing ourselves round the ups and downs of the course, dodging puddles, trees, mud and other riders waylaid by these obstacles.
Simone rode like a beast on her first proper off-road ride, her tyres chewing up mud and coping with her obstinate clip in pedals valiantly. We made tracks through the mud as quick as we could, back to the transition again where there was a quick life jackets on, kayaks launched, paddle paddle paddle! section, where we may or may not have spun round in a circle a couple of times, before we were off again on the bikes. This time, although everything hurt by now, we were at least wised up to the puddles most likely to have you on your backside soaked in murky water.
And just when all three of us thought that the cold, the wet and the slitheriness couldn't get any worse, it was time for the final run section. It wasn't getting dark quite yet, so we knew we were doing ok. Calf muscles on fire and lungs to match we legged it round for one final lap, completing the plank walking and rope crawling challenges towards the end. Finally, the transition was in sight for the last time.
Now there was only the final challenge, a 10ft slippy wall, between us and the finish, but being 6ft and a bit definitely helps here so we made short work of the last obstacle and forced our mud-splatted bodies over the finish line.
We were elated to have finished, and even more elated to see that there were still teams finishing after us, to prove we were far from last! It was a brilliant day in the cold winter mud, so good that we want to do another one in the series. I'd recommend these events to all mountain bikers with a good fitness level who are willing to run a fair chunk and paddle a kayak.
One tip though - make sure your bike's race ready before the race! Our clip in pedal fiasco cost us time, and we saw a fair few teams with mechanical failures along the way. Whatever the state of your bike, the Helly Hansen Adventure Races are fantastic, well organised half day events combining great mountain bike trails with running and kayaking. Can't wait for the next!
To find your nearest Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge click here: www.trailplus.com
Images kindly supplied by www.sleepmonsters.com
Posted on Tuesday, 2 February 2010
