Shock, horror!
Returning to competitive mountain-biking after a twenty-year gap was eye-opening. Rolling, rideable forest tracks seem to have been replaced by technically-challenging ‘rock gardens’, steep banks with names like “Wolf’s Drop’, and downhill ‘black sections’ with A, B and sometimes even C lines. As I am technically-challenged, this all came as a bit of a shock. I rapidly learned that my new bike’s suspension was for absorbing a completely different, physical-not-mental, kind of shock.
Something ventured, something gained
Still, I thought I’d give it a go, and for the past couple of seasons have ridden in a lot of the British Cycling National MTB Cross Country Series (“XCO”, where O stands for Olympic it seems), and in the National XCO Championships. I have done ok in most of these races, gaining places on the rideable sections, losing places on the technical sections, and finishing in the top twenty a few times. No matter how hard I trained though, my technique was letting me down.
Nuttier than a Marathon
They say that life is a marathon and not a sprint, so, having just turned 60 years old, my eyes lit up when I read about the MTB Cross Country Marathon (XCM) championships. 85km in the Scottish Borders, with much of that in Kielder Forest – famous for kilometres and kilometres of gravel tracks. I signed up, and added longer rides into my training. My coach and I estimated that the race would take up to 5 hours and so we planned for that.
Getting your teeth stuck in
I eat a lot of pies (thanks, Ian!) and still only weigh 72kg! That’s because I train a lot – usually 5 times a week, with a longer ride or race at the weekend. In preparation for the XCM champs, I extended my weekend rides to 4 hours on the road, and 3 hours off-road – a few laps round Swinley Forest at full-tilt became my go-to ride. And I trained myself to consume a lot of carbohydrates whilst I was riding. I even did one turbo session where I swallowed a carb gel every 20 minutes just to get my stomach used to the sugar hit. I was drinking carb drinks from a Camelbak and water from a water bottle. Too much carb drink can make you thirsty oddly enough. I was also eating energy bars. Most rides were completed with furry teeth it has to be said.
Sell them before you tell them
The race venue was Rock UK Whithaugh Park near Newcastleton, just over the border in Scotland, north of Carlisle. It took me around 6.5 hours to get there in the car on a Friday afternoon. My wife and 8-year-old followed on the train, taking less time and drinking more wine! We stayed in a log cabin on site. Fairly basic (“like a wooden tent” my wife said), but clean, functional and well-priced (£160 for two rooms for two nights). The site has a swimming pool, sports hall and lots of outdoor activities (climbing, archery, canoeing, etc). Make sure to tell the family about all of these entertainments before casually mentioning that there might be a bike race involved.
So much for an easy ride
I wanted to ride part of the course on the Saturday so as to familiarise myself with the start, and more technical parts of the course. Whilst not quite at the levels of technical difficulty of the XCO races, there were some very tricky, rooty and rocky sections. It was dry and warm on the Saturday, but rain was forecast overnight ahead of the race. My legs felt great, I fine-tuned my tyre and suspension pressures and went to bed nice and early.
Don’t be alarmed
Another advantage of a log cabin over a tent is that very heavy rain sounds even worse on the roof, and so I was nicely awake at 6am. Still, the rain eased to fine drizzle whilst I was warming up on the turbo (“why are you doing that, Daddy; you’re going to be racing for hours?” He was right.) And that gave way to sunshine for the start itself. I had opted to wear a long-sleeved skin suit since there would be a lot of fast sections. This felt like a mistake as the sun beat down on the start line, but was probably just about the right choice overall.
Don’t get me started
Organisers never learn…100 of us lined up in a field, whistle blew and off we charged…into a 90-degree left-hander, followed by a bottom-gear, loose track. Safe to say that after the first 20 or so riders, everyone else had to get off and walk due to the congestion. A lap around the field, and perhaps an out-and-back along the access road would have strung us out much better. They have since promised to address that next year, and start us in the town instead. Right outside the pie shop, I hope.
Gruelling and fuelling
Overall, the circuit was around 28km (17.5 miles), with around 640 metres of climbing per lap, and we completed that three times: 85km and 1920m of climbing in total. And this was probably the hardest day that I’ve had in the saddle. The first part of the circuit was the most technical, with some wooded and rooty tracks, some steep banks, a long gravel climb up the MTB trail, and a fast, bermed descent back to the event venue. I had left a couple of spare wheels, a spare Camelbak, two spare water bottles and some brioche buns in the technical/feed zone. I ended up needing most of the food and fluids from there, as each lap took me around 2 hours on average, and it had turned into a warm day. I just about managed to get the fuelling right – drinking the carb drink almost constantly, having good swigs of water at regular intervals, and consuming a mix of carbo gels and brioche buns.
No comfort break
The human body is amazing. Despite swallowing close on 4 litres of fluids in six hours, not once did I feel like I needed to stop to go to the loo. And because I was mixing gels with “real food” (and perhaps due to my “eating training”), I only felt a slight stomach ache after around 5.5 hours.
Tense for tenth
It seems that plenty of people found it a tough day in the saddle, and abandoned after one or two laps. I must admit, I was pretty tired at the end of the second lap. Still, I had worked hard in training, and was greeted with “Come on Daddy! Are you having fun?” after each lap. So, I got around to the feed zone, changed Camelbaks, gathered my thoughts and pressed on. My legs came back to life and I started to catch a few riders. I saw a couple in the distance on the longest climb of the day (this was around ten minutes of gradual uphill gravel). I reeled in one, and then the other. It turned out that the first rider was in fact in tenth place in the over 60s race, and so by overhauling him, I managed to grab tenth place. I was pretty drained by the end of the third lap but really pleased that I had stuck with it.
Will I do it again? Will you?!
Whilst I am still aching three days after the race, I really can see myself doing this again next year. I learned a lot about pacing and fuelling – and the mental side for sure. It’s a great part of the world, with a day in Carlisle well worth the trip, Hadrian’s Wall nearby and a terrific restaurant that we found called “Hidden River Cabin”. It is worth noting that as well as the two races (Women’s and Open categories), there was a 2-lap Sportive. Same course, same experience, same official photographers and commentators. A hard day out, but ultimately very, very rewarding, not least on hearing my 8-year-old telling others, “my Daddy is 60 years old and just came 10th in the National Championships”.
Scott Heyhoe
August 2025