Epic Racing Mountain Bike Racing Team

Fire Service XC race

Epic Racing had four riders, Mark Price, Simon Price, Shaun Smith and Gareth Sanger, entered in the Fire Service XC race at Oneplanet Adventures mountain bike center in Coed Llandegla Forest. The course was a mix of the man made trails plus a large amount of fun off piste single track through the trees.
The weather was kind with warming sunshine the only reminder that it was the last weekend in October was the strong headwind which the riders encountered up the main climb of the course.
The start was a rolling start with racers jostling for position behind the lead out rider. As soon as a racers hit the main climb for the first time the flag was dropped and the race was on. Gareth Sanger made an early surge leading the race up the climb with Simon Price closely following. As soon as the riders got to the first off piste section Simon hit the front, making light work of the boggy conditions in the trees. It was from this position that Simon then dominated the race showing a coolness of head as well as bike handling skills well ahead of his young age, as he completed the 3 laps without issue to take the win.
Gareth managed 4th overall (2nd in the masters category), with Mark Price and Shaun Smith (in his maiden XC race) also riding strong races to complete the Epic Race team lineup.
All in all it was a great day for the team especially young Simon, special mention though must go to the race organisers and Oneplant Adventure team for a superbly organised and enjoyable event.

As always many thanks to our supporters and sponsors, especially Evans Maintenance and Site Solutions Engineering.

Schwalbe MTB Marathon Rd. 1 - Builth Wells, 14th April 2013

Now in its 14th year of running the MTB Marathon series and with a new title sponsor, 2013 started at its traditional home base of Builth Wells.
The start to 2013 had been fragmented for me. I had planned to complete several races and events by now but, due to illness and other problems, I had so far only managed to enter one race and had recorded a DNF at this.
The build-up to the Builth Wells marathon had also been far from ideal, mainly due to the snow which had limited my training to road miles only with all the trails around me being under several feet of snow. Despite this and perhaps even motivated by it, plus the need to get some off-road miles under my belt, I entered the 70km route at Builth.
The weather in the week leading up to the event had been good, although remaining colder than normal, it had been dry and sunny with the snow finally deciding to disappear, I was looking forward to the event more than ever.
Waking up on the morning of the event the good weather of the previous week had disappeared and I was greeted by rain showers which increased in intensity the closer I got to Builth Wells. Perhaps even more troublesome was the wind which was touching gale force strength. As I was planning on racing at the Welsh XC race the following weekend and not wanting to risk getting ill again, I had decided on the journey down to Builth Wells to drop down to the 50km route to limit the amount of time I was out in the poor conditions.
After signing on and preparing both myself and my bike, I made my way down to the starting line. The 70km riders (which had now been listed as 65km) were to start the race following the Mercedes-Benzes Vito van - the 50km and 30km riders would start by following quad bike.
The initial pace at the start of the event was steady and all riders where grouped up tightly as we headed along the initial road section. After a few miles the quad bike turned aside and let us go. With a group of riders I increased the pace as we continued along the road. The group gradually dwindled until it was just myself and one other rider, who was attempting the 30km course, left. As we turned off the road at Forest Fields and started the climb up, I could see we had a sizeable lead on the pack behind.
As I climbed up the hill I started to feel the full force of the wind which was trying its hardest to blow me back down the hill. At 6'5" it is not easy for me to hide!!!!
Near the top of the first climb was the first split between the 30km and 50km riders. From here on in I was on my own - the only riders I saw were when the 50km route re-joined with the 30km riders as the route weaved around the Mid Wales hills.
As the kms passed by, the conditions continued to worsen, with the rain increasing in strength and the wind never dying down.
As I passed the last feed station only the last quarry loop remained. I resisted the temptation to carry on unlike many others who were taking the short route along the road back to the event HQ. I finished the 50km having lead it from start to finish.
As usual many thanks to the teams sponsors, especially Evans maintenance and also Site Solutions Engineering.

Howies Coed y Brenin Enduro 2012

In its second year of running, the event is organised by the same team that have been running the highly successful Dyfi Enduro for several years, and those who ridden that event in the past can vouch for the insaneness of the both the up and down sections as well as the side entertainment that is associated with that event. If you are after more of the same you would not be disappointed by Coed y Brenin Enduro which at least matches if not exceeds the Dyfi in these cases, although without the Beer stop organisers please take note for 2013.

Together with fellow Epic Racing members Phil Pryor and Martin 'Toby' Laws I had entered the inaugural event last year, and being only the 2nd event I had entered found encountered a steep learning curve to both my physical endurance and technical ability.

This year unfortunately I was the lone entry from Epic Racing, but following a year of steady improvement on the bike I was looking forward to this event, hoping for a good performance but unsure if my legs had fully recovered after the tough 85km of the CRC MTB Marathon Series event at Ruthin two weeks earlier.

The weather conditions between the 2011 and 2012 events could not have been more different. The heat wave we encountered during in 2011 had long gone and in its place torrential rain had been falling over the course for the previous week. It was because of this that as I lined up just before the 10:30 start along with the 500 other riders I was still unsure if my tyre choice would be OK or if I should of changed for a more aggressive tyre tread for the expected muddy sections that where sure to follow, but I but that to the back of my mind as I looked around the other competitors and recognised some of the faces who would be at the front, including Matt Page from Team Wiggle and the 2011 winner Huw Thomas of Niner/Stans/Ergon UK racing team.

As the gun sounded we all headed up the initial fire road and then slippery rocky climb. This was the pattern of the trail for the first 8km, I had positioned myself amongst the first 20 riders in this early stage with the idea to get through the worst of the mud sections before they got too badly chewed up. After a fast downhill road section the first we approached the first of these muddy sections as after a tough woody section we reached the grass steep uphill section which had been tough in 2011 and thanks to the recent rain more resembled a swap rather than the field it should be. So it was a case of hike a bike up this section.

After this section we where rewarded with some single track descents, which thanks to the rocky nature of Coed y Brenin where in good shape despite the weather. The organisers had tweaked the course compared to the one used in 2011, and one of the changes they made was to replace a long road climb section with more fire road climbing and technical on and off piste single track descents. This made the course a lot more enjoyable, although tougher.

I was feeling good during the course and was steadily working my way past people both on the up hill sections as well as on the down hill sections, which I was pleased about as the technical down hill sections is a weakness of mine that I am continuing to work on.

After the second feed station I approached a rocky technical section called "Beginning of the End" which I remembered from the previous year as it led to the finish line at the car park, so having not paid much attention to the course map I allowed myself to relax thinking that the finish line would be shortly be in sight. I then looked down at my Garmin to view the time and distance which read approximately 50km, some 10km short of the course length, had the organisers measured the distance correctly?

As we went through the car park and across to the other side to Coed y Brenin to the Tarw section and started what was to be a 5km fire road it was quickly dawning on me that the organisers had in fact got the distance correct and that there was some 10km still left to go, and boy did it turn out to be tough! After working my way down the sections of the Tarw that the course followed, there turned out to be one final sting in the tail as I entered a section a woody section I had encountered early in the month at the Welsh XC champs. Back then it had been tight and boggy, now it could only be described as resembling the Somme. After gritting my teeth I finally made it out of the section and could see the finish line, never has the sight been more pleasing.

I eventually completed the 61km course, 12km more than in 2011, in a time of 4hrs 2mins 5secs and had managed to push myself up to a 9th place finish.

Osian's 1st race experience

After a night of marshalling the Exposure Lights Big Night Out it was back to Ruthin Rugby club for a couple of beers before a night in the tent then an early morning.
This being my first race I was unsure what to expect so I was a little nervous but the others seemed to be relaxed and the humour and mickey - taking soon took my mind off the challenge ahead.
I chose to do the 55km (35miles) race along with Phil, Ian and Jordan. I was reassured that " I would be alright ". Gareth was riding the 80km (50miles), a monster challenge for a monster man!
The race started at 10am with over 700 riders starting at the same time, tussling for their positions as we rode up Mwrog street round town and up to Llanbedr. By this time I was well aware it was going to be a busy climb up to the Moel Famau car park but I made it without stopping or falling and I was glad to get off the road and start finding my pace and rythm.
The course took me across the Clwydians over towards Moel Arthur to the first feed station, then we went down to Cilcain back up the Clwydians, Pantymwyn, Loggerheads, Clwydgate then the final decent down through Bathafarn Wood , Bathafarn Farm then a sprint over town centre back to the park.
I was so glad to see the Chain Reaction arch at the finish and the feeling of achievement was a little overwhelming, I guess that was lack of experience!
Jordan came 1st under 16s, Phil and Frazer were a second apart in 30th and 31st position. Gareth made it in 12th and I made it in a respectable 42nd.
I now can't wait for the next race and hope to race with the good company of the NEW team!!
Osian Williams