Manx end 2 end

Matt Simmonds, Jon Adams-Martin, Lee Howen, Jim Le Tip, Matt Akers and myself all ride on a Wednesday night as part of the WWW! Wild Wednesday Wheelers! It was suggested we entered the Isle of Man end 2 end event. The entries for the this filled in less than 24 hours, a record entry of 1700!

The route

We all arrived at Liverpool for the ferry early Saturday morning and with the windy conditions it didn't look like it was going to be a smooth crossing! It wasn't.... sick bags were handed out to everyone, drinks were falling off tables, Simmonds couldn't deal with Lee Howen's banter and had to make use of his bag! 

Queuing to board the Manannan ferry


The Team

We arrived in Douglas and let the stomach's settle before popping to sample the local ice cream on the sea front! We checked into our hotel and signed on for the race. 300 People had already dropped out so it would only be 1400 on the start line! 

We had to be up nice and early to get a bus to the start line at 7.30 am, for the start at 10.00 and it was pouring with rain with the hills covered in cloud! 

The start,
The top 100 finishers from last years event were set off and then the other 1300 started a few minutes later, Jim, Simmonds and I pulled a few sneaky moves and got ourselves started in the first 400 or so. We set off down the road at a serious pace overtaking loads of riders. The first 10 k of the 75 was on road and then the remainder off road. For around 5 minutes we held a solid pace of 25mph on the xc bikes! At this point Simmonds moved away and I didn't see him again till the finish line. The first half of the off road section was following enduro tracks through the hills, with plenty of big ruts, it was a good feeling riding through them fast and overtaking so many people! I reached the half way point in one hour 34 mins, so was pleased to be well on target to complete the route in under 4 hours and I was still feeling OK. 

Jim and I kept passing each other on various climbs and descents, before he finally put the power down and set off on his single speeder! 

After a solid 2 and a half hours there were some great downhill sections in fresh woods, nice wide turns allowed for some serious overtaking, I think I made 6 moves in about a 30 second section, but sadly it wasn't much use as I hit the next fire road and my back tyre went flat!

I was fuming, and couldn't get the tyre off, then the tube wouldn't pump up, after some serious time wasted I got back going........ but after 10 minutes the back tyre popped clean off the rim and stopped me again , so after sorting that i got back on track! By now my stomach wasn't feeling too good after all the energy gels and drink! 

3 hours gone I knew I must have been getting close to the end although there were still some big hills in front of me! 

I was still passing riders, with many walking up most of the climbs ,at this point, struggling with cramp. Entering some fast downhill field sections, my gears were having some problems, resulting in 3 stops to put the chain back on, so I was stuck with the first 3 gears, spinning away!!!!! the last time I looked at my watch it was on 3.43 , and the last few sections had some amazing downhills before it was 2 miles to the finish. I made it in with a time of 4 hours 12 mins, which I was pleased with after all the problems id had, so I finished in 123rd position overall and 17th in the seniors! Not to worry though as it was an amazing event, there were plenty of spectators cheering riders on all the way as well. In the words of Simmonds "I blew up" He finished in 3 hours 59 minutes and 45 seconds, which was a time in the gold category. Jim finished in 3.42 which was a very good time, but nothing compared to what Nick Craig did, 2 hours 53 minutes to win the race. It was also great to see Nick staying around at the finish to see most of the riders finish the event.

Jon, lee and Matt all completed it and were happy with their times, they also had many problems on route including punctures and snapped chains !

Some riding pics :
http://murraylambden.zenfolio.com/p1002707313/hf803bf5#hf803bf5
http://murraylambden.zenfolio.com/p1002707313/hf803bf5#h8ef16e4

This was a great event, very well organised and a great course! Cant wait to have a go again! Next up its a 100 mile sportive, followed by the final BDS race at Caersws and then another 100 mile sportive! All the best! Cheers Simmonds, Jon, Lee, Jim and Matt and Plentyskills for the bike!