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Sunday morning and the sun was shining. Five eager mountain bikers ready for the Overgate Hospice Challenge. We set off from Copley at 8.45am and headed for Elland, a steady 4 miles of road which would take us to the start. The huffing and puffing had started within 10 minutes of the ride Rob, (my best friend) was already lagging behind so it was going to be an “interesting day”.

We finally reached the start point and registered for the event along with 119 other riders. This was a far cry from the 250 that had turned up in the summer. Anyway, at this point Rob looked like his legs had gone and I could see the fear in his face as he went pale after having heard the sound of the starting horn.

9.30am prompt start and the professional riders were off waiting for no man. The five of us sat at the back and let the mass of riders ride ahead. We all met up within 5 mins as the mud had caused a bike jam. After 20 minutes and the gaps had opened up, we dropped down to Copley at about 9.50am which was a pleasant bit of downhill.

After that the course took us along the canal where myself, Pete and Hartie were wondering where Rob and Matt were. We headed along the canal and out of Copley which would take us up the bridleway towards Norland Moor. This is a killer climb for those who haven’t done it before as the last 100 meters are almost vertical cobbles but I managed to nail it this time.

I got to the top and waited for Pete and Hartie (father and son ha ha) who weren’t far behind and we all decided to have five minutes and wait for Rob and Matt (father and son). Matt appeared and one would have thought that Rob would be behind him, but he was further down the hill getting ready to push his bike.

As we waited for 15 minutes I knew today wouldn’t be the day for any personal best times, so I decided in my head that I would ride with dbriders. Rob finally turned up and there was another 10 minute break before we reached Norland Moor which was a complete mud bath. On the other side there was a food stop (Kit Kat and juice) another 10 minute wait..

We had reached the halfway point and we were now ready to get some speed up so we set off without Matt and Rob as I could feel my body temperature dropping. The terrain was now up and down and all the off road bits were completely covered in mud almost knee deep in places and the gears had finally stopped working (great)! The worst bit was 3/4 into the ride and the water and mud were flowing down the hill and they only way up was to push. There was a biker in front of me who looked completely gutted as cramp had got the better of him.

So I reached the top of the hill and sat waiting for my friends eating my flapjack, 15 minutes later Pete and Hartie were struggling up the hill and ready for home. Funnily enough we were on the home straight and knew that the finish line wasn’t that far, but first we had to cycle through the swamp. So it was a sprint finish back to the hospice and Rob and Matt were nowhere to be seen.

We finished in a time of 3hrs 15min which included over an hour of stoppages and Rob/Matt finished in 3hrs 30mins.

Looking back it was fun for this very worthwhile cause, a great laugh with a good bunch of lads but I would much rather do it in June.

Keep on riding….

Pictures From the Event

You can see pictures from the mountain bike challege click here!

Author:  I'm San, i am from Halifax, U.K. I ride a Marin Mount Vision 5.9 and my favourite terrain is dirt.

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