Mixed fortunes for the mtb’ers

It  was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the club members taking part in MTB events.    The team 24 hour event “Sleepless in the Saddle” at Caton Park in Staffordshire was a victim of some pretty awful weather with the circuit becomming a sticky, claggy bog thanks to heavy rain.  “Unrideable” was the general comment from the Audlem CC riders and they, like many others, “packed” part-way through the event – about 1am – a time when sleep depravation is at it’s worst!   For Tim who was racing on Exmoor it was all going so well – in the top 20 riders (500 entrants) approaching the 26 mile mark (only 12 more left to do) when on a very technical downhill section he fell  heavily when tree roots “grabbed the front wheel” and sent him over the bars.   Fantastic work by the Exmoor Mountain Rescue Team, Somerset Paramedics and Taunton Hospital A&E meant Tim received the necessary checks and care to reveal several cracked ribs and a great deal of soft tissue damage on his back and legs.   Happily the bike survived without a scratch- carbon fibre is very resilient stuff.      Tim is already planning his next mtb outing at the Dusk til Dawn 12 hour enduro at Thetford Forest in October – it’s not quite so hilly over there and hopefully the landing will be a bit softer