Sammy Bryant (Marin) had to get special permission for time off school to race the final round of the NPS and the marathon series at Coed y Brenin in North Wales. With a fourth secured in one event and a podium finish for the other it was time well spent. With permission from the school to travel to Wales on Wednesday 19th we set off with the caravan and arrived at Dolgellau at 3pm to set up camp in the rain.
Sammy Bryant making a splash!
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During the night the rain kept falling and when we woke up Thursday morning the rain was coming down even harder.
We came down early to Coed y Brenin on advice from friends and experienced riders who told me I had never ridden anything like the terrain making up the course.
By 10am I was ready to practise the course only to be informed the trails used for the NPS were off limits! With help from a forestry warden I was told to ride the MBR trail as everything on this trail more than matched the NPS circuit.
I set off by myself as there were only six cars at the centre and dad said he would meet me at the lower river crossing. I thought the course was amazing with all the rocky sections as you didn't know what was around the corner, severe rocky descents, drop offs onto rocks, sharp severe hills, fast downhill sections, with a mixture of short fire road links between the single track with plenty of tree roots and a scattering of rocks. The trails in Coed y Brenin really are something special!
Really feeling excited by the course, and not wanting to over-train, we left Coed y Brenin and went back to the caravan for a shower and to then go sight seeing in the local area and places of interest.
At last the rain had eased up! But on returning to the caravan at about 7pm the wind and rain was lashing the caravan. This was Wales then!
With a bit of a lie in on Friday morning we arrived at Coed y Brenin at about noon and were unable to find the course or signing on, just other entrants as bewildered as we were. Finally, two hours later, the signs appeared and things started to happen. Riding my Marin East Peak on Continental Speed King, as set up on Thursday, I set off around the marked out course.
Three quarters of the way round I met my dad and I was totally gutted! This course was nothing like the MBR trail - this was just a monster long climb up a fire road with a fire road decent and then more fire roads up and down linked by two small sections of single track. The only good bit was the last quarter back to the finish line with rocky paths and rooty single track - what a great big disappointment!
This was another power rider's course and was not going to suit me. I changed bikes to the Marin Pine Mountain fitted with the Continental Speed Kings and set off for another lap and decided to use this bike for the NPS XC round the following day.
Saturday morning soon came round and the six youth girls lined up on the grid; the start gun was fired and we took off up the long climb and, as I feared, I found myself in fourth position with the first three girls powering away up the hill and going out of sight .
I kept pushing on but could not make any impression on the growing gap, the only good thing was the course had dried out from a flowing river to linked puddles. At the end of the first lap I decided just to finish the race but save my energy for the following day, this was another race to forget about.
I finished in fourth place and fourth overall in the series and very disappointed, so things had to improve for the 25km marathon race on Sunday.
On Sunday morning we arrived at Coed y Brenin at 10am and had to park back in the forest at the visitor centre and walk the mile and a half to the race venue taking everything we needed with us.
After the pounding my back and wrists took on Saturday I decided the only bike to use was the Marin East Peak on the Continental Speed Kings, and with a few tweaks to the rear suspension air pressure I was happy with the feel of the bike.
At 12.10 the 25km race started on its own after all the other races; the course was the same as the previous day with an extra fire road loop - oh what great joy!
Again the power riders attacked the long climb and I rode as hard and as fast as I could, and - just like the day before - I found myself in fourth place.
Pushing as hard as I could the Marin made light work of all the rocky single track and rooty sections and I still felt fresh to attack the climb for the start of the second lap. With the three riders out of sight I just kept pushing on, out the back of the course I was told I was in third position as Hannah had punctured but would not be able to catch the first two riders.
Third place was a podium position and I was not going to lose it. I just pushed on even harder, at least it felt like it, and finished in third place and third overall for the series.
The only moment things went wrong was when my team mate Billy shouted riders on a very narrow single track and as I moved to one side I disappeared into a ditch which Billy thought was funny until he found out after the race it was me!
Standing on the podium in third place and overall in third place for the series at least felt better than on Saturday that's for sure.
I would like to thank Bradbourne School for allowing me the extra time off school, Marin for the bikes and support, and Continental for the superb tyres which never punctured once over the four days of use.
S.A.M
