10 under the ben, done and dusted.

I must be honest; I still have a big grin on my face when thinking back to the 10 under the Ben event up at Fort William at the weekend there.

This was the second 10Hr event for Craig and I and we didn't want to compete as pairs again as it's quite hard work. Fortunately though we managed to persuade Allan to come along this time and make it a trio entry. More recovery time between laps and someone to talk to when your not doing a lap.

To be honest none of have ever been to the XC trails at Fort William before so we didn't know what to expect; making things like tyre choice a bit more difficult for us. We knew it was going to be dry so that helped quite a bit.

The event this year attracted over 900 riders. An excellent achievement by the nofussevents team. And I must also say how well the event was organised. Nothing but praise for them.

We arrived the night before (Fri) and took advantage of the meal that was included after registration. It was a beautiful warm, clear night and the weather outlook for the whole weekend was sunshine. Now your talking. Ah.. Sun, Beer and Bikes!

The initial plan was to try and fit in 8-9 laps this time. Our training was a bit better than the Kirroughtree event. However, the rising temperatures throughout the day made it very difficult for everyone; with more and more teams deciding not to do as many laps as they planned. I'm also sure the laps were closer to 11 miles rather than the 10 miles suggested by the team organisers.

Both myself and Allan were trying new tyres for the weekend. Allan opting for the Conti Mountain Kings (2.2) and myself giving the Conti Race Kings 2.0 Supersonics a try. Very light and good rolling resistance. The Race Kings need a bit of care on looser surfaces and initially felt quite twitchy, but I thought they performed brilliantly in practically everything else. I was especially impressed by how well it cut through the mud, and cleared mud very well. My only initial concern was with thier puncture resistance, but luckily enough I didn't have any problems. Come to think of it, niether of us had any problems throughout the day.

The only down side to the race was the start. Because there were so many riders you have to try and spread the pack out a bit before they hit the trails. Often done by adding a long climb to the start of the first lap. But there was still a lot of waiting around as each cyclist waited thier turn to get through certain sections of single track. A lot of teams were showing first lap times of 45-50 minutes more than any proceeding laps. Quite a difference!

Anyway, we just completed 6 laps and then called it a day at that. The heat was definately having an effect on a lot of folk. Fortunatly though, our lap times were definately better than at Kirroughtree in 2008 with a bit more consistancy between 1st and 2nd laps.

We are definately signing up to Kirroughtree this year. However, Allan will not be entering this time so it will be down to Craig and I again to get the Team Fullsus.com times up the board. We will look at 10 under the ben as a training exercise.

Anyway, make sure you check out our photos on our Photo Gallery.