Bikedock Belles

Now that would imply that Taryn and Andrea were prepared for the event. Far from it!

a)     it was a lastminute.com decision to enter

b)     on arrival Andrea found that her helmet was broken

c)     the puncture repair kit was found wanting

Trailquests are off-road MTB orienteering events that involve teams (of 1,2 or 3 people) being handed a map at their start time, deciding upon a route and searching for checkpoints/ markers, that have various scores from 10-50 points. The aim is to collect as many points as possible in a 3½ hour timeframe.

Monthlies Debbie and Molly were also racing on Sunday, and were as unprepared as the Belles.

Molly arrived with a bike and SPDs that she had never used before and Debbie arrived having done a nightshift, had a quick 1 hour sleep before leaving for Saul, and was back on nightshift at 7pm Sunday. Respect! Unfortunately Molly was not sporting her bright pink Ding Dong bikini from the Tri A Tri the day before. Even though the sun was shining and the sky was blue, it was a bit nippy for such skimpy attire – and perhaps not the most repsectful on a Sunday morning while visiting churches around the Co Down countryside!

Molly and Debbie's start time was 10:44am and off they set in typical jubilant form. Despite experiencing punctures, which forced them to cut short their race given their lack of puncture repair kit !, they were as jubilant at the end with the coffee/tea and sandwiches. They may have been out for much less than the maximum time, but they had scored a high total – and most importantly loved the whole adventurous event.

Trailquests are fantastic races to enjoy the great outdoors, finding unknown corners of stunning locations on your doorstep, while getting as much or as little exertion and exercise as you want.

The Bikedock Belles started at 10:46am and on getting the map, the girls wasted 5 mins trying to find the start point! However they soon pedalled off at a fast rate and starting racking up the points – before two simultaneous punctures on the coastal Lecale Way path south of Ballyholme.

Both Taryn and Andrea had flat front tyres and swiftly started to change them. Not a problem if you have a correct size tube and a working pump….but Andrea soon discovered she had neither! The tube in her saddle bag was for a child’s bike and her CO2 pump didn’t work. Taryn, living up to her Be Prepared motto ?!, had 2 tubes and an efficient, highly expensive, world famous-branded hand pump that matched all of her bike kit!

The girls set off again, opting for a cross country route because they'd had 2 punctures and wouldn't get any more! Having limbo'd under electric fences they were almost out onto the road again when Taryn's back wheel punctured. The initial expletives turned into excitement as Taryn realised that with no spare tubes, she would be using leeches to repair the punctured tube before simply inserting it into the tyre again.

The inaugural leeching was quickly complete and the girls set off invigorated by handling adversities extremely well! The glee was soon wiped off their faces when 30 minutes later Taryn's front tyre deflated again. 4 punctures. Seriously?! Enough practice had been had already!

Given the proximity to the end of the 3 and ½ hour timeframe, Taryn and Andrea decided that because this one was a slow puncture, the easiest thing to do was simply stop a couple of times and pump it up! They arrived back at HQ with 5 minutes to spare and a good points total. Results the next day showed that the Bikedock Belles had come 5^th overall with 350 points. How pumped up are we?! Molly and Debbie had ranked an awesome 10^th with 160 points.

The post event refreshments are always fab and the chat is great, often centring on the route choice of the day. Martin Grimley, Dromara CC, said he had aimed for one marker that he'd been told would be accessible due to low tide timings, but when he got there the water level was quite high and his first thought was "no way am i going for that". He said that immediately his second thought was "a Bikedock Belle would swim or river-cross for it" ! Anybody want us to plan an extreme Trailquest ?!

Ding Dong!

ps click thumbnail to enlarge and use arrows to scroll through pics

Andrea