LIMBC 2011

The Langkawi Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) is in its second year and going 'great guns' for such a young event. Fortunately for the organisers, they hit the main bullet points of any stage race by having a central 'home base' to allow rider interaction (the luxurious Bayview Hotel, Langkawi, that smacks all over camping as is the norm on many stage races), good (safe) food and lots of it, stages that started on time and they mixed it up a little with the stages which was a nice change. The downers are that the stages were not as initially advertised, the modifications were generally to shorten the stage and all with good justification (i.e the enduro on day 3 was routed through a buffalo wallow.. this was considered inappropriate by the UCI guys so the course abbreviated and the scheduled 6h reduced to 2h). The water stations on the first day were also a little hit and miss but next year I am sure all these minor glitches will be ironed out.

In all honesty, Langkawi is not a place I had even considered visiting until Andy Fellows advise me of the LIMBC. I subsequently managed to lure Andy D along with the promise of cocktails, pools and hot Malay chicks in swimmers, we were registered in a heart beat. The start list was not so exciting initially but closer to the event expanded to include many credible male and female riders from Europe and South Africa (i.e. the Colonago gals, the Bulls boys, the MTN guys and Speedy from RSA, Burry and of course the strong Aussie contingency that included Paul V, AJ, AF, KAOS, Jenny F, Bec H.... OMG).. scary stuff..

The briefing and the final stages were as follows, day 1: marathon event at 62km; day 2 XCO at 6 laps 4.5km course; day 3 XCO at 6 lap course, day 4 Hill climb 27km, day 5 Crit track.... not quite as long as I was used to but the Hill climb provided some promise..

Day 1: 62km marathon...
I admit this stage was a lot tougher than I anticipated considering the published length and height metres, it was a very tough 62km and not just because of the heat and humidity. The course was very undulating, no long climbs but taxing short ups and there were several water crossings, muddy paddocks and ambiguous route markers with a few of the volunteers on siesta. I unfortunately dropped one of my water bottles early and my extra bottle failed to make it to the second check station as did the water truck. When I arrived at water station 2 with no water there was not much to spare and the attending support crews were somewhat reluctant to relinquish any of their precious water stores JIC their riders were in a similar situation. Huge thanks to Mrs Henderson (mother to the famous Bec and Ben) who literally saved my life by donating some water to my thirsty bottle. The race continued but my brain was elsewhere, I managed to finish but nothing spectacular, 10th in GC.

Day 2: XCO...
XCO is not my thing but what the hey this is as close to a worldcup as I ever intend getting, interesting it was too. I was, naturally, unranked in the womens field having no UCI points which made for a not great place on the start grid. The course started on tar and downhill briefly then sharp right onto the narrow muddy track and the rooty, tricky first climb. The first lap was a debacle and I think Nat Schneitter was the only girl to get a good run up the climb. I was towards the middle of the pack and and literally running up the climb. The course was up up up then down down down, I would rather not talk about the down but I am proud to say I rode it all the first lap and I managed to stay in touch with KAOS. Stoked. The second lap I crashed just after being warned by a nice bystander of the steep descent ahead. I damaged my rear derail hanger on the skid down the hill but it was intact until I smacked it again on the 3rd lap. The final two laps in my XCO assault were running up hill with a shitty rear derail and riding with very little finesse down until I was pulled after the 5th lap based on the 80% rule, at the time I was happy to be out but copped a massive time penalty for the experience, some 30-40 minutes for being pulled prematurely but managed to still place 10th. At this stage of the race my place in GC was not so great and the time penalty definitely threw me out of top 5 so all I could hope for was a top 10 finish. I was a little disheartened I checked my bike in for a check up....

The mechanics verdict: bent rear derail, bent chain link and chewed a few teeth of the large chain ring on the front.. cautious shifting was advised for the rest of the race...I think much beer was drunk beside the pool that afternoon


Day 3: XCO..
I started this stage a little disheartened but fortunately it wasn't so technical and as the race progressed I managed to ride past many of the other girls until I was in 4th. Shocked and happy I continued on with a bit of an adrenaline rush. Compared to the XCO, this course was a little less technical and relatively flat lent itself to a real 29er style smash fest and that was exactly what I did. This was the first day of the race that I actually felt like I was racing, placed 4th female.. very happy days..topped of with some sensational Japanese food harbour side post race.






Day 4: Hill Climb..
I knew from the start that this stage had my name all over it, or I hoped is probably more appropriated. This stage was 100% on tar and the hardest part was hanging with the boys from the start to the bottom of the climb (the first 14km). I wasn't sure what to expect in the first 14km but they were definitely NOT flat. I was counting down the kilometres to the base of the hill and happy to relax some when we arrived, the rest was up. I rode up and soon caught the lead group of girls (we were 5 in total) and we stayed together for the majority of the climb. With 4km to go, the climb got a little steeper and the Colonago girls paced it up a little, the next time I looked back there was only three of us. I was alone up the climb with the Colonago girls, how the hell did that happen? With 2km to go Viv went up the road while Nat kept an eye on me, their plan was obvious, I had no legs to follow Viv and stuck with Nat to the last few hundred metres there was a small sprint and I finished just 2 seconds behind Nat in 3rd. There was a brief recovery and time to turn around and ride all the way back to the Bayview, base camp for the week.





Day 5: Criterium..
Following the hill stage I was in 9th with a mere 13s holding me off 8th. This was the first time I looked at the GC results following my time penalty but it seems I wasn't so far down as I thought, 8th was close but 7th 15 minutes further down the ladder (Yo Speedy)..damn that time penalty from the XCO.. Anyway my plan for the crit was attack attack attack and that I did .. Schneitter, Fay and myself were the main drivers in the criterium and we managed to split the girls early and drop a few more on the way.. by the final lap there were maybe 5 contenders and the final sprint was a bit of a mess but I managed to hold 3rd for the final stage.. very very happy days







In GC I finished 8th, disappointed by my lack of XCO form but stoked to hold the Swiss girls in the climb and the crit.. next year I promise myself not to get lapped out of the XCO..

Post race Andy and I stayed an extra few days in Cenang beach and caught up with the famous Nat Schneitter (#8 in the world) for a few days of scooter sight seeing, beach time, hair styling and cocktail consumption....The food in Malaysia is pretty tasty and very affordable.. till 2012




Thanks to ADIDAS for my eyes, Cannondale for my fabulous 29er FLASH, INFINIT for fuelling the legs, SUPERCOACH Nikoli R and Andy D for keeping me sane and BennyJ and NeilJ at NBS for moral and mechanical support XO...