Selkirk Merida

Words by David (who bothered to turn up to this one).

The Selkirk Merida is one of a series of events, based around the Mountain Bike Marathon Format. The main event is a 100km ride (not race) but there are also a couple of other shorter options (50km, 75km) for the less experienced. The Selkirk event is the only round of this series held in Scotland, and took place on the 30th of July 2005, based at the rugby club in Selkirk. I took part in this ride, along with Lynda.

We headed down on the Saturday evening, to set up camp at the rugby club, where the organisers had provided free camping facilities, including hot showers. Unfortunately we were too late for the pasta party, so that gave us the excuse to have fish and chips for tea (ultimate energy food).

After an early start on the Sunday morning (it was a bit colder overnight than anticipated) we awoke to a perfect morning for cycling. Not too hot, not too cold, and not much wind. Who says it always rains in Scotland? After registering and attaching our numbers to our bikes, and in my case fitting my new pedals to the bike, and cleats to my new shoes, we gathered at the start/finish area for a 10am start. Lynda was taking part in the 50km ride, whilst I was doing the 100km (actually closer to 85km) event. All the routes start together and only separate out on the course. The first few kms are on the road behind a (fast) pace car, which serves to spread out the field a wee bit. We did see one unfortunate person whose chainstay on their full sus bike had snapped on this section - not a good start.

The first fireroad climb meant more spreading out of the field, but unfortunately it was not enough to avoid a massive bottleneck at the first singletrack climb of the day, through the heather. However everyone seemed to be cheery enough, with only a few folk insistent on shoving past to try to beat the queues. Once dropping down off the top of the first hill, and getting stuck in a few more queues, the riders became sufficiently spread out to avoid any further delays. There was a good mix of minor road, fireroads, and a particularly long singletrack climb, full of switchbacks, before the routes divided, at the second feed station of the day. Lynda headed off up a endless fireroad climb (which I would get the pleasure of later on) whilst I continued towards the 7 Stanes centre at Innerleithen. This had some of the best sections of the day, with a long, long singletrack climb to the very top of the area, before a fast, and at times, technical downhill, to join the reverse route back to the second feed station. Once there the 100km route followed the 50km route up the endless fireroad climb, which was a bit of a nightmare, and then traversing the top of the hills surrounding Selkirk, before the final downhill run into Selkirk and return to the rugby club.

Overall the event was well organised, and very friendly, and the course was excellent. We will certainly be returning this year to take part again. Lets hope the weather stays the same.