Race Report by Jon:
Warning – long story. 🤣
This weekend was the 4 Paw Challenge, an event down at Thetford Forest, Norfolk. It was a multi category event, incorporating canicross, bikejor, scooters and full dryland sled rigs. For me, it was my first ever go at bikejor.
I like to know what I’m doing and build into new stuff in small increments. No such luxury here. My very first race was in the dark on Friday night. I’d never trained in the dark and my light was brand new and untested. As I got to the start line, I realised that two lights on your bike meant two front lights, not a front and back as I’d assumed. Still, not to worry. My one front light was seriously bright.
The course was just over 2 miles and the team in front of us, who by coincidence happened to be my friend Tracy with her dog Griff, set off 2 minutes before us.
Off the start line, Huxley set off like an absolute train. I was fairly sure I’d never been that fast in training in daylight and the dark made everything seem faster. Disengage brain and hang on! I very nearly overshot the first big turn, but we could already see Tracy in front of us and we seemed to be closing fast.
Then my light went out. I managed to somehow stay upright screeching to a halt in the pitch dark. Some frantic button pushing and I got it going again, but it went out twice more on the way to the finish. Amazingly, our finish time was still respectable, even with the stops. Lesson learned with the two lights though.
Race 2 on Saturday morning was on the same course, but in daylight. This one was uneventful.
Relative to the other dogs, Huxley didn’t seem as fast in daylight and our time reflected that.
Race 3 on Saturday night was a slightly shorter version of the previous course. I’d bought another front light during the day. This time Tracy was setting off just a minute in front of us. Again Huxley set off like lightning. The gap to Tracy and Griff closed quickly. Time to attempt our first ever race pass. I shouted ‘on your right’ and we steamed through. Then two things happened. Firstly, Tracy’s lights started casting my shadow ahead of us, making our visibility trickier and slightly spooking Huxley. Also, Griff took insult at being passed and upped his pace. I could sense them coming back at us, so I urged Huxley on and he responded. In a mad sprint finish, we just hung on.
The final race on Sunday morning was the longer route in reverse. I think by this point both me and Huxley were a little heavy legged and there were times where it felt like a slog, even though I was giving it everything.
Overall though, the weekend was totally epic and I can’t wait to sign up to the next one. Genuinely, this is the most fun you can have with your dog.
🦮🚴♂️❤️
Edit: Next month I’ll be hosting a bikejor and canicross social event at Rivington. I’ll be throwing out invites to Lostock AC, Lancs Canicross and Rivi Run Club. More details in a seperate post. Let me know if you’re interested. 🙂
