Photo thanks to Claire Jennings

The clock is ticking for the TransWales 2006 and with only 10 weeks to go preparations are in full flow.

Due to popular demand the Merida TransWales Mountain Bike stage challenge has opened its doors to solo riders. Due to an increasing number of riders who wanted to take part in this summers’ new event, but couldn’t find a suitable partner a new category has been opened to accommodate solo riders. Solo riders will be in their own category and will battle it out to win the male, female and veteran categories.

The setup is that solo riders will ride the same linking stages as the team riders but will ride the special stages on their own rather than dividing the stage into two halves. It adds roughly another 30km of riding to the whole distance over the course of the week.

Team places available

There are 10 team places currently up for grabs and can be filled either with teams or solo riders. To enter simply go to the event website www.mtbtransuk.co.uk download an entry form and send it through with the word SOLO in the ‘team partner name’ box. Successful entries will be confirmed within a couple of days.

Besides all that the route is currently being finalised. John Lloyd and Michael Wilkens have spent a week pre-riding the linking stages and came to realise that the trails and linking stages we were intending to use north of Coed-y-Brenin were not on the same outstanding level as the rest of the course. So to give the riders the best Wales has to offer we have decided to move the whole course further south. The overall distance, the overall amount of climbing and the number of special stages are staying the same but we are now coming back to Builth Wells from the south rather than the north.

Michael Wilkens says “We have found some amazing riding out there which even for us as regular Wales riders was a pleasant surprise. You will be impressed with what Wales has to offer, especially when you get some of the best local guides and riders involved. “

Photo thanks to Claire Jennings

Michael Wilkens says While riding the linking stages we noticed that due to the length of the linking stages and the sometimes rough terrain, riders should consider riding a short travel XC full suspension. We used Merida Carbon Mission bikes www.merida-bikes.co.uk and found them to be perfect for the job. But if you don’t have a full suspension at your disposal we are currently working on an event specific deal with USE whereby a special edition SUMO XCR suspension post that can be purchased for the reduced price of £60 (this includes p&p). We will shortly add this offer with some more details and some pictures to our website but if you are interested in the meantime simply send us an email to [email protected] and we will give you further details.”

Scientific study at the TW’06
Finally the University of Plymouth is intending to run a scientific study looking at fatigue over the course of the TransWales is still actively recruiting volunteers. They need to recruit approximately 100 volunteers so every volunteer helps. Here are some details:

What will be required from a volunteer?
A small blood sample will be taken at registration and after the first stage of the race. You will be asked to complete a food diary and health questionnaire.

How will I benefit from volunteering?
You will receive a comprehensive nutrition and health assessment based on your diet, lifestyle and genetic profile worth £160, and you will have made a significant contribution to the progression of sport science and athletic performance.

For further details about the study and if you would like to take, please contact Dr Paula Robson-Ansley at the University of Portsmouth: [email protected], Tel: 023 9284 3545. If you are interested in further details check out http://www.mtbtransuk.co.uk/news_guinea.php.

The perfect training event for the special stages
The upcoming Bristol 12 hour team and solo event (10-11th June in Ashton Court, Bristol) is the perfect place for improving your single track riding skills. With a 8km long course that is 60% single track you will soon improve those skills. They have recently added a 6 hour solo category to the Sunday which combines great training on the technical riding side as well as endurance training. If you are up for some serious single track riding check out the event website www.bristolbikefest.com There you can find all the details on the team event on Saturday and the solo event on Sunday plus a downloadable entry form. There are still places available, but we have been told they are limited.

In case you missed the 2nd round of the Merida 100 MTB Marathon series which took place over the 27-28th May in Rhayader, don’t worry as the next one is only a few weeks away. The next round is going to take place in Builth Wells, the birthplace of the ‘100’ series on the weekend of the 1-2nd July. There are still lots of places available but strongly recommend you enter well in advance as it’s likely only 100 places are available with no on the day entries. To get your downloadable entry form or to use our new online entry simply go to www.mtb-marathon.co.uk