Over the winter, a group of Serpentine triathletes dug out an assortment of mountain bikes and headed for the Surrey Hills as a fun way of keeping the bike legs turning in the rain and snow.

A rush of enthusiasm saw us organise a couple of trips to the Afan valley in South Wales. The first in January provided plenty of rain and some good comedy crashes but we had high hopes that an April weekend would bring some better weather. We were half right, beautiful blue skies on both days, but a few inches of snow to go with the sun on Sunday.

Several of us had been considering entering Xterra UK and we set up a training weekend with Julie Dibens and Sam Gardner to work on techniques, ride the course and to pick up tips from the best off road triathletes in the country.

The first morning was spent fine tuning the skills necessary for smooth riding out on the trails – bunny hops, rapid mounts and dismounts, and picking the right lines into tight corners and over slippery roots and drop offs. After a short lunch, it was back outdoors and we split into two groups to ride the White’s Level trail, a wonderful challenging route that rewards a long climb at the start with miles of flowing singletrack descents.

Back at our accommodation, a local outdoor centre, we headed to the bar for a few beers, a meal and to celebrate returning from the day in one piece. A question and answer session with Julie and Sam followed by a viewing of the Xterra Maui video in which Julie won the World Championship provided good inspiration in advance of the testing day planned for tomorrow.

Once we had scraped the snow and ice from our cars we headed across the valley to Resolven where we met up with some local guides who were going to lead us around the new extended bike course. The long climb from the lake is unchanged but the rest of the course is 11km longer and now includes a large section of the famous Skyline trail. The riding was incredibly challenging and we all agreed that for much of the time we were at the edge of our abilities but that made it all the more rewarding. Once again, Julie, Sam and the other coaches were always quick to help out with advice and encouragement where needed, and slowly but surely our group got round with no major incidents and the improvements in everybody’s bike handling and speed were noticeable.

Back at base we had sandwiches at the local rugby club (HQ on race day) before our recce of the run course. The sandwiches were great, but unfortunately I have to report that no one made it onto the run course, lots of excuses about making a quick getaway to beat the traffic on the (snowy) M4 back to London but in reality we were simply shattered. It really did give us an insight into just how difficult the event will be on June 21st.

I know that Julie and Sam have another of these camps planned in May and I would say that they are an ideal introduction to athletes of all levels who are considering dipping their toes into the Xterra waters. A lot of fun, technical expertise and smooth organisation made it a weekend to remember.

Richard Melik

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