National XC MTB Series - Round 1 - Sherwood Pines - 25.03.12

On the 25th March I travelled up to Sherwood Pines, Nottingham for the first round of the Cross-country Mountain Biking - National Series. It was a very early start due to a race start time of 9.30am. I arrived with quite a lot of time considering how far we had to travel. On arrival I saw that the weather was nice and the ground dry, (I knew it was going to be the normal super-fast Sherwood race conditions). Un-like normal, I chose to spin my legs out on the turbo before I practiced the course, this was because the practice lap would have to be a sort of war-up for me, as the start time was pretty close.

I felt good after a quick spin on the turbo and thought the course was god when I rode it. It featured a few very technical sections, including a under-cut drop much like Worry Gill at Dalby and a 1.5ft high log, to jump or hurdle. I rode all the 'A lines' in practice and were confident I could do this in the race. Apart from the log jump, as I found it safer and faster, to dismount, hurdle and remount at speed, in "cross style"! :L

I was very nervous for the race and this was shown as from about an hour before my race, to the start, I felt sick the whole time!! I had to sit down for 5 minutes on a couple of occasional to calm down and to make sure I didn't regurgitate vital food for energy! :L

I had a great start after being gridded 5th on the first row and I was in 2nd until we entered the first single-rack where I had fell back 4th. I was happy with this place, but when the course became slightly wider I overtook one rider and was in 3rd! Billy (race winner) pulled a gap from everyone, then a bit further back was Dylan, then me. I would say about 10 seconds separated us all from each-other!

Come mid-first-lap Billy had a clear lead of about 30 seconds to Dylan, and I was about 20 seconds from Dylan. I was pushing as hard as I could to catch Dylan and chase Billy with him, but I started to fill sick, so I decided to not bury myself as much as I was! By the end of the first lap Dylan's lead to me had lengthened and I had been caught by 3 chasers (Will Cheaney, Calum Magowan and James Shaw). After we crossed the line to start our second lap, James Shaw went past us all and I chased him down as much as I could. I did not catch him, but by doing this I dropped Will and I was left with Calum to chase down James.

So to recall, Billy was leading, then there was Dylan, then James, then me and Calum chasing together. When Calum got on the front he chased James down hard, and this make him get a 3 or 4 second gap to me, after this I made a few technical mistakes which made this gap grow and eventually mean he crossed the line at the end of the two lap race, 18 seconds ahead of me. So in the end I finished in 5th place, being 18 seconds off of 4th. I was 2 and 1/2 minutes off of the leader. I was very happy with my race as it's the start of the season and I was nervous as to everyone's form.

Me in 2nd from the start! :-)

So, overall, it was a good result, great course and a great day! Unfortunately I haven't many photos at the moments, but thanks to Andy Whitehouse (http://www.andy-whitehouse.co.uk/) for the one photo I could find! Thanks again! :-)

There is a link below to the results sheet as well, I am in 'Youth Male'.

Event Results

Thanks to my dad for taking me to the race, for all the support from people course-side and lastly to Andy Whitehouse (http://www.andy-whitehouse.co.uk/) again for the photo! :-)

Thanks for reading and Au-Revoir!

BSCA National MTB Champs - Wilmington School

This race was quite close, as it was only about an hour from where I live. Also with this being only a School Champs, there was no need to practice the day before! On arriving at the race venue on the morning of the race, I suddenly realised how HOT it was and how harder the race was going to be because of it!

I had raced at this venue earlier in the year at a Cyclo-cross race, because of this I was interested on how good of a Mountain Bike course they were going to make it. However on practising the course I noticed that it featured alot of fast flowing, really nice single-track. The course also featured a fairly technical drop, with a sharp right hander at the bottom, followed by a concrete step section which I really liked, this technical part of the course also featured a chicken run.

After doing a total of 3 practice laps, I was confident of a good race and could not wait to get started. As I was hanging around (with many other riders) near the start for Gridding, I was excited for the race. However, because the race is not British Cycling run, they cannot grid on national Rankings, thus I was gridded second to last on a field of about 25 riders! I knew I would have to get a good start, in order to have a good race, or I would be playing catch-up.

I had a good start, as the start straight of the course was not taped at the sides, thus I was able to sprint my heart out and go round to the right hand side of the pack of riders, and consequently I was in about 5th, when entering the first single-track section. I couldn't believe I had gone from about 24th to 5th in about 40 metres!

I carried on in the first lap and because one of the riders in front of me went down on a single-track turn (Sam Stean), and from gaining another place earlier in the race, I was in 3rd! When he went down, I obviously went round him, sprinted off and sprinted up the next climb, in an attempt to gain some distance. I held him off for about half a lap and then he went round me on the only steep hill of the lap (near the finish). I was unable to follow his wheel and this put in 4th, this was where I was to stay for the remainder of the race. I carried on in the race and was really enjoying the single-track and the technical section.

I finished in 4th, and was pleased with my race. I also found out after the podium that I actually got 3rd as one of the riders in front of me was an Over-16 rider. I missed the podium because of this, but was still very pleased with the race.

I went away from this race very happy and with a tan that was a few shades darker than the one I had before! My next race will be the Southern XC Round 2 at Wasing Estate on the 15th May. I am looking forward to racing there as the course suits me well, and because, I will be doing a National Mountain Bike Race there on the 12th June.

Thanks for reading

Au-revoir!