Southern XC - Rnd.1 - Checkendon - 18.03.12

On the 18th March was the first Southern XC of the 2012 Mounatin Bike Season, in fact it was the first real race of the season! having not raced MTB in a while, I was very committed to getting a good result on the day. I went into the race confident with good training over the Winter and was looking forward to seeing what my form was like.

On arrival, the weather was very nice, but the ground, and inevitably the course, was a bit damp and muddy. The course was much the same as last year, with lots of flat, fast, and rooty single-track. Also 3 or 4 steep hills running consecutively, mid-lap. The hills were short, steep, but very slippery and technical. I managed to ride everything in practice, so when it came to waiting on the line for the start, I felt quite confident.

I was gridded first, after a god series position last season (2nd Youth Male), and I had a good start leading until entering the first bit of singletrack. I was overtaken by Tom Franklin and Harvey Lowe after entering the single-track, but soon overtook Harvey as Tom was distancing everyone. I chased Tom down and rode the rest of the race with him.

I was comfortable riding round with Tom, but maybe too comfortable. I was so surprised with my form, having rode nowhere near Tom during the whole cross season, that I didn't having the confidence to go past. Looking back on it now, I could have and I should have. In the end we rode the whole race together, until Tom entered the final corner in-front of me and sprinted to victory on the line.

I was pleased with 2nd place, but knowing the victory was just 2 seconds in front, is a bit annoying. Anyway, it was good to find how my form was at the strat of the 2012 Mountain Bike Season, and this set me up well for the first National MTB Race at Sherwood Pines the following Sunday. There are links to the photos and results for the event, below.

Thanks to Richard for taking me to the race and for taking some photos while there! :-)

FlickR Photos (with thanks to Richard Wood)

Event Results (Southern XC Website)

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! 

British Mountain Bike Series Round 1 - Sherwood Pines

It was an early start to the first Round of the National Mountain Bike Series, as I travelled up on the day and this meant I had to get up at 4am! However I had gone to bed earlier the night before to compensate for this, thus I had had plenty of sleep :D

When I arrived at the race venue (Sherwood Pines) it brought back memories of coming along with the family and watching my brother (Michael Butler) win National Races (that I would be doing that day). In this way I was keen to get a good warm up and be in best possible physical condition to get a good race for my Dad and Family.

As the organiser of the race was only allowing course practice between 9 and 9.30, I could not practice the course as my race was at 9.30 and there isn't enough time in between to be ready to race. An advantage of this is that I had arrived at about 8 o'clock and I raced at 9.30, this gave me a long time to get a good warm-up in before my race.

I had a good warm-up and felt very good when putting in my sprint efforts during the warm-up. As I went to the start line I was very nervous, and as I rode around with a few other riders (to keep the legs turning for as long as possible before the wait on the line), I found that I was far from the only one who was nervous.

I had a good start and was in about 19th (I think), after the first 50 metres, also the course featured a long start on a wide fire-track. In the fire-track I was able to push some big gears and put lots of effort in, because of this I pushed myself up to about 15th. On entering the first single-track I was in the same position, as the race was 3 laps, each lap was about 20 minutes.

Between the first and second lap I caught a few places by going all out on the fire-tracks and taking it smoothly through the single-track, because of this on the bell lap (last lap) I heard from the commentary, that I was in 12th! I really wanted to get that top ten spot, so on the last lap I caught another rider nearer the start of the lap and then I was behind the 10th place rider (Billy Harding).

This was a rider who I knew was predominantly a road and cross rider, thus hopefully they would not ride single-track as fast as I could. I followed his wheel for one fire-track section of the course and then just before entering the single-track, I made my move! I overtook him, in the hope that I would drop him in the single-track sections of the course, this worked and I gave it all the guts on the last two fire-tracks (to make sure he wasn't catching) and came into the arena with a very happy smile to take 10th place! :D

Once I had finished I went into the arena and waited for my Dad, but before this I shook the hands of a few riders that I have caught on the last half of the race, to share a bit a respect between us.

I was very happy with my race performance, and I was safe in the knowledge that as I was a first year under16, all the people that beat me, except one would be moving up next year, this meant next year with the same performance it may hopefully be podium time. Also with the huge field of Youth riders that raced (51 riders!!), I saw that a lot of the people that had beaten me all cross season, I had beaten today.

Lastly I would like to say thank to Martyn Salt (race organiser) for a fantastic race venue and course. Also thanks to my Dad, for driving up there for 4 hours at 4 o'clock in the morning!!

Thanks-for-reading 

Au-revoir!