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!

Southern XC Round 1 Checkendon 03.04.11

On Sunday I attended the opening round of the Southern XC Series at Checkendon, as you may know from my previous Blog Post I raced here a few weeks ago and as noted the course was pan flat and fast (13.5minute lap). I was aware that for a Southern Round they would have to lengthen the lap to around a 20minute lap. To do this they would have to take the course into other fields (which meant long slogs) and to add some height gain (which meant adding painful hills).
 Although the course for this race was a lot longer and had quite a few steep, fairly long hills in it, I still found that I liked the course in practice.

While I was warming up a bit before the race with a fellow club member (Calum Anderton), he suddenly noticed that everyone for our race was already being gridded! Unfortunately they had already gridded the Under16's (my category), for this reason I was gridded at the back. So while on the line I was already picking my lines off the start in order to get nearer the front.

In the above photo you can't even see me as I am in the back row, but however it turned out that I got a pretty good start and by the time we entered the first single-track I was in 3rd! This was after a lot of pushing and because there was quite a lot of wide open track between the start line and the first bit of single-track.

My race lasted 2 laps of about a 22 minute lap, thus my race lasted 3/4 of an hour. On the first lap I stayed in 2nd for a while behind Joe Broadhead as I didn't want to be too ambitious too soon, especially as a first year under16! Towards the end of lap 1, I overtook Joe and lead for almost the rest of the race.

I felt comfortable in the lead and kept the gaps between me and the competition at the same distance (when I looked over at the open sections). However towards the end of the last lap I saw Sam Stean (VC Jubilee) catching fellow riders on a climb of the course, i was aware he was a second year and knew that he was close to me at Sherwood's race.

Sam managed to over take the last 2 or 3 riders behind me and was obviously feeling better towards the end of his race then I was, as he overtook the riders behind me and sat on my wheel for a while until there was a opportunity to pass nearer the end of the lap, however near the end of the last lap he had a wash out at a corner. I took the opportunity to gun it for the rest of the lap to see if I could keep the gap open and stop him from overtaking me. I stayed in front until the last 30 metres, where he had caught up with my wheel and in the end overtook me to take the win.

Me checking behind near the finish

Although I was in the lead, I knew Sam was catching me and I knew that he would overtake me, as he looked much stronger than me by this time in the race. Also, the crash he had, just delayed the overtake that he was going to make, to take the win. I got 2nd which, as a first year under16 I should be more than happy with, but when you were that close to win, you always think after the race, "surely I had enough energy to push that bit harder". But as I have been a racer for almost 7 years, I have learnt not to over-think and pick apart races, I tend to just take the simple lessons learnt when racing.

One of my Edits :D

Overall I am happy with my race and thanks to all the Southern XC Team who put on a great event with a great course! Also many thanks to Richard Wood for taking me! :D Finally here is a link to the full FlickR album and plus some of my racing Photo Edits!

Full FlickR Album (Including Edits)

Full Southern XC Round 1 Results ( I am a Youth)

Thanks-for-reading

Au-revoir!