MSC UK XC Race Team

BXC Rd 2 & Southern XC Rd2

2010-05-27T06:28:00.004+01:00

So two more races done and dusted with varying degrees of success. First up was Rd2 of the national series @ Wasing nr Reading. I was looking forward to this as I had raced the course a few weeks earlier at the southern and felt it had potential to be a cracking course. Rain all week and driving up meant I turned up expecting a muddy course and so put some grippy Ignitor tyres on, bad move number 1! The course was somehow bone dry and dusty and these just dragged like a bugger all day! The race was pretty awful for me, as soon as we started I didn't feel right and was losing places far too easily, I felt detached from the racing and unable to get my body to respond as normal. 2nd lap in and my rear shock blew leaving me with no damping and a very bouncy back end. I was close to pulling out but I hate seeing a DNF so decided to continue and salvage what I could, not much is the answer as I ended up 38th. At first I was confused at how I could feel so bad sp I went through my pre race build up with someone else and they shed some light on some basic errors to improve on, it helps sometimes to get another opinion on a problem and so this proved.

With this new advice in my ears I headed to Rd2 of the southern XC series @ Pippingford park in East Sussex. Having ridden here before I knew what to expect, hills! This coupled with the hottest day of the year meant it was going to be hard! Due to traffic heading to the coast an hour 15 journey took over 2 hours so my warm up was riding to the line, far from ideal as I would be racing 'cold' and pretty much blind into what I was told was a pretty technical start to the lap, great! As it turned out the lap was pretty cool lots of singletrack which was very rough a few steep drops and of course lots of climbing. Lap 1 went without incident apart from brushing a tree (see pic!) Lap 2 and I flatted in the first piece of singletrack, tube thrown in and I was away again pretty certain I was last and just hoping to get some points by finishing. By the last lap I was pretty spent and was having to spin the climbs however other people were suffering too and I managed to pick up a place on the penultimate climb and hold it to the finish, 10th out of 15 not great but a step in the right direction.

Next up is a favourite of mine Margham Park in Wales, I'll see you there.

BMBS R1 - Sherwood Pines

2010-04-23T21:29:00.007+01:00

I seem to be a little behind on my blogging! The winter has been a tough one, snow has made my local mountain biking spots inhabitable and ice & hail has made road training dangerous. That being said, I've trained hard and going into the first nationals of the year I was confident I could pick up where I left off last year.

In the past I've had a mixed opinion of races at Sherwood Pines. It's one of those courses where you can be the strongest rider, spend the whole race on the front, yet find yourself unable to shake your competitors. This year proved to be slightly different as the percentage of singletrack was much greater than previous years.

I set out to assess the competition early on and ideally aim to sit in second place and push on when the time was right. This of course went out the window the second the race started! I was gridded first as I had finished second overall last year but I didn't get a great start. I sat 6 or 7 back off the front and was thinking maybe I had got my training wrong and I was going to be way off the pace. We turned off the field and onto a fire road climb, at this point the people ahead of me seem to stall a little bit. I didn't want to be part of a big group and that type of climb is what my Carbon WCR is made for! I pushed on and kicked hard, I felt my legs instantley respond and at this point I knew I was going well!

At this point (As far as I know) I had Llewellyn Holmes and Luke Eggar behind me. Llewellyn made a move early on one of the fast descent only to hit a tree stump and fall heavily. Luke Eggar was setting a fast pace on some of the more technical sections but on the second lap I went hard again on the opening fire road to distance him. I felt comfortable sitting out front, doing just enough to stay out of touch of the chasers but still keeping enough in the tank to respond if required.

At the end of the second lap the race was falling into place with Douglas Shearer chasing hard and Matt Page working his way through the field. It was tough to be out in front on this course but I tried to stay as consistent as possible, taking no risks on the technical stuff and putting the hammer down on the climbs. In the end I took the win by a little over 30 seconds to Douglas and a further 25 seconds to Matt (Great rides by both of them).

I was over the moon with the result and I'm hoping that this season's nationals will continue as they've started.

Laters

P.S. The image is Joolze Dymond's handy work!

BXC Rd1 & Southern xc Rd1

2010-04-15T19:43:00.003+01:00

So two races down and the 2010 season is well under way. Up first round 1 of the British XC series @ Sherwood, traditionally not a favourite of mine, I kind of enjoy the fast flowing trails here but always have shocking results! This time round it wasn't too bad 28th out of 50 starters isn't going to set the world alight but it wasn't a total disaster either. Mucho respect to Giles for clearing off at the front to pick up where he left off last season, on the top of the podium, great ride! As for me a mid pack start saw me caught up in the first lap bottlenecks (where I should have been more aggressive!) laps two and three saw my lap times settle down till half way through lap four my lack of winter miles caught up with me and I struggled round to complete lap 5. Still this can be improved and with the better weather the miles should come also.

Last weekend saw the 1st round of the Southern xc series at Wasing estate just outside Reading. The course had a similar feel to Crow Hill with lots of soft loamy singletrack winding its way through woodland, it also had plenty of bumps meaning a full sus was very welcome on the back! A field of 25 riders took to the start of the Expert field and I took my place at the back of the grid. An ok start saw me make up places which I continued todo throughout the first lap, after two laps I was sat in 12th and it was here I would stay. I managed to catch Mark Davies a couple of times only to make a mistake or get up with back markers where I would lose contact again. Midway through lap 4 I realised I was being caught by Stuart Harvey in 13th and I managed to get my head down till the finish and hold onto the place. Overall I really enjoyed the course and after the weekends racing it should be nicely bedded in for round 2 of the national series. I look forward to seeing you all there!

R & R (Rest & racing)

2009-11-13T19:19:00.004Z

So five weeks and no racing has meant my time on the bike has been a little hit and miss. I needed a rest after the mtb season so since Plymouth I've only done a couple of decent rides total, the rest of my weekends have been spent doing diy and watching Moto GP or Belgian Cross on the net!

That was until last weekend when the cross bug hit again and I found myself on the start line at round 6 of the London league, having only competed in round 1 I wasn't gridded and found myself on the 8th row, yes 8th row! Cross is getting ridiculously popular round here now with fields of over 100 riders lining up this season. Anyway I knew my chances of a good result were pretty poor starting from here so decided to have fun and make it a hard training ride. The first lap was eventful with me running past one crash and going straight over a second which happened right in front of me! End of lap 1 and I'm still outside the top 50, gonna be interesting from here!

I got my head down and worked my way through the field, the wet and muddy conditions suiting me as there wasn't too many parts where flat out speed was needed but a bit of skill and finesse helped.

After an hour and 20minutes (organiser later apologised for making it so long!) I had finished 17th out of 80 starters not too shabby with my start position and lack of riding recently. I really enjoyed being back in the thick of the action again but had forgotten how much cross actually hurts and how much I love it!

Now its a few more weeks off before a local mtb race and then some more cross. Until then its back to watching cross on the net and laughing at the foreign commentary!

Until next time...

North West Cyclo Cross - Clayton Vale

2009-10-12T21:02:00.003+01:00

Right, I'm going to try to keep this short! This past Saturday I was... lets say tricked, in to doing a horrible thing, Cyclo Cross (You know who you are)!

Prior to Saturday I had done half a CX race in my lifetime and if I had never done another "CROSS" race it would of suited me just fine. Small problem being the fact that I see the winter approaching and being the optimistic idiot I am, I say to myself, "Cyclo Cross, that will keep my legs ticking over this winter". As the weather gets colder I retreat on my original optimism and decide it's a waste of time and I don't want to have anything to do with it. A great system I think you'll all agree!

Here's the great "In Theory" argument behind Cyclo Cross. The temperature drops to minus 87, the rain/ice starts hitting you in the face and you realise the easy out that CX can give you in the winter months. Why do 15 hours in the freezing cold where the most entertaining thing to do is count how many fingers and toes you can still feel? When you can do a little mid-week turbo-training and turn up at the weekend and flog yourself senseless for an hour and a lap! I get it, however, what people don't tell you is just how unpleasant Cyclo Cross is!

Long story short, at 2:30pm (times may vary, check your local listings), I'm sitting on one of my old hack bikes built up to look like a cyclo cross bike (Others are putting their spare carbon tubs into the pits). A million people line up in a field, a bloke blows a whistle and then the un-natural specimen that is CX, begins!

As it turns out, my first (full) cross race, was also my first win at a cross race. I out sprinted my nearest rival to win by a bike length. You might think I'd be spurred on to do more of these things, nope. I admit, in a couple of weeks time, I may have forgotten the unpleasantness. I may be thinking, "I won last time, that was fun", and then on Monday evening I'll be sat in front of my computer writing another blog entry about how much I hated it.

So basically, this blog entry is a warning to myself and if my future self is reading this blog and thinking about CX, STOP IT!

Laters

Seasons over!

2009-10-08T13:29:00.003+01:00

Phew! seasons over and thank f*ck for that. I'm knackered after a long season since started racing around march time. I really started to feel it since Canada and all the mental from a very stressful stretch doing 60 hour+ weeks at work.

Midlands series rd3
After a break of about 1 month of no racing at all my form had pretty much left me and my weight was already piling on. The last Midlands series race was on at Sherwood pines and i felt fairly motivated as a top five position guaranteed a series podium. Luckily only 5 entered the Elite race unluckily it was mix of 3 other good Elite riders whom i have beaten a few times this season and have beaten me a few times too. The race set off at a mental speed with Chris Andrews at the front. I hang at the back and fell off a little towards the end of that lap preserving my energy for the rest of the remaining 5 laps. surely enough Nigel Martin peeled off and joined me to then catch Chris. Meanwhile Rob Friel was riding strongly on his own off the front. Entering the last lap Nigel and me were still together. I knew i had gained some ground through some tight singletrack on previous laps so put a spurt on which then caused Nigel to collide with a tree behind. Unmaliciously i took advantage and created a gap of 1.5 mins or so which i kept to the line to finish 2nd. A few quick calculations by Rob who realised were tied on points for the series win actually resulted in Rob getting the win because of some anomily. Happy with my result in my first Elite season.

NPS plymouth Rd5
A rushed journey and a panicked week of work and trying to get my bike sorted i turned up to the race having forgotten my rear wheel. having brought a spare pair i wasn't too worried although the freehub was knackered. I had no choice. On the start line i was still yawning and not greatly motivated. My luck so far in the NPS has been dire but i was determined to finish the season on a high. We set off and i settled into a mid pack position riding comfortably and steadily with Andrew Cockburn and John Wittington. Having not having time to peride the whole lap i discovered some parts of the Newnham course i hadn't ridden before. It was quite a draining and fast lap without much respite. Halfway through the second lap and disaster struck. Spotting Joolze in a camera position i tried to show off a little. Landing a small jump very, very hard my rear end gave way snapping the seat and chainstay. Race over! and a long walk back to see Claire whom had been going crazy worrying where i was as i hadn't come past on the last lap.

Dusk til Dawn
Guesting for XCracer.com. Our team Phil Morris, James Hampshire, Hollie Bettles and ME entered the mixed team with some confidence.

World Cup, Bromont, Canada. July 31st

2009-10-08T13:24:00.003+01:00

Once in a cycling lifetime dream for me was realised. read my report at the following link below. what an experience!

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/mtb20090825-mountain-bike-First-Timers-Guide--World-Cup-Racing-0

BMBS R5 - Plymouth

2009-10-01T08:13:00.008+01:00

It's been a couple of days now since I achieved something pretty cool! If you had asked me at the beginning of the season to give you a likelihood of it happening by the end of the season I would of said "Probably between, owning a Ferrari & marrying Keira Knightley". In case you hadn't guessed by now, on Saturday I took my first ever National XC Series win!

The course suited me because it had 3 hard climbs and decents that were smooth and fast. This meant my hardtail would fly up the climbs and I wouldn't give up too much time to the full suspension bikes trying to track me down. One full suspension bike in particular was Sion O'Boyle's (Mojo-Orange). The guy has now taken 2nd at all five rounds of the BMBS this year and I can honestly say that if Saturday's race had come down to Sion & I in a sprint I would of sat up and given him the victory he deserved. As it happened Sion was unlucky and I was lucky. At the start of the second lap Sion and I were locked together going into a small technical up hill section. I led and from behind I heard a crunch of gears, Sion had slipped a gear and had been forced to dab a foot. On this course it couldn't of happened at a worse place and although it was a matter of a second lost, it added up to losing the race for Sion. At this point I had a couple of options, wait or push on. I opted to push on because we were still only a lap into the race and I had no idea how close 3rd place was. If I had waited I could of faced two oponents for the rest of the race and I didn't want to take that chance.

At the end of the second lap the gap between Sion and I was just 11 seconds! I could see him behind me as we looped through the start arena and I knew I had to keep climbing hard to keep Sion off my rear wheel. At the end of the third lap the gap was 12 seconds! This is why I was so lucky on the day, at this point if I had come off my bike or ran wide on a corner, Sion would of been on me! In terms of mistakes, I had a near perfect race. Over the next two laps the gap grew out to a minute & I stayed away to grab the top spot on the podium for the first time at a national series race. Phil Lenney, George Budd & Christian Aucote took 3rd, 4th & 5th respectively. This result also moved me up from fifth to second in the overall series! Crazy I know!

It's been a long year & looking back I've been lucky to take four first, one second & two third places. Not a bad set of podium results for my first year in the Expert category! Don't get me wrong, I've worked & trained hard over the year but I wouldn't have thought I could of achieved so much this year. I now face the sad fact that I need to sort my winter hack bike, dust off the winter jackets and charge up the lights for a long hard winter. Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to do some of the North West Cyclo Cross races but I am likely to be in race hibernation by the end of October! I'll keep the blog up to date with how cold my training rides get!

Looking forward to 2010.

Laters

P.S. The very funky looking image of me flying through the water splash was very kindly supplied by Mark Dunk (Spotless Media).

Season end

2009-09-29T19:55:00.007+01:00

2 races and 3 punctures later I've pretty much finished my season deflated!

First up I did a london league cyclocross event 2 weeks before the last BMBS @ Plymouth just to inject some speed into my legs. The course was very fast and rough, so much so that in places I wished I had my full sus MTB! After an ok start I started picking riders off until a few of us were battling for a top ten position. I was feeling pretty good going into the last lap as our group was caught by 2 others and promptly split to just 4, however with half a lap togo and after the pits I ran a bit off line and blew the front tyre on a rock. I managed to limp home only losing a couple of places to finish 12th.

Next up was Plymouth and a course I have never really liked probably because everytime I had been there it had chucked it down, not so this weekend with bright sunshine and dusty trails. A short but demanding lap meant that I would be doing 4 hard laps in sport. After starting ok and sitting in about 10th through the first sections I moved up on the first major climb only to lose a load of places as the guy in front of me unshipped his chain and I got tangled with him. Through the bluebell wood I managed to get back with a group fighting for 8-11th. Although I kept dropping off I always managed to get back to the group over the top of the climbs and even pulled out a small gap through the arena but by the third lap it was still myself, Darrel Upton and Trevor Allen racing for a top 10 position. It all went a bit wrong here as I lost contact on the first climb then chasing to get back on the front tyre flatted, tube changed I set off again trying to regain the places I had lost when at the top of the pipeline the front again flatted. With no more spares it was race over and a long walk back to the car park (probbly a good thing as I had time to calm down!)

So not the end I had wanted but a pretty goood season anyway, 3rd in the Southern xc series and it looks like 9th in the national rankings promoting me to expert next year. Now I have a month with no racing and a bit of a rest followed by some more cross races and a local winter mtb series as I build for next season. I'll keep you updated with it all

Midlands R4 - Sherwood Pines

2009-09-21T19:33:00.007+01:00

It's been a long season and it's now winding down to my final XC race this year. This past weekend was the Midlands Regional Series finale.

I was going into the race leading the series and I didn't have to do a great deal to hold onto the overall series win! With George Budd & Christian Aucote not signed on to race the pressure was off!

On the day I still had some top oposition to beat. Gary Record, Charlie Evans and Alex Kinvig where all on the start line and I knew I would have to be aggressive to beat them. I got a great start and led the race out of the arena! Charlie Evans came past me and started riding very hard on the front trying to string out the rest of the field. I was comfortable sitting being Charlie and without any major traffic that could cause a split I was happy to wait. I jumped ahead of Charlie towards the end of the first lap because the second half of the course suited me better and wanted to keep the pace high. At the start of the second lap it was just Gary, Charlie and myself in a line. I put a big dig in up the first climb and managed to gap both enough to allow me to ride hard on my own without the fear of pulling others along. I kept the pace high and at the end of the third lap the gap was up to 40 seconds. At this point some of the faster master caught Gary and on this type of course it gave him a massive boost to get back to me. At the end of the fourth lap, I thought I had done enough only to look across to see Gary only a few seconds behind. I put the hammer down again and gave it everything! I pulled out my fastest lap of the day and took the win by 36 seconds!

I was very happy to take the win on the day and the series overall. My legs are feeling good and I'm hoping for the season to wrap up next week at Plymouth with a strong ride towards a national podium! Fingers crossed!

Laters

Southern XC Rd6

2009-09-10T19:45:00.003+01:00

Since my last blog I have been training hard and working on my shoulder to try and strengthen this obvious weakness. With some physio sorted and some light weight work I was ready to tackle my first off road ride within 2 weeks of my prang, it just so happened this ride would be a local race @ Fowlmead country park on the kent coast. I had done some hard rides on the road with Ian and my legs were feeling ok so it was just to be a test of my shoulder off road. There was a good turnout of around 90 riders for the thursday evening event with abilities ranging from Expert racers to trail riding novices. I settled myself on the 2nd row and prepared to enjoy the race and not push too hard, obviously 30secs into the race and my race head on I forgot this! After a bit of argy bargy with some plonker who thought the way to race was block everyone behind him by riding into them I made my way into 4th place and settled into a nice rythm with a big guy from kent police. We worked well together all the race and pulled out a gap on the riders behind but had left too much of a gap to the front 2 guys to close down. On the last lap my bars worked loose and I decided to hold back a little and settle for 4th. It was great fun blasting through singletrack again and although my shoulder ached it held up well.

2 weeks later and the last round of the Southern XC series at Pippingford in East Sussex, this venue has now been announced as the 2010 national champs course and I can confirm it is 10 times better than the previous venue at Alton. There is a large grass field for parkin/camping and plenty of height gain to make a good course. The course on sunday was pretty good almost all the climbing was done on fireroad or fields and the rest was made up with twisting downhills and rooty singletrack. The recent dry weather had left the course fast and rough, ideal for a full sus bike. On my warm up lap I didn't feel great and then I managed to snap my chain, I began to think it wasn't going to be my day! However as we lined up I realised a couple of my main rivals in the series had for whatever reason not turned up, this gave me a boost as I knew with an ok result I could wrap up 3rd in the series. I needed an ok result and thats what I got but nothing spectacular, I finished 6th nearly 7 mins down on the winner. I won't bore you with the details but I shall say all the time the track went down I felt good and when it went up I didn't!

After a few days of easy riding I am feeling fine so I shall have to put it down to just being tired and having an 'off' day, it happens to us all but is still very frustrating. My 6th however was enough to seal 3rd place overall in the series and take my place on the podium.

This weekend I have my first cross race (yes Steve drop bars and 32mm tubular tyres!) then its off to Plymouth in a couple of weeks for the last round of the national series. Then the real work will start as I prepare to step up and compete in Expert for next season. See you soon

Midlands R3 - Cannock

2009-08-06T08:38:00.005+01:00

After four weeks without racing I wasn't entirely confident that my body would be up for the 2 hour slog that was Midlands - Round 3! I'd been feeling strong on the bike training and felt like I'd really pushed on since Margam, now I was looking for a chance to prove myself right! Due to the conflict with the Southern Series race, being held at next years national champs venue some of my key rivals for the overall series had opted to travel south for the day. I felt this course would of suited me against those guys and would of been a chance for me to get a good win and put myself in pole position for overall victory in the series.

The lap was roughly 5.5km long and would take me 22-23 minutes to complete. The last quarter of the lap was more or less un-ridable which is something I haven't experienced in a mountain bike race for well over a year. I set up at the front of the grid with the idea of getting up the hill and into the singletrack climb in first position. I wanted a clear run at the track as the conditions were difficult enough without trusting someone else's line. Robert Davies had a great start and put a couple bikes lengths in to me almost instantly but the climb dragged on and I managed to claw my way past him before the singletrack. I felt great and being out front allowed me to keep my efforts within my zone without going too hard to counter attacks or bridge any gaps.

At the end of the first lap I had a gap of a little under 30 seconds and it grew out to a little over 7 minutes by the end. I was really consistent and even managed to catch 5 out of the 10 elite riders. I was happy to win but I would of liked to do it with some of my main competitors involved but Round 4 isn't far away and I've gone a long way to securing the top spot on the series podium.

I've got the Welsh series round 4 at my local stomping ground (Llandegla) in a couple of weeks, the final Midlands & final BMBS to round out the year. Maybe some CX and then a hard winters training!

Laters

Southern XC Champs

2009-08-04T20:22:00.003+01:00

Lining up for the 5th round of the southern xc series and the championship round I was looking forward to a good ride and hopefully a top 5 finish. The course was similar to most southern races with plenty of singletrack, bombholes and short steep climbs. As this was Alton it was muddy, this place is cursed with bad weather! The previous weeks rain had turned much of the singletrack into a slog and the steep, flinty climbs very slippy. After a warm up lap and a quick bike clean I was ready to race.

I have been taking it easy after training hard for Inners and this told at the start of the race where I found the pace too hot and dropped back to around 10th. I managed to make up a few places on the first steep flinty climb which required just as much skill as strength to clean. After that I struggled to move through the tail end Master and Expert riders and finished the 1st lap in 8th. Getting a clearer run on the next lap meant I was faster through some sections but I was fading on some of the climbs. Last lap and I could see 2 riders in front of me so I pushed hard on the first descent and caught and passed 1 and chased after the next. Having caught the next rider and up into 6th I pushed to get a gap in the technical sections this worked until near the end of the lap where it went a bit wrong. Hitting a right hander too fast my front wheel washed out on some roots and I was down. As I landed I had a severe pain in my shoulder and knew instantly it had 'popped out' again, this has happened in the past and is prob still weak from this. Thankfully it went back in as quick as it came out and high on a mixture of gels, coke and adrenaline I jumped back on. I'll admit climbing the last grass field was an experience I don't want to go through again anytime soon but I managed to finish only losing 1 place to finish 7th.

A quick trip to the ambulance had my cuts and grazes cleaned up and my shoulder checked out before heading home to rest. Sitting here now it seems I have been lucky as the shoulder only aches and I have 90% movement so I should be able to train on the road this weekend.

Looking forward I have a local race in 2 weeks followed by the final round of the southerns and then down to Plymouth for the last British XC round. As it stands at the moment I am 8th in the national rankings so looking good for my Expert licence next year! Then the real work starts!

Until the next time

24th july, fnss rd 9, cosford

2009-07-26T21:26:00.006+01:00

mud, mud glorious mud!

torrential rain and cosford are the mix and its gonna be interesting. some people dont even get their bikes out. others are more keen. i'm motivated and know i can win. matt b is about so i know its not gonna be easy. A fast start and i'm behind and need to get a ahead of all the spray and mud. i get to the first corner of the field behind matt. its very slippy bit like an ice rink. i get past matt and immediately spin off. i get past matt again and spin off hitting a tree. we both laugh at the ridculous conditions. i take it easy and follow matt for the most of the first lap. i attack on the last climb and get a gap. i crack on and gap consistently every lap. at the finish theres not a spare inch thats not covered in mud and my gears are chewed up. A satisfying if not the muddiest win ever. happy and confident for my big race!.

National Champs

2009-07-26T21:11:00.006+01:00

Travelling up to Innerleithen and i know Steve Parr has something scary instore as far as the course is concerned and the weather is intermittent heavy rain. Practice on Saturday confirms my fears as the downhill sections are proper tough. Its quite old skool with it being very up and then very, very down. Tyre choice is gonna be interesting.

A nights sleep and hoping the rain holds off. Nope, still more of the same. 1 hour to go i decide to change tyres. i crack open a brand new tyre and fit it. My bad luck rears its ugly head...it has trouble sealing but i think i have it cracked. a bit of a warm up and almost get run over by some knob in a van. line up for the start on the lumpy field hill. get an average start but know there is something wrong. get to the top of the climb and my rear tyre is squidgy, i panic and rip out my canister, a wee squirt and im off at the back of the field. I gain some places and enter the first downhill. CRASH! my rear tyre flats and washes out. i get to the side of the track to fix my puncture i fit my tube and inflate. psssssssss! f*ck. my tube is ripped too!. race effectively over i wheel back to the pits. i replace my tyre and carry on a lap and a half back. its now a training ride and i start to enjoy myself and get the downhill pretty sorted. 3rd lap on the downhill and i catch a route on my rear mech. SNAP! f*ck! 5 mins bodging bike. i wheel down the rest of the race and make some places amazingly. run over the line for the hell of it. Last place i think and hopefully the end of my bad luck.

more racing

2009-07-26T20:45:00.006+01:00

14th june, Midlands Champs
with my confidence middling and getting a front row gridding from 2nd place from round 1 i thought i could go well. i had a good start but unfortunately lost some places going into the far side singletrack. i was caught behind some slower technical riders and i went down for crash no.1. i gained some places and started to ride with Oli Cox and was riding 3rd and 4th for a while. 2 laps to go and i hit another bastard hidden stump. BANG! straight over the handlebars, no damage done except for my nerves. Oli took advantage and took off. i couldn't catch up and carried on. penumltimate lap and the exact same crash happens again! i can't believe that bastard stump. Rob Friel comes past and i have to limit my loses and come over the line a little pissed off. 5th a pretty good result considering my spills.

pic is by Joolze on the fast downhill woop!

19th june, fnss rd 5, cosford
A course i do well at with a mixture of rooty technical short sharp climbs and woopy downhills on grass. Some good riders turn up and its the four of us who ride round for most of the race. Matt Barrett, Dan Booth and Chris Rathbone going well. its all very tight with no space between any of us. i was thinking of an attack on the climb out of the techy woods but didn't get that far after i got what seemed like and enitre bush wrapped around my wheel. i lost 1 minute getting rid of it whilst Matt had attacked after seeing my trouble. I ride my arse off to get back on and caught by the end of the hard climb and half a lap to go. matt was away so i needed to somehow get passed the big frame of Dan and the Fiesty Chris. i was a little puffed from my effort to get back on and couldn't find any space. chris squeezed passed dan on the last corner and i was half a bike length back. damn 4th! i learned something from this race though. i knew i was the strongest but sat, watched and wondered what everyone else was gonna do instead of doing my thing.

27th june BMBS rd 4 Crow hill
the same course as the nationals from last year but backwards. a reasonable start, got into a rythmn and worked my way through the pack. the dreaded cramps kicked in again after mid way and i thought the same might happen as margam. i fended them off and rode on the limit of them giving way again. reaching Tim Dunford i had another cramp attack and he got away. Racing for the 12th place against Jody Crawforth who i presume punctured earlier, i trailed in 13th. my best NPS result but could have been better. gotta get my fuelling sorted.

races galore since april

2009-07-26T18:22:00.011+01:00

its been a very long time since my last post. in between the round 1 of midlands there's been a lot of racing, crashing, punctures and a few good results.

races since april
enduro 6, catton park
entered this as a bit of fun and a bit of training. My mate Phil Topliss wanted to give it a good go and we tried with a pretty decent result. I did the start lap and was first back into the arena ahead of Jonathan Pugh riding for the eventual winning pairing. Other friends Rob Friel and Matt Barrett, KTM looked as though they were the strongest pairing but Pugh and Bevis put up a close and strong fight. Meanwhile despite my times being up with the best we dropped back to 10th ish.

bmbs rd 2, dalby forest.
a tester for the 2010 world cup round and a tough technical course with varied terrain. i was proper nervous at the start and had a terrible start going into the first bit of singletrack. i settled into my ride after the first drop through Worry Gill and climbed fairly well whilst sitting behind Sam Gardner for a while. Whilst settling further and starting to make a move through the field and heading for top 15ish i hit a small hidden stump at speed on some inocuous singletrack which sent me flying and landing very heavily. i tried to get going but my knee was pounding. race over! and a trip to the medical tent.

16th may, fnss rd 2, mk bowl
needing to bolster my confidence and enjoy racing i entered a local race and was greeted at the start with some tough competition with Matt barrett, Adi Scott, Nick Jones and Our Jason. Jason led us out for the first part of the lap shouting "follow me boys" which undid him as we passed him on the first draggy tarmac climb!. After one lap of and interesting, technicalish course made more so by the slight downpour leaving the off camber and short tarmac sections quite greasy i attacked. The obvious culprits had been together since the start and my break strung us out. i got a gap and extended it for the rest of the race. a very satisfying and confidence boosting win. I even got a front web page pic on xcracer.com!

22nd may, fnss rd 3, daventry
one week since my win i was feeling confident for another. This time a fast open course with some tough short climbing but hard to shake anyone off. This time Matt was joined by Dan Booth a very experienced and strong rider. A fast start and the front group established itself with Adi Scott scrambling to get on for the first lap. For the rest of the race all three of us tried small attacks but knew it would be too hard to skake off the other two so it came to the last climbs on the last lap. going into the singletrack we all sprinted to get their first with Dan i think getting there followed by me. Looking for a place to get by dan punctured leaving myself and matt to battle on the last section. i had advantage being in front and was first onto the tarmac end drag. my head went down as sprinting for a certain win. in the last 50 yds i was going round a back marker when matt hit from the rear sending us both down hard! i was tangled in my bike having come off worst and matt got up before me. With many lots of cuts and bruises and wrecked rear wheel i hobbled across the line for 2nd looking very pissed off. After calming down i spoke to matt about his version and it appears it was just unlucky. The winnings were good but only made a dent in the £250 bill to fix my wheel.

bmbs rd 3, margam
A venue which had been slightly mixed in previous years with a win, a DNF from having the shits, and a 2nd place. one thing is sure enough and that is the tough climbing. something which has been a strength but is clearly a little lacking this season. maybe too much lard and muscle? The weather was hot, the course tough, my mind was not confident. Another tentative start saw me slipping back (note, should be more agressive.. grrr) was going ok after first couple of laps, riding with Ben Thomas who took off on top climb. the last 2 laps the cramps took hold and i had to stand aside for a couple of minutes and watch 6 places go by. This was hard to watch. i finished 26th, feeling only half cooked and frustrated by my legs and the cramps. i'd overlooked my fuelling strategy!

bike radar, donnington park, Devil ride
One day after Margam i travelled up to Nottingham to help Garry at Sportstest at the biggest bike festival in the country. Saturday night i had a proper bad headache and retired for another night of camping. Waking sunday morning it was gonna be hot. i treated Garry and Meself to a big bacon buttie and set his stall up. After a day in the sun handing out leaflets Garry persuaded me to go for the road race. Lining up with Stephen Roche was bizarre but he was there for publicity but still gave it some! The Devil concept was new to me and was still unsure even after i finished. the circuit around donnington was fast, smooth and had a hard long gradual climb with a bastard headwind. a few laps in and the pace starts hotting up with some riders dropping off. some dickhead stalls on the climb right in front of me and brings us down. getting up his wheel is stuck in my shifter, which he rips off leaving me in the big ring. i get a angry and sprint to catch up. half way through and there have been a couple of attacks that came to nothing. two sigma sport riders attack, nobody reacts so i decide to have a bash but a little late. i get a gap on the bunch but cant get across to the sigma boys who immediately start working well together. 10 laps to go and i'm on my own. 4 laps to go and the field is being whittled down and i sit up for two riders to catch up. we drop on one of them when i power up the climb. the last lap is a little cat and mouse. i attack too early on the climb and Luke Dragstra gets on my wheel i lead out a sprint and die a little, he goes past, i have a second wind and push for the line. half a wheel and... fourth! damn. 3rd place was £150. felt good, and pleased since i performed like that a day after a hard NPS race.

National Champs Innerleithen

2009-07-23T19:33:00.010+01:00

The big one, the race with the most points on offer all year. I was promised a 'proper' course by everyone I spoke to and I tried to train accordingly, as much as you can when all the hills nearby are so small!

The course started in a boggy rough field which wasn't much fun but did split the races up before heading into the woods. I nabbed a front row start as there was no gridding (thanks BC!) Heading across the field for the first time I seemed to find a better line than everyone else and made my way into the lead, this hadn't been the plan as I intended to pace myself on the first lap so I didn't blow my doors before the end! Heading up into the woods I eased up and let the next rider through and the next and the next, you get the picture! Riding steadily I sat in 8th/9th by the time we crested the last climb before the descent back to the arena. This was awesome, when I practised it on Saturday I'll admit I scared myself! Steep, rooty, muddy with lots of off camber bends, by the time I hit the bottom my arms and brakes were pumped! Fortunately come race day I was more relaxed and managed to flow a bit more down the hill but I never felt comfortable enough to let it hang out as I normally would like to on a descent. The first time down a couple of riders had decided to try and run the descent so I made up a couple of places only to lose them again on the climb. The rest of the race was spent trying to limit losses on the increasingly muddy climbs and claw back seconds 0n the descent. This was only moderately successful and I ended the race in 9th, I had aimed for a top 10 finish so achieved this but was a little disappointed as well to finish behind some riders I have beaten before. However it still means some valuable points and a step closer to my main goal of racing expert next season. It also gives me some points on where I need to improve my riding.

Next up I have the Southern Champs at Alton which has been selected to hold the National Champs in 2010, so will be good to see what we have in store next year, something tells me slightly different to Innerleithen!
Once again thanks to Steve for the support all weekend and to the Elite downhillers who showed us all how it should be done by coming down the hill like complete loons all weekend!
See you all soon.....

BMBS R4 - Crow Hill

2009-06-30T20:29:00.005+01:00

I blame the weather for the non-updates I've put the way of this blog recently! Also I've been pretty busy with events and training so here comes quick round up.

The Midlands Champs were down at Hanchurch Woods which made for a hard fought race with Phil Lenney, George Budd,Charlie Evans & Christian Aucote. Jonathan Pybus took the win by a couple of minutes and I lost out to Phil Lenney by 23 seconds but I was still happy with 3rd considering the company.

The week after I traded knobbly tyres for slicks and took on the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge. 150 miles of nothing but hills! Epic day on the bike! My ride time was 8 hours 25 minutes but I apparently didn't push and shove enough at the feed zones enough 'cause I lost about 35 minutes d***ing around. 9 hour 1 minute finish time meant 1 minute over the GOLD time. Lesson learnt I guess!

Now onto BMBS Round 4.

The last time I raced Crow Hill was last year's nationals (Sport) which I actually won so I was going into the weekend with high hopes. After Margam I was looking for another top 5 and to get as close to the podium as possible.

By midday the course was drying out which made it very fast with little respite. I got off to a great start, going into the first section in a comfortable 3rd place. It all went wrong on the second corner! The corners were getting loose, I lost my rear wheel and managed to drop the chain of the chainring at the same time. I was off the bike now trying to get going again and gave up a good number of places. I would say I was mid pack now and the next three laps were spent fighting my way back up the placings and considering my start I was very happy with the results.

After 3 laps I managed to catch George Budd and we then began to once again battle it out. I felt really strong and the only thing limiting me were my technical skills on the day. I managed to out sprint George in the end which gave me a solid 6th place. Not over the moon but considering the start it could of been much worse.

Crazy to think we are 4 national rounds down with just 1 to go! Looking to finish as high as possible in the overalls and get as close to a podium as possible at Newnham Park.

I'll keep you posted! Laters!

BMBS Rd4

2009-06-30T19:45:00.004+01:00

BMBS Round 4 and a return to Crow Hill a venue I raced at around a month ago as part of the Southern xc series. Thankfully the race on saturday was soooo much better. The weather of course helped with temperatures hitting the high twenties and not a cloud in the sky summer had truly arrived in the new forest. This helped the course as it became faster and 'flowed' better than before. The roots were still there but the 90mm of travel from my Koncept cushioned me from the worst and gave great traction. Gridded on the second row I made a good start and slipped into 6th going into the first singletrack, this was quickly 5th as Darryl Upton lost it on some nasty roots allowing me to nip past. I managed to maintain contact just off the back of the leading group (2nd-4th) as Martin Delves did his now trademark disappearing act at the front of the race! Passing some of the junior riders on the 3rd lap the elastic which I seemed to be hanging from finally snapped and I was dropped by the group. I now had to get my head down and try and pace myself without going into the red too much, this is obviously the only reason I didn't jump on Liam Killeen's wheel as he passed me on his way to the Elite race win! I was feeling ok with the legs only starting to tighten up on the last lap and I could finally relax up the last grass climb as no one was close enough to catch me. 5th only 3min 52 sec off the winner is by far my best result of the year and I still feel improvements can be made so watch this space. Once again a few thanks, Ian for the training plan, Richard Wood for the pics and Nat for support, patience and feeding me!

Next up is the national champs in Scotland where I have been promised a 'proper' course by Steve! Lets hope going that far north I survive and live to tell the tale.......

Southern XC Rd3 Video

2009-06-09T19:32:00.001+01:00

www.youtube.com/SouthernXC

Check out this video of the southern XC Rd3, shows how much fun the first DH was

Race round up

2009-06-08T20:27:00.003+01:00

It seems ages since I last blogged but in fact it is only been 3weeks!
First up was the 3rd round of the BMBS @ Margham Park, always a good course for me for some unknown reason as the big climbs and rocky singletrack bear little relation to my local trails around Ashford! After my mechanical @ R1and missing R2 I wasn't gridded so started near the back but I knew the climbs and blistering heat would take their toll and pacing would be the order of the day. The course was a little different to prevoius years and broke the climbs up a little, this received a mixed response from riders but as usual its the same for everyone. In the end I was happy with 8th but felt I could have given a little more and paced myself maybe a bit too much on the 2nd lap, (hindsight is great!) Thanks to Jason for turning up and solving my bike problem! Also have to thank Nat for feeding me and Ian throughout the race.

1 week on and it was round 3 of the Southern xc series @ Pippingford East Sussex, prob the most local race of the year for me @ 1hr 30mins drive away! The course here has great potential with a large height gain, great views and large car park/camping area. I practised the course around midday and with dry condition tyres on it was seriously dodgy! Lots of off camber singletrack that was slick with the overnight rain and some deep muddy climbs didn't inspire me, however a change of tyres, Maxxis ignitors and some sunshine got me to the line in a positive state of mind. The race went ok, I can't say I felt that great from the gun as the pace was furious, although I enjoyed the 1st mile long downhill, berms and drops were taken at max speed, great fun! Although I seemed to lack any zip to pass people I must have been doing something right as I managed to make my way through the field on the steep and seemingly never ending climb that finished the lap. Laps 2 and 3 followed in a similar vein but with the course drying rapidly it started to speed up and definitly rode better. Up the last climb I was catching the rider in front but he saw me coming and my stealth attack was seen off easily in the end, 4th and just off the podium was not a bad result and see's me 3rd overall in the series.

Next up I have a few weeks to regroup and recover as 3 big races in 4 weeks seems to have taken its toll, I now start building for the National Champs in July with R4 of the national series along the way.
See you at a trail soon

BMBS R3 - Margam Park

2009-06-03T17:49:00.004+01:00

A quick update as the weather is currently far too nice to be inside typing on a computer. This past weekend was the third round of the British Mountain Bike Series and with the sun shining I was looking for a good ride to get my overall position back on track after my pull out at round 2. I was fortunate to be gridded and looking for a good start to make my race simpler. It didn't really happen exactly as I had wished. After getting a good start I made a silly mistake and ended up on the floor putting myself at the back of the field! I tried to remain calm and work my way back up to the front. This was tough because we had now hit some of the tighter sections of the course and the lead riders were long gone. I managed to work myself back up to a position were I could see some familiar faces which allowed me to relax a little bit.

The course was super tough with a lot of climbing which on the day seemed to suit me more than others and I was able to gain a number of places over the first 2 laps. The last 2 laps were very hard, the heat had started to get to me and I was paying for some of my earlier efforts. I kept it as smooth and consistent as possible and manage to finish in 5th place. A top 5 at a national event was my first goal at the start of the season and with that accomplished I can now aim for a podium.

Next race for me is Midlands Round 2 and with my improving form I'm hopeful of a podium and pushing the top guys for the win. Fingers crossed I can push on now and I'll keep the blog updated.

Laters

Suppose it's about time I blogged again

2009-05-18T17:29:00.005+01:00

It's been a while since I've blogged on my progress! Have to admit, it would of been sooner if not for a bad BMBS Round 2. It's been an odd month or so since the first round of the BMBS. Struggling with weather I've spent far too much time on the road bike and not enough time on the mountain bike. A dodgy excuse I know, but a bad BMBS round 2 was the kick up the ass I needed to get my ass back on the Msc Wcr Carbon!

I decided it was about time I gave my legs as much racing as possible and I'm really glad I did. At the start of this year I had decided I wanted to focus on the BMBS, using one regional series as tune up races to keep my legs going. Based on the BMBS at Dalby this wasn't working for me!

Which brings me to the third round of the Brownbacks (New North West racing series for this year). I was looking for anything to get me back racing and feeling better on the mountain bike and the brownbacks provided a perfect format for me. It wasn't a race that would have crushed my morale if it had gone wrong but there was still plenty incentive to do well.

The racing kicks off at 10am and by this time I was skinsuited up looking way too serious for this type of racing! The start was pretty interesting as it started with a loose fireroad climb which was tough to get traction. I started pretty well but still had to work a little to catch the lead wheel (a nutter on a single speed - Kudos to him cause this course was not for single speeders!). I sat on his wheel for a minute or so before pushing on past looking to open up a bit of a gap. At the end of the first lap I still had two guys on my wheel so I decided to put the hammer down on the start climb that twisted and turned up the end of the lap. I did my damage on this climb and put enough distance between the two chasers to put myself in a comfortable position to take my first win of the season.

The pre-race briefing put the emphasis on grass roots racing which is something I can respect and the fact that these races are a little bit over an hour away from me means I want them to be around for a long time to come. I may not be able to attend all of them but I think having local "fun" racing is something northerners have been disadvantaged with for some time. The South have plenty of these style of races and it's good to see the North finally catching up a little. I tried to do my part by not getting too caught up in the race or the finish and I was well aware of the riders that were new to racing and wanted to enjoy their day. The last thing they needed was some skinsuited serious d*** elbowing them out of the way to gain a matter of seconds! If anyone decides to visit a brownback race I suggest you try to do the same, make them aware and 99.9% will let you by as soon as they can.

It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a days racing in such wet conditions and I think a lot of it was down to the race organisers! The marshalls and spectators were great, plenty of photographers taking snaps at interesting points and in general it was a totally different atmosphere to the normal races I attend. Big thumbs up from me all round, especially the trophies!

Kick ass or what?

Southern xc Rd2

2009-05-18T09:32:00.002+01:00

After finishing Rd1 3rd behind two of the best sport riders in country I was looking forward to Rd2 and another good result. However some things aren't meant to be, Crow hill is a course which I have never enjoyed particularly as it never seems to flow and ends up a bit stop start for my liking. However in the weeks leading up to it I had done some hard intervals to try and help this. Unfortunatly it chucked it down on the morning of the race and made the course sticky and very soft resulting in a course that was pretty much one speed all the way round. Gridded on the front row I got an ok start, however the riders on my left decided to come across me and a guy behind flew 0ver the bars right in front of me, less than 50mtrs in and I'm off the bike at the back of the grid! Training partner Nick heard my swearing and gave me a wide berth as I sprinted back through the pack in a howling headwind! I pushed quite hard but getting past people on a one speed course is always hard. Middle ring, middle of the block and just grind away, even the tech sections became pretty slow so you gained little advantage by being able to clean them compared to people running, VERY annoying! I did get up to 5th place but I was paying for my early pace and struggled on the last lap losing a place to finish 6th. Not what I wanted but not a disaster either as I'm still 4th overall. Have to say bike once again performed flawlessly and my Maxxis ignitor tyres were incredibly grippy giving loads of confidence over the roots and mud. Just two weeks till Rd3 of the national series at Margam so I best go and find my climbing legs after 3 pretty flat races, see you there!

its all coming together....

2009-05-14T09:18:00.003+01:00

Time for bmbs rnd 2 at dalby forest! After a shocking time at sherwood i had no expectations of this race and just wanted to see how it goes and just have fun. ive been doing some criterium racing and trips up to scotland so hopefully this had covered my fitness and skills!

the course was being put forward as a world cup venue for 2010 so knew it was going to be a challenge. After 2 practice laps (including a tyre burp followed by flying over the bars!) i felt i was getting the hang of the course. it was an awesome one with countless drops and roots. i was then greeted by steve with lots of free stuff! as always steve got all the bikes tuned up and cleaned for the race the next day.

after getting kitted up in my snazzy new skin suit and msc gloves (first time i wore them and were so comfy, highly recommend!) i was gridded on the back row due to the previous dnf. my plan was to go fast from the start before the blockage in the single track. however i think everyone had this idea and went into the singletrack in the 20's. after having to run round the big drop due to someone face planting i was getting into my race and starting to pick off the riders. a couple of laps in and was getting towards the top 10 and riding hard to catch up. with no mistakes on the technical parts and some strong climbing i managed to almost catch 6th place to finish in 7th 12 seconds off.

was pretty happy with my result but would have loved another lap as felt like i had a lot left in the tank. my fitness is now coming on well and have been getting on the mountain bike more which is starting to speed me up. the carbon koncept was made for this course and felt amazing on the technical descents and stuck like glue to the steep parts on the climbs. im sure this bike can take me into the top 5 at margham park.

bring it on!!!

p.s the blurry picture just shows my immense speed!!!

Southern XC Rd1

2009-04-29T06:36:00.004+01:00

Round 1 of the southern xc series was held at Bordon in Hants, Bordon is a cracking course 5 miles of swooping bermed singletrack and a few features to keep you on your toes. This years course also seemed to go down more than up! The Sport mens race got off to a somewhat chaotic start with no gridding announced at the last min people were left to barge their way to the line, a clueless female spectator crossing the path of 40 charging riders after a hundred metres or so also provided a little extra adrenalin! I got a good start and just focussed on the back of a fast starting Mark Cotton, we caught the back of Masters pretty quickly and while passing these he got a gap. Coming through the arena at the end of the first lap I was sat in 3rd and feeling ok, the 2nd lap saw me catch and pass Mark but also lose a place to Russel Turner (Cetini) I also manged to lose my bottle and spare tube on one particularly fast and rough piece of singletrack! Last lap and starting to cramp up I just held on, spinning the short climbs and trying maintain the gap to the riders behind, at one point I thought I was going to be caught by 2 riders who were gaining fast but I managed to hold on by 10 secs and gain the last podium place. After the cheap cava was sprayed and collecting my trophy its time to look forward to the next round @ Crow hill, with a few things to improve on but pretty pleased to put to bed the sherwood nightmare!

Thanks to Hugo Humphreys for the pics and to Nick for sacrificing his 2nd row start for me, cheers mate!

See you at a race soon.......

Sexy new kit!

2009-04-25T09:05:00.002+01:00

For the next round of the BMBS we should be donning our new sexy kit. To have sneak preview see below!

Midlands XC rd 1

2009-04-25T08:44:00.004+01:00

Slightly home advantage for me as i had raced at Cosford before. the course used alot of the same bits as used for the FNSS with lots of twisty turny bits and roots. There was a fairly small field for my race but with some good riders lined up. the man to beat was always gonna be Lee Williams and he shot off from the gun with his usual fast start. i lined up at the back of the grid and got off to my usual slow steady start. The whole field pretty much followed along for approx half a lap before it started to fragment with Lee off the front already it then followed a group of 4or 5 of us battling for position. Andrew Cockburn, Rob Friel and myself then got a gap on the rest whilst we were in some of the technical sections and was like that for the next couple of laps. The technical sections proved beneficial for me as i was making some time up on the others and i pulled a gap a few times and for the last few laps was on me own. The hill past the start finish line was pretty sore on the last lap and i struggled a little to haul my carcass over it. Being paranoid i was gonna get caught by a charging Andrew i made sure i put all my efforts into pushing on the uphills and technical sections. Finishing 2nd was my first podium of the season and i will push to see if i can possibly take the midlands series overall! you never know.

A good day for MSC also for Giles finishing 3rd on the podium in Expert field.

Well done to Nadine and James for organising another good race with a good testing course and nice weather.

Sherwood Video

2009-04-19T20:27:00.001+01:00

Just a short video of the action from Sherwood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3nwTpqIwrk

BMBS Rd1

2009-04-07T21:05:00.004+01:00

Round 1, the start of the season, a race which can give you confidence or send you scurrying back to the drawing board! I feel I had a good ride and the extra training I have put in seems to be showing. Rd 1 last year saw me consistenetly lose time over the 4 laps and I was dead for the last 1, this year my lap times improved each lap as I moved through the field and cleared the 'traffic'. My 3rd lap was the 6th quickest so I know I can nearly lap as fast as the leaders I just need to get near them at the start. Starting on the 5th row I was always going to be held up but my plan was simple, hammer the first fireroad and then recover in the singletrack, with my newly fitted risers blocking riders from behind was easy! Cheers Steve, all I need now is a Bwarp sound effect and I can be fully moto! So sitting in 11th with 3k to go I blew it, still not quite sure what exactly happened but surfice to say the bike stopped and I didn't, with the rear wheel out of the dropouts and a chewed up chainstay I struggled to get the wheel back in and lost around 8 mins, when I finally got going I was pissed to say the least and stormed by some of the riders who had just passed me, unfortunatly this still left me in 39th thinking what might have been.

My next race is the Southern XC on the 26th, I have promised myself a good result so fingers crossed lady luck does not desert me. All that leaves is to thank the rest of the guys for making our first race weekend together so enjoyable and to Steve for keeping the bikes running sweet. Until next time.

BMBS rd1 - Elite baptism of fire!

2009-04-07T14:26:00.002+01:00

It was good to have Martyn Salt and team back organising the series and it started well. All the categories seem to be bulging with numbers. It was Steve Parr's (MSC guvner) first experience of XC racing as he is normally used to the downhill community and i think he was impressed but wouldn't stop going on about my "1980's crap gripshit" and also "i'll get you on low risers by the end of the season". MSC had a great spot in the arena and plenty of people drooling over the various types of rigs on display.

The racing was great too. It was my first Elite national race at a venue that hasn't been kind to be in the past and proved again to have that curse on me.

Half hour before i started i had a major mechanical which forced me to replace my bars (thanks for Steve coming to the rescue) and miss my warm up. On the first lap i took a log jump too hard, burped air out my front tubeless and made a fatal error of trying to race on a half inflated tyre. I was too concerned about losing the group i was with to think about stopping to repair it. It got consistently worse each lap till i had a crash after washing out and was forced to pump my tyre up for the last lap. My last lap being my second fastest compounded this problem.

On the up side, i felt pretty good. The pace was so high all the way round with no respite but i didn't feel too pushed. I should have been more aggressive to get to the head of some of technical singletrack sections where i can make time up instead of beung a passenger. Next round is more hilly which i should hopefully do better at. top 15 is still a realistic aim. Feeling good nonetheless!

A few more lessons to learn. i'll put this one down to experience.

BMBS R1 - Sherwood Pines

2009-04-06T17:46:00.008+01:00

This past weekend was the first round of the British Mountain Bike race series at Sherwood Pines, Clipstone. The course was designed by James Hampshire (XCracer.com 29er) and for the most part I thought it was a pretty cracking course! Some open fireroad sections mixed with lots of fast singletrack, much fun! The big plus was the weather, sun was out and the temp was pretty decent for early April.

These races are always tough, everyone is looking to get a good start to the season, and nobody really knows who the guy to beat is! On Sunday it was Scott Thwaites! He put 2 minutes 38 seconds into 2nd place. On a flat, fast course, you have to do a lot of work to drop people and considering the top 15 were separated by less than 5 minutes makes that sort of time gap mighty impressive.

I got a good start, which is very important on a course like Sherwood Pines. If you want to be up there you've got to be up there from the start! If you end up in the first bit of singletrack down on the group you want to be in, chances are you won't see them again.

For the first lap I was with the lead group, struggling on the more technical stuff but bringing it back on the short, sharp climbs. On the second lap I lost contact with the lead group and couldn't drag the gap back on the fireroads and climbs. I rode the remaining 3 laps more or less on my own and was satisfied to finish in 8th place.

On the fourth lap I was clipped by a racer on one of the fireroad sections and went down hard. Needless to say I wasn't best pleased about this, all that it would of taken to avoid it would of been a call "Rider, on your right".

Accidents happen and if the guy had taken the time to wait at the finish line and apologised I would of accepted and moved on.

My legs got pretty cut up and it probably cost me a place or two but for now I will hobble around, wince with pain every time I have a shower and do a solid bank holidays training before heading off to the first round of the Midlands (19th April).

Results - http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EventReport.aspx?eventID=54SherwoodPinesNottingham05/04/2009#Expert%20-%20Male

Photos - http://web.mac.com/joolzedymond/joolzeD/BMBSR1.html

Laters

2009-04-02T20:09:00.003+01:00

Unlike the rest of the team I decided to give the racing a miss last weekend as it was the first chance I had to ride my new bike for this season. 3 hours and one muddy bike later Mark is a happy chappy! The Koncept is light and very responsive and even on this first ride the suspension gave so much traction and confidence that I forgot I was running my 1.9 Larssen TT's which I had been sceptical about in the wet conditions. I found myself pushing on in singletrack like I had ridden the bike for years, not a few hours. Hopefully with a change of bars I can get my position sorted and I will be well and truly sorted for the first round of the National series this weekend @ Sherwood.

In the mean time my bike has been featured on Londoncyclesport.com check it out here: http://www.londoncyclesport.com/Showroom/Bikes/MSC_bikes_carbon_Koncept.html

Until next time.

Kick off for the season

2009-03-30T13:44:00.006+01:00

With Giles covering Wales team MSC were also at the 4th round of the always well organised Gorrick at Porridgepot Hill as a season warmer upper for the upcoming national series.

This was Jason and myself's first race of the season although the poseur (did you know he owns 4 pairs of Oakley Radars?) did do a couple of thetford winter races this was otherwise our season start. For me it was a tester to get some race speed in my legs before the national series kicks off at Sherwood next weekend and also to see how i was going compared to the big boys. Jason put in a respectable ride to finish 17th. Thankfully i didn't make an ar*e of myself and put in a satisfying effort finishing 7th amongst some very big elite boys.

The bike was great and is nice and whippy in the small technical stuff although i still need to find my technical flowing mojo again. hopefully it'll all come back to me next weekend!

results can be found here
http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EventReport.aspx?eventID=53PorridgepotHillDeepcut29/03/2009

a pic of my new stead.

Bad start, get better?

2009-03-29T21:01:00.013+01:00

Llandegla is a stones throw away from my home on the Wirral, 45 minutes tops! So you can imagine how much time I spend there on the mountain bike, blasting around the trails and drinking Cappuccino at the cafe. You can also imagine that I know the place pretty well.

Obviously not well enough...

Today was the first round of the Dragon XC and probably more significant from my point of view, my first race of the season.

Let's face it, we all go flying head first into seasons not really knowing how good or bad our conditions truly is. We hope for the best but the truth is until you're cranking through the gears off the start of that first race, you ain't got a clue!

I was surprised how much of the course was familiar to me. The One Planet guys had used large chunks of the trails I know and ride so often. Which makes today's result pretty embarrassing. At the end of the first lap, on a tiny descent, I punctured! So everyone who has ridden at Llandegla can have some reference, when your finishing red or black routes you come out of the trees and can see the cafe, over the little bridge, down and round a burm. That's where my race ended.

I tried to fix that flat, at this stage I didn't really care about my position, I was more concerned about race conditioning. With luck obviously not being on my side today my air canister failed to inflate my rear tyre and I began the walk of shame back to the pits.

As stupid as it sounds, I'm not really that bummed about it. Sure, my race legs could of done with 3 more laps of lung burning suffering, don't get me wrong! I'm usually a terrible starter to seasons, come mid season I've got my race legs and I'm ready to fly! Funny thing is, today I felt good! I'm not saying I felt great, let's be realistic these things hurt the best of us, but good enough for this time of the season.

Ryan Bevis set a fast pace up the first climb and by the top of it was just Ryan, Sion O`Boyle and myself. The three of us stay pretty much together for most of the first lap, I was distanced a couple of times on some of technical stuff but it was all coming back together into a mini peloton for the start of the second lap. Of course, my race was over after 9 of the 9.6km course but the fact I was in the company of good riders and feeling strong does wonders for the mental side of my preparation for the NPS at Sherwood Pines next weekend.

After 3 laps as I watched from the feed zone Ryan & Sion were still pretty close. In the end the fourth lap proved too much for Ryan as Sion took over a minute and a half out of Ryan on the final lap to win by nearly 2 minutes.

I look at today as getting some of the bad luck out of the way, or me being a bit of a idiot. Either way I'm happy to report I've got some good form going into the season.

Oh well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll bring better news this time next week.

Later

2009-03-25T13:26:00.002Z

Having had a test bike for the last few weeks, I went to pick up my permanent race bike and team kit at the weekend. Steve finally persauded me to use riser bars and im glad i did! after using flat bars since i started racing i was amazed at how much more control the bars gave me and now have a lot more confidence to throw the bike around. The bike was 21.5lb at its stock weight and with a bit of tuning got down to 20.7lb. ive still got to put my race wheels on and a few other parts so should sneak it under 20lb (hopefully!).

Ive used the bike everyday since ive got it and am very happy. its a pure race bike but treats you by going like the clappers! Ive got my first race for MSC Bikes at the weekend for the 4th round of the gorrick. Not hoping for a wicked result as have been ill for the last couple of weeks but should tune me up for the 1st round of the NPS where hopefully ill get a good result. Thats all for now!

Looking forward...

2009-03-02T17:38:00.004Z

Its that time again when you start looking to the season ahead, with all the excitement and tension of what lies in store.

After a winter of cross racing I needed a quiet month or so before building for the new MTB season. This has included (hopefully) building both my strength and endurance, last weekend I put part of this to the test at the final round of the Fowlmead winter MTB series on the Kent coast. Being only an hour long it is pretty intense like a cross race but I came through ok finishing 4th to finish the series in 3rd position and this on a borrowed bike, thanks Ian!

Everything else seems to be falling into place as well, getting a ride on the MSC bikes team is fantastic, I get to race the seriously light and fantastic looking carbon Koncept and get the support of a well sorted team. I also have two regular training partners for the first time in ages, helping those long road rides pass quickly and provide motivation when things get hard.

All this means that this season has the potential to be my best yet, watch this space ....

Thats all for my first post, just time left to say good luck to the rest of the team this season, see you at a race soon!

WCR CARBON RR

2009-02-21T16:50:00.001Z

I figured I would start off this blogging lark with a really simple post.

Seeing as I'm yet to ride my new bike (I'm in a quandary over pedals), I can't (honestly) tell you how great this bike is to ride.

There are a couple of things that I can tell you, the first is just how stunning it is in the flesh! Pictures just do not do this bike justice.

The second is the weight. I admit that the one thing I was sceptical about when checking out the bikes before I joined the team was the "finger quotes", claimed weights.

This is as good a time as any to post a picture of my brand new WCR CARBON RR (medium) on the scales.

Read it and weep boys, 18lbs 10oz!!

That's all I really have to say for now, I'll try to post regular updates on training, new kit & of course, the bike leading up to my first race in the expert category at Llandegla on the 29th March.

From that point on, hopefully plenty of race reports.

MSC team line up

2009-02-20T17:35:00.004Z

Welcome to the new blog for the MSC UK Cross Country Team. The riders for 2009 are:

Elite - Paul Robertson
Expert - Giles Drake
Expert - Jason Hucklesby
Sport - Mark Field

The guys will be seen competing around the country with full support from MSC and its dealers. The riders have chosen the Carbon Koncept and WCR carbon hardtail as their preferred race bikes, which are amongst the lightest bikes you will come across.

There will be demo bikes at any race the MSC van is attending, so come over for a chat, cup of Coffee or Tea and grab yourself a test ride.

Checkout the bikes at www.mscbikes.co.uk or www.mscbikes.com