BMBS RD3 Forest Fields

Last weekend we went to Forest Fields in mid Wales for the 3rd round of the national series.
The course had some long steep climbs with not very technical but really fun descents.
it was a dry and sometimes windy weekend which helped with the course as there was a really rooty descent which would have been carnage in the wet.
I had a really good start and sat 3rd round the first hairpin bend but as we hit the first hill I started to move back through bthe field as my legs had not been feeling good all week but towards the top hill when the people that had been sprinting up the hill had slowed down I managed to move back into 6th and sitting in the group for 4th, we hit the first descent and Craig Rogers was infront of me and he wasn't feeling too good so he opened up a gap and there was no where to pass, once I was down the descent I passed him on the fireroad and led up the second main climb on the circuit chasing back Tom Mein for 5th. I couldn't catch him before the descent and was overtook by Ben Healey, the descent was fast and flowing, and we all stayed together, we exited the descent and Ben had picked up a puncture, he pulled off and I led back into the arena.
The second lap I stayed in a group of three for the rest of the race working together trying to bring back 5th but the gap was too big, on the final lap the pace up the main climb increased but all three of us stayed together and pushed the pace even on the descents, we hit the fire road and the person ahead of me sprinted and then carried on up the climb, but I managed to pull it back and sat on him down the final descent. The pace then let up as we hit the last fire road with non of us wanting to take the lead for the sprint finish. Sam opened it up quite far out but put a big gap into us to try and bring back, I was sitting 8th round the last hairpin bend but managed to go up the inside and take 7th and was close to Sam at the line.
It was a good race and a really enjoyable course, i'm now looking forward to Glasgow for the commonwealth games course as it looks technical with short sharp hills

Welsh Champioships Coed-Y-Brenin

2 weeks ago we set off to Coed-Y-Brenin trail centre for the welsh championships incorporating RD3.
The course was really wet and slippy but still a great course with lots of climbing and technical descents that included rock features and wet Rooty descents.
The start of the race was much better than previous rounds as we were set of in individual categories.
I had a good start and led up the tarmac hill before being overtaken by Tom Nesham(Cardiff Jif) as we hit the stone and gravel road, I sat on him up the main climb that lasts around 8minutes with Craig Rogers(Birkenhead North end Cycling Club) sitting right on my tail, going into the first descent Craig overtook me heading into the singletrack and I was sitting third, we had managed to already break away when we hit the descent and we knew it was going to be a three horse race, we stayed in the same formation when we entered the bottom of the descent and then headed out onto the second half of the loop, this part was less climbing but more descending and was fairly technical too. Craig took the lead through here but I still sat in third feeling fairly comfortable as we headed out for the 2 lap, we went up the climb at a high pace and headed into the descent with tom leading but just before the singletrack I wanted to be in the lead and went up the inside of him, I managed to open up a small gap but I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold it as I was feeling quite fatigued, I took a bottle from the feed zone and caught my breath for a second until Tom was back on me and attacking up the little rise, he then led down the descent and into the arena and up the climb for the final time. the pace dropped off initially but as we reached the top it was an all out sprint between me and Tom and we distanced Craig slightly, tom led down the descent and with Craig just getting back on before the bottom of the descent and then to have an all out sprint up the climb for one last time before hitting the descent, but we all knew that whoever led into the descent would have a much better chance of winning due to the finish being straight out the bottom of the descent. Tom led in and I was sitting second wheel, halfway down I saw an opening and I took it straight away, we both ended up going into the corner at the same time and it was just who backed out first and that was tom and he allowed me to get my front wheel in front and I got into the lead, I then led down the rest of the descent and led the sprint out and luckily managed to hold on and take the WIN!

Welsh Mountain Bike Series Round 2 Buith Wells

This weekend I headed to the Buith Wells Showground in mid wales for the second round of the Welsh XC. the course was similar to the welsh cyclocross champs course, but was still a great course.
The start was carnage due to being started with elites, experts, and junior men and women categories, however I did manage to move into the top 10 fairly quickly and break away with Craig Rogers for the first lap but after the last technical section just before the arena I managed to drop my chain so had to stop and put it back on losing about 15 seconds. I was then stuck chasing back for the next 2 laps with Thomas Nesham. I then just managed to drop him on the main climb and was then chasing back to Craig Rogers solo. I luckily managed to then catch up to him with 1 lap to go, I sat on him up the last climb and down the tight twisty descent and before the crest of the final climb I then attacked him before the final descent as I knew it would be very hard to get past before the finish, he stayed with down the descent but on the final corner Craig ended up falling off on the last corner by hitting my back wheel  which allowed me to cross the line and take the win of RD2 of the Welsh XC.

I have now got a weekend off before heading to Coed-y-Brenin for the welsh champs and then forest fields the weekend after for RD3 of the BMBS where I hope to get some good results too.

 

 

BMBS RD2 Newnham Park

It was an eventful weekend starting off with a 5hour drive down to Plymouth, we arrived around 11:00 which gave me time to get my number and relax for abit before heading out for three practise laps of what pictures and videos I had seen looked like a great course. the first practise lap went well and I rode all the A lines Really comfortably and wasn't really struggling, except for the climbs, they were really steep and if you got out the saddle your rear wheel would slip on the loose ground that  had been baking in the hot dry weather all week. I headed out for my second practise lap just to make sure about thinking of switching down to a 30T ring on my 1x10 set up. on the second lap I did again ride all the A lines comfortably at abit of a higher pace except for the final A line (cottage Carnage) where I managed to end up flying over the bars going straight through the tape and landing on my head in the process and making myself see stars for a while but after 5 minutes I decided to go back up and hit the A line again and ended up going over the bars again probably due to I didn't give myself enough time to calm down after the first one. In this crash I managed to break my seat in the process snapping the rails meaning  that I would have to go back to the car to get that sorted out and to make sure I was also ok as I was feeling sore and did take a massive blow to my head which I later found out I  had also found out I broke my helmet as well leaving a massive crack in the top of it, but to make things worse I didn't bring a spare helmet or seat but was lucky enough that a friend of ours had a spare seat, but this still meant that we needed to get a helmet as the paramedics said it was not good enough to use again as if I crashed again with it, it would not do its job, this meant we had to go to certini the local bike shop to newnham park to find a new helmet.
After about half an hour of looking round the numerous helmets I managed to find a helmet to my liking and then we headed back to newnham park, changed the ring from a 32T to a 30T. this made the climbs much easier and I again rode all the A lines comfortably and this time at Cottage Carnage i took it slower and made sure I got down it safely and then built my speed up over the next couple of runs down before heading back to the car feeling confident with all the A lines.

On race day it looked like good weather and I was feeling good, I started my warm up on rollers and moved through the zones getting me up to speed that the race will be at.
I was gridded on the front row again which would give me a great starting position.
The gun went and everyone clipped in, except me which also meant I went from the front of the race to the back and was sitting dead last, I was then left with the job of moving up back into the top 10 which I managed to do coming through the main arena and was chasing back to the group for 5th, the 5 of us stayed together for the majority of the race until tomos mein put in a dig on the main steep climb and my legs couldn't react and I was out of gears because the hill was so steep, I tried to chase back to them on the descents but the gap was just too big to catch back up to them but I still pushed on as there were people still chasing from behind but I managed to hold onto 10th.
I was satisfied with this result but I am hoping for better at the next round of BMBS at forest fields in wales.

Midlands XC RD1 Cannock Chase

A few weeks ago I headed to Cannock chase for the second time this season for the first round of the Midlands XC. the course seemed to be fairly dry but was still very slippy in the trees.
The start of the race was really fast but I managed to clip in straight away and led the start out and half of the first lap before Cameron orr overtook me but I managed to jump on the back of him and stay with him up the first climb until he attacked over the crest of the hill and managed to open up a gap before we hit the tree line and the vets! it was really hard to overtake all the vets in the trees and this is where gaps could have been opened or closed depending on if they wanted to let you past and in my case it was closed and was caught by harry yates, we then stayed together for the rest of the race trying to close the gap to Cameron taking it in turns on the front for the remainder of the laps, in the end we couldn't catch Cameron and we both knew that it was going to come down to a sprint for 2nd and 3rd, before the final single-track I attacked and overtook harry and I thought this was a good move as I knew he would struggle to get past, however, over the final jump I over shot it and was carrying  too much speed  and came off the main line and gave harry enough of a gap to come up on the inside of me and then we were going head to head for a sprint finish and knocking bars and in the end harry got 2nd by less than half a wheel and I had to settle for 3rd.

BMBS Rd1 Sherwood Pines

Over the weekend I headed to Sherwood Pines for the first round of the British Mountain Bike Series at Sherwood Pines in Nottingham. We arrived On the Saturday lunchtime after a 3hr drive in some wet conditions. Me & Dad who decided to race in open cat later in the afternoon collected our numbers and headed out for 3 laps course practise just to get to know the track, it was quite dry and wasn't very technical but would be a course that all you needed was lots of power & super smooth lines in the tight & twisty single-track. After my laps I cleaned the bike and went to watch Dad race before we headed to the hotel where we would stay the night.
The next morning I went to breakfast feeling a little bit nervous but also anxious of what to expect.  We arrived at Sherwood pines in plenty of time & I started my warm up swiftly after, once my legs were warmed up I headed down to the start arena for gridding where I was seeded on the front Row.

Just before the start the forecasted rain began to fall which would make the course a lot more slippier than in practise yesterday but hopefully the Racing Ralph tyres would still be ok, The start of the race was fast & I had a really good start and I sat 4th going into the first singletrack round the start arena, It was a fast pace race and people were frantically attacking to move up including me, People were moving up and down the positions but I stayed in the same position in 4th.

Daniel Tulett opened up a gap and it just kept growing and then once we hit the first part of open track Ross Harnden flew passed but no one seemed to attack however this didn't seem to matter because I found myself in a trio who had managed to get away with Callum Fernie and Cameron Orr, We stayed together opening up the gap to 6th taking it in turns on the front on the fire roads, I was feeling really comfortable and was feeling strong sitting behind them at their pace, however disaster struck coming back into the arena with my rear wheel coming loose and rubbing against the side of the frame, I pushed on for about another 20meteres but it was not falling back into place , I had to stop and I tried to tighten it as fast as possible and hop back on, by now Callum and Cameron had gone off into the distance and Tom Piddcock had also passed me but I managed to get back on and was sitting 6th with Tomos Mein sitting behind me.
Later that lap Ben Healey came up to join us and we worked together again and I was feeling comfortable and was trying to push the pace to try and make it back to the next rider so I could still maybe get a top 5. we stayed together for the next three laps until Tomos attacked and me and ben chased, until again my wheel came loose again but this time I only had myself to blame as I had been the one who had rushed to get it fixed as quickly as possible. I once again had to stop and tighten it up but luckily was not caught by anyone when doing so but I could see a trio  of riders coming up in the distance, in the end I ended up being caught by harry yates and we worked together to try and catch Ben who we were slowly bringing in towards the end of the last lap but there was not enough time left and we couldn't catch him, Harry ended up attacking before the final single track and getting ahead of a lapped rider giving him a small gap that he then held to the line. I ended up finishing 9th which I  was satisfied with but was a bit annoyed that I had been in the running for third until my wheel fell out so the Lightweight KCNC Titanium skewer has been replaced in favour of a more Substantial & hopefully reliable Shimano item for the future.
I now know my winter training has gone very well & my form is there so I still felt like I had a good ride and now look forward to the next round of the BMBS in Newnham park in Plymouth on April 18-19th.
Im off to South wales next week for a 4day Mtb Training Camp with Welsh cycling which will be really good to get together with the other Welsh riders for plenty of quality Race training & Skills practise.

Welsh XC Round 1

Last weekend I Travelled down to south wales on the Saturday evening for the first round of the Welsh XC series. We Stayed overnight in Llanelli which isn't far from Pembrey country Park.
Not so much of an early start as my race wasn't till 11am so we arrived for course inspection & practise around 9-30 whilst the U12 races were in progress on a separate course. It had rained overnight but the ground was still fairly firm going & rolling fast but the weather soon turned on us & it started raining quite heavily whilst I started my Warm-up on the rollers with Dad holding the umbrella over me!!
The commissaries soon got us all gridded but start was carnage when they set the elite men and women, expert, juniors and youths all off together, the youths started off at the back so was really hard to move up, The first lap was mainly trying to move up with the group I was in with Tom Nesham (Cardiff Jif), Craig Rogers (BNECC) and Jack Nash (MTRT), we stayed as a group together as a group for the whole first lap until I attacked up the main climb. I managed to open a gap but knew straight away that I would not be able to hold it but still pushed for the rest of the second lap but Craig Rogers was able to bridge the gap and we ended up working together for the next lap but then it turned into a game of cat and mouse as both of us knew after a few attacks that it was going to stay together, so the pace ended up dropping off as we both wanted to save ourselves for the final sprint finish, on the last road straight I attacked from behind craig around 300meteres away from the line and was lucky enough to hold the tiny gap I opened all the way up to the line and take the WIN!
It was a great course and a really fast & flowing and fun to ride with little respite inbetween the short sharp climbs so a big thanks to Matt Page of A_Cycling, Welsh cycling and all the Marshalls for standing out in the Heavy rain for the duration of the race.
The Bike was faultless once again so a Big thanks to Alf Jones Cycles in Wrexham & Fibrax keeping my Cannondale F29r So reliable
Looking forward to the first round of the National Mtb Series at Sherwood Pines In a couple of weeks.

Cannock Chase Winter XC Race

Over  the past 2 weeks I have been busy getting the MTB cross country season under way.
The Bike has had a full Rebuild & refresh of a few components To improve performance & Reliability.
A New set of the Fibrax Ltd Proformance Sealed Cables have been fitted to keep the shifting Smooth & precise in even the muddiest winter conditions & Some of their Sintered Brake pads to care of the stopping Department in the XTR Brakes.

So On the 1st of march it was my first MTB race of the season & time to give the bike a shakedown now it was back to full race trim, We travelled down to Cannock chase to compete in the Go Run And Ride Winter Xc, I entered the Mens enthusiasts category as the race distance would be more like the national level duration. It had been dry for the morning races & my Practise laps so was looking forward to a fast Dry race along side some handy Elite Riders From Torq Fitness team (Alex Welburn & Chris Andrews). Just before the race started the heavens opened and it changed the course completely compared to what it was like in practise. I managed to get a good start and was 5th going into the first singletrack and then moved up into 4th where I stayed for the majority of the race as was unable to close the gap on the charging Junior rider Arthur Green but was then later joined by Junior Rider Greg Booker (team elite) and I managed to stay with him for the next lap until he put in a strong attack and dropped me a Steep Muddy Climb. I then rode solo for the rest of the race and managed to claim 5th in the enthusiasts men's category while still being a second year youth! it was a great event and can not wait to return to Cannock chase for the Go Run And Ride Summer Xc and the final round of the national series in August.

 

Pictures Courtesy of Curley photography

New year, New to blogging & New Race Season approachng!

Hello & Welcome to my first foray into blogging
Now Christmas & New year celebrations are all done with its time to start looking ahead to the 2015 Cross country Mountain bike season hoping I can continue my winning form since my last MTB race held at Coed Llandegla which was the Emergency Services Firemans XC race which I won overall!

 

I am just finishing off my winter Cyclocross season with the national Championship Race to be held in Abergavenny south Wales on Saturday 10th January when I will get to Race in my Welsh Champion's jersey which I recently won in December 2014 at Builth Wells Showground.

I Have also been recently selected to train on the British Cycling MTB Olympic Development Apprentice Scheme which entails Frequent Training Days away and In depth coaching in order to compete at the highest level competition in The UK & hopefully abroad too.

Over the Xmas Period I was away on a 5 day training camp with Welsh Cycling at CwmCarn Trail Centre with one of the Days  being based at Bike Park Wales .

It wont be long before I get back in to racing Mountain bikes again now that the entries have gone in for the Full National Mountain bike Series & the first 2 rounds of the Welsh XC already.

Exciting times ahead and will report back with a full update from the national Cyclocross Championships.