The taste of Racing!

So there I was, at home 2 weeks after the Welsh Epic had finished with not a lot of riding done in between, sat at my computer looking through the usual pages of bike porn, race schedules and facebook, wondering when id actually get to a race, when I saw an article on Dirt about the local "Farmer Johns" race series. They were holding a race day in order to try out their newly built venue at a farm in Saddleworth nr Oldham.

snow drift

Reading through the article and following comments from fellow readers and organisers they likened the track to "A mini Moelfre" and after a quick look on the linked vids to Pinkbike I signed up for the race!


Over the following days I kept a close eye on the venue and especially the conditions following the sudden snow fall suffered by the northwest. The race organisers were adamant that the race would go ahead despite them posting pics of 6ft snow drifts across where the track was going to be!!

bottom section

But thanks to a dedicated crew and the help of the local council, by Saturday night the snow had melted and the track was cleared and taped ready for race day sunday!!

So after the last of my Colombard Chardonnay had been drunk on the saturday night, i hastily bundled by kit bag together and headed off for some nights rest before the early morning sun (possibly a little hopeful) and my alarm woke me for the following days shenanigans!

I awoke feeling surprisingly refreshed and after a cuppa and bite to eat I was on the road. An hour later and a few dodgy turns from my satnav I found myself driving up what could better be described as a mud river into a farmers field. Luckily I was not the only on there so I assumed i had found my way to the race venue with no major problems. After parking up and introducing myself to the guys next to me we were given the chance to walk the track whilst the sign on tent was set up.
The track looked well built with a couple of bombholes at the start, quick ladder bridge over a small stone wall and a few small jumps with a couple of rockgardens before a couple of sets of big berms and the final run in to the finish over a small hip and drop. The only thing that was apparent at this time was that although they stated the track was built from mainly hardcore, spikes would definitely be the order of the day.

DISASTER!! upon return to the car I discovered that in my haste I had left my spiked tyres at home hung in the garage, and after a few well placed enquiries with other riders, none had any spare so I admitted my own mistake and got on with the task at hand...practice!
This was going to be interesting! Not only was the track slippier than expected, but the fact that i was riding on normal tyres instead of spikes meant that the bike was handling like a lubricated eel. I managed 3 runs before giving in and returning to the pits for a brew.
Race time was looming so I headed out for another quick run to see if the track had changed at all, and although still slippy it had cut up quite nicely in the right places to afford me a little more grip than I had previously.

Race time came about and for the first run we were all seeded by plate number, which meant i was 3rd to go in seniors. The run itself was nothing to shout about and I was initially happy with the 1:12.9 I got until the chap that id introduced myself to earlier put in a 1:01.3!!

One of my race runs.

Run 2 came about a half hour later, and with seeding running from our first run time I was expecting to be near the back, however with 4 slower than I was I started 5th and put in a time of 1:12.0, slightly better than my first but this time with a major foot dab in the middle of the third berm that definitely slowed me down.

Final timings were published shortly after the final run of the day had finished placing me 16th out of 20 seniors and 40th out of 56 total riders. Not quite the result I had hoped for but for my first proper DH race I was pleased that I had even managed to finish!!

A great day had overall and a very big lesson learnt.........Never leave your spikes at home!!!!!

Until next time, keep it loose and ill see you on the hill

Welsh Epic

Well, after the last post the bike was finally sorted and everything was fit and ready for my weeks training in south Wales with the rest of the DH team.

Those that could make it!

The week promised to be a good one too, with the weather playing nicely for us with no rain in sight for the whole week and temperatures breaking into the mid doubles I was looking forward to some decent riding.
I arrived in Cardiff and the wondrous place that id be calling home (or at least laying my fat schwad down in) toward the back end of the afternoon, and after meeting with the team sec and a few of the other riders we headed over the road to the nearest beverage dispensing outlet for an informal meet and greet whilst we waited for the others to arrive from their various locations, including the first event of the Pearce series where a few had already been racing that weekend with some decent results to boot!!
After a few hours of general chat (mainly around the subject of bikes and work) and a few nectars had been sunk a vague plan for the week ahead was in place and we all retired to the dorm to rest and prepare for the morning and riding that was to follow.

Some techy switchbacks in the woods at Llantrisant

Our first stop was Llantrisant, a small wooded area with just the right amount of trails to blow the cobwebs off and get a bit of coaching from team riders who have been riding a while, and everyone's favourite puddle pirate / soon-to-be scivvy, Ben Deakin. With plenty of little sections dotted around the woods, and of course the inherent evolution of competition between riders, all in attendance were soon upping their game and improving their riding!

Next on the hit list was the infamous Cwm Carn. For someone who had never ridden there before the size of this place came as quite a shock!! Situated on what can only be described as a near mountain sized cliff this is definitely both the longest, steepest and biggest track ive ever ridden!!
After a good 30 minute slog pushing the bikes to the top, stopping every so often to look at possible lines and wondering where abouts I would finally meet my end, we reached the summit and took a well deserved breather.
To my relief we started the day lightly, sessioning the top section a few times doing a bit more coaching on various obstacles such as jumps, drops and roots, before completing a full run of the mountain, that must've taken a good 5 mins for those less experienced riders amongst us, and back to the vans for lunch.
The afternoon was concentrated on the bottom section, home of all the big jumps, berms, drops and a certain hip jump that had the undivided attention of a certain "Sorbs" who had to attempt said hip or risk the loss of his eyebrows!!
By the end of the afternoon everyone was hitting the majority of obstacles at much higher speeds and starting to get used to the sensation of being airborne (something Danny is more than used to - Para), while others gained themselves nicknames, most notably John "Wildcard" Miller whose riding style can only be described as Balls Out!!

Oh...and Sorbs kept his eyebrows! 

The jump that saved the eyebrows!

Ben Ward sending it off the ski jump

Me over the small hip after the bridge.

The final two days were spent at the Forest of Dean located on the Welsh border. This venue had the longest drive in order to get there, but the vast variety of runs available, and the considerably smaller push to the top in comparison to Cwm Carn made this my personal favourite of the week.
Everyone could find something that they were comfortable riding, and something that pushed their limits a little bit too, so in smaller pockets of riders we ascended the hill and took off in different directions testing out the different trails and generally having a laugh on our bikes.


Once everyone had done a fair few runs and our legs were starting to feel the burn of pushing to the top normality returned and we again found ourselves sessioning the bottom portion of a run known as "Ski Run", consisting of a few berms, Tabletop jump and road gap we all settled in for the weeks "Whip off" competition on the table, a trick that is harder to pull of than it looks!!

Not a whip but some great style from Matt F

Everyone loves a barhump!!

Deaks pulling out the big Whips!!

All in all though a great week was had, everyone improved their riding in one way or another and was pinning it come the end of riding on the Thursday afternoon. So once the vans were packed for the last time that week and a big thanks had been given to Tim for jacking up the week in the first place we headed of back home, all tired yet all a little more prepared and ready for the up coming race season.

So until next time....Keep it loose and ill see you on the hill!