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So the circus starts again... Round one of the national series was this weekend. We were at a new venue; Codham Park in Essex. Watching videos online before the event I wasn't exactly inspired... Grassy fields with some very wiggly Singletrack that had a close resemblance to Catton Park. All I can say is thank god it wasn't raining.
The course actually raced really well - it was nice to be able to enjoy the racing and competition rather than the sole goal being 'don't end up in hospital'. I was gridded 32/65, so smack in the middle at the first national of the year - surely a recipe for carnage as everyone gets a bit over-excited... But we all got away smoothly and I settled into a group of about 10 riders, with 3 or 4 of us doing turns on the front. The pace was relentless and the course had no smooth surface for drinking at all - a really hard course and riders who'd started too fast soon paid the price as we passed them one by one.
I had a small problem as I came under the start gantry to start lap 4 of 7. There was a grinding noise then an almighty bang from the back end of my bike. All seemed well so I continued hoping it wasn't catastrophic. At the top of the first drop, I went for the back brake and... nothing. Turned out the pad retaining pin must have either fallen out or failed, leading to the brake pads falling out. I had to really go a bit gently on the faster sections and drops with only a front brake and then try to make up the little gaps on the open sections which really took it out of me.
Coming into the last lap I was absolutely hanging and tried to keep in touch with Chris Minter, who had lit his usual last lap afterburners. I managed to hold off a late charge from Sam Stean (I don't lose sprints...) to finish 29th which is my best ever result at the first round.
Was anyone else there?
GB
I miss XC racing.. that's a great report! Great result too, nice one 🙂
I was! As you know. I did shit. I had fun.
There's my review, way more concise!
Nice report Gee! Are there results up online anywhere? I could only find the top 5 on british cycling.
Results are on www.timelaps.co.uk
GB
I was, first ever national in the Experts. Pace was fierce, went a bit too hard off the line and had to try and recover to push on. The punchy climbs ended up giving me cramps in my calves for the last lap.
The grassy linking sections were hard to push on with, but the techy bits made up for it. The singletrack was fun and I gained loads of places on the BMX track cos people didn't know how to pump or jump! Bollocksed now.
I was as well! My first national in junior, and it didn't go too badly, apart from the terrible start, dropped chain, forgetting to drink, and crash on the start straight while eating a gel. Still, got 8th though, and the legs felt good, so I'll be on the front row in Cornwall - somewhat essential if the start is anything like last year.
Getting up for college today was harder than the actual race - I'm ruined!