WELSH XC RD 1

BY: phil Morris

Published: 11th February, 2013

After a couple of races in the last few weeks the first round of welsh XC was here. The week leading up to the race, the weather gods had been fairly kind but that all changed on Saturday morning when the rain started and it has only just stop now!

I had planned to go down on the Saturday and do a practise lap, but decided that the best prep would be to look out the window and pretend that I was riding!!!

I was working Saturday night which isn't the best way to prepare, but at least I only had a 5 minute drive to the race. I arrived at the venue and met up with Donna (the wife), we set off to hike to registration in pouring rain. After signing on we went to pick up our new team kit from Maddie and Jay who were time keeping and commentating/abusing the riders! Considering the conditions you were going to need a bit of motivation to keep going, or even start in the first place!

We headed back to the car to get the bikes sorted and try the new kit, will soon have a team launch on the site with the kit, so all I'll say is I think it the best team kit we've ever had!

It wasn't long and the start of Donna's race was up, she will add her bit to the end of this blog about her race!

I watched the first 2 laps and it looked grim, and to be honest at this point a small part of me thought once Donna finishes we'll just pack up and go home!!!

The time soon came for the start of my race, and with some strong riders, including Jon Pugh from cycle-tec it was going to be a fast race. We went off just after the elite/expert men.

I had a good start but on the first climb a few riders nipped past including Jon, Grant Levy and Mark Davies. At this point I was in a lot of pain, don't think it helped that my warm-up consisted of pretty much just riding up to the start. I grit my teeth and just held on to the wheel of Mark and Grant; Jon had already managed to gain a small gap. Next up was the grass climb, I can describe this in no other way than hell! The next section was an off camber slippy bit of track which was good fun! Then the gully decent which I always really enjoy, despite a few near death experiences!

After the decent you had a short flat section followed by the next climb which felt like a minor bump compared to the first. Then you were in to my favourite section of the course a section of single track finished up with a steep tricky decent back to the road. One last climb and then back into the woods leading to the start.

Coming round to finish my first lap and Grant, Mark and myself were all still riding together, and Jon was about a minute ahead now. After crossing the line I decided to try and up the pace a bit, which initially had no effect (bugger), but on the grass climb I managed to get a gap. I pushed on and at the bottom of the gully decent I had a good gap, but my front brake had started to struggle to say the least! By the end of the lap I had extended my gap to 3^rd but Jon was well gone now, so it was going to be race for 2^nd.

Lap 3 started well, catching a few elite riders but on the next decent my front brake totally failed and nearly left me face first in the mud. The race now involved me trying to push hard on the climbs and running down the descents.

Fortunately by now I had a good gap back to 3^rd and the next 2 laps were fairly uneventful, well other than the torrential rain and wind!!

I finished a very happy second as just finishing was a result in its self. Jon was a convincing winner with Grant coming in 3^rd.

Well done to everyone who raced, we must all be completed mental J

Thanks to all the Guys at Welsh Cycling and Fully sussed for a cracking event which couldn't have had much worst conditions, looking forward to the rest of the series. Great start!!

Now my bit, short and sweet!

Of the pre-entered riders it was a strong field and I was the weakest link. So It was going to be a challenge and just pace myself. However a few more nutters enterd on the day. No warm up for me and having never ridden at Margam before, the first lap was going to be eventful!! First lap = MAYHEM. Scramble up the hill, push, pull and old way. So many riders pushing in front, it was a case of get off your bike, stop struggling to pedal and bump into them and just join the majority!! On the first climb I was in 6^th place but half way through the course I managed to get to 4^th, I think. However, when I hit the last section through the woods, my front wheel completed stopped turning it was jammed up to the fork with mud. I couldn't even run with it!! I struggled to try and clear it, resorting after a few minutes and a few f words, to taking my gloves off, watch loads of riders go past me including all but one woman and tussle with my neoprene mud guard off. Eventually, I got going after 3 or 4 minutes. My thoughts at this point was how the hell am I going to make that back? Do I just gib? NO, I don't give up. Going through the arena bit, spurred me on and I dug deep and pushed on. Over the next lap I got past a few women and was in 3^rd, 4^th overall. I managed the 2^nd lap good and made a decent time, no wheel issues, but that got halted on the final lap, as it jammed again. Off I got, pulled the mud out and tried to free the wheel. Eventually I got back to riding and was just coming to the arena and Mel passed me, so I didn't have to complete the final lap. Maybe it was a good idea my wheel jammed, as she wouldn't have lapped me and I would have had to go out again!! Finally finished a gruelling fell run, bike race in 3^rd place woman, 4^th overall as Lucy Allan, a speedy junior rider from the Southwest took 2^nd. Well done to all the women and in fact everybody racing!! Well done to all the organisers and hats off to Mad and Jay!