I love going to Newnham Park, in a way it feels like my home turf, despite it being 100 miles from where I live. It's the place I rode my first ever 12 hour solo and also the place I've raced at the most.
I stuck to my usual routine of waking up late, arriving late, heading out on a practice lap too late and starting the race at the back of the Sports pack... this time I also thought I'd chuck myself over the bars in the arena in front of Jay so he'd have an early chance to mock me over the PA. I think the embarrassing experience of smashing up my knee and hip before the race had even started may have knocked my confidence a little, as throughout the race I felt like a complete novice and was afraid to hit any of the technical sections with anything resembling conviction - more of that in a minute though.
The field was big, probably due to the fact that this round doubled as the SW Champs and so after the usual super-fast start, led out by motorcycle in a cloud of dust, things slowed down somewhat as riders entered the first section of single track. As I mentioned, I was near/at the back of the Sports field and so just pushed as hard as I could for as long as I could to try and make up some time and places This didn't really work, I felt like crap and my progress leveled out going into the first climb. If you were there or if you've read anyone else's report, you'll know this was a technically demanding race which, if I'm honest, was in many places beyond my current ability (I'm working on fixing that) and so there were sections I either fell at or ran around each lap. One of those sections that I shamefully ran was the Bear Pit - on the first lap my wide bars prevented me from riding straight into it, just in time to watch another rider face plant in a really big way. From that point on I was too afraid to even have a go at riding the Bear Pit and wasted a lot of time running around the side of it. I did my best to ride as much of the rest of the lap as I could but fell a lot, more than I ever have before. Rooty off camber sections and steep descents to flat took me by surprise every time, sending me over the bars or onto my hips - I even had a close encounter with a tree which left me pretty winded. To say I took a battering would be an understatement but that's mountain biking and it was a strange, sadistic kind of fun. It wasn't all bad though, I did pretty well on the climbs, where I was very glad to still be riding a 3x9 setup - in a world where everyone is riding 2x10 or 1x10, granny ring is King!
Photo by Snapper Chick
At the end of the first lap I was in 8th and in the end I only managed a disappointing 6th place finish, though I believe I only gained two places by default because two riders in my category were struck down by mechanicals. I could have suffered a mechanical of my own when a rider decided to roll over and stop on my rear wheel on one of the many occasions when I was down on the ground but as I built the wheel myself, it emerged unscathed - if anyone wants wheels built then get in touch, I'm Cytech qualified and everything ;)
Despite my disappointing performance and the fact I embarrassed myself in front of the Hortons and XCracer team boss Martyn Salt, this really was another beautifully organised and executed days racing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. A massive thank you to all involved - the perfect weather was very much appreciated too.
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