XC Racer Blog Post

Inappropriate shoes at Welsh XC

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BY: Matthew Lewis

Published: 11th February, 2013


I'd like to meet the bloke who designed my newish race shoes. Apparently they cost over £200 but I picked them up-thankfully- for much much less (thanks to an online emporium). I've fixed them now but the cheapskates had put such a tiny grub screw to hold in the rachet retention system thingy that halfway around lap two the retention buckle thingy pinged off flapping on the retention strap. I may as well have had on the above pair of stilletos. Good studs though at the front!

And if there is one race in 2013 where you would need a couple of studs(doesn't sound right does it) it was at the first round of the Welsh XC. Crikey it was muddy. Up until my shoes broke I had this memorable phrase from the preview in my head:

 

 

 

"The few muddy sections are only short and mostly on downhill stretches so they don't take too much effort to get through."

 

 

 

 

 Ha ha! That was up until the heavens opened with venom on Saturday. After all that rain and with a shoe that was only holding on to my right foot by the sheer fact that it was stuck on due to all the muddy paste out there they took an awful lot of bloody effort to get through! I love the mud though. I still have fond memories of Feb 2011 and that round up in Pontypridd. Perverse isn't it?

 

This round was excellent. The organisation was superb and in light of the conditions I think that they did a fantastic job of keeping the race together and there were healthy numbers out there racing in the horizontal rain. If we chose to race in February then we all know what we're getting ourselves into but this year the infrastructure was in place to make it a success regardless of the weather.

 

Once it dawned on me that team mate Phil Morris was back in Masters I knew that I wouldn't win this one(!). Then slowly all the other contenders came out from underneath their Goretex I knew that I would be doing well to finish in the top 10. A special mention must go to Martin Graham who had driven down from Edinburgh for the race. I'm still undecided as to whether he should be committed to the loony bin or whether he is simply a committed racer either way I think it's impressive!

 

The gun went off and very quickly the main contenders went off at the front and to be honest I can't remember much except that the course would've been fantacstic in the dry. That gully sent me flying on the last lap and thankfully I didn't take out Richard Bowen from Gateway cycles. It was a very unorthodox descending technique and to be fair I'm going to try and avoid going over the bars for the rest of the season. In the end I limped home in 5th place, my right shoe still attached and with an unhealthy dose of chainsuck to contend with (like everyone no doubt). I was quite pleased with that. Jonny Pugh took first by quite a comfortable margin, then Phil, Grant Leavy, Martin Graham then waaaay back me in 5th.

 

The organisers (the usual Welsh crew and Fully sussed) did a really amazing job. The marshalls were fantastic and as I sat shaking in the car after the race I couldn't believe that they were still out there taking down all of the course tape(the results were out today too). Bonkers. The timing, sign-on and most of all the tarmac carpark were spot-on and if anyone out there is hesistating to enter future rounds don't be put off by previous bad stories. Welsh XC is back.

 

Matt Lewis

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Matthew Lewis

XCracer.com Team Rider, teacher, dad and mid-pack master rider.

www.xcracer.com

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