Midlands Round 1

Midlands Round 1. 

The first round of the Midland's series was held last weekend at Hicks Lodge in Leicestershire.  The course was made up of a purpose built cycle trail that mainly consisted of a gravel BMX style course which involved bermed corners, table top jumps and sections of pump tracks with the odd field and piece of singletrack thrown in.  Not your normal course for a regional Cross Country race!

The deluge of rain from the day before had caused some treacherous muddy conditions for the morning's race, which appeared to create some difficult riding

From the sidelines things looked tough as hundreds of the other riders made it around the 6km course.  Great rides came from the veterans' race as Chris Rathbone made his debut in this category.  He took the win by just a few seconds but looked like he was dictating the majority of the race. 

The time came for me to pull on some warm kit and put my brand new race bike through some drilling, certainly one way to bed in a new bike!  This race was also to be my first race as an Elite rider.  My only aim was not to come last, failing that then at least not to look too silly. 

The sun had been out for quite some time by this point and the course had dried out nicely.  We were called up to grid and I ensured that I was towards the back - no way I was I starting at the front row for my first race. 

The starting shot was fired and we began to storm down the starting straight.  I was surprised by the pace and in fact felt with in my comfort zone.  As we hit the first muddy section I seemed to lack power and other riders had managed to squeeze past.  At this point I was sitting in roughly 10^th place in an 18 strong field. 

I settled down and began to concentrate on riding well and maintaining a good pace.  Laps quickly began to pass and I loved the course: it seemed very fast but required a large amount of accelerating in and out of corners. 

As time passed I began to pick of riders one by one.  Before I knew it I had made it into 7^th place.  With one lap to go I had caught Lee Westwood.  It was also Lee's first race as an Elite.  I dug deep and kept on pushing for my final lap.  Still the course seemed great fun and only a few muddy sections remained. 

I finished my six laps in 6^th place, which I was pleased with.  It later turned out that Lee had set himself the target of riding to the race as well as racing it at his usually full on pace.  By the time he had finished he had spent quite some time in the saddle and looked about ready for some well earned food and rest.

All in all, for me, the race was a little early in the year, although it proved to be a great day of racing.  The course had received some negative comments before the race but I believe it made for some good riding and held up to the weather conditions very well.