XC Racer Blog Post

Modern times

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BY: George Budd

Published: 22nd July, 2014


After coming close to binning XC racing after dragging myself round an uninspiring 3 miles at Sherwood I decided to deal with the motivation. problem head on. I'm sure cycling coaches would usually prescribe a nice rest week preceding the biggest race of the season, the Nat Champs, being held this year at one of my favourite venues - Hopton Woods. However, seeing as it wasn't too fussed about the result, I'm on school hols right now and it was gloriously sunny last week, I did 300miles/25hrs of mountain biking round the usual trails in the Surrey Hills. Now, this may not have led to the best of results this weekend but I arrived in Hopton very happy indeed; what more could you ask for.

Well, less thunderstorms would have been nice. On the Saturday the weather was pretty horrid. I decided to practice on my 650b carbon prototype bike and preserve the XTR on the race bike. I needn't have worried though - give or take 200 yards of grass, the course was pretty much all hardpack. Pearce Cycles had managed to pull together a superb 15min or so lap despite the weather. There was less climbing per lap this year, but then we rode more laps - which I loved as it meant we got to ride the downhill more times :)

Sunday was a different day entirely - warm and sunny. I rode another practice lap on the Ti Ala Carte (or Frankencarte as Ison have dubbed it) and was surprised to feel such a difference compared to my (much lower spec) carbon bike I rode on the Saturday. I've not ridden them back to back on the same trails before and so didn't quite appreciate how much tapered steerers, 15mm bolt through axles and stiff carbon frames improve things, not to mention a lower CoG as the frame is actually designed for that size of wheel... To much rolling of eyes I set about swapping as much of the XTR as I could onto the carbon bike the morning of the race. Fortunately it all went according to plan and I was ready to race at 3.15pm.

The race itself really showed up my weaknesses in descending the mud-on-hardpack surface. On lap 1 I managed to keep in touch with the usual crop of riders - Giles, Lee, Chris, Jonno etc. By lap 2 I'd lost time on the middle descent and this pattern continued. Despite the miles leading up to the race, I felt great on the climbs. I rode conservatively for the remaining laps on the descents, knowing that Jonno and others had suffered crashes and lost time.  I caught a couple of riders towards the end of the race and rolled in 18th - much to my surprise and one place better than in 2013.

So, after extolling its virtues last week, after 5 years of racing I've finally retired the Ala Carte Ti. It's remarkable how a series of very small improvements might not be noticeable one at a time, but put them all on one bike and you really can tell. I'm still a titanium fanboi at heart, though.

Today I feel absolutely ruined. My legs are super stiff and I could barely walk up to Budgens to buy lunch. It's funny how much harder I try when the course is actually enjoyable!

Special mentions go to Steve James for retaining the U23 title for another year and to Isaac Pucci for a fine 3rd after a crash left him down the field. Goes to show what's possible when you don't quit and keep on racing!  I also hope Sam appreciated the little push up the hill :)

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George Budd

Marathon racer & Deputy Head. Usually found eating carrot cake in Peaslake.

Thanks to my sponsors: Pivot Cycles, Upgrade Bikes, Ison Distribution, USE, Exposure Lights, ODI, Gusset, Halo, MRP, Schwalbe, Absolute Black and Rotor

www.pivotcycles.com

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