NPS 2 at Cornwall.

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BY: Richard Jones

Published: 13th May, 2013

It's a late blog, but better late than never!

I have safely made it back to the middle of the country after what can only be described as an Epic week away at the 2^nd round of the National Mountain Bike series in Redruth. The term is "Epic" is often over used but with the Epic drive to the venue, The Epic course and the Epic Cornish pasties it all made for that epic week! 

Pastyyyy! 

Traveling down to the race on Friday was a lot more positive than the snowy drive to Sherwood for round 1. The sun was out and I at least new that my local trails where bone dry. The weather forecast was looking positive and after finally getting some good reassuring training in I was looking forward to the race. 

With camp for the next few days set up; myself, Hollie, Scott Clipstone, Julie Clipstone and off course maddie (the dog) set out for a look at the course. After the mind destroying and bike demolishing round 1 at Sherwood I was really looking for a great course at this round, something to really lift the spirits and bring back some motivation. The course supplied this and so much more! 

Checking out the course with big smiles. 

The course was made up of a mix of hardpack rocky descents, loose climbs and shorter technical drops. There was a mix of everything and best of all it was bone dry!

Sun sets on Saturday night, The calm before the storm. 

Sunday quickly came around and we were up early preparing for Hollies race. Hollie had been suffering from an injury on the lead up but still opted to race. She blew all our expectations as she tapped out all 4 laps in very consistent times. Hollies injured leg didn't offer enough support for her to contend for the win in the Expert category but she had enough to secure second!  

Soon enough I was herded into the round 2 warming up circle as we waited to be called up for gridding. I was 35^th on the Elite grid. The start was going to be vital especially when I was a good few rows back. As the starting shot was fired we all leapt in action. There was a small bottleneck as we entered the second field and then an even bigger bottleneck as we entered the first bit of singletrack. Everybody was pushing for places into this trail and after a few lost seconds I was away and onto the fast descent.

I began to slowly pick off riders and settled onto John Whittington's wheel as we re-entered the arena to finish our first lap. This was to be a wheel that I chassed for a further 5 laps. We exchanged attacks time after time, John seemed to be very strong and kept on really pushing the pace. 

The course was running fantastically, each part of the course brought new challenges, Challenges that seemed easy for the first 3 laps but come lap 6 and 7 they where certainly taking there toll. 

Coming onto the last lap John had really began to attack. I gave my all to hold his wheel but it wasn't enough. A gap appeared and he was gone, I kept on going and tried to minimize the gap. In doing so I managed to catch another two riders and hold this position into the finish. 

I finished in 23^rd 10 minutes down on the Elite winner Grant Ferguson. A result I was pleased with considering the gridding position was less than favorable. Crossing the line I was told that Scott had sprinted to second place in the Expert category.

As many others have already said; the course was brilliant, I originally had concerns that it would be to tight and not allow quality racing. This was not the case however with so many riders on course on lap 1 there was some congestion. It was just great to be on a challenging course and refreshing to be racing at a venue so different to all others…more of this please! 

Friends and myself where also impressed by how well organized the weekend was, there was plenty of amenities and finally no sign of the dreaded burger van and instead some proper caterers. Thank you to all that made it happen. 

Richard Jones

Scimitar Sports. 

MTZoom. 

Accelerade.