The support makes all the difference

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BY: George Budd

Published: 18th May, 2014

After 2 very disappointing races in Cornwall and Scotland I did quite a lot of reflection in the lead up to the Southern Champs; I hadn't had a flat in a race for years and so was probably due one (but probably not 4) and at least I still managed to finish both events. Plus, we do a sport where problems like this are inevitable and so you just have to accept it, hard as it is.  More than this though, I thought about how lucky I am to do a sport where there is such a real and strong sense of camaraderie. At both events I got thrown tubes, gas, tyre levers and the like by fellow riders and in Scotland Ickle Paul even ran (got to love his optimism) and fetched me yet another spare tube from his van.  At both of these events, and this weekend's Southern Champs, John Newport was handing me (and plenty of other riders) up bottles. This is such a thankless task but makes such a massive difference - John raced in the morning and, as usual, didn't just go home and enjoy a beer in the sunshine but stood in the woods all afternoon seeing nothing much other than pine trees, pine cones and a few midges.  The amount of miles John has done in vans, dragging himself around the UK and abroad just to stand in a field and hand up bottles and sage advice is remarkable.  Without this type of support it would be impossible to get the results I have done.  I could list another dozen or so people who've really helped me out over the years...  Obviously my wife, Nicky, Paul Hore, Frank Jaworski, Mike Jones, Andy, Maz and Pat at Ison and of course my parents....  All of my best events would have been considerably more tough without them.  So, a big thanks a lot to them all and to all the other pit bitches on the mtb circuit.  We love you.

I've always thought mountain bikers are a really friendly bunch which is one of the reasons I enjoy racing so much. Nothing is ever too serious...usually.  Even after Ade and Isaac had sadly had to pull out due to a crash and a puncture, putting our little group of Jonno Pybus, Jody Crawforth and me in the lead, we still managed to find enough breath in between ripping each others legs off up the climbs for a bit of banter... Laughing at Jody crashing on a very innocuous corner... then laughing at John when he crashed in exactly the same place on the next lap... Always agreeing to take the slightly slower but more fun line over the big pile of logs... Seeing Jody inadvertently tailwhip off a root and smashing his rear wheel against a tree in mid air... When I was having a drink on two different climbs and stopped paying attention, rode into a root and a hole and fell off... twice... I could go on.

The race ended with a sprint between Jody and me up the final hill for the win - we'd managed to drop Jonno on the last lap. This was a loose climb that got steeper and steeper at the top. Jody went early from the bottom and I tried to stay with him, hoping he'd burnt his matches. Unfortunately, it turned out Jody burns those extra-long cooks matches and he just didn't slow down. By the time we got to the top of the climb the noise from the spectators (yes! Really!) was very loud and again made me think how amazing mtb racing is. Everyone shouting for each other no matter team/club/category. What a great sport we do.

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