XC Racer Blog Post

Up, Down and in the Dark

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BY: Maxine Filby

Published: 14th June, 2013


Hopton Woods

Photo courtesy of Neil Hendry

Round three of the British Mountain Bike Series saw us heading to Hopton Woods in Shropshire. Having raced here last year I knew the course would be tough. It was one long climb followed by a flowing descent, this year the climb had changed slightly being broken up by some super single track sections and the descent was a little more technical but equally as fast. I did a couple of practice laps on the Saturday and felt happy with the course and my bike set up. The corners were lacking in some grip so my Racing Ralphs really came into their own giving me bags of confidence. Not having the best of starts to the season I was hoping I could improve on my previous rounds' results.
Race day came and it was dry with a little chill. It was a fast and furious start in which me and Mel Alexander (Scott Contessa) got a little tangled up. How we managed to stay upright, I'm not quite sure how, but we did and set off trying to catch the fast starters. The climb spread everyone out quite quickly and I settled down trying to keep a rhythm. The descents were great fun and I was making ground down them only to lose it on the climbs. I was pushing really hard in to the last lap when the dreaded cramp hit. It was even becoming difficult to descend my legs, toes and fingers in that painful curl of cramp. I lost a fair few places eventually finished in 12th. Not where I want to be at this time of year. Sometimes it's good to stand back and assess what you're doing, why you're doing it and what your goals are. I think I'd lost sight of these a little at the beginning of the season, so with a fantastic support team of coaches and great sponsors I am more motivated than ever and working hard to be in far better shape for the following rounds. 


Photo Courtesy of Neil Hendry 


IG London Nocturne. 

I am quite enjoying mixing up my riding this year and doing a little more racing on the road. I entered the Nocturne fully expecting not to get in so it was great when I got the email to say I was in. I had a look at the start list and had a little panic. It contained Olympic and World Champions as well as the top domestic riders. My aim suddenly became survival, I'd be happy just staying in the race! I was very lucky to link up the Matrix Fitness Race Team who are also supported by Velocite UK. It was to be the first outing for me aboard a Velocite Geos, I was hoping it handled as well as my trusty Flux. 
I arrived down in the big city quite early, I wanted to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy being at such a prestigious event. The circuit looked fast and technical with two sharp bends. I had a serious case of butterflies; I was well out of my comfort zone. Catching up with my great sponsors, Schwalbe UK and Sponser UK I felt a little more settled and headed to warm up with the Matrix team. They have a very professional set up and it was an honour to be included in it. We were called to start line for a warm up lap; I'd managed to get to the front but as we set off on the lap I shuffled  backwards being a little overwhelmed at the whole atmosphere. The leading riders were called forward to the start line and the rest of us followed. I was right at the back, probably the worst position in a crit race, a lesson learnt! The start was unbelievably fast and although I made up places I was the wrong side of the split and was in a group of about ten. We worked together it was really fast. 3 laps to go was called and we were still in the race, I was going to make the full distance. A lap to go and the leaders came past us. In the end I finished 35th out of 65 riders not too bad for such a big race and I'll definitely be back next year.


Photo Courtesy of Mark Huggins

As always a huge thank you to my sponsors, they are great companies supporting me in what I love to do: XCracer.com, Velocite UK, Firecrest MTB, Mavic, Schwalbe UK,  Sponser UK, Whackjob Jim, Ana Nichoola, Scimitar Sports, Exposure Lights and Working Bodies.




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Maxine
 

Maxine Filby

XCRacer team rider

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This blog post was written by a third party and their views do not necessarily reflect the views of XCRacer.com

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