Welsh XC Round 1 - Margam Park

You know the feeling you got when you finished watching Rocky 1... the fact he'd trained so hard went hard in all the rounds but didn't get the win. That's what the first round of the Welsh XC series was like for me. However like Rocky it wasn't about the lack of result it was about proving myself. Although this was technically my 2nd Elite race this was the first race of the season with proper Elite level competition so a 5th placed finish was not only respectable it was also one of those races where actually finishing what you started deserves respect.

The Welsh series seems to be the chosen regional series where people come to race at the same level as Nationals. This became apparent at the start line when being the usual idiot I am whilst under start line stress decided to pop a stupid comment of "ooh I'm not the only person in baggy shorts..." (the other rider being a certain World Cup Downhiller called Marc Beaumont) no-one replied... hum. The start just happened, one minute I was thinking darn this weathers bad the next I was scrambling to start my Garmin before pounding my legs. Off we steamed into the first climb which started off as a gentle gravel climb, levelled out a little bit then went into a just enough grip grass climb with a hairpin bend. With 15 riders jamming up a remarkably small section of trail it was only a matter of time before someone slipped thus causing a chain reaction of people slowing down too much that they would in turn loose grip and then everyone starts running. I'd like to say it wasn't me which caused this to happen but still being in awe that a World Cup DH winner was in the same race as me I might have gotten distracted/excited to be overtaking Marc and causing me to ride off the trail.... after getting over being star stricken it was MARC BEAUMONT I got my act together. I managed to ride the first DH section pretty well overtaking a bunch of riders as I rode slightly out of control down the off camber hill along into the next short climb which again involved running due the amount of riders before the next decent which consisted of a 75 meter straight slide which 2 years ago this section massively scared me but thanks to my 29inch gravity friendly Yeti Bigtop I felt confident and in control along with my light weight Formula R1 Racing brakes modulating speed I managed to clear the section and kick the turbo boost into the next climb. After this climb saw my favorite decent of Margam Park another tight and steep decent which my bike once again held its own. The last section of the course saw the newly cut trails I think the Fully Sussed crew had helped create... well it looked like their work. As the weather was appalling and as the trails were new this meant a stinking mud bath! If any of you rode in last years TwentyFour12 or Dunkelds BMBS this section share simular attributes to the freshly cut sections i.e. slurry which you have to run through. A ice rink into the arena saw the end of the lap.

This was the story team mate Dexter Hurlock (winner in Expert) shared before our race (from the book/film catch me if you can), basically stating being stubborn can have its advantages a characteristic I'm pretty familiar with but it stayed fresh in my mind especially as through the race I would catch my closest competitor Matthew Thompson (Jif) who would then pull away from me in the running sections, but I kept pluggin away until the last lap when I rolled up behind him thinking... darn it Steve we're actually going to have to put something into him otherwise we're going to have a head to head battle going on so digging a little deeper on the sliddy grass climb I pulled away from Matthew and that was the last I saw of him till the finish line managing to cross the line in 5th.

There's not much else to say about the race if anyone was there reading this you'll know how bad the weather was and how much it ate our bikes but I don't feel words will do this justice, can't wait to race the again the next race being 3rd March for Round 2 in Coed-Y-Brenin. Thanks to my dad for the encouragement and the photos, and well done to all involved with running and marshelling the race (especially you Hortons).

My Garmin dump for those of you who are interested in such things check how slow the average speed is:

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