XC Racer Blog Post

Welsh XC round 3

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BY: phil Morris

Published: 5th April, 2011


Round 3 of the Welsh Series

Now the season is officially up and running after round 1 of the BMBS. I got a fourth place there, which was a personal best for me at Sherwood.

This weekend it was time for the third round of the welsh series at Coed y Brenin. We arrived at the event around 11am. The weather seemed ok, but the clouds above didn't quite know what to do all day really. Short sharp showers followed by a few rays!

Sign on was fairly quiet as race 1 was mid progress, which involved team mate Mel who looked to be leading the pack as well as her husband Mark leading the Vet's!
When I got back to the car I met a couple of other really strong masters, so I knew it wasn't going to be an easy race.

The start was at half one, so I set off for a practice lap at half twelve. The course was really enjoyable, with a really long, tough climb to the top, followed by some cracking rooty single-track back to the start.

On the start the masters where at the back of the pack. I lined up next to George Rose and Matt Dennis just behind. I had a good start getting away first but, it wasn't going to last. "George must have had super oats for breakfast; he went past me and took off like a rocket!!" Matt also sailed past. I managed to hold the gap but when we hit the single-track; I got held up behind some of the senior riders and was getting a little bit frustrated to say the least!!! Once it opened up again I managed to pass a few more riders. George and Matt now had a couple hundred meters on me. On the major climb, Matt was leading all the way, with George in second, followed by myself. On lap 2 I maintained a good pace, but didn't seem to bridge the gap. Lap 3 was fairly similar, but by lap 4 I was gaining on George, so I attacked and managed to catch George and get a gap on him. Lap 5 I just pushed on, until the last descent, where I noticed my front tyre going soft. I eased up a little as I knew I only had a fairly short distance to ride to the finish and didn't really fancy a run to the finish!! I reached the line, with my tyre seeing better days! I think that's what you call close timing!

I finished 2nd place with Matt taking the win with another really strong ride and George came in third.

In summary a really good course, this produced some really tough racing, which was dare I say very enjoyable!!

Really looking forward to the final round which incorporates the Welsh Champs now at Fforest Fields, Builth Wells.

This weekend I will be doing the ELBNO at Builth on Saturday night and the enduro on the Sunday.( Just a bit of enduro training for the 12 hr solo!!!) eek!!

Finally a big thank you to my supporters and top feeders Donna, Hali-Rae and Ryley!!

And my sponsors:

XCracer.com
Accelerade
Exposure
Gateway Cycles
MT Zoom

Phil Morris


 





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phil Morris

Fireman, dad, racer and team stalwart...

www.xcracer.com

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