2014 Start as I mean to go on

Firstly Happy New Year!

I purposely avoided writing a ‘what I’m going to do in 2014 post’ partly as blogs seemed to be full of them and secondly my mildly pickled brain, over the Christmas madness,  wasn’t in much of a state to decide what I would or would not be doing in the next 12 months.

One thing I did know was that I’d continue to be racing DH, and not so reluctantly as before.

Which brings me nicely to the weekend just gone.

My first race of 2014, was the 661 mini DH round 2 at the Forest of Dean. 

The week prior to the race hadn’t been my best, I’d been knocked for 6 with the cold from hell, to the extent that I did consider whether I’d caught man flu.. So rather than practicing my DH technic I was veg’d out on the sofa drinking lemsip.  The internet buzz mainly concentrated on which track we’d be going down, with a fair amount of speculation as the track wasn’t release until the Thursday.

I have to admit to begin happy over the track being Sheep Skull, it’s my favourite track, but my only race on it wasn’t the best experience. 

Friday night we packed the van and sorted out our gear, I was surprised how calm I felt normally by now my nerves have kicked in.  I went to bed and fell asleep still no nerves, until 2:25 am, I woke in a cold sweat, sleeping restlessly until the alarm went off. 

Arriving at FOD I was more excited than nervous, I’d not seen some of the girls since the last race and we chatted as we pushed up the hill, Darrel joining us.  My first few runs were the normal sketchy stiff mess that I expected, but as I made my way down the course I relaxed and enjoyed the track.  I did struggle a bit with my lines but was happy I had routes through all the technical bits and when we followed the track in a complete run to get some lunch, I loved riding the lower section. After a quick can of coke (nerves stopping me eating) we headed back, i wanted to just run down the middle section in 1 complete run so set off after Darrel.  I was feeling confident and happy as I went passed Danny Hart who was doing a track walk with the ripper category, as I passed them felt the bike loose grip and instinctively knew I was going down.  I held the bike up as long as possible to scrub off my speed before giving in to the inevitable and hitting the deck.  I’d simply got caught out on a really short off camber section!  Pushing up I had a good look at where I’d gone wrong, a very simple mistake I’d just come too far over to the right.  So I set off again and cleared the section.  Following this we did a few runs down the lower half before calling it a day and heading home.  

Sheepskull Practice 

Next morning, the atmosphere at FOD had changed you could tell it was race day!  The weather had changed as well, yesterday we only had one shower in the afternoon, but today it was persistent and relentless rain.  I’d slept reasonably well and didn’t feel too nervous as I waited my turn to do a practice run, I was practising with Darrel so we’d agree I’d follow him down to the 2nd forestry road crossing.  As I set off after him on the top pedally bit of track I froze.  It was like I’d totally forgotten how to ride a bike I got to the first crossing and wanted to cry.  Darrel had long gone so I pushed up and went down again, a bit better but to say I was stiff was way off the mark. I was trembling with nerves and my body was ridged with fear, as I kept riding the same bit of track.  I gradually relaxed, as the track became more familiar I rode on more of an autopilot and as long as I didn't think too much found things improving.  So I braved crossing the push up and riding the middle section and it really went tits up.  The rain had actually given the track more grip as tyres were able to cut into the saturated slime, but that off camber bit caught me out again, and again, and again.. Yep my first 3 attempts all resulted in me sliding off track! I couldn't work out what I was doing that was so wrong, as I watched rider after rider clear this section. I leant Granddad up against a tree and in-between riders walked the section.  My theory on what I was doing wrong is based on  my horse riding experience, I was using a tree stump to the right of the track as a marker to aim for, and as I'm one sided to my right this just took the bike over the couple of inches off the grip.  I looked for new markers and tried them out until I was able to clear the section and keep upright, though I wasn't trusting this bit of track and going rather slowly.  Due to the time taken up here I didn't have a chance to practice the lower sections but was happy there yesterday.

So 11am saw me in line to start my first race run, the rain was still falling and I looked more like a drowned rat from my offs that a DH racer J

My first run was nervous, and as I got to my nemesis I slowed to ensure I stayed on the bike, slowing a bit too much and having to really pedal to get to the roots which was where I got a surprise.  Fellow Loeka/Fix Distribution rider Clare (at her first DH race) was just at the bottom of the bomb hole line through the roots.  I’d never caught anyone on a race run so backed off to let her clear the roots before I entered this technical section, calling to Clare as I dropped onto the road, she stopped to let me by as I dropped down the lower section calling to her to ‘tag on behind’ and ride with me.  The rest of the run was fine, I love this bit of track it’s pretty much point and shoot with a pedally bit in the middle which killed my cold reduced strength.  I headed happily down to the finish.  I’d survived run 1 listening for my time I was 7 seconds quicker than my fastest time last year, in conditions which were much worse.  I was ecstatic.

Image supplied by photo-bike.com

After watching Darrel compete in the Hard tail class, it was again a quick lunch of coke and a sedate push up to the top. 

2^nd race run is seeded from the first race run times with the fastest girl going first, as I’d caught Clare on my first fun we agreed that I should start before her, hopefully giving us both clear runs.  I felt so odd not to be the last in my class as I headed off as soon as the beeps changed.  My second run was clearer, I really enjoyed the first section relaxed enough to take purposely pump the bike into jumping onto the push up track (secrectly hoping there was a camera there to capture the moment) and headed down to the middle section that had caught me out that morning.  I still didn’t trust the track and over braked, but hey I got through clear as I lined up for the bomb hole and dropped across the road yelling hello to Simon the Marshall.  As I disappeared down into the woods I was carrying more speed than before and stupidly over braked as I looked for my line, having to pedal to get my speed back up as I exited the woods on to the flat section and heaved on the pedals, all it seemed to do was move the suspension rather than propel me forwards, as I was about to run out of steam the track headed down again.  I dropped down a chute, braking in the slime to get onto the home stretch letting the bike take me round the berms as I could hear the noise from the finish line.  As I passed Rob (another Marshall) I knew it would only be seconds before I was home, my whole body was aching as I entered the last few meters, crossing the finish line with a grin. 

Image from MnDPhotography

1 second faster than the mornings time, which given I was knackered and still suffering the after effects of my cold, I was so happy.

DH for me isn’t about coming first, it’s about improvement so setting faster times each attempt is key.  The only thing that could have made the conditions worse on Sunday was snow, it rained from when we left the house at 6:30am until 1pm.  I struggle riding in the wet, especially if there are rooty sections and I'd never really raced in theses conditions so it was a great experience. 

And for the 2nd time I wasn't last.

Team Loeka/Fix Distribution

Now for the Thanks; 

Loeka and Fix Distribution for supporting me this year

All the marshalls, photographers and spectator's who stood out in the rain to watch a bunch of mad people. 

Naked Racing for putting on another excellent race



Next race is the 661 Mini DH round 3...... 

To find out more about my fellow team rider Clare Curtis check out her blog