Hot cold's & blue skies

Moelfre! I've never really liked Moelfre that much, I like the more technical rooty tracks rather then the flat out ones, but even I'll admit that this was awesome fun. With the track being 2.3km, a vertical drop of over 300m and the average times being around the 2:30 mark the track is flat out!

With the recent dry weather it was clear the track was going to be even faster this year...scary fast. The track is pretty much a footpath/singletrack filled with loose rocks, big 30 foot booters and extremely high speeds. The most time would be made from staying off the brakes and clearing the jumps/drops.

I've never done well at Moelfre, and to be honest I wasnt expecting to do well, this was going to be the damage control for the season. Saturday practice rolled around and I felt like shit, I'd been suffering with a bug for the last few days and still wasnt fully over it, riding my bike was the last thing I wanted to do, but the awesome weather made up for it!

The track was fast and loose and was only going to get rougher and faster as the weekend went on. Despite feeling like shit, practice was going well, hit all the jumps, got all my lines and was picking up speed with each run.

I awoke to an awesomly sunny morning on sudnay, and luckily felt so much better too, things were looking up. I decided to only do 2 practice runs on the Sunday as my hands were still hurting a little from doing too many runs on Saturday. On my last practice run the front end washed out on a corner and yep...you guessed it, I hit the bad shoulder on a block of wood used in a berm. At first it felt fine, but after awhile it started to ache real bad and I couldnt lift it above my head...bad times.

I pretty much knew that, that was it,  I still wanted to race so I decided to have a chilled seeding run and not pedal to see what the shoulder was like, the outcome wasn't great, but not so bad I couldnt hold on like it had been. Pulling up on the front was near impossible, so the big hucks were a no go, but the rough stuff was okay.  Come race run I set out to have fun, nothing more, nothing less. 

Spills and thrills! BDS Round 1

So, It was finally time for the first national of the year. This would see us heading back to Nant Gwrtheyrn.

Saturday mornings track walk revealed a fast, and relatively dry track compared to last time. It was taped a bit differently to allow for some more dangerous, yet much faster lines at the top with the bottom being pretty much the same. I didn't get my first run in until 12 which is pretty late for me, but I was feeling super confident about the whole thing having raced there a few weeks ago.

Race day rolled around and it was raining and had been for most of the night, I still didn't bother walking the track though, I figured it would be exactly the same as it was last time I was here...and it was. I only did one practice run in the morning and It felt SO much faster then it did in the dry, If anything there was more grip in the wet. Unfortunately someone broke their hip in their seeding run which then delayed everything causing them to cancel seeding and go straight to race runs. About 7 hours after my practice run It was time for my race run. I was feeling confident and knew what I had to do. 

Things started off well until something went wrong somewhere and my cranks jammed, which was a massive pain in the arse at the top of the track where you really need to keep your pedals above the rocks. I also couldn’t really hit any of the harder/quicker lines without clipping my pedals everywhere, so I took the safer bet. Having got to the bottom sprint I gave the cranks a good kick and managed to get things moving, however the only gear I could get to work was 1^st... not ideal. Not being able to pedal at the top and then not having a hard enough gear at the bottom pretty much put me out of the running.

I'm so disappointed with my result as it's a track that I feel I could have done really well on, but that's racing I guess.

Nant Gwrtheyrn - it's a long one.

So, it was finally here, the first race of the season, for me anyway... Going into it I was feeling extremely confident of coming out with a top 5, despite the strong field. A week prior to the event I aggravated an old shoulder injury, I've never had it that bad and wasn't able to pull/push/lift with it, so things weren't looking good.

After a freezing night in the tent we were up at 7 for the track walk. Luckily the rain had stopped and the sky's were clear, well clear for Wales anyway. Walking the track it was clear to see it was going to be wild, with the top half of the track being tight, technical and full of roots and rocks with a thick slimy mud covering it making it hard to see whats underneath. The bottom was a completely different story, with a long 45+ second sprint along a fire road, then up a slight hill, through a bus stop then down to the finish, just want you wanted after a really physical top section.

 (Saturday practice, squashing the last jump to flat)

Saturday practice was good, getting the lines down and the shoulder was holding up okay. Felt really confident and fast on the top part, hitting all my lines and not stalling in any of the corners. Last run of the day my shifter came loose and went into my front brake, which stopped me from pulling my brake, this was coming into one of the steepest rockiest parts of the tracks. I came into it and clipped the tree with my bad shoulder then went flying off the bike onto the sharp rocks, not good.

Sunday rolled around and my shoulder felt bad, being British and all I got on with it and went for a practice run. The track was a LOT more muddy, but still Callum and I decided to stick with highrollers. After getting about half way down I was really struggling to hold on with my shoulder. Race run's were not looking good.                                      

                             (                   Sunday practice - not squashing the drop to flat)

Race runs rolled around and I decided to do them. To be honest I was all over the place, I wasn't hitting my lines I was getting perfect on Saturday, I was stalling in the corners and I could hardly hold on by about 1/4 of the way down the track. By the time It got to the bottom sprint my arm was dead, I was sitting down at every opportunity because it simply hurt on every little hit. Not the best run in the world, but I most defiantly wasn't happy with it.

 

                                                           (Sunday Race run - 1'st run)

Having taken some pain killers and covered myself in tiger balm I went for my second run. The top section was okay, and I was able to hold on for a little longer. But it was nowhere near the speed of a race run sadly. By the time I got to the sprint it was pretty much the same story, my arm was once again just unable to grip the bar. I saw the flattish ground as an opportunity to sit down and pedal, much to my annoyance. 

I managed to put a few seconds into my first time, to put me somewhere mid field, which shows I was quicker at the top but once again it was nowhere near where I felt I should be. A disappointing race in all, but I'd rather it happen now then at the first National.

sticks and whips - Finally! -

So after 3 or so weeks I  finally got my bike sorted. Unluckily I manged to destroy my rebound cart in my boxxers. This would have set me back but the extremely nice people at loco tuning (clicky) were able to sort me one out at an awesome price! These guys are seriously underrated, they do an awesome job at 2/3rd's of the cost to their competitors, so check em out!

Anywho, after 3 weeks I managed to get the bike up and running! I have to say, it was awful not being able to ride when I really should be training, but that's life.

So to break her in and get back to some training we headed over to some secret tracks, tight, technical and steep in some sections...Perfect! I was actually really surprised how quickly I got on with the bike, felt right at home, despite it being bigger then my last one.

Things were awesome, I'd not forgotten how to ride a bike thankfully and managed to do some timed runs. Got the first crash out the way while trying to do a big whip off a tiny jump. I managed to get her flat, but didn't get it back in time sadly.

Out with the old and in with the new!

So today I got a text from Dave at fixonline (clicky) saying that my new 2011 TR450 was in stock! Just wow it looks sooo nice. The expected arrival date was late february, so a massive thanks to Dave for getting it so quickly.
 

I'll post up some pictures once she's fully built up!

Back to basics! Cornering & Cranking

This last week has been mental! Been in the gym and on the bike loads, shame about the weather though, luckily i don't mind riding in over ankle deep mud.

So my main focus for this week was to get two basic skills perfect in this type of weather, Cornering and cranking out of corners ( something I don't do as I'm rather lazy when it comes putting the power down). 

I set to work on the cornering as was starting to get it dialed after a couple of trys. After getting some practice in Callum (clicky) decided we should have a mini race. While "in the zone" i was so focused about keeping up/going faster then him that cornering never came into my mind, and I was able to hit things so much faster.

Maybe I should get out my own way and let my training do the work.

The Somme, roots & sand!

So a pretty busy weekend really. It was nearing my week off work and I really wanted to make the most of it, and make the most of it I did!

Saturday -  I wanted to build something that was different to the usual stuff we have, so I got on the phone to Steve, he doesn't ride bikes, he doesn't even like them, but he doesn't mind digging. The track's pretty mulchy and consists of flat turns littered with roots followed by a nasty drop to flat. It's a working progress, I'll try and get some photos next time!

Sunday - Me and Callum headed up to our local (to ride this time) and my god was it boggy! It got to the point where wet screams wouldn't hold you in a straight line....love it! Despite it looking like the Somme with some massive ruts appearing (bigger then the normal big ones we get) I still managed to carry a lot of speed. Whether it be because my brakes don't like mud or I'm getting faster who knows.

Monday - Turned out to be an awesome day. I thought I had work, turns out I didn't. So we decided to head somewhere different and get some jump practice in. (something we don't get a lot of at our local). The tracks were pretty fun, if a little sandy. They pretty much consisted of bermed corners with drops after them. It was good to ride something so different for a change, and it's good to see our overall skill is improving.