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.