Race Update

Last Weekend saw the opening round of the Southern Xc Series, the venue for the 1st round was Matterly Basin in Winchester which is the British Motocross Venue. I arrived at the race around 10am as my dad was racing the Open category which started at 11am. This gave me enough time to go and practice the course and to see what i was in for. The terrain was pretty impressive with rolling hills surrounding us. This made for a tough course around 3.8miles long, during my practice lap there was 1 major section which was very slippy and i debated changing my back tire to gain extra grip but opted to leave my renegade on. During practice at a steady pace the course took around 23minutes so i knew it was going to be a short but very Intense lap.

My dad's race got underway with the usual suspects leading the charge (Pot Hunters shall we say). After lap 1 my dad was just ahead of Glenn Panton in 25th Position but during the later stages of the race faded as the hills did become longer each lap. He continued to ride hard finishing in 28th position which was a decent result considering he isin't an out & out climber.

Onto my Race, i opted to ride the Elite category for regional races and stay in Expert for National races. This means the competition will be much higher at regional events rather than nationals. There was a very strong Elite field with Pro rider Oli Beckingsale pre entered and many more big names. The start was fast from the gun with Ade Lansley leading the charge with Ben Thomas and Oli Beckingsale. I was sitting in no mans land for a while not being able to bridge the gap to Ade and Ben with George Budd following closely behind, with George being a school teacher the school holidays gave him some extra time to get some miles in his legs. My legs just didn't feel 100% which was annoying as i may have been able to bridge to Ben & Ade. I continued to ride hard with George catching me about 1/2 round the 1st lap, with both of us testing each other on different sections of the course. During lap 2 coming into the start arena through the last twisty section before the field, my bar ends managed to get caught on the race tape which i thought would just work it self loose but that wasn't the case. I continued riding only to find my gears jumping, some how the race tape worked its way round my cassette a good 10revolutions and also into my brakes. I was very annoyed as i was working quite well with George. I stopped to get all the tape out but this took a good 4+ minutes and by that time i had dropped to around 7th position and my head wasn't in the race any longer. I stopped which was a big mistake as i am sure i would have clawed a few positions back. I have to look at this race as an experience as it wasn't a result. This was my 1st race on my new Strada Carbon wheels after a few training rides only on them. I felt the difference in the wheels from the word go, the stiffness of the wheels is incomparable to my alloy wheels. My next race now will be in May now as money has been an issue and cant do the 2nd round of the National Series in Cornwall. My next Mtb race will be the Gorrick Kawasaki 100 Enduro at Porridgepot Hill not Swinley Forest. This race will be the next chance I have to test the wheels out at a race, I think I will be riding the 3 or 4 lap race as they are both good distances for training for Xc Racing.

A big thanks to all my Sponsors for the support. 

Below is a quick update of my local 10mile Time Trial.

http://www.awcycles.co.uk/

http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/ 

 

Yesterday evening the 18th of April saw the 2nd week of the Hounslow wheelers Summer 10 mile Time trial. I wasn't planning on doing the event but was off work yesterday and thought I may as well rather than going and getting muddy over Swinley because of the heavy rain we had during the day. 

The course is in Chertsey behind St Peters hospital towards Longcross. The course is hilly for a time trial with a few backmarkers ie Fancourt ramp and a drag 1/2 way by Valley End C of E school. I know the Course well but havnt raced the course for a few years, I used my road/Cyclocross training bike which is a Specialized Tricross S-Works with Cole Rollen Elite wheels and Shimano 105 Gears and Sram Cranks. I put in a time of 24:16 which I was very happy with considering i had trained a-lot earlier in the week. This time was good enough to get me 2nd place behind twickenham cycling clubs Liam Maybank. There was many riders on Time trial bikes so to beat them on a Cyclo Cross I was very pleased.

Next week I will more than likely ride the event again armed with my Strada Carbon Deep section wheels. I will be running a 50mm front and a 88mm Rear which will make a huge difference being more aerodynamically efficient and better power transfer being stiffer.