The National Champs differs from the National Points Series in the respect of Categories as at the champs there are only age related categories rather than ability ie Open, Sport, Expert, Elite. So in the U23 catergory I was up against many Elite riders I havnt ever raced against before. Going into the race I had a good look at the start list and was eyeing up what I thought my main competition would come from and Steven James of Hargroves Cycles RT and Alex Welburn of Forme Bikes Uk sprung to mind.
The National Champs this year was held at Cathkin Braes newly built trail centre just South of Glasgow. Me, Steve Jones (Driver), Chris Minter, Michael Guildford & Kat travelled up to Glasgow early Saturday morning to avoid traffic during saturday afternoon around Birmingham. The Aw Cyles van was filled with 5 bikes 3 of which 29er and big bags, bottles, food and tents for the night ahead. We arrived in Cathkin Braes around 3pm saturday afternoon just before the 3.30pm - 6pm practice. We pitched up our tents and shortly after we headed out onto the course for a few practice laps to see what we were in for on Sunday, my bike felt as lively as ever with a fresh pair of Carbon Strada 29er wheels rolling on some new bearings. My new wheels come in at 1475g fully taped and Valved up which is pretty good considering how stiff the wheels are. Yes there are lighter alloy wheels out there but not on the same stiffness scale of carbon rims hand laced!. Speaking with a few riders than ride the Stans race golds which are slightly lighter a pair say that after every ride the wheels need truing!, what a nightmare and this shows how little stiffness the wheels are. On my old pair of Strada carbon rims I had done over 700miles over varied terrain, feeling the rim on roots and rocks on a good few rides, they still didnt need retensioning or truing. This shows how stiff and robust these wheels are.
The course didn't dissapoint with fast rocky descents, short steepish climbs and some nice singletrack. During the first lap I followed Michael Guildford down the double arrow descent but was a slightly bigger drop than I expected then this happend!
Probably not the best way to start the 1st practice lap the day before National Champs. I got cleaned up and found a safer + faster line down that descent. After 3 full pratice laps I felt I had all the lines pretty dialled so headed back to camp for dinner and shower time. We all sat around until about 10pm chatting rubbish then headed to bed for a good nights sleep which was made a little tougher for me with my aching hip.
Check out Steve Jones Bed for the night!
Race Day - Sunday morning came after a decents night sleep and I had a long morning/afternoon to wait until my race which didnt start until around 3.15pm. I was still reasonably busy before my race with Feeding for Steve Jones along with Chris Minter just incase one of us missed him at the start of the feed zone.
Steve got a great start within the top 3 riders after the start loop but after Lap 1 he came though within the top 15 after suffering a tumble and tangle up with another rider costing him vital time. Steve pressed on and eventually finished 15th in the Grand Veterans field, he said 8th/9th would have been within his reach with all things going his way.
Onto the U23 Race - After a short kip in the Van I was ready to get changed and start warming up, which had to be done on the road next to the Arena as I didn't take a turbo or set of rollers. My legs felt reasonably good warming up but is very hard to predict how they will feel during the race. We all headed over to the start before being gridded. Officially I was gridded 9th but was aware that 8th placed Ben Sumner wasn't riding any longer as he has decided to give up mountain biking and concentrate on Road & Cyclocross racing. I just assumed I would now be gridded 8th but this wasnt the case as they called up number 19th gridded Jack Clarkson of Hope factory racing. So in the end I was still gridded 9th which didnt really make any difference to the start of the race. I didnt particularly get a good start but started to move up before the first bit of singletrack and eventually got to 3rd position going into that. After this Steve James took the head of the race as he does and I followed with the pace to high for anybody else to go with. Me and Steve were working pretty well together knowing each others strong points with us training together on a regular basis. We continued to stay together until part way though the 5th lap where Steve pulled a little gap on a descent and then blasted the climb follwing not allowing me to latch back on. I continued to ride hard chasing him down thinking I may make up some time on the last lap but this wasnt to be. He ended up sustaining his lead but I cannot say for sure as there are no Proper results clearly showing each specific lap times!. This was rather annoying as its always good to compare lap times with other categories ie Seniors, Juniors & the Vets. Steve took the victory ahead of myself at around 30seconds adrift over 90minutes of racing. The gap back to 3rd was nearly 3 minutes and over 3 minutes to 4th place. A great race with Steve and on the day he was the better rider armed with his new £2500 enve carbon tubs.
My Whyte 29c Team was spot on with every gear change perfect and my new wheels definately helped up those climbs retaining all power through the bike not being lost through flexy components/wheels.
There was prize money for the first 5 U23 riders but there was a slight wait whilst they waited for the Official results to come in after all the races. It turned out I had one £55 scottish pounds and first placed Steve won £80 which was a lovely little touch to an Awesome day of racing.
Big Thanks to my Sponsors at Aw Cycles - www.awcycles.co.uk
Also a big thanks to the Guys at Strada Hand Built wheels for an awesome pair of wheels . Custom wheels can be made to your specifications, contact Strada via the link.
Few piks from sunday below but most are on the Gallery Page.
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