Below are a few Interesting facts from my 2013 Season
Late January I collected the bike from Aw Cycles with all the kit arriving much later in the year as they had problems with the kit supplier, so for the time being Steve Jones gave me a unused Skinsuit he had received a couple of years previous. This didn't have all the new sponsors on but was still Aw kit. My first race for Aw Cycles was the Gorrick Spring Series R1 at Tunnel Hill and I raced the Expert category which is pretty much Elite as its the top cat. This meant I was up against Ben Thomas, Jody Crawforth and many other top Elites. Me and Ben rode away from Jody but after a few laps we wern't working together well and Jody caught us and went onto win the race with myself picking up 3rd as the later pace was a bit to high for me. R2 of the Spring Series in March went even better with myself at just age 18 winning a Expert/Elite race beating Steve James in his own back garden! and many other top Elites. This was a real eye opener for myself and didn't think on the startline I could win that race in a million years!. This gave me a huge confidence boost going into the 1st round of the National Points Series held at a Snowy? Sherwood Pines. Usually the 1st round of the NPS Series the weather starts looking up but not this year, the race was held in 5inches of snow!. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end!. I still felt confident going into R1 of the Nps Series and battled my way to the front of the race after being gridded 40th out of 50 odd riders. After sitting on the leader (Aaron Marshall of Sherwood Pines Cycles) I decided enough was enough and took the lead. After this I never looked back and won the race by 65 seconds. I went onto win the National Series Scoring Maximum points in 4 out of 5 Rounds as I missed Round 2 at Redruth due to insufficient funds.
National Champs at Cathkin Braes was the biggest race of the year for sure with everyone in tip top form. I knew I had my work cut out with training partner at the time (Steve James) was in very good shape. Me and Steve got a gap on the rest of the field during lap 1 of 6 and we continued to grow the gap for the rest of the race. I had good legs but they could have had that extra few percent that I knew I had. During lap 5 Steve hammered the main descent with the berms in and got a little gap on myself and I just couldn't bridge back to him. I continued to ride hard but it wasn't enough to catch Steve. He was around 30seconds ahead of myself but 3rd place was nearly 4 minutes down on myself so It was a 2 horse race.
During 2013 Season I have had some very good results winning the Southern Expert champs, Southern XC Expert Series, Brighton Big Dog (Team of 3) and the Fastest lap, National Expert Xc Series & the odd local race.
The Last race of the 2013 season for me was today at the 2nd Round of the Merida Brass Monkeys Series. This year Ive chosen to stick with the 2hr cateogory as its more of a race rather than a 4hr slog! where its an achievement to finish. My race today went pretty bad from the start to be honest with myself being ill all week and spending most of my time at home in bed or resting. I tried to train but my body really didn't want to so had to have a good few days rest. I thought this would be enough rest to go and kane a race today full throttle but obviously not as my legs blew after 30mins chasing Jason Boutell and I pulled out after 1 lap. Shame really as I would have liked to end the season with a decent result but It just wasn't to be.
2014 is going to be a completely different kind of year as I will be riding the Elite category where all the big boys hang out. This category has quite a few full time riders and will be super fast!. My main aim is the National Champs at a Hilly Hopton woods in July 2014. I will be aiming for some top 10 results also at the National Points Series in the Elite Category.
Big Thanks to everyone that has helped me this year Including my Dad, Mum, all the family, friends that have supported me, Steve Jones (For getting me a place on Aw cycles team), Darren@Strada Handbuilt wheels, Ant White @Mt Zoom/Xc Racer, Andrew Claridge for the Lending me his Lupine light (that I still need to return), Chris Peacock (for lifts & training buddy), Matt Craner (for helping me out big time with Spare Shoes and lifts etc), Stuart Mann (for all the help over the years) & mainly to all my Sponsors.
http://www.awcycles.co.uk/ - For the Loan of the Whyte race bike, kit and Nutrition.
http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/ - For an awesome pair of 29er Carbon Wheels. Check out there site for some custom wheel builds!.
http://mtzoom.com/ - For some sweet carbon components. Check out Ant Whites Mt Zoom website or head to XcRacer.com
- Number of Races Started in 2013 - 18
- Number of Races Won in 2013 - 10
- Number of Races Podiumed - 15
- Biggest Winning Margin - 15 Minutes (Gorrick 100)
- Best Result - Passing the whole Elite Field at R3 of the Southern XC Series
Late January I collected the bike from Aw Cycles with all the kit arriving much later in the year as they had problems with the kit supplier, so for the time being Steve Jones gave me a unused Skinsuit he had received a couple of years previous. This didn't have all the new sponsors on but was still Aw kit. My first race for Aw Cycles was the Gorrick Spring Series R1 at Tunnel Hill and I raced the Expert category which is pretty much Elite as its the top cat. This meant I was up against Ben Thomas, Jody Crawforth and many other top Elites. Me and Ben rode away from Jody but after a few laps we wern't working together well and Jody caught us and went onto win the race with myself picking up 3rd as the later pace was a bit to high for me. R2 of the Spring Series in March went even better with myself at just age 18 winning a Expert/Elite race beating Steve James in his own back garden! and many other top Elites. This was a real eye opener for myself and didn't think on the startline I could win that race in a million years!. This gave me a huge confidence boost going into the 1st round of the National Points Series held at a Snowy? Sherwood Pines. Usually the 1st round of the NPS Series the weather starts looking up but not this year, the race was held in 5inches of snow!. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end!. I still felt confident going into R1 of the Nps Series and battled my way to the front of the race after being gridded 40th out of 50 odd riders. After sitting on the leader (Aaron Marshall of Sherwood Pines Cycles) I decided enough was enough and took the lead. After this I never looked back and won the race by 65 seconds. I went onto win the National Series Scoring Maximum points in 4 out of 5 Rounds as I missed Round 2 at Redruth due to insufficient funds.
National Champs at Cathkin Braes was the biggest race of the year for sure with everyone in tip top form. I knew I had my work cut out with training partner at the time (Steve James) was in very good shape. Me and Steve got a gap on the rest of the field during lap 1 of 6 and we continued to grow the gap for the rest of the race. I had good legs but they could have had that extra few percent that I knew I had. During lap 5 Steve hammered the main descent with the berms in and got a little gap on myself and I just couldn't bridge back to him. I continued to ride hard but it wasn't enough to catch Steve. He was around 30seconds ahead of myself but 3rd place was nearly 4 minutes down on myself so It was a 2 horse race.
During 2013 Season I have had some very good results winning the Southern Expert champs, Southern XC Expert Series, Brighton Big Dog (Team of 3) and the Fastest lap, National Expert Xc Series & the odd local race.
The Last race of the 2013 season for me was today at the 2nd Round of the Merida Brass Monkeys Series. This year Ive chosen to stick with the 2hr cateogory as its more of a race rather than a 4hr slog! where its an achievement to finish. My race today went pretty bad from the start to be honest with myself being ill all week and spending most of my time at home in bed or resting. I tried to train but my body really didn't want to so had to have a good few days rest. I thought this would be enough rest to go and kane a race today full throttle but obviously not as my legs blew after 30mins chasing Jason Boutell and I pulled out after 1 lap. Shame really as I would have liked to end the season with a decent result but It just wasn't to be.
2014 is going to be a completely different kind of year as I will be riding the Elite category where all the big boys hang out. This category has quite a few full time riders and will be super fast!. My main aim is the National Champs at a Hilly Hopton woods in July 2014. I will be aiming for some top 10 results also at the National Points Series in the Elite Category.
Big Thanks to everyone that has helped me this year Including my Dad, Mum, all the family, friends that have supported me, Steve Jones (For getting me a place on Aw cycles team), Darren@Strada Handbuilt wheels, Ant White @Mt Zoom/Xc Racer, Andrew Claridge for the Lending me his Lupine light (that I still need to return), Chris Peacock (for lifts & training buddy), Matt Craner (for helping me out big time with Spare Shoes and lifts etc), Stuart Mann (for all the help over the years) & mainly to all my Sponsors.
http://www.awcycles.co.uk/ - For the Loan of the Whyte race bike, kit and Nutrition.
http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/ - For an awesome pair of 29er Carbon Wheels. Check out there site for some custom wheel builds!.
http://mtzoom.com/ - For some sweet carbon components. Check out Ant Whites Mt Zoom website or head to XcRacer.com
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