A wet & Windy Sunday at the end of January saw the 4th and Final round of the Gorrick's Merida Brass Monkeys Series. The 2013/2014 Series is the first year that the Series has had 4 rounds opposed to 3 in all previous years. Yesterdays race was held at Tunnel Hill in Pirbright which I have been looking forward to all year as its my local training ground and I know the trails very very well. The weather leading up to the race wasn't the dryest I have ever seen but after a sneaky preview on Friday I thought I had my tyres sorted but Saturday evening after coming home from a day at work HEAVENS OPENED for a short but intense spell. I had no choice but to leave my rear tyre choice on as a compressor is needed to seat the tyre. The only other option was to run a tube in the back and put a Schwalbe Racing Ralph on but I refuse to run Inner tubes on any Mountain Bike. So for the race I had a Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.25 on the front and a Schwalbe Thunderburt 2.1 on the rear.
As usual I raced the 2hr 18-39 Category as this is the closest category to an Elite race. The race went well with myself immediately getting a good gap over the rest of the field and was alone 1/2 way through the 1st lap. I rode a decent race with good legs and wasn't pressured by anyone to take any silly risks. I had a bit of a problem on the 3rd and final lap with around 10minutes of the course left to go as I heard a "hissing" noise coming from my front wheel and sealent spurting everywhere. Luckily the team are supplied with Lezyne tools so I used the 25g gas cartridge and gassed the tyre back up to a rideable pressure. I nursed it back to the arena and was still unsure If anyone else would come through the finish line under the 2hrs and go for a 4th lap. I rode to the top of the first hill to "Lurk" as they say to see if anyone else had got through under the 2hr mark. I waited a good few minutes but nobody came through so the race was mine :). An awesome way to finish my 2nd race for the new team with another Win.
Below is a post race interview with Myself and Ben Thomas (Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors cycling team manager).
Photos will be up today from John Newport @ Vermont Images
A Huge thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. Next race with the team now is the 1st Round of the Spring Series in a couple of weeks at Crowthorne Wood. See you all there
As usual I raced the 2hr 18-39 Category as this is the closest category to an Elite race. The race went well with myself immediately getting a good gap over the rest of the field and was alone 1/2 way through the 1st lap. I rode a decent race with good legs and wasn't pressured by anyone to take any silly risks. I had a bit of a problem on the 3rd and final lap with around 10minutes of the course left to go as I heard a "hissing" noise coming from my front wheel and sealent spurting everywhere. Luckily the team are supplied with Lezyne tools so I used the 25g gas cartridge and gassed the tyre back up to a rideable pressure. I nursed it back to the arena and was still unsure If anyone else would come through the finish line under the 2hrs and go for a 4th lap. I rode to the top of the first hill to "Lurk" as they say to see if anyone else had got through under the 2hr mark. I waited a good few minutes but nobody came through so the race was mine :). An awesome way to finish my 2nd race for the new team with another Win.
Below is a post race interview with Myself and Ben Thomas (Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors cycling team manager).
Below is a link with the Race Results
Photos will be up today from John Newport @ Vermont Images
A Huge thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. Next race with the team now is the 1st Round of the Spring Series in a couple of weeks at Crowthorne Wood. See you all there
No comments:
Post a Comment