tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33164461754328064572024-03-12T16:58:02.619-07:00Isaac Pucci Racing and Cycle CoachingWelcome to my online Blog all about my Racing & Coaching
For the 2017/2018 Season I am riding for Strada Handbuilt wheels, more more info about them please go to the "Team/Sponsor" page Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-60167155969565567672017-09-06T16:00:00.006-07:002017-09-06T16:19:09.509-07:00Torq 12:12 Team Win & Surrey League Podium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Torq 12:12 2017 was held at the usual Minley manor in Hampshire, a flat but loamy bumpy and twisty course layed ahead for a flat out 12 hours of racing. I raced the Male team of 4 Category as a few of the boys wanted to put a fun but fast team of mates together for the weekend. Saturday Pub lunch was in order to catch up with the boys followed by a practice lap on the 7.5 mile course. The course was longer time wise than previous years due to more new loamy "spongy" sections. Nether the less it was a good course. I did the gentlemenly thing and let Oli have the first lap elbows out tear up after myself doing the first lap at Big Dog a few weeks previous. Oli had a bit of an off but still came in real good time, leading our category. I headed out for my first lap putting in the fastest lap of the day on the longer lap as there was a wasps nest found on the back of the course which was cut off for obvious reasons, this section saved around 20seconds per lap. The boys put in a real good show with everyone leaving all they had out on the course 😅. We grew our lead over 2nd place lap by lap and eventually won by nearly a full lap at over 35minutes. Solid effort by all the team, more of the same next year please :).<br />
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A massive thanks to all my Sponsors for the continued support, Strada Handbuilt Wheels, Continental tyres and Aivee hubs :)<br />
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I also started a new job at Sigma sport in Esher the following week which has been really interesting and enjoyable. Mon-Fri with bikes bikes and more bikes involved what more could I want :).<br />
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Last Sunday I raced an open road Surrey League race which was a 2/3rd cat race. The race was really enjoyable and attacking and many moves went but none stuck in the end. So it came down to a bunch sprint to the top of a climb after 44miles of racing, although the race was advertised as 60miles. It was a tough finish dragging up a hill that kicked in 2 stages, especially on tired legs after trying to get away several times during the race and several times on the final lap. I was following Michael Guildford up the climb to the finish but he peeled off to early leaving me with to far to the finish and I got pipped by 2 other riders. Pedal heavens Warren Jesse got the win with a Basso rider taking 2nd and myself 3rd. There is a similar race on this coming weekend at Milland which I will be attending and hopefully have my thinking cap on this race. Last weekend was great training and a good tear up but just got my tactics slightly wrong. Onto this weekends race.<br />
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A massive thanks to Strada once again but this time for some mega stiff 32mm carbon clincher wheels to race on, paired with some fresh 25mm Continental Gp 4000s to keep me runner side up. Peace out peeps ;)<br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-10097773249022943972017-08-15T13:24:00.002-07:002017-08-15T13:24:12.488-07:00Brighton Big Dog - Male Team of 3 Win<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday the 12th of August saw the Brighton big dog 6 Hour race held at Stanmer Park which is open to solo, pairs or a team of 3. Me, Darren Rawlings & Oliver Richardson teamed up to race the male team of 3. We arrived nice and early for a practice lap but didn't really know our competition, the course was a little greasy after some overnight rain and the exposed roots were deadly. I opted tyre wise for a race king protection on the rear and a X King protection on the front for a shoulder to lean on down the descents. I persuaded Ollie to let me do the first lap as I was hoping to get the fastest lap of the day but it just wasn't to be with Elite rider Richard Jones putting a decent amount of time into me. I could see him on the fireroads but just couldn't bridge the gap. After coming in 2nd place after the first lap I knew we had a good chance of getting a really good result. Richard Jones was in the mixed Pairs race so I knew it wasn't to much of an issue that I couldn't quite hold his wheel lap 1. I passed over to Ollie who put in such a flyer of a lap that Darren wasn't even in the pits ready to take over 😂🙈. I got ready to go out but by that time Darren had made his way back and headed out on his first lap. Darren came back in good time with us having a good lead on 2nd place already. I headed out on my 2 lap which was much dryer than the first and was getting to know the course and descents much better lap by lap keeping all 4 of my lap times within 15 seconds of each other. I was really happy with how consistent the lap times were and it showed me that the training id been setting myself was paying off. We grew the lead over 2nd place lap by lap and the cutoff was close with myself nearly having to go out for a 5th lap with Ollie coming in with just 2 mins short of the realistic target of 29minutes to 6pm. We ended up finishing 23 minutes ahead of 2nd place which was a comfortable lead but we never let up until the line as anything could have happened. We enjoyed the podium as you can see from the pictures below. What a great day out with great people on great trails. A massive thanks to Darren at Strada wheels for the Easy up making things easy & looking pro, building me some wheels for the race weapon, Continental for the sweet rubber keeping me upright and Aivee For the hubs keeping me rolling 👍🏼. Top job by both team riders to get the job done. Below are a few piks and the results sheet. Next up for me is the Torq 12:12 team of 4 event on the August bank holiday weekens. See you there </span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-9950956824760214582017-07-19T03:31:00.003-07:002017-07-25T04:12:31.641-07:00Pucci Pedaler Cycle Coaching<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Pucci Pedaler cycle coaching is a new cycle coach based in the Weybridge area in Surrey, Isaac Pucci is the coach and is on hand to guide you in terms of any training or nutrition requirements you may have. Please look into the "Pucci Pedaler Cycle Coaching" page for more information. </div>
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-19293764201642400912014-10-07T12:31:00.002-07:002014-10-07T12:31:58.580-07:00Banjo Cycles Rampage R3 - Elite Win<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday the 5th of October saw the 3rd round of the Banjo Cycles Rampage over at Checkendon in Reading. They decided to change the course direction for this round, this didn't make much of a difference as i've ridden all the trails in both directions at checkendon as there are limited trails. This was the first race on my Scott Scale 29 winter edition!, with slightly cheaper drivetrain for obvious reasons. This bike is still a top end race machine but after riding the spark for a week the rear end felt rather harsh but snappy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Had a good race with </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=581769536" href="https://www.facebook.com/phillip.pearce.376" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px; text-decoration: none;">Phillip Pearce</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">, winter bike worked a treat cheers </span><a aria-haspopup="true" aria-owns="js_84" class="profileLink _5f0v" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=514310872" href="https://www.facebook.com/ben.thomas.129" id="js_85" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px; outline: none;" tabindex="0">Ben Thomas</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> & @mountain Trax Vauxhall motors cycling team for all the kit and nutrition to get the job done. Me and Phil had a good race and I just got a jump on him in the closing stages of the race. Top work from a rider who has dominated the Expert category in all races over the UK this year. Absolutely gutted for the old man </span><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1020878976" href="https://www.facebook.com/andre.pucci.9" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px; text-decoration: none;">Andre Pucci</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;"> puncturing whilst in 4th place!. Such bad luck but that's racing. Thanks for reading</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.31999969482422px;">Results here - <a href="http://www.xcrampage.com/2014-round-3.html" target="_blank">http://www.xcrampage.com/2014-round-3.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photos here - <a href="http://photocart.sports-alive.com/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=11358#page=thumbs" target="_blank">http://photocart.sports-alive.com/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=11358#page=thumbs</a></span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-83039378027006383822014-10-07T12:07:00.001-07:002014-10-07T12:07:26.050-07:00Gorrick Autumn Classic Round 1 - 1st Expert/Elite<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday the 28th of September saw the first round of the Gorrick Autumn classic series. Round 1 was held at Hungry Hill/Caesars Camp in Aldershot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good to be back racing and even better to come back with a win <i class="_4-k1 img sp_LWp1MpKGrs1 sx_35a5d8" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yP/r/90b8T5aM1AH.png); background-position: 0px -7986px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i>. Had a good little race with Will Taylor of Southdown Bikes. We were together for 3 laps before I saw a small gap appear on lap 4 so took full advantage of that and put 30 seconds into him and a further 45 on the last lap putting in the only sub 17minute lap of the day. The Scott Spark was super smooth out there today!, wish I would have chosen to ride one before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Thanks to all my sponsors <a aria-haspopup="true" aria-owns="js_35" class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=330790256947713" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Trax-Vauxhall-Motors-Cycling-Team/330790256947713" id="js_36" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" tabindex="0">Mountain Trax - Va<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">uxhall Motors Cycling Team</span></a><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">and <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=463242333750433" href="https://www.facebook.com/handbuiltwheels" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Strada Handbuilt Wheels</a>.</span></span></div>
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I couldn't do the job without them. Big shout-out to the old man <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1020878976" href="https://www.facebook.com/andre.pucci.9" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Andre Pucci</a>for a solid result in the vets cat coming 4th behind some very good riders. Onwards and upwards.</div>
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Next Race for me will be the Rampage next week @ Checkendon.</div>
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Below are the lap times -<a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=196HungryHill28%2F09%2F2014#Expert" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=196HungryHill28/09/2014#Expert</a> Male</div>
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Images from <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=567032248" href="https://www.facebook.com/kevin.sheldrake.1" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Kevin Sheldrake</a> <i class="_4-k1 img sp_LWp1MpKGrs1 sx_35a5d8" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yP/r/90b8T5aM1AH.png); background-position: 0px -7986px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i></div>
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-82436724530142479552014-09-11T02:13:00.002-07:002014-09-11T02:13:16.872-07:00Torq 12:12 - Male Team of 4 Win + Fastest Lap :).<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday the 25th of August saw the Torq 12:12 event, the event is always held on the August Bank Holiday weekend so Monday is recovery day. The event starts at 12 noon and finishes at 12 midnight, this makes for some interesting racing. You can either choose to ride it solo 12hr, solo 6hr, team of 3 or a team of 4. The hotly contested 4 man Male team is the race Mountain Trax - Vauxhall motors cycling team decided to enter, with 6 other Mountain Trax Teams.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Team Manager Ben Thomas decided it would be best for me to go out first on the 8 mile twisty loamy course at Minley Manor. This was my first outing on my Enve, Chrisking Tubular wheels built by Darren at Strada wheels. These wheels are only really supposed to be used for big Race day events Ie Nationals but I wasn't planning on using the tyres glued on for next years races so thought I may aswell get some use out of these tubs before I rip them of and reglue so custom Dugasts ready for the 2015 Season. The wheels didn't disappoint with a huge amount of grip coming from a skinny 1.95 inch tyre. I was very surprised at the wheels stifness given the low weight, they accelerated out of the corners stupidly fast but did lack a little volume in the tyres over the bumpy stuff. They couldn't have been that bumpy though as I managed to bag the fastest lap of the day plus consistently lapping throughout the race. Early on in the race the gap to 2nd place was small but anything can happen in 12hrs!. We all kept our lap times consistent and the gap grew lap by lap, by the night laps we had a good 10minute lead and barring any mechanical's we were confident that we could win. Scott was out on the last lap and after 12hrs and 50seconds of racing we had done it, great team effort from all 4 of us. 2nd place was Torq Performance and Banjo Cycles in 3rd.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Results - <a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=301Frimley24/08/2014#12Hr Team 4 Male" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=301Frimley24/08/2014#12Hr Team 4 Male</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pictures from John @Vermont Images & Kevin Sheldrake</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Huge Thanks to my team - Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PVemYAu81eA/VBFmzD_trOI/AAAAAAAAAb0/tysNPViaPgg/s1600/MountainTraxVauxhallMotorsCyclingTeamLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PVemYAu81eA/VBFmzD_trOI/AAAAAAAAAb0/tysNPViaPgg/s1600/MountainTraxVauxhallMotorsCyclingTeamLogo.jpg" height="228" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also a huge thanks to Strada Handbuilt wheels for all my race and training wheels</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c2w-AL9PBYY/VBFnl6_6bKI/AAAAAAAAAcA/SxZZ0XcIc3Y/s1600/2012-01-06-strada-handbuilt-wheels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c2w-AL9PBYY/VBFnl6_6bKI/AAAAAAAAAcA/SxZZ0XcIc3Y/s1600/2012-01-06-strada-handbuilt-wheels.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-52033138979008845922014-08-17T11:02:00.002-07:002014-08-17T11:02:22.310-07:00Brighton Big Dog 2014 - Retained both Titles! :)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks heavens there was a race this weekend otherwise I think I have pulled the rest of my hair out!. After having a small break after National champs I decided to race the Brighton Big Dog team of 3 mixed again as I enjoyed last years event a huge amount. Although there was a national on the day after I thought I would enjoy the rest of the season with some longer rides which I was avoiding mid season for obvious reasons. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The atmosphere last year was electric and was a few volts higher this year. I had 2 titles to retain, 1 being the highly contested Hot Lap! & the Team of 3 Mixed title. There was only 1 change to the team this year with Roki Read filling in for Chris Dobson. I knew who to put the blame on then If we didn't win ;). Me, Jo & Roki Decided I should go first followed by Roki followed by Jo, this worked well and halfway through the 6hr race I overtook the leading Solo (Team manager - Ben Thomas). The first lap was a real mess with 50% of the whole race going wrong as me and Ben took a wrong turn as there was some tape down and looked like a left turn infact we should have carried straight on. The first lap was also very slippy and greasy but soon dried out for me to set the fastest lap of the day on my 2nd lap. The time of 25:35 was enough to take that title by just over a minute. We all continued to ride hard growing our gap to over a lap without us knowing, me and Roki had to take over towards the end as Jo wouldnt have been able to squeeze in the last lap with only 30mins to go, so I took the last lap salute!.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What an awesome event with really nice flowing trails, I need to start driving and ride venues like this more often. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are the results - <a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=300StanmerPark16/08/2014#Team Mixed" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=300StanmerPark16/08/2014#Team Mixed</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We would have also won the male team of 3!. Top Work Guys</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below are a few Snaps from Vermont Images</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c7sIYR7dbEw/U_Dt-TBGnxI/AAAAAAAAAbE/gkvkw-Epm9A/s1600/BID%2BDOG%2BPODIUM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c7sIYR7dbEw/U_Dt-TBGnxI/AAAAAAAAAbE/gkvkw-Epm9A/s1600/BID%2BDOG%2BPODIUM.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-09LpM7tw9ik/U_Dt_u-fplI/AAAAAAAAAbM/vNFNJmX7m2E/s1600/BIG%2BDOG%2BCORNER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-09LpM7tw9ik/U_Dt_u-fplI/AAAAAAAAAbM/vNFNJmX7m2E/s1600/BIG%2BDOG%2BCORNER.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Huge thanks to all my Sponsors & to a hard working Roki Read & Jo Munden</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0iREp_FxEEA/U_DsjOl7GKI/AAAAAAAAAa0/0b2aa-gjRlI/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0iREp_FxEEA/U_DsjOl7GKI/AAAAAAAAAa0/0b2aa-gjRlI/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" height="228" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8xrTH-ZLpjg/U_DskAq1QBI/AAAAAAAAAa8/2PZGXwCbhYo/s1600/strada_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8xrTH-ZLpjg/U_DskAq1QBI/AAAAAAAAAa8/2PZGXwCbhYo/s1600/strada_logo.jpg" height="172" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next race for myself now is the Gorrick Torq 12:12 on the 24th of August - See you there</span></div>
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-54231008790264926462014-08-06T14:39:00.003-07:002014-09-11T02:13:48.077-07:00National XC Championships - Hopton Woods<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Sunday the 20th of July saw a long weekend racing the U23 National XC mtb champs at a hilly hopton woods. I knew the course after a cheeky preview with the Mountain Trax - Vauxhall motors cycling team </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">a few weeks back so didn't head to venue the Saturday before the race to cover my bike in mud. I pre rode the course in morning and there was some real slippy twisty descents after the storm on friday evening. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The 3.15 late start allowed to get a practice la</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">p in with plenty of time to spare, I was gridded 3rd which was always good. Off the start it was initially Mike Thompson of Hope leading the charge with Kenta Gallagher on his wheel followed by me Iain Paton and Steven James. As Kenta went to the front I slotted into 2nd and was there for lap 1 and knew It was going to be a tough race climbing the start hill 6 times. I had a huge crash lap 2 on the first descent getting my line completely wrong going straight on when the trail went right and taking a few tree branches with me. I got up thinking that was my race over after losing a good 40seconds after getting my brakes readjusted and my head back in the game. After the crash I was sitting in 7th position with team mate Sam Stean on my wheel. I soon worked myself away from Sam and back through a few riders. I ended up getting a podium after Iain breaking his shifter and Kentas legs going bang.<br /><br />Happy to have finished 3rd but after last years 2nd I was expecting a little more but there was far more competition this year than last year.<br /><br />1. Steve James<br />2. Mike Thompson<br />3. Myself<br />4. Sam Stean<br /><br />Huge thanks to Andre Pucci for feeding and everything over the weekend, along with John newport and the Team.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oi53Q8aeh8k/U-Kf5_KVR7I/AAAAAAAAAaU/ofYwlr2Q3EU/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oi53Q8aeh8k/U-Kf5_KVR7I/AAAAAAAAAaU/ofYwlr2Q3EU/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" height="228" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Below are the results from Pearce Cycles</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below are a couple of photos from the race</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rQgNOD_h4cA/U-KgT6JP11I/AAAAAAAAAac/9Qwi5LR95IY/s1600/ISAAC+HOPTON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rQgNOD_h4cA/U-KgT6JP11I/AAAAAAAAAac/9Qwi5LR95IY/s1600/ISAAC+HOPTON.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s70utNrf6QQ/U-KgVlU3N9I/AAAAAAAAAak/BfUWBqKAnGU/s1600/ISAAC+PODIUM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s70utNrf6QQ/U-KgVlU3N9I/AAAAAAAAAak/BfUWBqKAnGU/s1600/ISAAC+PODIUM.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next Race for myself is the Brighton Big Dog Team of 3. </span></div>
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-63569244234077805762014-08-06T13:33:00.002-07:002014-08-06T13:33:16.488-07:00National Xc Series R4 - Sherwood Pines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Sunday the 13th of July saw a weekend away with my Dad</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">, Brother & the </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=330790256947713" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Trax-Vauxhall-Motors-Cycling-Team/330790256947713" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> at the 4th round of the </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=291009077638922" href="https://www.facebook.com/BCXCSeries" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">British Cycling XC Series</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> in Sherwood Pines Nottingham. We arrived Saturday as my Dad was racing the open cat and put in a real solid performance coming 7th in a packed open field beating TT legend Guy Martin. Most people were saying the course was slow and unflowi</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">ng. I did a 3 practice laps Sat afternoon and loved the course, nice and twisty with some flat out sections. Sat evening we stayed in a bar accommodation which wasn't ideal with a party 10ft below us with blaring music until 12 at night. Sunday morning came with some black clouds and spits of rain and after some heavy rain Sat eve the course was a little damper than saturdays races. Onto the start of the Elite Race at 1pm on Sunday Afternoon. I was gridded 12th and planned to beat my number for sure. I sat in the top 10 for the first lap or 2 then moved up. The group I was part of ended up catching the front runners and I stayed with them leading the race at times until 1.5laps to go when Grant Ferguson decided to put the hammer down and split the field to bits. I was sitting in 5th place all the last lap until I saw Ian Field chasing me down and gaining on me. I put myself in all sorts of pain to try and hold him off but I couldn't quite hold on for the podium. I Ended up 6th of which I was 3rd Brit. This is by far my best ever result coming 6th to such a strong field including many foreign professional riders. I plan to continue my success onto next weeks National Champs at Hopton Woods.<br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Here is the link to the results - <a href="http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=294SherwoodPines13/07/2014#Elite%20Male" target="_blank">http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=294SherwoodPines13/07/2014#Elite%20Male</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Once again none of this would have been possible without all my Willing Sponsors.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DQ6_uwjkbVo/U-KOAF1vKVI/AAAAAAAAAZw/hpqnAiO0PQ8/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DQ6_uwjkbVo/U-KOAF1vKVI/AAAAAAAAAZw/hpqnAiO0PQ8/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" height="228" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Below are a few pictures from Vermont Images.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rXfnHD2K3Tc/U-KQ9cfjJGI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/ZULIoWoGu5M/s1600/ISAAC+Sherwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rXfnHD2K3Tc/U-KQ9cfjJGI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/ZULIoWoGu5M/s1600/ISAAC+Sherwood.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lZzwWEjx8_Q/U-KQ-jIJvLI/AAAAAAAAAaE/M2FjAir0_AA/s1600/ISAAC+SHERWOOD+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lZzwWEjx8_Q/U-KQ-jIJvLI/AAAAAAAAAaE/M2FjAir0_AA/s1600/ISAAC+SHERWOOD+2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-87932837662190310812014-08-06T13:20:00.002-07:002014-08-06T13:20:45.794-07:00National Xc Series R3 - Margam Park<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Sunday the 15th of June saw the 3rd round of the National XC Series at a hilly Margam park, the course was nearly </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">identical to the 2013 with only a few minor changes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I travelled up on Saturday morning with friends Phil Pearce and Michael Guildford. </span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The weekend didnt start the best for Mike crashing in practice on the first shoot and landing on his thigh. He did everything he could to get it right in the 20hrs he had but that was only good for 1 lap when he had to retire. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Margam today was a tough course with a fair bit of </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">climbing followed by some steep rocky shoots. Phil won the Expert category by just under 2 minutes. I had good legs today and paired with the perfect bike and tyres I rode a strong race and finished 6th in a strong Elite Field with a top 5 worldwide rider turning up and dominating. I got all emotional after the race as Ive been waiting along time this year for this result.<br /><br />Thanks so much to the all the sponsors - Mountain Trax Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team, <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=463242333750433" href="https://www.facebook.com/handbuiltwheels" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Strada Handbuilt Wheels</a> & <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=143937835647707" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vermont-Images/143937835647707" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Vermont Images</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Click the link to view the results - <a href="http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=291MargamPark15/06/2014#Elite%20Male" target="_blank">http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=291MargamPark15/06/2014#Elite%20Male</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;">Below are a couple of pictures</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-75469391069293854062014-06-02T01:33:00.002-07:002014-06-02T01:33:59.235-07:00Summer Monkey - 2hr 18-39 Win<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday the 1st of June we were greeted by sun and warm conditions for Gorricks Summer Monkey!. I opted to ride the 2hr cat as im my opinion its to mid race season to be slogging round for 4 or 6 hrs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;">Soooooo thats what winning feels like again!, rode the Gorrick Summer Monkey today at a dusty Caesars camp. Felt pretty good getting away from the gun with the Merida boys with </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100000545321860" href="https://www.facebook.com/paul.hopkins.756" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">Paul Hopkins</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; line-height: 20px;"> on my wheel for the first half a lap but then dropped of a little leaving me out front. I rode a solid race with a few minor problems but was alot of fun out there today with a tough climb. I completed the 4 la</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 20px;">ps in just under 2 hrs and 6minutes, taking the win ahead of Paul in the vets by 5 minutes and Warren in my race by 7minutes. Long day all in as I decided to get the train out and ride back, only just got in today after 60miles in my legs of which 30 racing.<br /><br />Looking forward to road racing this Wednesday at Eelmore then the Southern XC <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=256968874329819" href="https://www.facebook.com/qecptrailbuilding" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">QECP Mountain Bike Trail Building</a> a week today.<br /><br />Big thanks to <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1040960752" href="https://www.facebook.com/john.newport.106" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">John Newport</a> of <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=330790256947713" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Trax-Vauxhall-Motors-Cycling-Team/330790256947713" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team</a>for feeding and getting some awesome pictures which I hope will be online soon <i class="_4-k1 img sp_Yu7FL4-TAPR sx_aae0f5" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yw/r/eL3qDNkpYJw.png); background-position: -85px -885px; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 20px;">Also a thanks to Strada Handbuilt wheels for my carbon 29er wheels, couldn't do the job without them.<br /><br />Here is the link to the results - <a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=288CeasersCamp01/06/2014#2Hr Male" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=288CeasersCamp01/06/2014#2Hr Male</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is my Strava Data from yesterday - <a href="http://www.strava.com/activities/148242206#kudos" target="_blank">http://www.strava.com/activities/148242206#kudos</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also here is a cheeky pik from John Newport @ Vermont Images</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-49327769144477913942014-05-28T14:28:00.001-07:002014-05-28T14:28:46.968-07:00Eelmore R1 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">First E12 at Eelmore of 2014 tonight. No surprise </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100003881034015" href="https://www.facebook.com/bsumn" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">Ben Sumner</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> went flying of the front very early on with Lewis Atkins of Pedal Heaven. Didn't think the break would last with only 2 riders but another few got across including</span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100005763161703" href="https://www.facebook.com/adrian.lansley" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">Adrian Lansley</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">. I tried to bridge after this and was gaining in places but had no-one else to work with and spent like 5 laps knackering myself out and couldn't get into them.</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> So I Settled back into the main group and stayed there until late in the race where I made a break with about an hour through the race. The 5 laps to go wasn't called until like 65 minutes in which made my life much harder having to stay out front an extra 5+minutes alone.<a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=661188982" href="https://www.facebook.com/christopher.minter.3192" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Christopher Minter</a> got away with another guy around 5 mins before I did but there was some confusion with the lap guys and gave him the 5 laps to go 1/2 a lap after me when he was 1/2 a lap ahead. I wasnt complaining <i class="_4-k1 img sp_IAa2ktb_meE sx_6c617a" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yR/r/e_o94TChQjQ.png); background-position: -204px -946px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i>. Thanks to my old man <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1020878976" href="https://www.facebook.com/andre.pucci.9" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Andre Pucci</a> for the bottle as stupidly I only took 1/2 a bottle which wasn't enough, thanks to Chris Minter also for a swig of his drink <i class="_4-k1 img sp_IAa2ktb_meE sx_7a4a9a" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yR/r/e_o94TChQjQ.png); background-position: -102px -946px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i>.<br /><br />Big Thanks to <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=330790256947713" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Trax-Vauxhall-Motors-Cycling-Team/330790256947713" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team</a> for the Awesome Scott Foil 20 which worked perfectly. Looking forward to next week.<br /><br />Next Race for me now is the Summer Monkey this Sunday @ Caesars Camp</span></div>
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-89710429506449214982014-03-31T02:24:00.003-07:002014-03-31T02:24:46.052-07:00NPS Round 1 - Codham Park in Sunny Essex<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Long weekend away with </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1020878976&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/andre.pucci.9" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Andre Pucci</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> & the </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=330790256947713&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Trax-Vauxhall-Motors-Cycling-Team/330790256947713" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> at </span><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=291009077638922&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/BCXCSeries" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">British Cycling XC Series</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">. First up was my Dad's Open race on the Saturday, He had 3 laps to complete and finished a very respectable 6th in his 2nd ev</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">er National. This gave me a bit of time to do a lap of the course I would be riding. The Course looked good with a few short lung busters and some very fun pump tracks and drop offs. The course did suit my style, I was still unsure wether the Elites would be doing 6 or 7 laps. I knew if it was 7 it would be a very long race, turned out it was 7 laps for us Elites. Race was off at 1pm with a packed Elite Field of nearly 70 riders with a big foreign showing. My Aim after seeing the start list was a top 20 would be good but a top 15 would be realistic and achievable. The race started pretty quick with the front boys already gone after 5mins but I was in a good place 15th or higher after lap 1. I Had burnt to many candles on lap 1 and suffered on lap 2 and 3 with riders passing me. Lap 4/5 I had got into a group with Nick Craig and the Batchelor brothers and believe I wouldn't have lost contact with this group if I wouldn't have had the misfortune I did in the feed zone. Coming into the feed zone I ended up being boxed in by a Junior rider and lost contact with the group. I continued to ride at a good pace and started to catch riders on lap 6/7 that had passed me in the middle of the race. I passed my team manager <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=514310872&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/ben.thomas.129" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Ben Thomas</a> on Lap 7 being the first rider home from my team. I ended in a sprint finish with John Hopkinson of Torq but he pipped me by the smallest margin. Shame really as I would have won £35 back from the race as theres prize money for top 15 elites. Awesome weekend all in all and cant wait for R2 in Redruth Cornwall.<br /><br />Here is a link to the race results -<a href="http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=281CodhamPark30%2F03%2F2014#Elite" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=281CodhamPark30%2F03%2F2014#Elite</a> Male<br /><br />Below is a video of a post race interview with Team Manager Ben Thomas.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeBgVTVycOQ" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeBgVTVycOQ</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Massive Thanks to my Sponsor - Mountain Trax/Vauxhall motors cycling team</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-49AIC6DcY8o/Uzkz2LW_GFI/AAAAAAAAAYw/RJAS-DwJ4MY/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-49AIC6DcY8o/Uzkz2LW_GFI/AAAAAAAAAYw/RJAS-DwJ4MY/s1600/SponsorsLogos2014.jpg" height="228" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also a huge thanks to Strada Handbuilt wheels for my carbon race wheels.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X0NOlxN1gZQ/Uzk0OgN6BsI/AAAAAAAAAY4/U8QhckJTY0w/s1600/Strada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X0NOlxN1gZQ/Uzk0OgN6BsI/AAAAAAAAAY4/U8QhckJTY0w/s1600/Strada.jpg" height="292" width="640" /></a></div>
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-91923050747459221232014-03-08T12:15:00.002-08:002014-03-08T12:15:37.561-08:00Quick update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately had to miss the 2nd round of the Gorrick spring series at Caesars camp due to a small virus, I hadn't had the best week in training previous as we'll due to illness. I've had a decent week in training this week which puts my head back where it should be before the first round of the Southern Xc series a week tomorrow at wasing estate. I am keen to put in a performance similar to last year where I won the expert race by over 4 minutes and caught all the Elites starting over 2 minutes in front. All the mountain trax-vauxhall motors cycling team will be there. With Ben and Sam only returning from Cyprus On the Monday with some added speed in there legs from the fast paced racing. Looking froward to next Sunday and hope to see everyone there. :)</span></div>
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-39376306918051627462014-02-10T12:21:00.001-08:002014-02-10T12:21:02.889-08:00Gorrick Spring Series R1 - Team 1/2/3/4 with myself getting the Win! :)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mq-fxWu5jbI/Uvk0ALTenjI/AAAAAAAAAX4/mQ2K-rNl2uI/s1600/mike+Crowthorne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mq-fxWu5jbI/Uvk0ALTenjI/AAAAAAAAAX4/mQ2K-rNl2uI/s1600/mike+Crowthorne.jpg" height="640" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photo Courtesy of Mike at 1st Gear</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday the 9th of February saw the 1st round of the Gorrick Spring Series held at Gorrick's first ever venue Crowthorne wood. This was also the first race where the team went head to head against each other. Race day conditions were decent with a chill in the air but no rain to speak of :), the course was still wet due to the rain we have had the past few days and weeks. We all rode the Expert/Elite Race which kicked of at 10am.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The race started pretty quick with Ben Thomas (Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors cycling Team manager) taking up the initial pace followed by myself and the youngest rider on the team (Sam Stean). It wasn't long before me and Ben got a sizeable gap on the rest of the field. We worked well together taking turns at the front sharing the workload very well. We were growing the gap lap by lap and coming into start the last lap it was still just me and Ben. Coming into the Arena we came up to the Leading Expert female rider Mel Alexander of (Scott/Contessa/Syncross), Ben hesitated to pass but I quickly nipped through and got a couple of seconds on Ben and this was my chance. I had a good 4seconds on Ben coming out of the feed zone and had to absolutely bury myself for another sub 18minutes of pain to secure the win. I rode hard but safe on the last lap and it was enough to snap the elastic between myself and Ben. I became very emotional towards the end of the last lap and crossed the finish line 1 min 22seconds of Team Manager Ben Thomas. The team certainly performed yesterday securing the top 4 places out of 11 Expert/Elite riders. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the first proper thrashing on my new Scott Scale RC 29 in Large with Strada Carbon wheels and it failed to disappoint. The bike weighs around 9kg with winter tyres and small plastic mudguards which is 3lbs lighter than last years bike with the same wheels!. This just shows how good the Scott frame is with untold stiffness and an awesome build kit to shave them extra grams off. As soon as the trail heads up the bike does really help you out as a rider due to the low weight/high stiffness and does also help ive lost around 1.5kg in bodyweight since last season :).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next Race for myself and the Team will be the 2nd round of the Spring Series at a hilly Caesars Camp in Aldershot, this should be an interesting race as its much closer to the official start of the season so we should see a good high quality turnout :).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Thanks to the team for all the support and tools to do the job :). Also thanks to my old man Andre Pucci for passing bottles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Pictures and Results from Yesterdays race is below </u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Results - <a href="http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=275CrowthorneWood09/02/2014#Expert Male" target="_blank">http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=275CrowthorneWood09/02/2014#Expert Male</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pictures from John Newport at Vermont Images from our Photo-shoot yesterday are on the "Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling team" Page.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.653603331347819.1073741879.143937835647707&type=1" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.653603331347819.1073741879.143937835647707&type=1</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below are a few odd pictures from John @ Vermont Images :).</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-30790411600189319622014-01-27T01:38:00.001-08:002014-01-27T01:38:18.022-08:002nd Race for Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team & my 2nd Win!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a post race interview with Myself and Ben Thomas (Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors cycling team manager).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is a link with the Race Results</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=186TunnelHill,Pirbright26/01/2014#2Hr Male" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=186TunnelHill,Pirbright26/01/2014#2Hr Male</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Photos will be up today from John Newport @ Vermont Images</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-75859691379661005252014-01-06T13:07:00.002-08:002014-01-06T13:07:27.867-08:001st Race for Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team & managed to bag a Win :).<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy New Year everybody!, hope you had a good Christmas and new year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday the 5th of January saw my debut race for my new Team & Sponsor for the 2014 Season. I was very excited to put in a solid performance to start the season with a bang! for the new team. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately only 2 out of 4 team riders could make the 3rd round of the Merida Brass Monkeys series held at Ash Ranges. Ben opted to ride the 4hr category as this suits his riding style more than the 2hr which suits my style so I flew the flag for Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling team. The youngest rider on the team Sam Stean broke one of his fingers earlier last week so that put him out of riding and Tim our oldest rider is also Injured with a fractured wrist & broken Rib!. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Onto race day!. The race was held at Ash Ranges which was one of the Gorrick venues that I have only ever ridden once. I live quite close to all the Gorrick venues so know most of them very well but Ash isin't one of them. This made for a different race than say at Tunnel hill which I know like the back of my hand. The weather leading up to the race had been very mild but very wet!. I stupidly left my summer tyres on as I was rushing around the day before the race checking the bike over and didn't think to much about tyre choice. The course in practice wasn't to bad but after a good few hundred riders churning through it soon became a bog and a real slog!. The 2hr race started at 11.30 after 2hrs of the 4hr Enduro lads shredding round the course. The start was reasonably steady with a long tarmac stretch which worked well allowing everyone to get where they wanted entering the 1st bit of Singletrack. I took the lead into the singletrack followed by Phillip Pearce of Banjo Cycles not far behind. I initally got a small gap but wasn't willing to smash my legs on lap 1 of a 4 lap slog!. I knew If I continued at a similiar sort of pace he would drop of, unluckily for Phillip he got a puncture at the end of lap 1 and had to change a wheel. I used this to my advantage and settled into a good pace which I pretty much stayed in for the rest of the race growing my lead lap by lap. The course got worse and worse as the laps went on with an obvious line non existent!. I rode the last 3 laps alone having a few close calls with some backmarkers from the other races out on course. I rode a decent race, my legs didn't feel by any-means 100% but after Christmas/New year and a Chest infection that I only got of the Antibiotics for on Wednesday I cant complain!. I am very happy to put in a solid first race for the new team, Ben secured 2nd place in the 4hr category behind a Man who's flying at the moment Mr George Budd. A man on a mission who wasn't willing to stop for his </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.2em;">Chauffeur (Ben Thomas) to relieve himself part way through the race. That is racing and considering Ben has been doing very steady miles and George has been putting in some serious intervals Ben did an awesome job staying with him for 6+ laps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Next race for the team is at the 4th and Final Round of the Merida Brass Monkeys Series held at Tunnel Hill. A local venue I know very well and have been looking forward to racing at Tunnel for a long time. All the team should be on there new 2014 race bikes which is very exciting, See you there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">A huge thanks to </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mountain Trax - Vauxhall Motors Cycling team and John Newport at Vermont Images for some pictures as well as passing bottles!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Below is Ben Cleaning his bike after Sundays race with Welditite lubes & cleaners outside the Vauxhall Antara team car. :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out our Facebook page for more frequent updates</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-54568670124869904752013-12-15T11:06:00.001-08:002013-12-15T13:14:51.572-08:002013 Round Up - Disappointing way to end an awesome Season!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Below are a few Interesting facts from my 2013 Season</u></b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number of Races Started in 2013 - 18</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number of Races Won in 2013 - 10</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Number of Races Podiumed - 15</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Biggest Winning Margin - 15 Minutes (Gorrick 100)</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Best Result - Passing the whole Elite Field at R3 of the Southern XC Series</b></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2013! What a year it has been for my racing, I stepped up from the Junior Category and only doing 1 national before this year. I was debating what Category to ride Elite or Expert, going from 3 laps as a Junior to 5 laps as an Elite seemed way to bigger jump so I choose the Expert Category. For this year I joined Aw Cycles Mtb team and this really kicked me into gear as I hate disappointing people and really wanted to give back to my sponsors some great results. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.awcycles.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.awcycles.co.uk/</a> - For the Loan of the Whyte race bike, kit and Nutrition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/</a> - For an awesome pair of 29er Carbon Wheels. Check out there site for some custom wheel builds!.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EbRONFPUJCQ/Uq37XXFaOOI/AAAAAAAAAU4/KrXwkgmJ5KI/s1600/STRADA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EbRONFPUJCQ/Uq37XXFaOOI/AAAAAAAAAU4/KrXwkgmJ5KI/s640/STRADA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://mtzoom.com/" target="_blank">http://mtzoom.com/</a> - For some sweet carbon components. Check out Ant Whites Mt Zoom website or head to XcRacer.com</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-19887079771689548212013-11-27T09:48:00.000-08:002013-12-11T06:29:02.655-08:00Merida Brass Monkeys R1 at Minley Manor - 24th of November <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunday the 24th of November saw the 1st Round of the Merida Brass Monkeys Enduro series held around the Deepcut area. This year Gorrick have had real trouble securing venues, R1 was originally supposed to be at Tunnel hill and after a few days here and there improving the trails we were very disappointed to hear it was being moved to Minley Manor. Minley is an awesome venue but In my opinion Tunnel has much more to offer and its more local for me and also I know the trails like the back of my hand as I ride there a good 2 times a week. Not to worry as R4 is at Tunnel (well might be, hopefully). R2 of the Series was advertised as Frith Hill and 3 weeks Prior to the event it has been changed to Caesars camp which is an awesome venue with some good climbs for this area. This will make for an awesome race but will be very tough as I think it will still be 4 laps unless the laps are super long and over 40minutes for the 2hr lads. Onto Round 1's Report</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Course at Minley was just under 7 miles and was told I would be lapping at 30minutes and this prediction was bang on with my average lap time being 30.32. There were a few muddy patches on the Fireroads but all the trails were running sweet as ;). The 2hr race kicked off at 11.30 with temperatures quite high for this time of year at around 7/8degrees C. So it was 3/4 tights, base layer, Jersey & Buff for me. Ive been used to riding round with 2 pairs of gloves lately which isin't the best trying to feel at one with your bike. I ended up faffing around and missing the first row for the start so was at the side but was told we have to go inbetween the banners. This meant for a terrible start sitting in around 30th position at first before powering my way to the front into the 2nd bit of singletrack after a short little climb where I made up a fair few places. I got to the front of the race which was Pedal Heavens Jamie Newall leading the charge. He set a good pace through the field and myself and Jamie got a gap almost instantly. Once the gap was established we started to settle into a rhythm and have a bit of a chat about next season and Nationals etc. Around 1/2 way through the first lap I injected a little pace up a short rise and got a gap, I waited for Jamie but wasn't willing to wait any longer so I was on my own for the rest of the race. I put an effort in Lap 2 to establish my lead even more to a comfortable gap then take a breather and go again. The breather never really happened so just kept riding round at a pretty quick pace. I ended up finishing just under 8 minutes ahead of 2nd place James Williams of Cycletech and Jamie dropped back to 3rd 8mins 19seconds back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Results avaliable via the link - <a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=270MinleyManor24/11/2013#2Hr Male" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=270MinleyManor24/11/2013#2Hr Male</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Few Pictures Below - </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A big thanks to both my Sponsors Strada Wheels and Mt Zoom for all there support and products to help me do the job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out there sites below </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://mtzoom.com/" target="_blank">http://mtzoom.com/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also a thanks to John Newport at Mountain Trax for doing my Bottles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See you at R2 on the 15th of December at Caesars Camp :). Happy Training</span></div>
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-75742964222606475702013-09-12T12:46:00.000-07:002013-09-12T12:46:09.875-07:00Torq 12:12 - Team of 4 - 2nd :)The August Bank holiday weekend always sees the Gorricks Torq in your sleep 12 hour mtb event held at Minley Manor in Blackwater. This year there was an added 6hr categorie which I thought was a great idea as if people were debating doing the event for 12hours and taking up all of Monday they could do the 6hr and still be home at a reasonable time sunday evening. The course at Minley is pretty flat with alot of singletrack and is based round a figure of 8 using a bridge, this year the course ran both ways over the bridge which worked well as it added a little distance to the course. I was riding the event this year as a team of 4 with Chris Minter, Ryan Keynes & Martin Turton and had heard Mountain Trax had a team of 3 Strong Elite riders and 1 Expert rider. After hearing this I knew it was going to be a tough race with our team having 1 Elite rider and 3 Expert riders. Anyway we went into the Race with a positive attitude hoping we could pull of the Win.
For the 1st Lap we all decided we would send out our fastest guy so he has a clear run of the course with no traffic so it was Me from our team and Ben from Mountain Trax with a few other big names doing the 1st lap, Steve James, Billy Whenman and Jamie Newall to name a few. The Pace was high from the start with Jamie Newall and Billy Whenman setting the pace early on the first lap where this thinned out very quick leaving just myself, Ben Thomas and Steve James out front. We stayed together for 1/2 a lap before Ben realising Steve was suffering a little after having a little break from training atfer the last national and he pushed on. I went with the move and both of us were out front and were both going for the Fastest lap of the day/Hot Lap, Ben was leading coming into the arena and I just didnt have the legs to get past but still came in with the same time. I handed my band to Martin Turton who was our 2nd rider but he had some stiff competition from George Budd who put nearly 2 minutes into our team during lap 2. This didnt get much better during Lap 3 where we lost nearly a minute but our Elite rider Chris was out on our 4th lap pulling back time from Scott who was doing there 4th lap. I started my 2nd lap ahead of Ben Thomas and grew the gap putting over 1 minute into Ben during our 2nd lap giving our team over a minute lead. The lead was ours and lost for a full 12hours and came down to the last lap during the night. We both knew we had to send out our quickest rider for maximum chances to win the race so I was set to go on Lap 20. Ben Thomas was given the band over 1min 30 ahead of myself and I had all the work to do but knew closing this gap in the dark was going to be tough and it proved to be to tough with the Mountain Trax boys taking the win at just over a minute margin. What a tight fought race over 12hours between us 2 teams but it wasnt to be for us. Great result for us guys, Thanks to Chris, Martin & Ryan for racing with me. Also a thanks to Mike Keynes for the Marquee and hot water supplied :).
Results Avaliable here - http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=262MinleyManor25/08/2013#12Hr Team 4 Male
Pictures Avaliable here - http://joolzedymond.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1336&ingals=1&q=524
A big Thanks to Aw Cycles for the Bike, Support, Nutrition, Kit and much more.
Also a Massive thanks to Strada Handbuilt wheels for the Carbon 29er wheels which make a lovely touch to an awesome Whyte 29c from Aw Cycles. :)
Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-54927938293227400782013-08-22T06:22:00.001-07:002013-08-22T06:27:35.903-07:00British NPS R5 - Hadleigh Farm - Expert Win & Series Title :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last Sunday I got the chance to race at Hadleigh farm the olympic venue where Jaraslov pipped Nino Shurter to take the Olympic Gold Medal. I went up to Essex on Saturday to feed for my Dad in the Open race and to have a sneaky few laps of the Course in preperation for Sundays race. The course was quite technical in places with line choice being crucial to carrying speed and staying on the bike, I took all A lines apart from Triple trouble. I had been told it was easily rideable but I didnt fancy hitting the deck and ruining a race for a couple of seconds. Onto my Dad's first National event at the most technical venue of the Series. He was riding the Open race as he was going away Saturday evening for a weeks holiday. The Open race is usually 3 laps but hadleigh is a reasonably short course at 5km so they had an extra lap doing 4 now. I missed the start of the race as I was just finishing my 2nd practice lap so went back to the Car and got myself sorted to feed him after the first lap where he was sitting in 8th position just behind Stuart Selwood. Dad continued to ride hard with a faster 2nd lap than the 1st but this took its toll later on in the race. He lost 1 position on the last lap but a brilliant result finishing 10th position in his first ever National event on proabably not the ideal course for his riding style. Hope to see my old man race some more National events. I travelled back home after his race and got a good nights sleep ahead of my race tomorrow, I travelled back up to Hadleigh with Steve Jones early Sunday morning to get another lap or 2 in so I could really nail my lines come race time!<br />
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Sunday morning came and the weather was a little undecided wether to rain or stay dry and luckily it opted for what we all wanted SUN!. Me and Steve went out on a practice lap when the course opened at gone 10am, I knew what lines I needed to take after yesterdays pre riding but made a silly error looking back to see where Steve and that was and the front tyre slid out going into one of the rock gardens. The bike bounced around 10 foot and I came away with grazed right elbow &amp; shoulder but luckily the bike had no damage at all. This didnt put my head in the right place before one of the most important races of the Season but I remained calm and tried not to let it effect my race. The Expert Race was scheduled to kick off at 12.45pm but started a little late at 12.57, we had 6 laps of a demanding 5km olympic course ahead. The start was steady with Dexter Hurlock leading the charge with myself on his wheel just before the ramp up before we hit the first little rock garden where I took the lead and never looked back!. The next obstacle was the leap of faith which I didnt find to challenging compared to some of the technical aspects out on course. I put in a pretty fast first lap with a nice gap then settled into a good rhythm which I maintained for most of the race but with 1 chain drop and a burped front tyre on lap 6 the results may differ from that, with all other lap times very similiar to the top 10 Elites. I won the Expert race by a clear comfortable margin of over 7 minutes even with losing the chain once and loss of air and having to stop and gass the front tyre on lap 6. This win Secured the National Series with Maximum Points Scored as they take your 4 best results out of 5 and I won the 4 Rounds I did. This also bumped me up 1 position in the National rankings so am currently nationally ranked as the 1st Expert male rider :). This year has been a real learning curve for myself at only 18years of age and 1st year doing National events apposed to just Southern's &amp; Gorricks. I have learnt alot this year and have progressed way more than I thought was possible in a year but it shows that hard work pays of in the end. Next year will be a whole different ball game than this year with me being a big fish in a small pond but next year ill be a small fish in a big pond and trying to mix it up with the best Uk Xc riders out there. In my opinion I have definately made the right decision with regards to the category I rode this year as I am still young and learning. If I would have gone straight into Elite from a Junior last year having only done 1 National event it would have been way to bigger jump from 3 laps to 5 on a Standard course. This year I taken racing alot more seriously than an in previous years and all the little things do add up to a big difference and this came around by picking up some higer profile sponsors ie Aw Cycles &amp; Strada wheels. <br />
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Results from Sunday are avaliable via the link - http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=261HadleighFarm18/08/2013#Expert Male<br />
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A big Thanks to my Main Sponsor <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.awcycles.co.uk"></a>for all the support, loan of the Bike, Kit, High 5 Nutriton, team van and Much more!.<br />
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Also a big thank you to Strada Handbuilt wheels for various sets of wheels but mainly there carbon 29er wheels that they built up for me, these made a big difference in the way the bike handled and responded.<br />
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<br />Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-3287002777736838512013-08-21T03:27:00.001-07:002013-08-21T03:27:39.679-07:00Brighton Big Dog 2013 - 1st Mixed 3 & Fastest Lap :)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 2013 Brighton Big Dog took place at the usual epic venue " Stanmer Park" on the 10th of August. One of my sponsors Strada Wheels sponsor this race as it's there local event and wanted me to ride and I am so glad I did as the course was epic. I travelled down to Felpham near Worthing where Darren Stradas wheelbuilder lives and he sorted me out with his spare room for friday night before Saturdays race which was luxury compared to what I am used to before racing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Team Strada arrived Saturday morning to be greeted by Sunny weather and awesome dry Singletrack. I was racing the event as a Mixed Team with Chris Dobson a master riding for Hargroves cycles and Jo Munden National Masters champion so I was confident we had a good team. The Strada boys were racing as a Male team of 3 and were going very well with Darren smashing out some good lap times after only 3 months of solid training and contributing to a solid 6th position finish. I was hoping they would finish in the top 5 as Darren Said if they get a top 5 heel shave his legs haha. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Onto my race the Mixed 3, We decided it would be best if I went of first as there would be a clearer run with less traffic. Ian Leitch was on the start giving some race commentary before the race saying who he thought was in with a shot at each of the titles and I did get a little mention for the fastest lap. It was made clear to me by Darren that he wanted me to get the fastest lap and I never like to dissapoint anybody especially a Sponsor!. The race was on with Ex Pro & Olympic silver medalist Dave Hemmings leading the charge shortly before Richard Mardle of Felt Colbornes Rt came to the front. I followed Richard through the 1st bit of singletrack before the "chalky cliff of hell"where I rode away from the group with only Ben Thomas trying to pull back later in the lap on a draggy climb. Ben was going at some pace as he was doing the Solo 6hrs. I continued to ride hard for the rest of the lap and got my team into a great position after the first lap. I was passing over to Chris Dobson who I believed could hold the lead for the lap quite comfortably. After Chris came back it was National Champion Jo's turn out on the course and she didnt dissapoint either with our lead growing lap by lap over 4Forth lights who finished 2nd.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The course out there was awesome at just under 6 miles which is shorter than in previous years but had some wicked singletrack and some lung busting climbs thrown in for good measure. We all continued to ride hard stretching out the lead further and further each lap and were praying no problems were to come our way. It was our race winning by nearly a lap, we all hung around chatting and refuelling waiting for the Podium presentation. We all got up on the Podium and celebrated with our prizes beneath us which included an Exposure Joystick, Lezyne Pump, Vredestein Sealent, Exposure Flare and more!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">What a great event put on by all the Morvelo guys and girls, will definately be returning next year to ride what I believe to be the best course of the season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Big Thanks to my Sponsors for the Bike, Nutrition and the Kit to do the Job!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.awcycles.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.awcycles.co.uk</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Thanks to the Guys at Strada Handbuilt Wheels for the whole weekend including a lovely roast dinner at Darrens inlaws :)</span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-67917103554476015572013-07-24T04:31:00.001-07:002013-07-24T04:31:47.884-07:00National Champs - U23 - The Big one!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Championships is the biggest race on the Uk Xc Mtb Calendar with everybody wanting to peak at this time of year. Leading up to the champs training and racing was going very well but there was a cloud over me racing the event due to insufficient funds but I managed to get lent the money so the race was back on!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Check out Steve Jones Bed for the night!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Race Day - Sunday morning came </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Big Thanks to my Sponsors at Aw Cycles - <a href="http://www.awcycles.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.awcycles.co.uk</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Few piks from sunday below but most are on the Gallery Page.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gBIe_Ln_dlM/Ue-mV69gQ0I/AAAAAAAAARg/-YAUZMRrVuM/s1600/Champs+Climb+leading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img bba="true" border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gBIe_Ln_dlM/Ue-mV69gQ0I/AAAAAAAAARg/-YAUZMRrVuM/s640/Champs+Climb+leading.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PTQ3k_tg16w/Ue-mQcct57I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/EZ93GnU5KRg/s1600/Rock+follwing+steve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img bba="true" border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PTQ3k_tg16w/Ue-mQcct57I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/EZ93GnU5KRg/s640/Rock+follwing+steve.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-83479175829931657182013-07-02T13:04:00.004-07:002013-07-02T14:05:57.305-07:00Southern XC R3 Wasing Surprise & Eelmore R10 Reports<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Southern Xc Round 3 - Wasing Estate</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A very sunny and bright Sunday at the end of June saw the 3rd of 5 rounds of the Southern Pedal On series held at Wasing Park which Is a Favourite venue of mine as its reasonably local and does quite suit my riding style. I arrived at 10am for my dad's race which was the open race at 11.30, this gave me time to do a good lap and a 1/2 before my race kicked off at just after 2pm after the Elites. My race started as a mass group along the road and fireroad before myself entering the first bit of singletrack in the lead to make an early break from the chasing pack of riders. I made a slight mistake after the first minor drop though loosing my front wheel with Michael Guildford taking up the lead up the first short climb. I got clipped back in and went back on the hunt for the lead where I never looked back pulling a big gap almost instantly on the rest of the field. I knew in my mind if I continued to ride the pace I was I would soon be greeted by the sight of the back end of the Elite field. My predictions were right passing many good Elite riders including Tim Dunford, George Budd and more. I continued to ride hard recovering where I could out on course, then in the distance during lap 3 I saw a pedal on jersey in the distance surrounded by all other team Jerseys ie cannondale, hargroves and Beeline. I continued to ride hard and caught the main group of 5 riders. After this I was astonished as to how I made up so much time on such quick elite riders!?. Anyhow I was on a mission to catch the leader of the Elite race which was Steve James and was told by Steve Jones he was only up the fireroad which he was and just about in sight. But it wasn't until lap 5 where I managed to bridge the gap to Steve where we rode together until around 1/2 way through the last lap. At this point I thought it was time to continue at the earlier pace and build a good gap back to 2nd in my race which ended up being National ranked 1st rider Lee Gratton at over 4minutes adrift. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This has been by far my best result of my Career lapping significantly faster than some very big names and I hope I can carry my form into the National at Margam Park 1 week after the Southern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After this result I am a little confused as which category to enter but In my opinion for Regional races I should ride Elite to push me that bit further and at National events still ride Expert until next year when I move up to Elite. Next race for me now is the National Points Series R4 at Margam Park in Wales, cant wait for another good race.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Results are here - <a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=180WasingPark30/06/2013#Expert%20Male" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=180WasingPark30/06/2013#Expert%20Male</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Video of the Expert race is on Facebook - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=407795112672161" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=407795112672161</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am also in the Elite video on youtube - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUa9XyZnRak" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUa9XyZnRak</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Massive Thanks once again to my sponsors at Aw Cycles for the Rapid Whyte 29er Race bike, High 5 Nutrition and race kit. This all makes doing the job at hand much more enjoyable and possible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Check out there online website where you can shop online and get delivered to your door.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.awcycles.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.awcycles.co.uk/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also a big thanks to Strada Handbuilt wheels for a nice pair of Carbon 19er wheels to make one fast bike from Aw Cycles even faster.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visit there site and get in touch if there are any specific requirements you wish to have in your wheels.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7f1Jq41tqI/UdMyW-pj1GI/AAAAAAAAAQE/djCYy5NPESw/s413/jersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7f1Jq41tqI/UdMyW-pj1GI/AAAAAAAAAQE/djCYy5NPESw/s320/jersey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pedal Heaven Series R10 - 26th of June - 1st Cat 3/4</span></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday the 26th of June saw the 10th round of the Pedal Heaven Series at Eelmore driving school. My main man Keiran Blackburn took me to the race with a friend also coming along to watch. I was still riding the 3/4 cat race as this was still only my 2nd road race, this time I was more aware of what was needed to win a road race. I stayed up the front of the Peloton for the whole race which payed dividends as there were many crashes during the race with all riders behind going down with them. I knew who to look out for if it came down to a sprint also and made the most of this following Mike Smith of Cycleworks into the final corner. He looked over his shoulder to see where I was and I was right on his shoulder with around 300meters to go, I could feel the peloton coming up behind so had no time to play cat and mouse so had to get my head down and sprint for the line. I thought I had a gap on the whole field but with around 50meters to go I felt a rider creeping up my right side so had to kick again and eventually won the sprint by around 1.5 bike lengths to Noah Banner another Young U23 rider. From my memory this was the first occasion where I have made money out of riding my bike! Cant complain at that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only pictures are online on Facebook here is the link - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.626281547382687.1073741841.131714706839376&type=1" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.626281547382687.1073741841.131714706839376&type=1</a> </span><br />
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Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316446175432806457.post-37385402352737229692013-06-23T03:12:00.001-07:002013-06-23T03:12:25.619-07:00National Points Series R3 - Win <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I had left this blog any later I would have forgot what happened during the race. Saturday the 1st of June Myself, Michael Guildford and Teamate Steve Jones made the Journey down to our accommodation which was around 30mins from the Race venue Hopton woods. Saturday evening was eventful with my front wheel sealing but waking up overnight to a flat tyre. I knew the reason why though because I hadnt used the Stans rim tape, so I replaced the rim tape and the tyre was fine. We got to the race Sunday morning around 8.45am which gave us 30 minutes until the course closed. I went to Race regisration and picked up my number 1st which made getting out on the course for the 1st practice very tight. I was allowed through the start area out onto the course but at the 1st split in the course I was told I had to return to the start as there were races starting shortly. This was rather annoying as now I wouldnt have time to see the whole course as the 2nd practice was after 11am which would be too tight to get a whole lap in before the start of my race. After the 11am practice I got chance to see most of the course and it was definately going to be a tough course with some long climbs and nice descents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Expert race kicked off at 12noon with myself being gridded 10th which was a decent position on the 2nd row. The race started fast with Lee Gratton setting the initial pace with a few of us up front over the top of the 1st climb. During lap two it became more of a 3 horse race between me, Lee Gratton & Dexter Hurlock. I was really struggling to find the good legs I knew I had and eventually found them on lap 3. I rode pretty hard on the front on lap 3 and got a good gap back to Lee and Dexter which I didnt let slip throughout the race. Coming into the arena after lap 4 I had a considerable gap back to Lee & Dexter and couldnt see them so I planned my celebration which ended up being a wheelie once again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">What a tough race on a tough old course, Round 4 at Margam Park should be a good race again. Next Race for me now is the 3rd round of the Southern Xc Series at Wasing Park on the 3th of June.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Results from hopton Avaliable here - <a href="http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=245HoptonWoods02/06/2013#Expert Male" target="_blank">http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=245HoptonWoods02/06/2013#Expert Male</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">No Joolze Dymond - Pictures on the British Cyclings XC Facebook page</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A Big Thanks to all my sponsors for the Support and Tools to do the Job :)</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.awcycles.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.awcycles.co.uk/</span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t7FMB_ITx-Y/UcbJZ2B38YI/AAAAAAAAAPc/3aPzv-MpBfs/s1600/New_AW_site_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t7FMB_ITx-Y/UcbJZ2B38YI/AAAAAAAAAPc/3aPzv-MpBfs/s320/New_AW_site_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aFrhstx8ptA/UcbJ_4CtVnI/AAAAAAAAAPk/LnExk1pLt_I/s1600/STRADA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aFrhstx8ptA/UcbJ_4CtVnI/AAAAAAAAAPk/LnExk1pLt_I/s320/STRADA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>Puccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747780747371039218noreply@blogger.com0