Well the race season is truely underway now and with a well earnt rest day being taken i thought i would update everyone with my slow progress in the Elite racing ranks.
After the disaster that was the Gran Canaria marathon and not finding the race venue intime for the start of the race my first cross-country(xc) race of the year was round one the the British xc series held at Sherwood pines forest park,Mansfield Notts.
To say i was a little nervous about this race does not quite sum up how i felt on the day! After pre riding the course the day before my nerves had eased somewhat as i found the course quite technical rather than the fast flat out roadrace sherwood always is,meaning bike skill would play a part rather than just plain old speed.To my suprise i found myself gridded 33rd out of the 60 or so entered.This race carried world ranking points as do all the national series races this year and the gridding was done on world ranking points,luckily i had a resonable race in last years national championships and got 2 uci points…result!
The start pistol went and the lead riders were off like rockets,but there was multi olympions and commonwealth gold and silver medalists Liam Kileen and Oli Beckinsale racing along with other top international racers from all over the world chasing uci points ready for the 2012 London olympics.I myself had a good start,running in the mid 20′s for the first lap and i was very happy for my first outing as an elite,then as the laps clicked by i was getting very very tired legs and was slipping through the field rapidly.Once i had finished i found out that rushing to change my wheels before the start i did not reset my brake….what i silly mistake,i rode the whole race with my brakes on.wont be doing that again!!!
In the end i finished 35th,someway off my top 20 target but thinking what may have been if i was more prepaired.
My next race was the 1st round ot the midlands xc series at hanchurch woods,stoke on trent and i was looking forward to this event as it is a great venue with lots of technical trails and i won the midlands champs here in 2009.
The sun was bright and the trails dry and dusty,it had the makings of a great race and as i got a place on the front row of the grid i waited to here the start gun.as it went i got a super start,leading the race for the first few hundred metres then i went bang! the lactic acid had built up that much from my too fast start that my legs just would not go round at all and after the 1st half mile all the expert riders had past me as they too started with the elite race and i was pretty much dead last.Amatauer mistake #2
It was not until well into the 2nd lap that i started to gain some speed and start to catch riders,and carried on moving up the field al the way to the end of the race(barring my face plant on the penultimate lap trying to go too quick over a easy looking log).In the end i passed most of expert race and ended up 8th in the Elite race.i was 7th until my crash but was happy all the same.
The 3rd race of the season was the Wiggle enduro6 race at Caton park,Derbyshire.Myself and Matt Dennis(team mate last year)got 3rd place last year so expecations were high.my team mate this year stephen james had decided he fancied a go at the le-mans styles running start and i gladly let him.the race day was very cold and windy and neither me nor steve performed to our max,gaining 9th place in the elite mens pairs race.
My 4th big race of the season was the 2nd round of the british xc series held at Wasing estate nr reading down south.
Again this was a uci(union cyclist international,world cycling governing body)ranked race and as such i was gridded 28th…very happy.The morning of the race came and it felt more like january than may,the wind was making it bitter cold and there was spots of rain in the air.I started my pre race warm-up on the turbo in jogging bottoms and a big jacket just trying to keep warm,hen i looked across the field and seen george budd doing his warm up by sitting in his cosy warm car my morale went downhill quickly.
I took to the start line wearing full winter kit expecting the worst cold condition may had ever seen but as soon as the gun went so did the nasty weather….great.I had a pretty poor start but as i started to make up ground in the race i started to get very very hot and was overheating rapidly.for most of the race i was running inside the top 20 with George budd,Paul Robertson and Ryan Sherlock for company but as the race wore on i slipped back due to being to hot.I eventually stopped on lap 4 and took of my long sleeve warm up top and raced in my base layer which drew a few smirks.in the end i finished 23rd again wondering what may have been.
In between all the mtb races i have been doing i have started doing some road racing again to try to boost my speed a little and every tuesday have been racing at mallory park motor circuit,and although have not had any top 10 finishes yet have been active in all the races by making breaks from the bunch or chasing people who have gone on the attack.It has been fun doing something i gave up a while ago,but now fancy winning one soon…..watch this space.
Christian
