4 races down this year and its already been a rollercoaster!
My first race of the year was on my doorstep at chicksands for the 661 Mini Dh event on the pretty simple and easy (although still flat out) track that runs down the side of the dirt jumps. I was pretty happy on the track. I had a my new 4x bike built (see below) and i was loving the speed on the track. After the first runs I was sitting in the lead in elite knowing that i had had a good run it was going to be hard to make up time on run no. 2. Luckily, I found another half second and snitched the overall win by 0.023 seconds. The racing was intense because it was so close but it was a fun little warm up for the first nps4x down at UKBikepark.
Off to the first NPS it was down in sunny dorset which was a welcome change from last years mudbath!
I was having a good day in practice on saturday getting some good lines, and some spot on gates. Sundays racing was pretty shocking though to be honest. In my first heat I got a puncture on the logs on the start hill which put me on bad moods early on. Progressing through my heats I got a solid 2nd and 1st after a depressing 4th. Then comes my 4th heat. Racing alongside my ex team mate and long term friend, Tom Dowie, I came out the gate, me and him hell for leather down the first straight, then as we hit the step up I was edging past him and went too low, clipping my front wheel and pogo'ing myself over the bars straight onto my shoulder, I was pretty sure I'd broken my collar bone but later found out that it was ok. I was in a bad way and went a nice shade of green laying on the floor. Being 3 hours away from home and knowing full well my gf couldn't drive I pulled out some energy and courage to drive home. Not how you would normally drive though. Leah (my girlfriend) did the gears for me. The damage was in my ligaments and I thought i was going to be out for a while. But I got riding as soon as possible, as this is what the doc's told me to do. Big shout out to everyone that helped on the day though, Selby, The Laceys, and Lee-Loo.
Next up was a month after the shoulder incident in Houffalize. The 2nd round of the UCI World Cup 4x. Me and Tom D decided to road trip it down in Chateau le Fez. AKA my car. It took us about 6 hours in total and the car was packed to the brim. The track was really good, the corners were nice and wide and it made for great racing. I had a bad run in qualies and almost lost it in the 2nd last turn and with well over 100 entries I had to do well to make the final cut. Luckily I just scraped it at 56th out of the top 64. This put me in a bad position for saturdays finals as I had Gee Atherton, and Lewis Lacey in my first heat along with some swiss bloke, but I'll come to him in a mo...
I didnt really know what to think getting into the gate, but I knew it was going to be interesting having Gee in the gate. On the snap we were all level down the first straight and into the first turn, I looked right quickly to see where everyone was going into the turn, I made a quick dart and made a high low on lewis putting myself into 3rd place right on gee and swissy's butt. Into turn 2 and i went to make the same move again and the swiss guy had tried to pass gee and slid/spun out into the track. I thought i was clear of him coming to the drop, thinking i'd secured 2nd, wrong, my pedal clipped his front wheel on the floor and did a nice slow over the bars straight back onto my bad shoulder. Luckily no further damage was done and I was seeing the specialist the following wednesday (where i secured another dose of powerful painkillers.) My end result was 60th which upset me quite a bit and I felt quite annoyed about my shoulder again.
After Houffalize I decided that resting until Andorra was probably the best thing to do. Coming into Andorra, I felt fresh and happy, even with the shocking weather! Luckily, the first day of practice was cancelled due to the persistent rain. This meant the track stayed nice for us on friday and qualifying. Waking up the following day, the sun was beaming down the valley and I couldnt wait to hit the track for practice and qualifying. Andorra has my vote as the toughest track on the circuit. Its steep, loose as ken, and balls out. I was having fun in practice and liking the track although didnt feel like I was at race pace though going into the qualification round. If I'm honest, i rode like a twat on my run not hitting stuff hard enough and keeping things far too conservative. This put me in 40th out of 56 riders. Not great.
I was determined in saturdays practice to hit stuff hard and get loose. I had my eyes on the first turn, knowing I was going to be sat in the outside lane again like the last round, I had a line in my mind that i could get away with and maybe use to pass. In my first heat, I had Lewis again! something i need to stop doing, and Quentin Derbier who had qualified 8th. So it was going to be a hard race from my perspective. Out the gate i was slightly behind as my gates were quite bad this weekend. I kept up though coming to the step up into the first left hand s-bend I swung right up the bank on the outside, unclipped and turned down the bank hanging it loose straightling the s-bend, I went passed quentin like he was stood still and slotted in behind lewis down the step downs, I didnt hit the brakes that much into the berm and overtook lewis into the triple/quad after the turn, leading the heat the 2nd last corner quentin had a go at me and got ahead and then right at the line lewis came charging next to me and it was a photo finish. I was through! I was so happy, I jumped straight back on the lift back up to the top for the 2nd round. Into this I had the outside lane again. This was it, I knew my line was working in the first turn so I hung back out the gate and waited till the first turn. Pulled right away from everyone up the bank again swooped down foot out and went from 4th to 2nd in one move. I was very excited knowing that this was the best i've ever done. I waited until the corner where I got done in the first round and snuck up the inside and passed the guy in front of me going into first over the line, I was ecstatic! The best I've ever done, quarter finals!
The next race was pretty daunting looking at it. I had Graves, Jurg Meijer, and the guy I had taken in the previous heat, so I knew i could beat him. Out the gate I made the same call and hung back waiting in the first turn, swooped again, went into 3rd behind meijer. I was happy with this, but was thirsty for the semis and waiting again until the 2nd last turn where I could make a move, I didnt go tight enough, with another bike length I think i'd have forced through. I was so happy with my riding I didn't even care that i'd been knocked out. I was the best placed brit and was so happy!
Next race is this weekend in Germany, the Dirtmasters festival over near cologne, then its bike radar live back in the uk, then the fort william world cup! Cant wait to see what I can do there!
Pat
0 comments:
Post a Comment