Friday began like most Fridays before a race. I got up and packed all my kit and got my bike ready. I put some clothes in the wash and then went off to do the food shopping as this time we were camping at the race venue. My mother left me to shop alone, which was a mistake as I rarely do food shopping, never mind on my own and I went quite a bit over budget and bought a load of the wrong stuff. I put it all back and it got it all sorted out and headed back home to find I hadn't actually switched the washing machine on, which then delayed us for another 2 hours. By this time Cammy (Kilgour), who I was taking to the race, had arrived at my house, so we spent the time packing the car whilst waiting for the wash to finish. Once the wash had finished, I packed my kit bag, put the rest of the stuff in the car, bikes on the back, went and picked up 'mechanic' Christo and we were officially on the road, albeit about three hours late.
We arrived a little later than we had wanted to, so by this time it was dark so instead of pitching the tent and getting a track walk we stayed in a house that my family rents out in Dumfries just for the Friday. We cooked up some pasta and got the food prepared for the next day, then headed straight to sleep.
Rising early on Saturday morning to allow time for traveling to the venue, we all got washed and fed, tidied up and hurried off to get signed on.
At about 7.30 we arrived at the track and pitched the tent and filled it with our gear. I was definitely excited to see the track, which is one on the calendar I know I can do well on, so we headed up for the track walk. The track was fairly moist from the rain on Friday, but with the sun out it was clear that it was going to dry up quickly. The choice of taping definitely looked like it would suit me and the newly taped out bottom corners looked mint although I would later find out that they proved to be quite challenging with riders crashing all the time which didn't allow many chances of a clean run through. Practice began and I was riding well and the track was drying out nicely. The lower corners were amazing fun and the upper woods were super greasy but that added to the challenge. By about midday I was feeling peckish so I got some lunch from the tent and continued on riding. In total I did 5 runs which I felt was adequate as I didn't want to tire myself for race day.
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| Getting loose on the high line |
We awoke to an icy morning and I certainly had felt the cold during the night. I got up early, had some cereal, got all my kit on and then headed for the first uplift. Being a youth, there is very little time between Sunday practice and first race runs, so to get two runs in its vital that I get on the first or second bus of the morning. The track was moist from the dew, but was riding well and the first run proved to be an effective warm up for my second which I rode really well.
After practice I had some time to kill, so I chilled while Christo cleaned my bike and did a once over on all the bolts etc. I got myself watered and fed and then headed up for my first race run. I had to wait about at the top for ages which wasn't great, but my race run came around eventually. I was seeded really badly, but managed to overtake the rider in front easily without losing any time, but then in sight of the finish line the red flag went out and I was issued a rerun. This was really annoying because I had had an amazing run, easily the fastest I had done all weekend and faster than my next two runs. George Gannicott who did not get a rerun, set the fastest time in the youth category with a 2.15, which was my target to beat in my rerun. Myself and the few other people got to the top and were quickly off on our runs. I didn't put in quite as good a run, but I was still happy with it and it put me in second place, only 1.5 seconds off 1st and about 4 seconds up on third, so I knew I was almost guarenteed second so planned to go flat out in my second run. I once again had some time so I rested to make sure I had maximum energy for my next run. The time came again when I had to head up and I timed it better this time so I didn't need to wait up at the top for too long. My run got off a great a start, but a few mistakes in the upper wooded section and in the lower wooded section cost me some time. I only just improved on my time. George had a big crash, so didn't improve on his time and third place Innes Grahame did not get any closer.
I was super happy to come away with second place, considering that George won the BDS at Moelfre the weekend before and I know my speed is there. This has to be my best result considering the calibre of riders here compared to when I won the Northern Champs in Kielder back in October.
I'd just like to thank all my sponsors, Devinci Bicycles, Haven Distribution, Oneal Mx, 2pure.co.uk, Crank Brothers and Clif Bar for helping me perform to my best ability this weekend and my Dad for taking me to the event and putting up with my disorganization.
Until next time
Morgan
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