2011 British Championships, Llangollen, Wales

On the train!

Last weekend was the British National Championships held at the brilliant venue of Llangollen, Wales. My Dad was in wales the whole week leading up to the event because he was at the Welsh Royal show with WigWam Cabins. We got the train down on Friday to crewe and my Dad picked us up from there and we headed straight to Llangollen. That evening we went to walk the track as the hostel we were staying in was just 5 minutes from the venue. The track looked steep! They had to put ropes to the side of the track just so people could walk up. It looked amazing and I was really looking forward to the next days practice.

Steepness

The car was fairly full

Saturday morning and we got up early, had some weetabix and headed to to the race, after signing on and changing my tyres to spikes I headed up to the track, from my first run. The track was amazing and a fair bit longer than the old one, the uplift was still just as slow though so we spent the whole day trying to do as many runs as possible, which in the end was only five. Nevertheless I felt practice day went really well and I had all my lines ready for racing.

Sunday morning came round and after another early start we were at the race. I only managed 1 practice run before my race run after heading up to the top for a second and being told to wait there until seeding runs. My seading run was pretty horrible but I didnt crash and came in seventh. I then had a 3 hour wait until my final run. I spent this time getting something to eat, resting and letting my mechanic, Joe, know what I wanted done to my bike so I could have a flawless run. Nearing my run, I fueled up on Clif Bar energy bars and left to take the long journey to the top. I got to the top for my race run and was feeling pretty nervous, my name was called and I headed to the start gate, beep beep beep and I was off. I had a pretty solid run, nothing particularly fast, but also no major mistakes. I crossed the line and went into the hot seat, 6 seconds up. I ended up in fourth just under a second from the podium. An extremely solid result and I feel I am finally getting myself sorted on how to put together a race run. Bring on glencoe!

Blue skies as my dad set up his trade stand

I'd like to thank all my sponsors for helping me get to this stage in racing, O'neal, Crank Brothers, Clif Bar, 2pure.co.uk and WigWam Holidays.

Llangollen BDS Round 4 And Killin Scottish Championships

A couple of weeks ago I took the rather long journey down to Llangollen for the Halo British Downhill Series Round 4. The duration of the journey wasn't helped by the fact my friends dad drives somewhat slowly. Nevertheless we got there late Friday evening and were camping quite close by so we managed to walk the track that evening. The track looked sick and I was really looking forward to riding it the following day.



The track was certainly steep



The following day started off quite wet and I made the decision to change to spikes, the track was riding amazing and I loved it from my first run. The sun came out at around 11 o'clock and the track quickly dried up so I changed back to dry tyres for the rest of the day. After practice finished we walked the track and headed back to the camp site for some tea and hayfever pills as I was suffering a lot from it. Cammy's parents cooked up a great pasta dish for tea which was much needed after the tiring day. We then headed straight to sleep to get maximum rest for race day.

After an absolutely horrible nights sleep, we headed back to Llangollen for a bit of practice and then racing! Practice went well, I only did one run because the uplift is so slow, but I felt it was enough. After practice I chilled in the sun for a bit at the Haven/Devinci pit space, which was great to get some shelter from the sun. I then headed up for my seeding run. I was on a pretty good solid run until the last corner which was now getting pretty blown out and I just went staight over it and way down the hill, I then had to push my bike back up to the track and finsh my run. Despite this my top split was looking competitive with the top time and i was feeling ready for race runs. I had plenty of time to chill in the hot sun again which was great, and I got some good food in me too. My race run came and I was simply too cautious. After crashing on my first run all I could think of was not bailing, so my run was just too conservative, but was certainly better than crashing. My top split wasn't too bad considering I blew out quite a vital corner and went slightly off track, but my bottom section was horrendous. Seventh for me on the day wasn't too bad considering everyone ahead of me had ridden the track the previous year.



Sunday's weather was amazing

Since I didn't make the podium we quickly went on to pack up the bikes and headed straight back for Edinburgh.

Last weekend I headed up to Killin for the Scottish Downhill Championships. We left early saturday morning and arrived at the venue around 8 o'clock. I then went and walked the track which I felt looked pretty good, natural and something a bit different. The race was a push up which I quite liked to be honest because it meant no waiting in queues and felt like you got more done. Practice went pretty good and i was feeling fast on the course.

Just arrived and getting ready



Walking the track

That night we went over to Strathfillan WigWams and after washing my kit and eating I pretty much went to bed, shattered after a good day of practice.

Inside the lodge we were staying in for the night

The next morning we got to Killin for around half eight and I headed straight up the hill to practice the parts of the track I hadn't felt I had got perfect the previous day. Morning practice went well and I was feeling good for race runs. After getting some food I headed up the hill with a packet of Clif Bar Shot Blocks in my pocket to keep up my energy for my first race run. This run was a bit of a disaster, I did the top really well but slid out on one of the boggy turns and got absolutely covered in wet thick mud, I made the decision not to finish my run and instead head down and prepare for my next.

My second run wasn't great, I didnt hit a single section as fast as I was hitting them in practice and had some fairly bad mistakes. Despite this I didn't crash and put in an okay time to end up in 3rd place. This wasn't the result I wanted, but I didnt crash and I know what I need to work on for the British Champs.

 

The times were close

British Champs at Llangollen next weekend though and now I've ridden the track I can't wait!