National Champs 2008 – Bala

Right... so practise didn’t really go to plan on Saturday. I only got 2 runs done in the morning as on my third I got a puncture and had to come down in the lift service. It took longer than I thought with the walk along the road at the bottom. Once I fixed my bike the lift was closing so I started to walk up the bottom field section to find some much needed time somewhere. However I was called back down the course to my Rezurgence tent as Sam Shucksmith was hurt. I went down what I had walked up and saw Sam with a sling on. He needed to be taken to the hospital as his wrist was suspected to be broken. He said it was ok for me and Dad to do our seeding runs first and thankfully for me that meant I got another run down.

I got to the top with Dad and just before I was supposed to do my run, Dad discovered that he had a puncture before he had even got anywhere. So he had to go back down and repair it. I thought to myself it would be dangerous to try and go fast on a course I didn’t even know what lines to hit yet. So I cruised down without pedalling. I got to a really open rooty section and had only an idea of the line I wanted to get so I went for it but failed and slipped off and landed down the hill on my bum. Ouch! I also twisted the seat round landing on it with my ... I took a breather and set my seat straight again. I rolled down again but feeling a lot sicker than before. I pedalled in the field quite a lot and manualled over the bridge. I set the timer at 3mins 41 sec’s. I was around 31st place I think. Not good!

Dad followed down after Steve Peat as he took his run late then he took Sam to the hospital. I took his bike and took it to the Fenwick’s bike cleaner and John cleaned it for me. Thanks John! I stayed behind and walked the course with John Holbrook. He showed me what he was doing which really helped me with my lines. I really paid attention to the course as I needed to get it right from the start in the morning as I was already behind.

I cooked myself some noodles with peas and carrots with a stir fry salad and sorted out the easy-up and got everything ready for Dad and Sam to just jump into bed. They didn’t come back until well after 1am.

I got up early and made sure I was on the first uplift and wanted to get as many runs in as pos. I took my first run down easy and rode all my lines. I timed my second run down and managed to get a full run and time it. It was a fairly slow easy run down but it was without stopping and I got around a 3min 25 sec’s. My third run was stopped on the first road as Rachel and Gee Atherton had fallen off further down. Rachel hurt her leg and had to be stretchered off. Get better soon! I rode to the top to get a full run in as it was going to be my last run. I managed to go a lot faster in this run but not one corner felt remotely on the limit. I kind of knew with that being my last run I wasn’t going to do very well.

My race run went as well as I could without making it dangerous. I just slowed down at the sections I wasn’t sure of. I went off near the middle of the group and had a long time in the leaders seat at the bottom. I got a 3min 12sec’s. It was an average time in my eyes and got me 14th place.

Steve Peat won the Elite category with a 2 min 50. Some 5 seconds ahead of everyone in his category. However, Josh Bryceland in the juniors got the second fastest time of the day. Gee was up by 2 seconds at the split but fell off in the field section. That’s racing for you.

I am off to the French Alps at the end of this week until the next National at Molfre. I can’t wait!
Thanks to, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Mojo, Mace, Nike 6, Twenty26, Funn and Geax.