European Championship – Kranjska Gora

I managed to catch a lift with Berny to the race which was pretty lucky as I only got told I was in the team the week before. We left Wednesday morning with a full van. There was 6 people; Berny, myself, Wyn Masters, Rhys Willemse, Tamryn Murrel and Brook Macdonald all in a small 6 seater transit. It was a squeeze and I am not really sure how we got 7 bikes in with all our gear but it happened.



We arrived on Thursday and met up with Will Longden who told us what was going on and what we had to do. He signed us on and I walked up the course with Braithwait, Stanny, Deacon, Thomas and Berny. I was really good to walk it with those guys to see what lines they thought of. We all came up with pretty much the same thing which was good to know. here are pictures of the whole course from bottom to top;






































































Practise was from Friday midday so I had a good sleep and a big breakfast. We only had 3 hours to practise the course so I managed 5 runs at a push. The course started off with 2 fast flat corners then went into a new wooded section. It was fairly steep (nothing has felt steep to me since the last national “Llangollen”) and it was really rooty, fast and had loads of huge compressions and amazing corners. This went on for about a minute then a jump flew you out to an off camber left hand corner that was as wide as the M40 and covered in small rocks. I did some mega drifts here in practise, everyone was getting loose here as it was really fast section. It was back into a thick wooded section that was quite technical and slow with some really hard corners. Into the next open section was really fast and a berm shot you out over some rough ground to a very pedally open section for about 15 seconds before hitting 6 switch back berms. It was then fast into a couple more berms and into another pedal festival to a very rooty fast wooded section. It was back out and over a wooden road gap to a few fast open off camber compression corners. This was one of the fastest sections and was very hard to keep the bike in a straight line. From great speed it was into woods to a jogging pace with many roots and lots of tight compressions to double up. After a wooden bridge the pedal to the end began. Probably 30 seconds of pedalling before a 30ft wooden jump to more pedalling and into a left and right field corner. After a very “whipable” wooden bridge it was another 30 seconds of 9th gear sprinting to the finish.

Saturday morning it was an early start with only a couple of hours to practise so I managed 3 runs before my timed run. A new rule was introduced and seeding runs were not going to change were you were for your race run so I would still be at the back. All it meant was a time. Will Longden said to us to have a fast run down but don’t risk anything just to see whether we would catch people up. I did a relaxed run down and when I came through the finish the commentator said that I took over the hot seat by some 20 seconds. I was on a 4 min 2 seconds. I ended up getting 2nd fastest time behind Berny. Top 2 representing GB. It was a good day.

We were invited over to Fion’s place for dinner and Neven served us the best chicken pasta and salad ever. It was good to have such an amazing meal before race day too. I got to know Paul (Fion’s mechanic) and he helped me out with tools and advice over the weekend.

Sundays practise didn’t go very well and I ended up crashing in both of my training runs. I hurt my wrist pretty bad and bruised my sides from hitting tree’s. I was trying to go way too fast when all I really needed to do was another run like the day before with more pedalling. Will had a chat with me and gave me some good advice. I calmed down a lot and just concentrated on what I had to do.

I hit all my lines right in my race run but messed up a section at the top and stalled on a rock. I took all the wooded section very conservative and felt pretty slow but I kept loads of energy for the bottom section. I kept a lot of speed out of the last woods by taking a more simple line and pretty much went all out pedalling on the final section. Around 10 seconds from the finish I heard Will cheering me on which gave me that little extra to pull harder on the bars and spin to the end. I came through to the finish in 1st place with a large lead over 2nd. I was on a 3min 56seonds which was 4 seconds off of the fastest elite time of seeding. I was sat in the hot seat for a good quarter of an hour which was pretty cool. The guy before Berny came down and took over the hot seat but Berny came down and took it back for team GB. He stayed in it to the end and I was so happy for him, he was really stoked and Will was happy for us both. It was another good day.

We left for Maribor on Monday afternoon after we had cleared our apartment.
Thanks to everyone who helped out and made the weekend that much better!

Thanks to Thanks to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, KMC, Nike 6.0 and Mojo suspension.

World Cup Round 4 – Fort William

Ok so I am on my way back in the car listening to the most gangster song possible... just thought I would set the mood. It has been a great weekend again and the weather has surprisingly held up for most of the time.

It all started off with Tuesday night; Helen from British Cycling rung literally as I was about to leave saying that I had been chosen for the European Championships. I was pretty made up with the news but considering the race is the next weekend and I am in Fort William this weekend it doesn’t leave me any time to plan anything. Dad and I got to Fort William early to walk the course a few times. I think we must have walked up and down about 5 times which in total is a fair few miles of mountain walked!

First practise day on Friday came around fast and I somehow got very carried away and just kept going straight back up as soon as I got down. I got like 8 runs in the morning alone so I chilled out towards the afternoon. I had all the track lines, hops and jumps sorted that I wanted to do; the only thing was that my fingers were aching loads and I was finding it hard to hold on in the rough sections... which it pretty much wherever you are giving it some beans at Fort William.

After practise I walked it again and managed to watch some of the elite rider’s lines. I changed 3 of mine for ones that I didn’t see and that the tape had opened up.

I made sure that I didn’t over do it in Saturday mornings practise especially as my qualifying run was at half 3. I did a run down and tried the new lines and reminded myself of what it was like. It went well but didn’t do a full run. After cruising around the pits and hanging out with the Mojo lot I went up with Dan Stanbridge and his Dad to follow him down. I followed Dan down and it wasn’t long before he started to lose me. He stopped before the middle section to have a breather and let me catch up. The rest of my run went pretty well and following Stanny down really helped me go faster and see where I needed to go faster. He gave me some very valuable advice at the bottom and gave me something to think about before my run.

I was really nervous at the start and it showed at the start of my run. I was riding really sketchy from the beginning and about 40 seconds into my run I hit a corner too fast and almost went outside the tape and was slipping off the course. I had a very close call and already wasted valuable time. It was a wakeup call for me and made me ride the rest of the course a lot better. I got to the woods and had a sketchy moment on a new rooty deviation from the old track. I was jumping the worst of the roots but the last one caught me out and I went through the woods like a pin ball. The last of the wooded section was a totally new part. I saw the rider in front of me in the distance and when I got to the new section I was following him. I shouted my head off as you do but at the road he kept on going. A little further down the course he stopped to let me past. I had some time to make up now that’s for sure as I knew from Andorra the UCI don’t let you have re-run and there isn’t any room for mistakes or time wasting. I tried my best on the bottom section but I couldn’t make the time up. I came 95th and was 4 seconds off of qualifying. My best result yet but still not good... No more riding this weekend.

The chearing and noise the spectators make when you come down in the GB top is unreal! You are treated like a star with everyone wanting to shake your hand and get your autograph... felt pretty strange but really cool to see just how into biking everyone was.

Here are some pics;

It was amazing to watch Greg come down and take the win but it was even better to see Josh in the hot seat for quite a while and end up 7th. Awesome riding right there!

I have managed to get travelling to the European champs sorted out with Berny so I am off to the borders of Italy on Tuesday. Really looking forward to it! and with that it’s the world cup the weekend after then back to Fort William for the NPS!Thanks to Dan Stanbridge, Greg Minnaar, Mick Hannah and Will from Rezurgence. You all helped me and gave me the advice I needed. Thanks also to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.