Southern Champs (Pippingford)

The Pippingford course was essentially the same as the national champs only with the addition of a bit of rain and a lot of grease. A fast start was essential to hit the singletrack at the front but I was feeling very energetic so I was about 6th at this point and quickly lost sight of the leading 3 after being held up. After following the traffic for a while I made a break for freedom but my clear air was short-lived. I have been pretty lucky this season; I haven’t had any mechanicals or punctures, or even any serious crashes. Unfortunately that wasn’t to last. On a pretty innocuous section of flattish trail my front tyre burped and I hit the deck. I used most of my canister but there was some mud and grass between the tyre and rim allowing all of the air to escape. Once I had sorted that I used the last of my CO2 and set off in pursuit. I was already last by this point but caught a couple of riders pretty quickly. Unfortunately, my front tyre was still too soft so on the biggest drop the tyre rolled from under the rim and I made my second acquaintance with the ground. I pumped up the tyre but while trying to unscrew the pump i also unscrewed the valve core letting all the air out again. On the 3rd attempt I managed to get the pump off with air in the tyre so set off again. Now I wasn’t just chasing the rest of my race but most of the women who set off after us too! At the end of the lap my the commentator told me I was nearly 14 minutes behind so while I wanted to catch people i wasn’t at full race pace and rarely got out of breath. More a training ride than a race. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I caught all the women and a couple of sport riders and finished in 9th place out of 11. Probably my worst result ever but I only lost about a minute a lap to the leaders on the last 2 laps, and based on those lap times I was 4th. I’m pretty happy with that considering I wasn’t really pushing but this is definitely a podium opportunity missed rather than a last place avoided.

The circus now moves on to the final round of the NPS at Newnham Park which will be my last race of the season. I have 2 weeks to try and build up the power I had before SITS and I am definitely aiming for a top 10, and hopefully higher!

Motivation: Low!