BMBS 5 (Newnham)

With the memory of Pippingforrd at the forefront of my mind I was not completely confident before this weekend’s final round of the national series despite a couple of good weeks of training. The course at Newnham is always tough and tweets earlier in the week regarding a technical new descent were making me slightly nervous. I did a couple of practice laps on Friday and the track was more slippery than the proverbial greased weasel. I felt very out of touch with almost no off-road riding since the National Champs almost 2 months ago. The new descent everyone was talking about started from the top of the first climb and dropped down through the woods to the river taking on a few drops and lots of slippery root sections. It seems this section may have been retrospectively named ‘Gladiator’ due to the fact you are there purely for the pleasure of the baying crowd. Annoyingly I rode the whole thing the first time while following Paul Brenan (Inverse)but then got put off on the second lap by the spectators crowded around it and bottled it from then on! I dropped a bit of pressure from my tyres to get a bit more grip which helped a little but it was still very sketchy on the rest of the course – lots of slippery rocks and berms. Along with the tricky descents there were two and a half killer climbs in the course to deliver you to the top of each section and, of course, the obligatory river crossing. After my 2 laps I walked up to the ‘Gladiator’ descent hoping to see people ride it properly to build my confidence but instead all I saw was lots of people falling down the gully which put me off further.

On Saturday morning, after watching the women and juniors post some impressively quick times around the course I got my kit on and went for a warm. My legs weren’t feeling great at this point, possibly down to the nerves from the lack of racing. Off the start I stuck to my plan of getting mid pack into the first right-hand turn onto the climb. Unfortunately it all went tits-up from here. I got forced wide and into a ditch off the side of the track meaning once I was back on my bike I was the last man in the pack. I kept my head and tried to pick up a comfortable pace but was being badly held up in the first singletrack. I managed to move up a couple of places before the Gladiator but going into the very first drop James Hampshire from XCracer decided to get off his bike making the rider on his wheel cartwheel into the drop leaving me nowhere to go except over him and his bike before going over my own handlebars! Not a great start to a section I was already lacking confidence in but I managed to get back on my feet and run the next section before remounting in front of the chasing pack. I hopped on, rode the B-line to the gully (not my original plan but since I was still trying to get my feet clipped in after the crash it was my only real option) and crossed the river with a big gap to the riders in front. From here on I spent my race catching and passing other riders. On the penultimate lap I managed to catch Nial Frost (XCracer) and Simon Allard (Off Camber) and managed to put some time into them on the final lap descents but on each climb they were catching me again and I had to really fight to keep ahead of them on the final climb and into the final fast swoopy singletrack to the river. At this point I knew any mistake could cost me but I held my nerve, popped over the rooty step up before the ford smoothly and was almost home and dry. With just a couple of turns in the main arena to negotiate, I didn’t have to look over my shoulder, I could hear Simon right on my wheel. Fortunately, I nailed the final 4 turns and sprinted for the line keeping my slender 1 second lead.

I finished 9th in a very strong Expert field and not far behind some of the top riders in the category. My legs were shot and I was reduced to wheezing like an old man but I knew this was the best ride of my season. It’s just a shame I lost so much time on the first lap or I might have been able to challenge Ross Mallen for 8th!