Pearce cycles races are the best series I have raced to date, the uplift is fast, the tracks are fun and it leads to a really chilled out and enjoyable race weekend. The weather was to be on and off showers all weekend, which would mean that the track could change every run. I had one of those horrible slow motion over the bars crashes on Saturday, I hit a stump square in the chest and winded myself rather badly and bruised a few ribs. After having a break, and some painkillers I got back on the bike, I got to grips well with the track on Saturday and felt like I was pushing myself to try new lines that I would not have attempted before.
Sunday morning practise I put in three solid runs, the track maintenance had been out overnight removing a few dangerous stumps and building up some corners so it stayed safe if it rained. This allowed me to alter my lines a bit and I felt a lot more confident come race runs. My first race run was a bit of a disaster, I crashed about 15 seconds in taking a pedal to the shin, I jumped back up and carried on feeling a bit shaky. Just after the first split I then had another crash, giving myself a dead leg, I carried on to the bottom, and was 20 seconds down on the leader. I knew I could make that up on my next run if I could hold it together.
Unfortunately the rain decided to comes, and it rained solidly for about an hour and reports were that the track was running around 15 seconds slower than first runs. It was looking unlikely that I could improve my time , however the rain stopped and my second race run was better, the track was running slower and I had a small crash but improved my time by 15 seconds, putting me 2nd overall.
Although the tracks at Pearce races are less of a challenge than BDS tracks, the Pearce rounds give girls better competition as there are more racers and more incentive to push myself that little bit harder in my race runs.
I didn’t really know what to expect from this venue, as the last time it was raced was around 10 years ago, way before I even knew about downhill racing. We arrived early Saturday morning, walked the track and set off for practise. There were a few big jumps on the track, and I decided that I wanted to get these out of the way on my first run so I could feel confident for the rest of the day. I spent a lot of time sectioning on my first run, getting my lines right and trying to attempt things that were a bit out of my comfort zone. By the end of Saturday I felt good on the track and was confident for race day. Unfortunately due to the uplift on Sunday morning I only managed to get one practise run in, therefore I decided to treat my seeding run as a practise run, so I could be sure of all my lines for the single race run you get at a National. I took my seeding run steady, pedalling only where I needed to, to clear the jumps, I came in 9 seconds back on the leader. Race run came, and I set off and was getting everything right until the middle section of the track, I shoulder barged a tree which caused my foot to unclip from the pedal on the way into a drop. Going off a drop one footed is a new experience and one that I don’t fancy doing again, but luckily I managed to stay on. I pedalled as hard as I could through the field, and made a small mistake at the bottom but came over the finish have improved my time by over 9 seconds. Unfortunately I was beaten by 0.235 as a second, I know that if I hadn’t made those few mistakes I could have taken the win, however I was happy with myself as I know I put 110% into my run. I finished 2nd on the day, beating one of the elite riders, but my biggest achievement was being 3rd fastest women through the speed trap of the weekend, beating most of the elites.
Bringewood this weekend was a fun weekend, but not a good race for me.
It was my first time riding my new bike practise day was really fun, the track was really tight and twisty. I had a few small crashes, and hit a tree quite hard at one point which bruised the palm of my right hand. I did two full runs on Saturday afternoon and was feeling very good for sunday.
Sunday morning I woke up, and was very sore, I struggled to hold onto the bike properly in practise because of my hand and didn’t feel like I had very much control. Racing came and I had a crash in my first run, causing me to lose a lot of time, I was also really struggling to control the bike as my hand was so sore. My second run was better and I improved by 8 seconds, however I made some mistakes and just didn’t feel I was riding as well as I did on Saturday.
So overall not a good weekend for me in terms of results, the girl who won is a good friend of mine and I had been riding with her all weekend keeping up, and losing her in places too, so not very happy with my result.
I have a month till the first national, goign to change my training program a bit, and work more on my core strength as well as keeping my fitness up. Hopefully by the time Combe Sydnham comes round i will be more used to the bike and have a better start to the season.
So this year I am riding a Transition TR450 in Yellow.
I would like to say a massive thanks to:
BikeTart for providing me with my Frame, Kit and any other bits and pieces i need for the season. Planet Knox for providing me with armour, gloves and base layers to keep to dry and hopefully bruise free. Schwalbe for keeping me rolling and upright in the wet with their awsome tyres and tubes American Classic and the guys over at Eurobike for providing me with wheels. Chromag for providing me with some lovely shiny bits and pieces. Northshore Billet for providing me with all the little extra bits and pieces that make my bike look bling!
John over at Shorlines has kindly decided to offer me support this season with Chromag and Northshore Billet components.
They arrived yesterday and they look amazing, especially the wooly hat!!
I have always used purple bars since I started racing downhill so I was happy to find out that Chromag and NSB do components in various colour, one of the being purple.
I can’t wait to build up my new bike now and get riding!
Winter training has begun and I am currently looking for support for the 2012 season.
If anyone would be interested in sponsoring me then please take a look at my 2012 Resume
So my 2011 racing season has come to an end and for the second year running I am Halo BDS womens series champion . I’ve learnt a lot, improved a lot and have a lot of things to work on for next season.
I’d like to say a big thanks to Swiss and Swallow for my kit and clothing for the season.
To the guys over at Sports Nut for sorting me out with my Morewood.
To Schwalbe for keeping me rolling all season. There tyres have to be the best i’ve used, super gripy, fast rolling and last a lot longer than any other tyre I have used before.
and a massive thanks to Jennifer and everyone over at Knox, their support has been brilliant and their products are one of a kind and I would recommend everyone to try them out.
I decided to head to the English Champs at Moelfre with a group of friends to try and have a better end to the season. This weekend there was a big push to get more girls into racing, they had Fionn Griffiths and Emiline Ragot there to give the new girls some advice and try to boost their confidence. It was good getting to ride with the world champ and I learnt a lot from them about lines, technique etc.
My first race run went well and I was second overall but I knew I could go faster. I started my second run and new it was having a good one, It was the fastest i’d been all weekend and I’d managed to get everything perfect. However I came round the corner and the red flags we’re up one of the girls had crashed lower down and broken her arm. We all went back up for re runs but about half way down I got a puncture. I ended up third overall which I was disappointed with, but for the first time ever I beat an elite women’s time by almost four seconds.
The BDS went to Caersws in Wales after Fort William being cancelled. I was feeling good for it, and my elbow is on the way to recovery after a lot of physio. It was a wonderful weekend, sunny dry and dusty, I’ve recently started using clips and I think they help my riding a lot, I wanted to see how much my riding had improved from a summer in Morzine. I took my seeding run slow and steady trying to get all my lines and be sure I had everything right for my race run. I was over 3 seconds up and knew i could go a whole lot faster in my race run, my times are also getting a lot closer to the elite times which is a big improvement from the start of the year.
Literally just before my race run the heavens opened and It rained A LOT! I only had time to change one tyre, so i stuck a dirty dan on the front. We had a look at the top of the track before race runs, it was so greasy and muddy everyone was crashing, the plan was to just take it steady and try and stay on. I hit a big hole at the top of the track and went over the bars, however I realized I was still okay as I nearly caught the girl in front up. My back wheel slid out near the bottom and I crashed again, unfortunately I couldn’t get back up cause the ground was so slidy and greasy, it was like walking on ice. A photographer helped me get my bike up and back on after a lot of sliding around and falling over. I lost about a minute and a half sliding around in the mud I was gutted. However luckily my consistency at the other nationals means that I won the overall series by a comfortable margin and for the second year I am British Downhill Series Women’s Champion.
So my summer in Morzine is coming to and end and I have just moved out of the big Chalet that was home for the season. At the moment i’m living with a few friend in their staff accommodation before I fly home on Tuesday. I’m not too sad though as it’s only a few month until i’m back for the winter season!
So while we were tidying the chalet, and trying to restore it to it original state I came across the huge chicken that some of my friends had kindly left behind for me to deal with. When I say huge I mean 7ft tall, 4ft wide and way to heavy to lift very far. It’s a long story to explain how it got there but it basically involves some very drunk Scottish boys being chased by a chef! However I needed to get rid of this thing before the chalet owner got back and without anyone in town realising it was a stolen chicken… not very easy! After a lot of different ideas of how we were going to get rid of it none of them seeming possible I decided I would try and find some more drunk bikers who would take it off my hands. A trip to bar robinsons and it was gone in the next hour. Thank god!
The last few weeks in Morzine have been amazing, lots of riding, swimming at the lake and they have been a lot calmer than the first part of summer! We managed to head over to Champery for world champs, it was an experience in the torrential rain!
This weekend coming is the last BDS and its at Fortwilliam. Im really looking forwards to it as I think the rough track in Morzine will give me a good advantage there and I have also started using clips which might help too.
