Gorrick Autumn Series rd 2 – 8th Nov 2009
After missing out on round 1 at the last minute, I was keen to get back to Gorrick racing, having not done a pure mtb race for a good few months whilst dabbling in offroad tri’s.
The weather had been pretty lousy and Saturday night had me undecided about whether to use mud tyres, or stick with Geax Saguros. In the end, pure laziness meant I left the tyres as they were and took a chance on the good drainage at Crowthorne.
Sunday dawned cold, but dry – perfect for autumn racing. After some faffing and the scariest rocking portaloo experience, I set off on the practice lap with my teammate Jeremy. The course looked great, on the whole surprisingly dry with the odd exception, with loads of singletrack to cause a queue or two.
We just about made it back to the start line on time, and I lined up in the 2nd row, Jeremy a few rows behind and Alex Davey (all South Downs Bikes liveried) right behind.
As the horn sounded I had a huge slip and instantly lost loads of places, although importantly not to Alex…). Fortunately for me, the start fireroad section was long and by the time we entered the first singletrack section I was right back up in 3rd place and ahead of any potential queuing issues.
After a while the race settled and I found myself bowling along nicely in about 6th place, feeling good and in a small group of 4 riders. The course was truly excellent fun, including a really fast descent with a loose and difficult cambered bend to be taken without braking if you’re brave enough, and the first lap flew past with me feeling really good and managing to ride away from the others in my group. (I went so fast that my supporters missed me go through…) Lap 2 was equally good fun, although I lost track of my position as I caught some of the tail enders from other categories and a couple of fellow masters riders. There were some good technically challenging sections, some interesting drop offs and one nice, steep and fast roll in that was about 15ft down. I ended up in a close battle with a guy for the last third of lap 2 and into lap 3, although he got away in the end.
I couldn’t keep with him and turned my attentions to defending the position I had. Fortunately there was no-one in sight and I felt good, so I flew on, really enjoying myself. After a while the guy who’d got away was in sight again and suddenly I felt that I could catch him. I slowly closed the gap, and down the long fast descent I got quite close as I slid round the cambered bend right on the limit of grip. Coming out of this section, the course turned up hill and got narrow and sloppy; necessitating a big gear change, which unfortunately my usually ultra-reliable front mech decided it couldn’t manage any more. I lost valuable seconds getting it going and by the time I looked up again, the guy was gone…
No matter, on looking back nervously, there was no-one close so I was safe enough to complete the last third of the lap and keep my position. As I crossed the line, the announcer called me in 4th place which I was really chuffed with – my best Gorrick finish for a good while. Not long afterwards, Alex came in 15th and Jeremy crossed the line in 20th, having successfully singlespeeded his first race for nearly a year.
I must also congratulate the best Sussex finisher of the day, Uncle Phil, who claimed a 3rd place in his first short course xc race – very impressive work. (A footnote apology for no pictures this time – the support team were without camera this time!)
Check out the Brass Monkeys 2 and 4 hour Enduro series through the winter run on the Gorrick courses at www.gorrick.com
After missing out on round 1 at the last minute, I was keen to get back to Gorrick racing, having not done a pure mtb race for a good few months whilst dabbling in offroad tri’s.
The weather had been pretty lousy and Saturday night had me undecided about whether to use mud tyres, or stick with Geax Saguros. In the end, pure laziness meant I left the tyres as they were and took a chance on the good drainage at Crowthorne.
Sunday dawned cold, but dry – perfect for autumn racing. After some faffing and the scariest rocking portaloo experience, I set off on the practice lap with my teammate Jeremy. The course looked great, on the whole surprisingly dry with the odd exception, with loads of singletrack to cause a queue or two.
We just about made it back to the start line on time, and I lined up in the 2nd row, Jeremy a few rows behind and Alex Davey (all South Downs Bikes liveried) right behind.
As the horn sounded I had a huge slip and instantly lost loads of places, although importantly not to Alex…). Fortunately for me, the start fireroad section was long and by the time we entered the first singletrack section I was right back up in 3rd place and ahead of any potential queuing issues.
After a while the race settled and I found myself bowling along nicely in about 6th place, feeling good and in a small group of 4 riders. The course was truly excellent fun, including a really fast descent with a loose and difficult cambered bend to be taken without braking if you’re brave enough, and the first lap flew past with me feeling really good and managing to ride away from the others in my group. (I went so fast that my supporters missed me go through…) Lap 2 was equally good fun, although I lost track of my position as I caught some of the tail enders from other categories and a couple of fellow masters riders. There were some good technically challenging sections, some interesting drop offs and one nice, steep and fast roll in that was about 15ft down. I ended up in a close battle with a guy for the last third of lap 2 and into lap 3, although he got away in the end.
I couldn’t keep with him and turned my attentions to defending the position I had. Fortunately there was no-one in sight and I felt good, so I flew on, really enjoying myself. After a while the guy who’d got away was in sight again and suddenly I felt that I could catch him. I slowly closed the gap, and down the long fast descent I got quite close as I slid round the cambered bend right on the limit of grip. Coming out of this section, the course turned up hill and got narrow and sloppy; necessitating a big gear change, which unfortunately my usually ultra-reliable front mech decided it couldn’t manage any more. I lost valuable seconds getting it going and by the time I looked up again, the guy was gone…
No matter, on looking back nervously, there was no-one close so I was safe enough to complete the last third of the lap and keep my position. As I crossed the line, the announcer called me in 4th place which I was really chuffed with – my best Gorrick finish for a good while. Not long afterwards, Alex came in 15th and Jeremy crossed the line in 20th, having successfully singlespeeded his first race for nearly a year.
I must also congratulate the best Sussex finisher of the day, Uncle Phil, who claimed a 3rd place in his first short course xc race – very impressive work. (A footnote apology for no pictures this time – the support team were without camera this time!)
Check out the Brass Monkeys 2 and 4 hour Enduro series through the winter run on the Gorrick courses at www.gorrick.com
Big Daddy
