National Points Series Round 2

Ae Forest...

I think I can sum it up like this:



Pretty stoked with my result. I've not raced at Ae for 4 years, and because of that its noticeable to see how I've changed as a rider. The track was much the same as it was before, although alot more hard-packed and worn in these days. It was really fast, rocky in places and pretty fun. There was a new off camber wooded technical section at the end which was good too.

I qualified third with some mistakes and a 2.55. I wanted to get a 2.50 in the race on Sunday. I did a good warm-up on the tacx road bikes that are provided at the top of the nationals this year for just such a purpose and ended up with a 2.46 and third place, so I was pretty happy to say the least. I had a pretty good run, just lost some time in a couple of places, but not enough to have changed my result. I was lucky with the weather having changed to dry tyres for my run, and when I crossed the line it was just beginning to rain.. 2 or 3 minutes later it was a torrential downpour!

Cheers to Si & Steve for organising another great event.

World Cup Round 1 - Vigo, Spain

My first visit to Vigo, the opening venue of the World Cup series for the last three seasons, is over and done with! I've come back with a great result, having finished 12th after qualifying 17th. Its a pretty awesome result but I don't feel quite like I deserve it as I didn't really feel my race run was all that amazing!

To be honest I wasn't all that into the track, I found it hard to get into a rhythm on it but it started to come together on Saturday morning. There were some big jumps and I got them all pretty much nailed except the long table top at the bottom which to be honest I was pretty lazy on and never properly tried to clear. Too much trails in me I think - there was a double just before it and ideally you needed to pedal between them to clear the table, but that's not how you ride trails!! haha, someone should remind me this was a race! It was a bit of a fitness course as well, unbelievably tiring, specially the bottom which was just a flat out sprint interspersed with a few jumps.

Some real bad luck for Rach Atherton who broke her wrist/arm in practice on the Friday, get well soon Rach. And Helen Gaskell had a crash in her race run which was pretty gutting as she'd qualified 5th and I was hoping she was gonna get on the podium. Tracy got 2nd behind Jonnier who's looking sooo strong at the moment.

The Chatel Mountain Cycle team had a good outing too, as between me and Floriane (Pugin), the points have racked up and we're second in the women's UCI trade team standings behind IronHorse which is pretty mint.

It was a great week, great weather at the start, hanging out on the beach was really good, we even went swimming in the sea. It was colllllld!. Apparently Vigo is the largest fishing port in Europe, so we hit a sweet seafood restaurant to sample the local fare, and I can say its damn good! Made a few new friends too including Tracey Hannah who somehow reminds me of my lil cousin Millie! Looking forward to riding with her again in Champery.

Next race is the National at Ae, hope the weather's picked up again by then!