Ahaaa!
Yep, that's kinda the sound of excitement I was making last weekend at the final round of the Midlands Summer Series. After about two weeks of dryness I was pretty excited to be going to a race that was blatantly going to be dry and dusty, and with any luck it would be on the really cool track with the wicked open section - this was at Hopton.. the one with the "quarry" drop.
Loads of stuff has happened this season and I've been rubbish in not updating my blog so sorry, this is going to be a long one! I'll try and summarise:
1. I did round 4 of the Midlands at Bala, absolutely loved it, the Yeti felt amazing and I can absolutely see why everyone raves about that track. I won the race too but wanted to see what my time would be compared to Rach and Tracy and Gas etc when the National Champs were held there about a month later.
Practising with Monet Adams at Bala.
2. The Yetis were recalled by the importer so I had no bike for a bit. I managed to borrow a Sunday from a friend who works for Jim Walker, the Ironhorse distributor - cheers Mart!! I'd borrowed another Sunday earlier in the year so I knew how they felt - pretty easy to get straight on and go rip. Sweet.
3. Did Bala National Champs on the Sunday which was fun but I could've done with a lighter spring in the bike really. The weather wasn't quite as good as it had been at the Midlands race, but all in all it held up fairly well. I followed Katy Curd down one bit and she just pings off everything, she is the pump monster. I was right behind her though and pretty pleased about that as I hadn't yet actually raced against her although we've ridden trails together a couple of times. In the end I came 4th with a not tooooo bad run, but I was off the pace a bit (can't remember my time now), so a little disappointed. Then again I wasn't riding the Yeti and I really think it would've been quicker down that track than the Sunday was.
4. Sourced a new bike. From a Yeti 303 what can you go to? Well for me the only choice was an Intense M6. It comes with a Manitou shock which isn't the greatest so I quickly shelled out on a BOS shock and I can say that is the best thing I could ever have done for it. It feels amaazing with that in.
Click for bigger image.
5. Went to France for a bit, had some fun, rode a lot of DH, came back, didn't ride the Intense for about a month until last weekend to go to Hopton!
Midway through an XC ride in the Alps. Checking the map for some new and unexplored territory, which turned out to be super cool when we rode it, and even better when we went back a few days later on DH bikes!
So yeah, now we're in current time... so, Hopton Midlands Race: If you've been there, it was the track which has the road gap jump at the top, then the quarry drop half way down, the fast open section and switch backs at the bottom. I got up and did my first run, blazing sunlight so nothing but t-shirt and shorts for me, it was too hot to wear much armour so I didn't. Bike felt absolutely amazing. I've had that amount of time of my DH bike before but have never got back on it and really noticed how good it feels halfway through my first run. If you're thinking of upgrading your shock, get a BOS shock (from TFtuned.com). If you want an amazing bike to put it in, get an Intense M6. This thing has a pretty slack headangle and a BB lower than an Ironhorse. Needless to say it corners like it was on rails.
Saturday was just an uplift/practice day so I just rode and had fun, didn't think too hard about lines and whatnot, and just caught up with mates I hadn't seen for ages. Sunday I started thinkin about lines a bit but to be honest, that track just works for me so I didn't think too hard about it. First runs came round and I knew I needed to put a good one in on this one, as while we were waiting to go, it started spitting with rain. I set off with a fairly good start, but eventually made a few mistakes and lost a bit of time, to put in a 2.36. I reckoned I could probably go faster, and undoubtedly was riding faster in practice the day before, but then the heavens opened. The elite and expert field came down in the worst of what was to be a heavy rain shower for about an hour-ish, and said it was pretty minging. So I figured I probably wouldn't go faster in my second run, sacked it off to walk the track and chat to some friends who were marshalling and watch everyone else riding, bit like a rare treat.
Good weekend all round, I won the race, the series, and some Quad wheels (those white ones, white rims and white hubs) which are for sale as they don't fit my bike (135mm rear hub, my bike takes a 150mm rear hub), so if anyone's interested in a very nice pair of bolt through DH wheels for a 135mm back end, give me a shout! Super stoked on DH again after such an ace season finisher, shame it just started raining!
Loads of stuff has happened this season and I've been rubbish in not updating my blog so sorry, this is going to be a long one! I'll try and summarise:
1. I did round 4 of the Midlands at Bala, absolutely loved it, the Yeti felt amazing and I can absolutely see why everyone raves about that track. I won the race too but wanted to see what my time would be compared to Rach and Tracy and Gas etc when the National Champs were held there about a month later.
Practising with Monet Adams at Bala.
2. The Yetis were recalled by the importer so I had no bike for a bit. I managed to borrow a Sunday from a friend who works for Jim Walker, the Ironhorse distributor - cheers Mart!! I'd borrowed another Sunday earlier in the year so I knew how they felt - pretty easy to get straight on and go rip. Sweet.
3. Did Bala National Champs on the Sunday which was fun but I could've done with a lighter spring in the bike really. The weather wasn't quite as good as it had been at the Midlands race, but all in all it held up fairly well. I followed Katy Curd down one bit and she just pings off everything, she is the pump monster. I was right behind her though and pretty pleased about that as I hadn't yet actually raced against her although we've ridden trails together a couple of times. In the end I came 4th with a not tooooo bad run, but I was off the pace a bit (can't remember my time now), so a little disappointed. Then again I wasn't riding the Yeti and I really think it would've been quicker down that track than the Sunday was.
4. Sourced a new bike. From a Yeti 303 what can you go to? Well for me the only choice was an Intense M6. It comes with a Manitou shock which isn't the greatest so I quickly shelled out on a BOS shock and I can say that is the best thing I could ever have done for it. It feels amaazing with that in.
Click for bigger image.
5. Went to France for a bit, had some fun, rode a lot of DH, came back, didn't ride the Intense for about a month until last weekend to go to Hopton!
Midway through an XC ride in the Alps. Checking the map for some new and unexplored territory, which turned out to be super cool when we rode it, and even better when we went back a few days later on DH bikes!
So yeah, now we're in current time... so, Hopton Midlands Race: If you've been there, it was the track which has the road gap jump at the top, then the quarry drop half way down, the fast open section and switch backs at the bottom. I got up and did my first run, blazing sunlight so nothing but t-shirt and shorts for me, it was too hot to wear much armour so I didn't. Bike felt absolutely amazing. I've had that amount of time of my DH bike before but have never got back on it and really noticed how good it feels halfway through my first run. If you're thinking of upgrading your shock, get a BOS shock (from TFtuned.com). If you want an amazing bike to put it in, get an Intense M6. This thing has a pretty slack headangle and a BB lower than an Ironhorse. Needless to say it corners like it was on rails.
Saturday was just an uplift/practice day so I just rode and had fun, didn't think too hard about lines and whatnot, and just caught up with mates I hadn't seen for ages. Sunday I started thinkin about lines a bit but to be honest, that track just works for me so I didn't think too hard about it. First runs came round and I knew I needed to put a good one in on this one, as while we were waiting to go, it started spitting with rain. I set off with a fairly good start, but eventually made a few mistakes and lost a bit of time, to put in a 2.36. I reckoned I could probably go faster, and undoubtedly was riding faster in practice the day before, but then the heavens opened. The elite and expert field came down in the worst of what was to be a heavy rain shower for about an hour-ish, and said it was pretty minging. So I figured I probably wouldn't go faster in my second run, sacked it off to walk the track and chat to some friends who were marshalling and watch everyone else riding, bit like a rare treat.
Good weekend all round, I won the race, the series, and some Quad wheels (those white ones, white rims and white hubs) which are for sale as they don't fit my bike (135mm rear hub, my bike takes a 150mm rear hub), so if anyone's interested in a very nice pair of bolt through DH wheels for a 135mm back end, give me a shout! Super stoked on DH again after such an ace season finisher, shame it just started raining!
posted by Emily at
1:19 PM
0 Comments
