A Fresh Start

After two false starts, the 2012 race season finally got underway yesterday with the 2nd round of the Gorrick Spring Series. The 1st round may have been cancelled due to the snow but only a few weeks later the sun shone and although there was a frost when I left home it certainly felt like spring had sprung by the time I reached Swinley Forest.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog I intend to use these early races as part of my training so I purposefully hadn’t set myself a target. I just wanted to enjoy myself and get the legs and lungs used to the speed of XC racing again.

The start is critical to XC racing, it is the hardest and most stressful part of the event and can make or break your day. Ideally you need to be towards the front, unfortunately everyone else has the same idea and it becomes a flat out sprint! Most races start on a wide open trail suitable for 100 jostling riders, but pretty soon the first technical section reduces the race to single file. Now as you can imagine 20 cyclists nose to tail is quite a long queue and if you’re not in the right spot you can quickly find yourself a long way behind the front of the race. It is probably better to be nearer the front holding people up, than sitting behind slower riders while the leaders race away. However, it’s no use sprinting off wildly and then dying of exhaustion after ½ mile. So you push as hard as you can, stick your elbows out and try and maintain position while exerting as little effort as possible. It can be a scary and brutal place!

My start today wasn’t good. It wasn’t really my fault I just got baulked and penned in while riders streamed past. When we reached the singletrack I found myself midfield and spinning gently along as if it was a Sunday jaunt! I used the climbs on the opening lap to claw back some positions and caught Alex Taylor who also rides for South Downs Bikes. I passed him but he stuck with me and we finished the first lap nose to tail. On the second lap I used a hill, which would probably be better described as a wall, to attack and try and break away. I created a gap and worked hard to maintain it, but as we reached the end of the lap he was back on my wheel and we swapped positions several times. On the final lap he managed to gain a gap of a hundred yards, which I couldn’t pull back and he finished just ahead of me, frustratingly taking 15^th and the final points position.

So, I had a huge amount of fun and I had enjoyed a dry and fast course. It taught me that my technical skills are a little rusty but my climbing strength is still there. I suppose I am disappointed with 16^th having finished in the top 10 at the autumn Gorrick races last year but 2012 is underway and there are plenty of races to come!