Southern XC Round 1

Puncturing in the car park wasn’t the best start to my day!

 

Matterly Basin is better known as the home of the British MotoX GP. Sunday it played host to a slightly quieter form of two wheeled racing - the first round of the Southern XC series. Set on the slopes of the South Downs close to Winchester, the course clambered over the local hills, twisting in and out of the woodland and across open grassland. It was a blustery day on the exposed hillside but the sun did its best to shine, as the clouds scooted across the sky. Despite the recent heavy rain the forest sections weren’t too greasy and a racing line formed in the drying mud. The warmer temperatures meant it was also my first outing this year in shorts! Although this does mean I had to expose my hairy legs to the smoothly shaved racer boys.

 

As seems to be the trend this year, the start times had been adjusted, the Masters race setting off just after the Elite riders at 2pm. I arrived in plenty of time, had some lunch unpacked the car and rode my practice lap. Tyre pressures adjusted I took a moment to just sit for a while preparing for the start. At 1.45 I jumped on the bike to head down to the line, which is when the puncture occurred! Luckily after a nervous and panicky few moments the latex sealed the hole. I just had to dash back to the car for the pump and I was back on my way.

 

The start was a slog to the top of the hill, and my lack of recent riding showed as I drifted towards the back of the field. Then we were into the woods where I found it hard to find a rhythm amongst the throng. The Sport leaders soon caught us as we were held up by falling riders ahead, slipping and sliding on the roots. The course was one of those which had felt terrible on the reconnaissance lap but raced really well and as the riders thinned out I started to ride better and push the pace, moving up the field on the climbs.

 

Maybe I was pushing on too much but I ran out of talent at the beginning of the second lap. The front wheel selected the wrong rut in the mud and fired the bike into a tree. I was fine and quickly back on my feet but the bars were twisted and needed two attempts to sort them out. Back on course and plunging down a flight of widely spaced steps I pulled the front brake lever to discover it was just flapping freely. The pivot bolt presumably sheered by the meeting of wood and metal during my fall. I quickly adjusted to life without a front brake and it had little significant impact,  I just had to hold back slightly on some of the descents.

 

The final two laps were comfortably my quickest, which suggests I need to improve my warm-up routine to ensure I am up to speed from the get go. Towards the end of the race I found myself alone on the hillside at one point with UK number one Ollie Beckingsale.   I have had a nice chesty cough for the past week so I hadn’t expected a stellar performance. In the end 20^th isn’t going to set the world on fire but it wasn’t a disaster and it is a platform to build on. Early series points in the bag and although your lowest scoring round can be dropped at the end of the series, you never know when the mechanical gremlins will creep in.

 

Back in the carpark at the end of the race and there was a sudden explosion of latex. The rear tyre went flat!