Getting up early Sunday morning (been careful not to wake the wife!!) I was off to make my way over to Richmond to pick up my other bike mad mate James who rides for We love mountains gravity team, I jumped in the trusty Enduro bus and set on my way.
After a sketchy drive in the snow from Richmond we made it to Hamsterley Forest for the first round of the NDH Enduro.
Practice:
After signing on and getting our race numbers it was time to get the gear on and head out on the bikes for some practice ,this was my first real test on the new bike the Empire MX6 EVO, and after hitting the first of the 3 stages it was clear that I was indeed on an awesome machine, going into stage 2 I started to have some fun .
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| Having some fun on the start of the 4X track |
Stage 1
Section 13 was the start of this stage so lots of peddling to start with trying to keep a good flow on the jumps and keeping enough speed through the icy berms, once id tackled that it was a long sprint along the fire road (this is were the winter training came in handy). Before dropping down into a root and rock infested mud slop is all I can describe it ,I managed to keep my speed through here hitting my lines and staying on the bike ,good enough for 12th on this stage .
Stage 2
My favourite stage in practice wasn't to be my best in the race, as I took off like a loony over the first jump on the 4X then shooting down the right into the woods straight into rooty heaven (or hell) and that's when it went wrong, and I went straight over the bars after washing out on a root. I quickly picked the bike up and got back up to speed this was my favourite stage so I just let the bike go and hopped, skipped and jumped from root to root. The bottom section of this track was nice and fast if you could keep your speed then you had to haul the brakes on for a tight left hand hairpin another sharp right followed by a nice big drop that you could huck nicely off the top to land at the finish. A bit disappointed with the crash but a good run overall finishing 23rd on this stage .
Stage 3
Not my favourite stage as mostly trail centre but nice and fast. After making the transition to the top I was starting to feel a good bit of pain in my foot so was glad that we were nearing the end of the race, took a few minutes to get my head in the game and I was ready to go. Sprinting from the mast to table trying to control that urge to go hard too early, dropping down off the table it was the usual mix of jumps and snowy berms fast and flowing till I hit one with to much speed and lost the front! Jumped back up with kind words from Jerry Tatton (top photographer) asking if I was ok, cheers mate. I mashed on again with a little bit of anger at myself for crashing, just before hitting the first fire road I had practiced a nice quick line during practice and hit it spot on so was happy to come out of that maybe making up some time sprinting down the fire road on to the next section.
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| Feeling the pain here ! |
I just tried to keep my flow and stay off the brakes
peddling hard over the sketchy rock section at the bottom and round the last few corners to the finish coming in 27th this stage!
It wasn't a long peddle back to the car park to hand our timing chips in, did me usual and handed it in straight away then made my way to the van. By now I was struggling to walk and once I took my socks off I saw a big black bruise on my big toe and after further inspection from the paramedic was told I had broken it !
So that's it my first race of the season, my first as a sponsored rider. Was pretty happy to get 21st out of 62, felt I could of done a bit better had I not had the crashes but happy overall .
Big thanks to Richard Ford at Mountain Bike Garage http://www.mountainbikegarage.co.uk/ for building an awesome bike.
James and Damo for constantly pushing me all last year and through winter and of course the wife for always letting me out on my bike! :)
And lastly NDH, all the marshals and photographers your awesome.
Roll on next race were I'll be back faster and stronger...
