Find out how James got on below:
As soon as I heard about this race I got onto Google and hunted down an entry form. Without stopping to check the specific details I printed off a form, filled it in, wrote a cheque and popped it in the post. A race with a title containing the words: ‘gravity’, ‘enduro’ and ‘downhill’ had to be a good one. They are my three favourite words when it comes to riding bikes. After further inspection I discovered that the race was to be held in Kielder forest on the 5th and 6th of March and organised by a man named Carl Davison.
Fellow Dude Liam Moynihan also liked the sound of those three words and decided to join me. We set off south in the VW Sport to the northern land of downhill. Upon arrival on Friday evening we discovered that the weather was pleasantly dry yet extremely cold! We parked the van, side-on, with a view of the last corner and the finishing line. Still not knowing quite what to expect we bedded down with eager anticipation. The morning came and we opened the sliding door to find our view blocked by a man getting changed in the back of his silver Traffic! Anyway, we got out of bed and signed on.
The track was open for practice Saturday and Sunday morning. Qualifying would take place Saturday afternoon with the finals on Sunday afternoon. There were 4 groups of 20 riders for the races on Saturday and there would be 2 groups of 40 on Sunday. The 1st place riders from qualifying would form the front row of the main event. 2nd place riders from qualifying would form the 2nd row and so on…
Liam and I set off to push our bikes up the course to check out some sweet lines and get some practice done. The course started next to a big ugly mast on the top of a hill. It began with a sprint along a flat bit of land rover track into the stupidest, steepest, tiniest tabletop jump with a big rock on the right of the inevitable huck-to-flat landing and a big jabby post on the left. After this interesting feature the land rover track started to descend for quite a long distance and at a relatively steep gradient in places. Speeds of 60kph were claimed by some riders as they tore down the rough motorway of loose boulders and big compressions. Charles Robertson took some snaps of us on the top section in practice. In the first you can clearly see me developing the super tuck technique and Liam working on his slip streaming skills. We then dropped down into the trees and followed the bottom section of the red loop to the finish. This consisted of some twisty man made trails with rocky features. Half way down there was a steep little climb that took you over long sections of stone pitching and up tight switch backs. Once at the top of the hill it was back to the relatively flat man made stuff. The very end of the track had three fun little jumps followed by a great slalom style section that was taped out down the side of the car park to the finish line.
After lunch it was time to pedal back up the hill for our qualifying runs. Liam was placed on the back row of his group and was in for an exciting race. In true Liam style, he galloped his way past the traffic and took the win by a comfortable margin. Luckily, I was on the front row for my group. I got a good start and lead from top to bottom. It was a close battle though with Mike Thickens not far behind.
After a healthy portion of grassy pasta for Liam (because someone dropped the lid whilst draining the pan!) and a nice healthy portion of grass free pasta for me, we were ready for bed after a successful days work.
The next day we lined up on the grid alongside two fellow Scots, Chris and Keith Buchan, for the big boys race. I got another good start off the line and had another successful huck-to-flat over the first booter to take the lead. Hiding round a blind section near the top of the woods was Oliver Coates who managed to take this awesome photo of me out in 1st place.
Unfortunately, Mike Thickens was feeling strong and latched onto my back wheel going up the climb. I tried to stay tight round the switch backs to stop him coming past but he made a daring move and made it stick. He managed to stay ahead from the top of the hill and took the win despite me having my serious face on…
Liam came through the finish just a few seconds back to claim third place.
Despite having to make your own way to the top of the hill and not having proper timing I think the race was good value for money at only 30-something quid. The prizes were also really impressive including tubs of protein powder provided by the big muscley man on the left. The event was advertised as a ‘Megavalanche’ style race which would have suited my Blood perfectly. It is an excellent do everything bike and it got a lot of attention over the weekend. Unfortunately, the course was a bit too easy in my opinion. I reckon I might have been faster racing on an XC hardtail considering how flat the course was. It is great, however, that this type of event exists in Britain. I look forward to seeing more of these races in the future that hopefully evolve to incorporate some real downhill sections…
No comments:
Post a Comment