A month ago I had that feeling of ‘what am I training for now?’ I searched the website and found that the National XC Championships were on my doorstep at Richmond. Ok so my XC experience consisted of trying to hang onto Michelle in Guisborough Woods and the wonderful dry fast flowing single track out in South Africa but hey it can’t be that hard…or can it…
On Friday night I went to see the course and take part in a coaching session. 2 hours later we’d done most of the course, I learnt a few invaluable tips on positioning and that my tyres were perfect for the dry plains of Africa and I was terrified, throw in a day of torrential rain and I arrived on Sunday to find a mud fest and I was a nervous wreck!
At 2.30pm we set off behind the senior and junior men. The first section was probably the scariest and hardest. Through a steep wood I managed to skid the back wheel in the general direction I intended to go but the next descent got the better of me… 3 times in fact! It reminded me of dropping of the edge off a black run on a ski run except with a few wheels underneath instead of some nice secure skis. The descent wasn’t scary, wide and thick with mud surrounded by nice soft fern. My error was that each time I went down it I locked up both wheels and was apparently one of the fastest down…would have been impressive had it not been for the corner at the bottom which sent me flying each time and sent my bike even further into the bushes.
Following that the course entered two sections of wood that twisted around: slippy roots, muddy descents, steep uphills and a few man made obstacles thrown in made it a little tricky for me and by the 4th time round I decided that running the technical bits was way faster than my other technique: riding, slipping, falling, running, riding, slipping, falling etc etc!!
Starting off at the back of the grid I’d moved up a few places straight away with a crash to my side. After that I moved through to yoyo in 5th place with a friend Gabby. Even though she was also struggling with the technical bits she caught me up on these before I pulled away on the uphill tracks to finish in 5th. I was pleased to a) survive all be it with legs looking black and blue, b) not look like a fool by pulling out cos I was scarred and c) finish smiling and planning the many ways that I can improve with a bit more confidence and practice.
Right, where’s the race calendar…
No comments:
Post a Comment