Midlands XC RD4 - High Bramley Woods
Round 4 was held at the awesome but private woods "High Bramley", over night rain created a very tricky and slippy course but it was riding well and extremely fun. I headed out for practice feeling a little flat, not being particularly well over the past couple weeks put my training on hold so my preparation entering this weekends race wasn't the best, I enjoyed the course but the climbs were taking the energy out of me!
Race time, I started ok and slotted into 2nd sitting on the rear wheel of the leader saving energy and looking for the correct opportunity to make a pass, unfortunately the leader slipped out and took me down, crashing into a thorn bush, I struggled to unclip and was stuck on the floor for a little while, after getting backup I was knocked down again by a passing riding! I remounted in 3rd and a fair bit behind, I got her head down and pushed hard in the tricky slippy conditions, by the finish I managed to claw back to 2nd so a fantastic result given my crash, fortunately I have already took the under 12's title at only 10 years old so no damage done to the overall results. Wel done to everyone who takes part.
Take a nose at my youtube video from the event, like and subscribe to my channel :-)
Blist Hills Cyclocross
I was really looking forward to race at Blist Hills Cyclocross event, I had looked at videos and pictures from the event last year and it looked a fantastic course and lots of fun, but things didn’t quite go to plan ………………..
4.30am Saturday morning I woke burning up, headache and my whole body ached, I spent most of the day sleeping and taking pain killers, but by 3pm when we needed to set out I told my mom I felt better and got her to drive me over to the event, the weather was hot and once arriving at Blist Hills I felt quite poorly and freezing cold at this point, but I booked in and went to the gates. I didn’t have the energy to hold my bike so sat on the floor while we were being entertained by a juggler. The gates were then removed so we could go out for practice, I manged to do one lap of practice but I admit I was struggling. Soon after I made my way down to the start line as I really wanted to take part. I was placed at the back on the starting grid ( to be honest I didn’t have the energy to push through to the front of the grid) once the whistle was blown I pushed as hard as I could even though I really ached, I kept with the pack and enjoyed the course, on the hill climb we had to dismount and carry our bikes up but spectators were allowed to help carry our bikes, I was lucky that a kind man carried my bike up for me every lap, this was great for me with the way I was feeling, I managed to complete five laps in 20 minutes, when I came over the finish line I was so glad the race had finished, normally I could carry on after a race but I was completely worn out and the bug had now completely court up on me. I don’t know where I had finished as my mom had lost track as she was too busy worrying I was going to pass out on the course with being so ill.
We were going to go home prior to the presentation as I wanted to sleep but my mom asked the results and I had finished 3rd, I was extremely happy with this result under the circumstances.
Blist Hills was an absolute fantastic event and I will defiantly be back to race it again next year.
Haughton Giant Challenge
This past weekend was supposed to be a quiet one but in the end I ran a 5k park run Saturday morning followed by the Stafford RC Go-Ride MTB training, then on Sunday I decided to take part in the Haughton Giant Challenge.
The Haughton Challenge is a 20k or 50k ride starting from St.Giles Primary School and the event raises money for the School and the Air Ambulance so a worthwhile event to take part in. Not being someone to take the easy route I decided to try the 50k loop, it was a fun course riding across farmers’ fields, private land and wooded areas with roads thrown in the link it all together, the event isn’t a race but is timed, I completed the 50k (we got lost and did 56.5k) in 3hours 15 mins and finished 50th out of 156 with a stop at the water station so I’m really pleased with that.
The Haughton Challenge was a great event for great reasons, if you have some free time next year give it a try, you ride around some beautiful locations and areas you probably wouldnt normally see, full info for the event can be found at https://www.haughtongiantchallenge.co.uk/
As always, massive thanks to my sponsors, go check them via the “partners” tab above.
Midlands XC RD3 - Kirton Off Road
Kirton Off Road in Lincolnshire was the venue for RD3 of Midlands XCO championship, a new venue to the series so you never know what to expect. Mazie headed out for practice and the course was fast flowing and was a great addition to the championship series, the course was 80% single track so a good start was going to be critical, Mazie found the course fun a little easier than other courses but had different challanges non the less.
Maze again due to gridding started on the front row, she knew a good start was important due to the single track on this course, the whistle blew and Mazie once again shot out the start and powered into an early lead, Mazie was really enjoying this course and her laptimes told the story, 30 seconds a lap faster then her nearest competitor, Mazie pushed for the whole race and at the finish flag she had pulled a 1 minute 14 seconds lead, taking in another well deserved win.
Quick race vid.
