Down Town... CXNE 11, South Shields 26th December

Hi everyone, it's Megan here again keeping the team's purple, red and black flag flying!

The CXNE race at South Shields had me a bit worried as I hadn't raced for a few weeks and was nervous that I'd dropped behind even though I was still out training.  Both college work and a recent bout of illness were preying on my mind however I wanted to give it my best, dig my teeth in and have a bash.  

It was a really cold morning so the warm-up laps required layers, lots of layers in fact and the frozen grass crunched under my wheels although that didn't last for long. The course was pretty good, lots of tight corners, some long straights and one relatively small hill that eventually turned into a thigh-burning assault!  Throughout practise the ground was inevitably being churned up becoming muddier and slippier, I knew this was going to be a problem with the tough off-camber sections later in the day.

Not long afterwards it was time to head for the starting line. Everyone was in great spirits nattering about Christmas and what we were all up to, especially the ladies, well you know how we can gab!  There were a lot of good vibes.

Off we went. I had a really good start, jumped up, slid straight into the pedals and got comfortable right away. I headed off to the front with Jenn Batey and followed her for a lap. 

Coming to the off-camber section my earlier fears were confirmed, it was incredibly slippy and backing that up it was here where I came off my bike, lost some time and the other ladies started to catch me. I jumped straight up, lifted my bike and ran towards the flat section, remounted and got my cadence going again. It was just a few minutes later where my hip began to really throb, damn you adrenalin!  I must have landed on it rather funny, anyway, not to worry I knuckled back down, northern grit and all that! I was now following Jenn and Natalie Batey and it wasn't long before Wonder Woman Nicola Davies caught us all up then everything settled down into a steady race pace.

Well, that was until coming to a simple corner where I slid off and landed like a tonne of bricks. It was a silly old fall, just down to very poor riding where I completely lost it, and oh boy did it hurt!

It all happened quickly, the adrenalin kicked in again and after jumping straight back up realised I couldn't actually stand properly as my hip was in agony. Hobbling along as I pushed my bike, being thankful of its support, I realised I'd twisted my bars in the fall and by this time, I was just exhausted.

Sadly I had to pull out of the race and hobbled with my poorly bike over to the car park where Jamie Brady spotted me, picked up my bike and took me to the paramedics for a check up. Thanks again Jamie, you're a star!

An unlucky day but as I've said before, it's all good experience and something to learn from.

See you all the next round,

Megs x

Life In Neon at the Durham CXNE, 15th November 2014

Woke up on Saturday morning feeling sprightly and raring to go, well there’s a change, think it was because I was so excited for the full weekend’s worth of racing. I was under the strict instruction not to go all-out during the CXNE race in Durham, since the next day I would be competing at the Nationals in the same arena, so, no biggie! Today was purely getting to grips with the course and keep my points up for the league, however, I knew this would be a struggle since I had let myself become way too competitive. Yes, that’ll be my hereditary dad’s genes right there! 

Dad wasn't racing today so it was all about me (ahem!) the benefit of this being that even when my bike got a speck of dirt on it, it was wiped off within seconds, thanks dad!

When we arrived, as usual, I got ready, practiced the course and signed on. This race was the first time I was competing on my new bright pink Frank The Welder CX bike and was super excited to try it out!

The course was pretty good with quite a lot of sections where you had to dismount. There were steps, hurdles, and a steep, slippy, muddy hill that was catching a lot of people out, myself included. Adding up all the technical turns it created a challenging course and kept the riders on their toes, exactly what you would expect with a National Trophy event the following day. Big applause for the course designers, you rock! My nerves weren't that bad to be honest, I was really enjoying the practice and having a good giggle, I knew that my race head would be on later in the day however.

Sure enough it was soon time to be gridded. My dad and me went to the start where Nicola Davies, Bev Blakeman, myself and then Jenn Batey were called out. Oh, was that the pang of my nerves kicking in just then?

Off we went and despite the strong temptation to sprint off straight away with Bev, Nicola and Jenn, I paid heed to my dad’s advice and kept a steady pace letting them fight it out up front. I ended up having a mini-battle with Natalie Batey which became rather amusing, I slipped off in the mud and Natalie overtook me, Natalie came off in the mud and I overtook her and on it went!

I will also tell you something weird; my dad screaming his head off with words of encouragement every time I belted past the pits. Under normal circumstances he’s on the course the same time as me, today however there he was being my proud dad!

The bell suddenly sounded for the final lap. This was what I was waiting to hear, head now down and firing up the adrenaline I got the cranks turning harder and managed to leave Natalie. I crossed the finish line taking fourth place in the Women’s category whilst keeping hold of the top Junior spot which I was stoked with.

Megan

x

Into The Woods..... Scottish Downhill Series Round 1, Innerleithen, 21st April 2013

Sorry to keep y'all waiting out there, I'm so outta practise with the team blog shizzle, it's Nick here.....

First race of the year, so I was pretty excited, neither Chris nor me attended the first round of the British Downhill Series the week before as it was held at Combe Sydenham which is a very long way to travel for what is in effect a flat as a pancake pootle through their woods!  A controversial comment there, I know!  So this weekend was the first opportunity to gauge myself against the other riders.

This was the first round of the SDA's at Innerleithen which is a superb venue with some great tracks.  Got to the pits really late in the evening and didn't have time to walk the track.  In hindsight, after the first practise run on Saturday morning, I wish I had taken a torch and gone up the mountainside as there were so many lines to choose from. 

Photo copyright of Paul Mears

I am waiting for my new Team-Issue FTW Industries 'FB10' downhill frame to arrive from the 'States before fitting all of the new kit so sent my Boxxer forks off to the guys at TF Tuned for some TLC.  As usual they came back working as sweet as a nut, thank you so much guys, you rule!   The bike was running damned good and the course's conditions were only a tad moist which made for a nice change as of late.  Track wise, well it had a bit of everything to put me and the bike through its paces.  Some real nice tight technical sections, some big jumps and some flat out sprints.

Photo copyright of the awesome Ian Linton

Unfortunately due to the good old Post Office being so incredibly efficient (quite!) I was unable to collect my new DFender mud guard which would have been a great advantage however my 100% goggles and laminated tear offs did a great job of keeping the cack out of my eyes!

Photo copyright of Steve Wyper

My last practice run was going well, I was riding fast and hitting most of my lines bang-on.  Coming into the last jump section near the bottom of the track there were a load of spectators indicating for me to slow down, which I did, one of the trackside marshalls told me to carry on so I started to pick my speed back up.  Due to being out of sync with the track I hit the first jump awry, usually I was hitting it perfectly lined up and flat out.  It went all to hell on landing and my head took the hard brunt of it, very grateful to my Urge lid for protecting my youthful looks!  I was feeling pretty dazed so left it at that for the day.

Photo copyright of Steve Wyper

Race day hit and there had been a bit of rain over night so the track was a little slicker.  In the morning's practice session I was a little more cautious, pulled back a fair bit, but I guess that's understandable though.  Having said that I was feeling darned good for race runs.  On the first run I washed out across one of the fire roads which costing me a little time, that really hacked me off as I was on it.   Took that annoyance into my second run and really tried to nail it, shaved off 6 seconds, that's not too shabby but I was off the pace.  The crash in practise gave my confidence a hit.

Next up is the first round of the Northern Downhill Series at Kidland, I will be on it!

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