Exorcising the Hallowe'en Ghouls ... CXNE Round 8, Hetton Lyons Country Park, 2nd November 2014

Photo copyright of Alan Dingwall

What is it with me and my early morning lack of motivation, guess I’m just a stereotypical teenager after all!  Needless to say that was out of the window on arriving at the picturesque Hetton Lyons Country Park for another day of fab CXNE Series racing.  No time to rest though, it was out of the van and straight onto the course to get the lay of the land, wow, this was going to be a hard push!

A stretched out large hill section followed by a deceptive little bugger of a smaller hill added to the endless off cambers, well I knew I was in for some suffering.

Ten minutes until I had to be on the start line, a quick dash to the van to throw some gels and energy drinks down my neck and where my mam was questioning my nerves (honestly, how could she tell?) and Colin (dad’s team mate) adjusting my bike, I have my own race crew y'know!  Shook myself down, felt pretty sorted with how to tackle the course and headed off for the start line. Yet again, (yep, you guessed it) another amazing turn out for the women’s category, we’re going places! In fact having said that it was a really good turn out for the CXNE itself.

* BANG *

Straight up and out of the saddle, Bev Blakeman shot off in front with a few others and I was running in third place for the first lap. After a while we split up, Bev and Nicola Davies showed their amazing athletic abilities tearing up the trail ahead along with Sarah Murray.

I wasn’t working alone however, I was constantly checking over my shoulder to see where Alison Sarmiento was, she was scarily creeping up on me!  A little while later she took her chance and rode past, this was just before a really thick muddy section where she dismounted, I knew I had to ride through it in order to gain back my fourth place.  It worked and I then knuckled down.

The last lap came around surprisingly quickly which was good as it meant I only had to tackle that blasted hill once more, gritting my teeth through the lactic acid build up. I came through the finishing line as the 1st junior woman and 4th woman.  Not so bad after all and what a fantastic course.

Now for a tough week of training in preparation for Inter-Regional Champs and then the Nationals at Durham the following week, wish me luck!

Megan

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I would like to ask Alan Draffan to step forward and take a bow for the fantastic photography, if you would like to see more of his work check here: Alan Draffan Photosport on Facebook

If you would like to follow The Development Cycling Team we have a Facebook page here: The Development Racing's Facebook Page

Rocketeering...... the CXNE Series comes to you from Darlington, 19th October 2014

The seventh round of the CXNE Series took place on a Saturday last weekend, talk about being lucky, mam and dad jetted off to sunny Spain on the Sunday so I would have missed the race otherwise!

Dad and me were the first people to arrive at the venue that morning, dad’s pre-race nerves had struck again, we’ve got to get there in good time y’know!  We had a walk to scope the course out and we soon had a mutual respect for the team that put it together:  Steps? *check* Hurdles? *check* Sandpit? *check*  ….and mud? *check*, we knew it was going to be a tricky ride.

Time to overcome the nerves, saddled up and got a few practice laps under our belt, I came away from this with a two stone heavier bike from the accumulated mud.  We were prepared for this though as dad had just purchased a snazzy new jet-washer which soon became my new best friend!

After cleaning down the bike I headed to the start line to be greeted again with a fantastic turn out for the ladies race. The first few were called out and gridded in the order: Nicola, Jen, Bev and then me!  The gun went off and we sprinted away, we stuck it out together until Jen got a puncture and sadly had to pull out of the race.

Nicola and Bev then dropped the hammer and charged forwards, I stayed with them however this only lasted a lap until I was really feeling it.  My thighs were starting to scream at me!

I was working it by myself from this point although it wasn’t plain sailing, I came off several times in the mud, often to my own laughter! The race seemed longer than normal, I’d put that down to the course conditions but I’m certainly not complaining, it was a really fun trail to ride.

It is however fair to say I was happy when I crossed the finish line. Almost as soon as I’d come off the bike I was called to the podium to stand in third place alongside Bev who took second and the powerhouse Nicola in first. I was overjoyed to be standing on the podium with such great riders!

There's no CXNE race this weekend coming so I’m going to use the extra time to get some training under my belt in order to catch up to Bev, I'll get you eventually! ;-)

Megan

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One big THANK YOU going out to the lovely Alan Draffan for the fab photos, you can see more of his work here: Alan Draffan Photosport.

If you'd like to follow The Development Racing Team we have a Facebook page which is here: The Development Racing Team.