British Downhill Series Final - Antur Stiniog, 19th & 20th September 2015

Here we go, the BDS finals with the gruesome twosome, the two Toms.... 

Nelly, off you go:  Me and the family got the venue quite late and darkness had already fallen so the track walk was left until the morning thankfully I remembered most of the course from the last time I was here and the morning's walk confirmed that it hadn't changed by much.  I will be the first to admit that my practising was quite sketchy at times, with that said my bike's supple suspension was perfectly dialled in which was being used to my advantages.

Newrick... Nelly was already up the course when we arrived at 9am, I had some extra kip on the journey over as it was a long haul!  Frank shipped over a larger FTW triangle for me as I've had a sudden growth spurt, it now fits like a dream however that morning I didn't have my head screwed on and needed a lot of encouragement to get my finger out.  Once I was up there with my mates it was awesome, the track ran sweet after my first run nerves were out of the way.

Overnight the weather changed.......

Nelly: Race day was a cold and wet one, I was doing my best grunge impression with a lumberjack shirt to stay warm, I guess Kurt Cobain would have approved!  My seeding was OK I guess, I had a fair few sketchy moments on the wet rocks and there was a tonne of room for improvement.

Newrick: I got one practise run in down the now super slick track on Sunday morning, my seeding run was a nightmare, it was so slow with less than five metres of visibility at the top of the hill through the thick fog followed by pouring rain further down.  My race run was more of the same, hit one of the rock sections fairly full-on and just scared myself, zero grip, from there on I took it easy and crossed the line with an OK time, just nothing to write home about.  Overall it was a good weekend hanging with my mates, I can't fault the bike, it was running sweet all weekend, just Mother Nature not being on my side.  Winter's coming and I'll see you all on the Hamsterley trails, looking forwards to 2016.

Nelly:  I went back up for my race run and as Tom was saying the weather became progressively worse as the day went on.  Likewise I took a steady run just aiming to pin the lines I had practised and cross the line.  Came home with a 14th place which isn't too shabby considering.  Now we're looking ahead to 2016.

British Downhill Series, Round 3 - Llangollen, 30th & 31st May 2015

Controversy....

Tom Newrick: We arrived at the venue early on Friday morning and set up the tents, even at that hour there were some murmurings about the course and the track-walk proved it to be true, it was steep, very, very steep!  

I knew then that it was going to be a struggle on the track. Headed up for my first practice run on Saturday morning and came off twice, each further run I was still coming off my bike and my body was starting to hurt.

Come Sunday morning I headed back up for my first practice run and landed really hard after being catapulted over the bars.  Being completely battered and bruised I could not justify racing on the course and sadly pulled out of the event.

Lee here: I fully understand the position Tom Newrick had been placed in, the course was very controversial, although it's a UCi sanctioned event and needs to challenge riders, this track may have exceeded the limit. I mean it says a lot when the pro riders are in agreement with how punishing the course was. I don't blame Tom for pulling out of the event at all as he could have had a serious injury.

This now leads me to what happened with the team's Tom Nelson.

Nelly made the ultimate mistake of not signing on in the morning before his practise runs, that is his own mistake and he knows it was wrong (and hopefully he's learned from it and won't do it again!).  I fully understand and appreciate his mother's anger after the event, and indeed must admit to being pretty angry with the carry on myself.

My question was in regards to how Nelly managed to have four practice runs without being pulled up by the start line commissaire in regards to not signing on.

The commissaire notes the rider numbers down however he can't check those against the start sheet until the Saturday evening as this is when the timing company collate the sign on sheets and produce the seeding list.  Nelly had tried to sign on at the end of the day however by this time the commissaires had left the venue.  One of the arguments was that some other riders had got late entries however those riders signed on before the commissaires had left.  Nelly however was too late and Si Paton was sadly placed in an unfortunate position, he could only say no, the BDS are sanctioned UCi events and his hands are tied to that, so unfortunately Nelly was unable to race.

British Downhill Series Round 2 - Fort William, 16th - 17th May 2015

*Ding Ding* Round 2

Nelly: Fort Bill here we come!  Newrick and his dad had left home at 4am on the Friday morning to make sure he had decent time on the track and I wasn't far behind with my crew. This weekend was going to be turned up a few notches as not only were there international riders competing at the event with the World Cup being here in just a few weeks' time, the adverse weather was also closing in fast.  It was going to be a bumpy ride.

Come Friday evening I was buzzing for race day because let's face it, Frank Wadelton's downhill bikes are simply made for this course, they rail!  Had a chat with my co-pilot Tom Newrick and he'd had an awesome day on the hill despite a puncture earlier on, our practise runs weren't in sync so we didn't get any joint runs in sadly.

Saturday morning Nick turned up and with him the wind and pouring rain, it wasn't looking good.  There was a lot of uncertainty about the gondola running and a lot of riders were holding fire in hope that they would open.  Mother Nature had won this one and sure enough the call was made; it was going to be an old-school style 30-minute push-up to the top of the lower section with the event being run from there.  

As Nick was saying, there's not a lot to practise on that section of track, they'd built up the motorway jumps ready for the World Cup and you had to either go fast and clear the lot or take it cautiously losing time.  The track although short was still fun to ride, some riders were grumbling though and I could see both sides of the coin, it wasn't a good day for the BDS management.

The push-up was knackering after a few rides though, I reckon Newrick had the best idea; get a couple of runs in and then go ride the cross-country route to keep his legs moving! Nick got a few runs in and then headed back to his hotel.  Regardless to the course conditions I was happy with my riding and had it all nicely nailed down.

Race day Sunday arrived with no change in the weather and with just one race run it was going to be all or nothing, I had to keep it pinned..... which sadly I didn't. Mother Nature got the best of me here and I crossed the line in 17th place, not the top ten that I was aiming for.

Newrick: I was one of the riders getting fed up with the pushing to the top, it certainly wasn't helping my mood and I was shattered.  My race run was lousy after nearly crashing on the first pointless rut and that was my only shot at it done and dusted, or should I say mud splattered, I took the 25th place in the youths.  

Nick: Fuelled by a massive Full English breakfast I plodded up the hill with everyone else and got a couple of runs in.  One of the main issues was catching people up on the track which made taking the motorway jumps at full pelt sketchy, took it easier with the later runs just to make sure I knew what I was doing come the racing.

The start was catching people out, it was pretty tricky and a lot of riders were coming off, thankfully I stayed on my bike but only just and got the power back on!  The course from there to the motorway jumps is uneventful, under normal conditions with a the full course being used this section is mentally demanding after you've been assaulted by the top of the course.  With this weekend's format it was just, well....!  I got to the motorway which was the only really challenging bit where I hit the hip jump and drifted off my line on landing and although I cleared the step down my landing there wasn't too hot, came in far too fast and to brake hard otherwise I would have hooked up on the next jump and been another victim heading to the local A&E. Mid-way in the Masters with a 17th for me.

Next up are Robyn's Welsh enduro assault at Afan, Jamie's ballet training with the Scottish Downhill Series at Glencoe and then the big bad BDS at Llangollen.

You can follow The Development's shenanigans on the team's Facebook page: The Development Racing.

Borderline Events - English Downhill Championship, Hamsterley Forest, 10th May 2015

Nick: Although Hamsterley Forest's my local riding spot I hadn't been there for a fair while and was looking forward to seeing how the track chosen by the Borderline Events posse flowed, quite literally at first as it turned out. 

It's a fairly short course by today's standards however it's physically demanding with no time to rest between sections, you take one big breath at the start gate and then it's a full on hammering until you cross the finish line.  Guess Danny Hart was at home with the weather that morning as it was absolutely pouring down, I was being kept warm and dry under my Berghaus coat so there was no grumbling from me mind! 

'Tommy Gun' Newrick arrived early Saturday morning and walked the new section of the track, he was at home from the word go as he practically lives on these courses!  Tom's had the new Manitou Revox shock fitted to his FTW, no bedding in required he was straight off ripping the course up with his mates.  

Both of us got more than enough runs in, the course is a game of two halves, keep the cadence up down the top section and then keep it loose across the technical sections down below.  It's a hard course to make up time due to its short length even if you merely clipped a pedal that would be the end of any winning run there and then.  Both of us were running Sun-Ringle's 650b A.D.D. Pro wheels for a bit of advantage over the rocks, power to the dark side of the force.

As Saturday progressed the track was drying out nicely making it a claggy in places I was building up pace and starting to blitz my lines.  Tom was absolutely nailing the course down, six runs in and he was on fire!

Come Sunday morning I squeezed in three steady runs and chilled out 'til race time.  Tom was a purple and red blur as he shot past me whilst I spectated on his first race run, I later learned he accidentally unclipped from his pedals before the table top and couldn't clip back in, unlucky.  I stalled near the finish on my first run and turned the air blue as it had all gone perfectly up until that point.  Hit my second run full on but just couldn't make up the time and took the fourteenth place in the Masters.

Tom had a little embarrassment through the new section on his second run when his foot slipped off the pedal, that said he still crossed the finish line in a respectable 7th place in the youths.

Next up, the big bad Fort Bill with the British Downhill Series.


You can follow The Development Racing Team's shenanigans on their Facebook page here: The Development Racing Team

Ae up - Scottish Downhill Championships Ahoy, 25th & 26th April 2015

The Development had three of their lads racing but just two reports again; Monsieurs Nelly and Newrick taking over......

Nelly: After a good weekend with the British Downhill Series at Ae we were back up there for the Scottish Downhill Championships.  The track walk left a lot of riders surprised with the course designers' omission of the coffin jump, step-down and elevator sections.  I was concluding that the track would be pretty bad, come Saturday morning the rain had done its work and left us all with a wet and slippy course laced with polished roots and tacky mud.  It was gonna be a fun one!

Newrick: I travelled up with my aunt in the camper van on Friday evening which was awesome, a nice chilled drive up through the Borders, parked up had some food and then turned in early to keep me feeling fresh.

The first run down on Saturday was great up top however I hit the stump gap all squirrelly and binned it hard!  That took the wind out of me, got back up, back on it and back down to the bottom, a quick once over of the bike and then straight back up to the top again. The rest of the day was a steady progression as I got used the track, it was fluid and fast and my bike was handling amazingly well.

Nelly: I was doing a few runs with Luke Birkett from the We Love Mountains Downhill Team and we were both starting to nail our lines, despite a funny tumble earlier on in the day my confidence grew significantly and I was feeling hyped up for Sunday's race runs.

Tom Nelson

Newrick: Sunday morning hit and I managed to get two practise runs under my belt as the uplifts were running great as was the track and indeed my good self on both runs!  Back up and soon out of the gate on my first race run, not too bad but way too slow and I was cursing myself for it.

Nelly: Thankfully the rain had kept clear over night and the course was running sweet, my first race run was a tad too chilled out and I cross the line in tenth place which I knew I could improve on.

Newrick: My second race run was bang on the buck bar taking the previous BDS event's race line instead of the current SDA one, I lost some time with this but crossed the line in 19th place in the youths and with a faster time to my first run.  Overall it was a good weekend.

Tom Newrick

Nelly:  My second run was fuelled by coffee and a flapjack, as I headed to the top on the uplift I was thinking of where I could improve my time and noted that the rain clouds were starting to roll in again.  After a tiny patter of rain drops it was thankfully gone as soon as it arrived and I was on the course.  The top section was totally nailed in and my bike was taking the pummelling with ease, I stayed fluid and crossed the line shaving three seconds off my previous time putting me in eighth place in the youths, I was fairly happy with that.

Jamie had some good runs throughout the weekend but was hindered by a puncture on his second race run, despite that he placed seventh in the Juniors.

Jamie Stewart

Next up is the English Champs with all the lads, see you all there.

Northern Downhill - Hamsterley Forest TT, 19th April 2015

I was just down the road at Hamsterley Forest this time for the Northern Downhill Time Trial event, opting for my shorter suspension bike as the big FTW is overkill for these events.

Hamsterley is my local riding ground and I was fluent with the track that was being used by the NDH lads so got one practice run in on Sunday morning to see how it all rode and oh boy was it fast!  It was sure going to make for some good racing with tight times. I made my way up for my race run ten minutes before I was due at the start gate ensuring that I stayed focussed and ready to race. Out of the gate on the first timed run it was going well but not as fast as I'd have liked, a lack of warming up had left my legs feeling dead and I crossed the line bang on four minutes putting me into forth place which wasn't what I was looking for! Taking the first run into account I mentally prepared myself for the second shot and as soon as I was out of the gate I had the track completely nailed down.  However it didn't last long as I caught up with the rider in front which slowed me down as I struggled to get past. Carl Davison, the event's organiser, had noted this and thankfully allowed me to do a re-run so off I went back up to the top. It was now all or nothing, out of the gate I kept the bike pinned all the way down and managed to make up that second putting me into third however soon learned that I was just 0.3 of a second from taking the second place, but hey, that's racing for you! See you all at next race, Tom.

British Downhill Series - Ae Forest, 4th & 5th April 2015

We’re all going to have a tight squeeze into the Tardis as we travel back in time to the British Downhill Series at Ae Forest.

Lee: I’ve been in the midst of a house move and it’s been crazy, that’s now thankfully all done and dusted so whilst I’m sat here surround by unpacked boxes here are Nick and Tom with their low downs, sadly Nelly didn’t get back to me with his.

Nelly channelling Daft Punk....

Tom: I arrived at Ae after getting a lift up there with my mates in order to get an early track walk in.  The first impressions were that the top and lower sections were looking great, sweeping forest trail with some nice sticky mud to keep things in check.  The middle section after the road crossing looked problematic though, steep off camber root fests….. that was gonna be my challenge!

Nick: I’m getting old guys, I’m now in the Masters!  Spent the best part of winter at Crossfit Jacana in Durham building my strength up although I didn’t get as much riding in I’d have liked.  Anyway, on a totally shallow note, have you seen the team’s new red FTW downhill bikes, exactly how cool?!

From past experiences at Ae there’s little point in running spike tyres despite the mud as there’s a load of rocks and roots to contend with so I stuck with my Michelin Rock R2 tyres, yep, their so-called enduro-specific 27.5 tyres are amazing for downhill, it has to be said.

Tom: We booked in the Travelodge for the weekend, it was way too cold to camp out, respect going out to all of the brave souls who did!  After arriving at the track on Saturday morning and being fuelled by a sausage sandwich from the Ae Café (none of that energy bar crap with me!) I went up top on the first bus.  First run down was good, took it easy to scope the course out especially the off camber sections.  Pretty happy with most of my runs that day and was steadily getting the speed up on my FTW.

Nick: I spent Saturday tagging along with the We Love Mountains Downhill Team, which is run by Lee’s nephew, Stewart.  Me, Tom and Nelly were all on different time-paths which made practicing the course together a faff.  The biggest issue of the morning was dealing with my confidence, where my lack of riding over winter was coming into play, with that said, I was picking up some canny speed as the day progressed and was happy with my runs.  By the afternoon the sun had come out drying the track nicely and I was soon blasting through the rock gardens with aplomb, good times!

Tom: Sunday and another morning fuelled by the Ae Café’s excellent sausage sandwiches!  Queued for the uplift bus which were taking their time, a renown problem at Ae Forest and finally got to the top for my first run down of the day.  The track at the top was pretty much bang on, the FTW was railing it, took a tumble in the middle wood section though, completely over cooked things thankfully there was no damage to either me or the bike!  Got my speed back up and came off again further down, from here on I just cruised back down the course to the pits.

My seeding went OK, had a chilled run, clipped my pedals on a few rocks but crossed the line with a reasonable time.

Nick: As with Tom and Nelly the time spent waiting in the queues for the uplifts were a pain in the arse and I only managed one run down before seeding.  Although it was good in terms of familiarising myself with the changes in the course, I (and the others) could have done with getting a few more runs under my belt as there were a lot of hold ups on the track.

Being in Masters I was keen to see how I was going to fair against my new competitors.  My seeding was good, hitting my lines faster than in practice and totally sailed through the rock gardens.  I suddenly realised that my back wheel was slopping about and it dawned on me that I’d flatted, damn it!  Up until that point my run had been perfect, I cruised down to the finish line and changed my tyres over.

Tom: My race run started really well despite taking a while to clip in out of the start gate.  The top section was totally fluid, the bike was handling like a dream, however come the middle section I came off again in exactly the same place as earlier in the day.  Jumped straight back on the bike and got my speed back up but it just wasn’t to be, I crossed the line taking the 33^rd place in the youths, balls!

 

Nick: I got everything race prepped and threw some clean kit on then headed up for my race run.  I felt pretty relaxed and knew what I had to do, by now the track was much drier which was great. The top section went pretty much to plan although I stalled after hitting a greasy root, nailed the section where I flatted on in seeding and took 21^st, the middling ground, not too chuffed with that!  Took away a lot of positives from the event but I am aiming for the top tens from here on in.

 

Nelly crossed the line taking 15^th place in the youths.

All in, a good event but lack lustre results, all of us were blown away with how well the new FTW team bikes are handling though.  We’ll be upping the ante for the next event!