BDS Round 1 Combe Sydenham

Combe Sydenham near Taunton, Somerset played host to the opening round of the 2013 British Downhill Series and it was very, very not dry...

As we walked the track on Friday evening after a delightful 6 hour drive from the flat plains of Suffolk the sun was shining, birds were singing, daffodils blossoming and it was looking to be a beautiful spring weekend to open the race season. BUT (oh yeah) as quickly as hundreds of pasty racers reached for the vests and sunglasses the weather made a turn for the worse, the heavens opened and it was time to dig out the spikes and armbands.

The roadgap was pretty gnarly this year in the wet!

Usually (when it's nice at a race) you can expect the BBQ's to come out and for everyone to have a constant smile as they're mad for it. However, as the ruts started to get disc deep lines quickly disappeared and the track shaped up like something from a war zone; I heard one guy say that it was like trench warfare... a bit dramatic but yeah, it was pretty wild as every run turned into survival rather than racing.

Just a slice of the fun...

Still, I love riding in the mud and love nothing more than smashing some ruts and getting a bit loose! After one run with the 'go-to' Muddy Mary's I had a quick pit-stop and chucked a pair of spikes on (thanks to Halo for the spare wet wheels!) as anything else felt like riding on slicks, not the one. During Saturday practice I only managed to get 5 runs in, as did many others, some even less as the uplift turn around was working out as about an hour per run. The best strategy was to choose simple and clean lines, don't try anything flamboyant or heroic and you'll stay rubber side down. When I say 'lines', I mean 'line'. Once Sunday practice was over the entire middle wood section was a single rut from entrance to exit,  just set your wheels in the groove and shut your eyes and all would be okay once you reached the other side!

Come qualifying I was feeling psyched for a solid run; the weather was holding out and everything was good to go. Seeding went pretty well for me as I came across the line in 6th and considering I've been feeling a bit under the weather over the last couple of weeks (awww) I was happy with that result. No sketchy moments, bails or silly mistakes was more than I could ask for.

Race run time and I wanted to emulate my seeding run (except with a bit more pedaling) and smash out a good time. The track had become even gnarlier by that point and people were flying left, right and center. With a long season ahead and not feeling 100% the best choice was to give it my all, pedal the safe bits and be conservative on the tech bits. Once finals were over I'd finished 9th, not bad for a season opener. Overall it was a pretty awesome weekend, wild riding and a consistent performance have got me off to a good start.

Final jump into the finish area

After a long winter hiding away in the gym it made a nice change to see some familiar faces and catch up with everyone. I must say a massive thanks to Matt at Ison for sorting me the last minute wet wheels and Maz for helping me out with all things tech. Finally a huge shout out goes to Mr Paton for organising the event, just remember to book that big yellow thing in the sky next time!

Forest of Dean Summer Series Round 1

After a number of my scheduled races were cancelled due to what can only be described as, absolutely sh*t weather over the last two/three weeks, the decision was made to make the last minute trip to FoD for the first round of their summer series. Calling it a 'summer' series at this time of year was always going to be a little hopeful but the sun definitely had his hat on for what feels like the first time since last April!

Once the mandatory track walk on Saturday morning was done it was time to get kitted up and start smashing some runs out, the race was held on the relatively new GBU course and definitely favored those who love a good pedal. 

For those of you that haven't seen the track it consists of a nice sharp pedal for about 250-300m at the start to make sure your awake, followed by some awesome rutty berms that drop down onto a fire road crossing. The middle section has an off camber chute followed by a stump/root gap into a flat left, off a drop into some fast, groomed 'Whistler' turns. Another fire road crossing and then into a radd jump section to finish off the course. Here you could really get loose and have fun on the fast, floaty tables and step downs; ideal for the crowds to see the riders getting their whip on.

During practice I was feeling good on the bike and really enjoyed the course, quickly getting a feel for the track and finding my preferred lines for racing. One of the good things about FoD is the crazy amount of runs that you can fit in during a days riding there, especially if you shuttle it, giving me a good opportunity to put the Banshee through it's paces and it made the 4 hour drive well worth it!

Come race day the good weather continued, the track conditions remained perfect and before I knew it, it was time for my first race run. I was super excited after a long wait since the last race and couldn't wait to get on course to test my preparation and skills against the clock. I knew that in order to place well you couldn't let up on the sprints and on such a short track there wasn't much margin for mistakes.

Putting in a solid run I came across the line with a 1:45 putting me in the hot seat, with a lead of 1.5 seconds... so the job wasn't done just yet. With second runs fast approaching my plan was pretty simple, think of all those moto mums and dads out there and just PEDAL! On completion of my second race run I managed to knock two seconds of my time giving me the senior win with a 1:43, just a second from getting onto the Elite podium and 5th fastest time of the day.

A massive thanks to MIJ for once again putting together an excellent race, all the marshalls and people involved were super friendly, the commentary was pretty entertaining and everyone I saw riding was loving it and giving it there all making for the perfect race vibe over the weekend.