The master's race was a replay of the Elite race where a huge train of riders hurtled round the course slowly shrugging off riders as it wove relentlessly through the trees. Stephen James with Matt Barrett, John Veness, Rob Enslin and Mark Hutt helped shake this massive train down to just these 5 riders. Barrett playing on his vast experience left a little more in the tank and came past relative newbie James to take the win in a fascinating 4 up sprint. James took second narrowly ahead of Veness, who likewise pipped Enslin to third.
British Cycling website
So another XC season got underway and what a great way to start it. Here are just some of the words I'd use to describe the event : dry, sunny, excitement, results,
aw cycles van, travelodge, audi tt, jody crawford, talkative, value, giant bikes, fast course, podium, bike weights, Twitter
Getting thereOur trusty
AW Cycles van packed with equipment and bikes transported us to
Sherwood Pines - the venue for the first NPS of the season. We arrived in good time and without incident.
Practice DayTom's pre-event ramblings of tyre choice didn't seem to matter now - with the course dry there was only one tyre on everyones mind -
Racing Ralphs. Some of us were organised & well prepared (Mark Hutt) - donned their practice wheels saving their race wheels for race day, while others watched on (some of us even just scrambled around in search of mis-placed items).
We managed two practice laps before heading to our digs - Travelodge. The course was great, dry an fast but a little bumpy too so lots to be happy about. There were no tricky bits and no need to run over the course again on race day.
Race DaySimon Ernest was the first AW man off in the elite race. Si started the race in a commanding position - first group - up with the country's best. I was feeding/supporting him. By lap 4 (of 7) he flatted and lost touch with the leading group. He'd managed to hold a nice little group till the end finishing a respectable 17th.
In my race - Masters - Mark and I were both gridded while Tom had to settle for tail spots. The start was furious and I loved it.
Sidetrack: I just love those aggressive starts when riders are barging and pushing. Even though the start was hectic it was straight forward with a long open (slightly inclined) fire road to spread the riders out before entering the singletrack. By the first singletrack section both Mark and I were in good positions lying in the top 6 places. Mark rode like a man possessed making everyone suffer... including me. The course made its way into the twisty forest sections weiving in and out closed forest singletrack and fire tracks. Then we swung back towards the start/finish area and back out onto the second part of the course (back section) which was really fast - awesome fun!!!!
By the end if the first lap (of 5) our small neat and select group entered the start/finish area with raptuious applause from the spectators. Mark was leading the group with me hanging on. We continued this pace for a couple of laps. By midway we were joined by John Veness who incredibly junctioned... all credit to him - was great effort.
We continued around the course as a group of 5. Graham Warby attacked the group a few of times, but with a strong group on his wheel it was going to be tough to escape.
At the bell lap the pace was hot. Our group still moved along nicely with no sign of any chasers from the rest of the field. In the closing corners I miss-judged the number of laps remaining - thinking we still had one to go - so I found myself off the pace leaving Matt Barrett and Stephen James to take first and second with John (Veness) just ahead of me in third. (I did try to come round him) Mark right behind me, claimed 5th spot.
Result:1st Matt Barrett
2nd Stephen James
3rd John Veness
4th Rob Enslin (
AW Cycles)
5th Mark Hutt (
AW Cycles)
Full resultsBritish Cycling report
[Photo courtesy of Patron Choufflard]
