By Seth Kanaris, U14 Mudslinger
MTB XC Round 1, Sherwood Pines!
So on Sunday the 29th March, I attended my first ever BC national series XC race up in Sherwood Pines in Nottingham! The build-up was quite nerve-racking: I spent almost every day on the turbo making sure I was in good shape, but what didn’t help was the fact that – while I had read up on it all – I actually had no idea of what to expect. When we arrived in Nottingham the night before the big race (after getting hopelessly lost!), I actually forgot all about the fact that I’d never done a national before and spent more energy trying to decipher what the waiters were saying in the restaurant – I couldn’t make out a single word!
Anyway, the following morning I got up early, had a big breakfast (with extra hash browns!), and started to psyche myself up for the forthcoming race… When I arrived at the venue, almost an hour before my race I started to get a bit nervous as all I could see were people my age on full carbon XC hardtails warming up on rollers, which wasn’t exactly a confidence booster! After signing on (the sign-on team were good, but not as good as ours at Slipstreamers! :-)), I just chilled in the car for half an hour (sign on closed 45 minutes before the start!), and then when I was ready I started listening to some tunes to pump me up (anybody know Royal Blood?) before I headed out for the start. Did I mention it was raining?!
The gridding!
Anyway, so off to start line I went. We were gridded, which meant that because there were so many of us, we were called out and put into rows at the start line based on our previous performance (and rankings I guess). Basically, we were all in a bunch, and then there were these four taped off rows that we had to get into in single file before going to the start line(s) in order. It also meant, however, that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and I accidentally went into the wrong row when my name was called out!
And we’re off…
When the youth category set off, I heard the bang of the gun and could only help but notice the speed of the riders – they were generating some seriously insane power! When the start guy was counting down for us Juveniles, I was trying to get ready for my race, get into the mindset, and ensure I was confident. Just when I thought I was 100% ready and unbeatable, though, the start gun fired and I was suddenly in the midst of a swarm of riders! Put it this way – the guys that were winning the regional races like the Gorricks by about five minutes were just left behind!
The course itself wasn’t that technical – it was a bit shorter and less hilly than the courses I’m used to, and we had to do 3 laps of it. But it was extremely boggy and there were a lot of flat, open bits that required lots of pedal power, as well as very narrow sections that I had to try very hard to not clip my bars in.
Broken!
You could tell who the roadies and cyclo-crossers were, because on one of the climbs there were some slippery logs that you had to ride over (summer tyres for the win!!!), and a lot of people just got off and ran it. I would consider myself a more technical rider than extremely fit and good at pedalling for ages, so I struggled with being able to constantly get the power down on those hills and flat bits; which is probably why I ended up finishing 33rd out of 40 people, very muddy and broken!
So, as you can tell, I obviously wanted to do well but I was up against some serious competition and it wasn’t exactly the result of a lifetime. However, I would say that it was a unique experience to be racing against people from all over the country and to have such a different format from the usual races – and being the first Slipstreamer to actually race XC nationally was pretty cool as well. So while I didn’t do well at all, I didn’t come last and this was definitely a wake-up call and spur of motivation for the upcoming races!
The next national round is on the 19th April in Newnham Park near Plymouth, at what looks like an epic course – here’s hoping I can get a better result!