Lee Williams Blog: First Race, First Win Of The Season

First Race, First Win Of The Season

My first race of the season has been a good one. It took place in beautiful sunshine which in itself is a novelty at this time of the year. It had a big field with a few good riders making their first appearance giving great competition. A big crowd who were there to enjoy the racing and made a lot of noise, and a course which was fun to ride.

It was my first time out on my Focus Raven Pro and in my Wiggle team kit and the colours are instantly recognisable. There were comments all round the course for the whole race which just lifts your morale and makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable. “Come on Wiggle man, Focus” was one I particularly liked.

The course was well designed with a good descent which could be pretty tricky at times. Sections of it run through the downhill and dual course. The crowd lined the more difficult sections and were willing you to jump and put on a bit of a show and the end of the lap was a big climb back up to the start arena.

In the end I managed a good result and a win which is an optimistic start to what I know will turn out to be a good year. I’m already looking forward to this coming weekend when I’ll be racing in the first round of the Dragon XC in north Wales.

Lee Williams Interview for British Cycling.

“Yeah very pleased with that ride, I went out hard on the first lap to try and get a bit of a gap and then it was just a case of plugging away and hanging on. It was a matter of getting as much of a gap as I could really: there was so much flint out there you never knew what might happen. With a gap at least I would have a bit of a cushion if something should go wrong. I was gaining most of my time in the singletrack. It was a very demanding course and you were out of the saddle a lot. There was hell of an atmosphere out there, especially on the descents with everyone screaming at you to take the inside line, which was the trickiest. You didn’t know whether to impress the crowds or stay safe! If someone was on the racing line I went for the easier options but if it was clear, well I tried to impress every time!

Great weekend, good weather, awesome race, great start to the season and now hopefully things are looking good for the rest of the year”.