English
Alright it might be an early start, but the mountain bike season is back round already. Although there’s loads of time to get into really good shape for the major races, I hope that the winters training will be a good enough base to allow me to make the next step in my racing performances. By the end of Jan/start of Feb training started getting good again and I’ve found myself able to make the most of training having some really heavy weights sessions up the gym and a few cracking tempo rides to bring on the legs just enough to be competitive for the earlier season races as well.
So here it is my first race of the season and what an opener it was…very wet, very cold and saying it was muddy would be a generous description of the course! Despite some lap times being sub 15 minutes and the whole race being sub1hr 30, there was some good hard climbs, a few tricky descents (more so with the conditions) and to be honest that was enough. Only 10 minutes from my house was the setting for round 1 of the Welsh Mtb Series near Pontypridd, and with it only a week before I head out to Cyprus for 3 very well attended UCI races this would be a good chance to open out the legs and lungs ready.
Before the start the biggest decision I had to make and I think a lot of other riders were having the same dilemma too…how much/little layers to put on for the race. With most of the hillside exposed to the elements I decided that I’d rather go for to much and take some off if I get to warm as opposed to to little, finishing freezing and run the risk of catching a cold only a few days before I head to Cyprus. I ended up wearing 2 base layers, a skinsuit and a long sleeve dhb wind slam jacket, but even though that sounds like a lot of layers for a race I think I made the right decision as I ended up riding comfortable and was able to enjoy the race/course rather than be cold and miserable.
Off the start we head into a few very slippery corners where I got to the front and picked the best lines and out the way of any would be crashes and instantly into the lap. I actually felt quite comfortable in the first 10mins of the race and started pulling a gap on the rest of the field, which may be because I had a better warm up compared to most having the added advantage of a turbo set up in our van…sweet! From that point on I tried to increase my lead (if I could) as with the conditions the day brought us mechanicals can happen so easily and having a bit of a gap to play with always helps. I think my 4th lap (of 6) felt the fastest of the day as I just seemed to nail all the lines and didn’t make that many mistakes but on the whole I never fell off, I stayed warm and ended up enjoying the mudfest that round 1 brought to give my Focus Raven its first win of the season…Mint!
Next I’m looking forward to heading out to Cyprus (17th Feb) for the ‘Sunshine Cup’ where more than a fair share of World Cup riders go to kick off their season, so it will be fast racing, good training and hopefully a teeny bit better weather than what we had today! I’ll keep you posted, or for up to date info you can follow me @xcwilliams
on twitter!
Report and Pics…watch this space.
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/wales
