As we arrived at the base of a very steep hill overlooking Llangollen, for the fourth round of the British Downhill Series, it was raining, and it continued to rain all Friday night. On Saturday morning when practice started on the very steep, technical track the ground was pretty wet and slimy, so I decided to run a pair of Maxxis Wet Screams.

Throughout practice the sun was shining and the track slowly dried out. At about 2:00 I took the Wet Screams off and changed them for a pair of High Rollers on my super strong Pimplight wheels. The wheels and tires helped the rolling resistance massively. Both sets of tires seemed to grip surprisingly well on the loose and slippery surface.

Llangollen is very steep and twisty but there are two long straights; on one of which despite the fact you don’t pedal much the top boys were hitting 54 mph! By the end of Saturday I thought I was up to a good speed, and I was having so much fun.

Sunday was very hot, over 30 degrees, so keeping cool was the priority. I did two runs in practice before hiding in the shade for a bit before my seeding run. I never planned to go flat out in seeding but was still surprised to end up in 27th. I knew I could I find a lot of time, and I qualified in 29th at Moelfre so I was not too worried.

My race run felt good. I hit my lines and thought I had carried good speed. I was shocked to cross the line in 3rd so early in the competition. Then rider after rider came down faster than me until I was pushed down to 28th.

This race really got to me because it was not that I made a mistake or crashed, and my Kona Stab and my Troy Lee Design kit were performing amazingly as usual. I just was not quick enough, and being as competitive as I am that really gets to me. On the bright side it has made me hungrier to do well, and I have been looking at all the videos of the race and I know what I can do to improve. For now I just have to tell myself everyone has a bad race from time to time.

Finn