The first winter race of the ‘off season’ was meant to be relaxing, fun and chilled out, but after a brake failure the relaxed, chilled out side of the race was lost.

The race was held at the UK Bike Park and was only an hour and twenty minutes from home so no camping was involved. I spent all of Saturday riding aggressively with friends and generally messing around with the course, just having fun. Often that is the best way to build your confidence and get up to speed on a race track.

I got at least twelve runs in, wearing my new Shimano AM45 SPD shoes which feel amazing. They give you loads of feedback about what’s happening under your tyres and still manage to be stiff enough for very efficient pedalling. Added to which, they are really comfortable.

Sunday was a different matter. Just before my first race run I had front brake failure. The lever pulled straight to the handlebar and… nothing! I knew I had to carry half the speed into each steep section, and wouldn’t have the stability to carry speed out of steep corners. In my first race run, because I could not lose enough speed coming into a steep corner, I slipped over the support. Then I had to scoot with my foot along the first section of the off-camber straight that followed it.

In my second race run just the front wheel slipped over the support, in a different place but for the same reason. It took an even longer run to regain speed again.

I ended up in fifth out of nine which all things considered, I was pleased with.

Cheers Finn