Llangollen BDS Round 4

British Downhill Series National Round 4 Llangollen

The weekend of racing started early with an lunchtime finish from work! Feeling enthusiastic we packed the van with the essentials. Bikes, kit, spares, beer, naiveness and set off for the boat. A smooth crossing left us feeling fresh and we drove the hour and twenty minutes to Llangollen. Number boards collected and lives signed away we walked the track.



In downhill events a track walk is compulsory so that riders can assess the terrain and 'scope out lines' which they feel suit their ability and most importantly are fastest! That's not what happened on the walk up the track. Despite being lucky enough to walk the track at Easter on an uplift day and even though we knew it was steep but what was taped out was on ridiculous! With recent work on the track and some light rain there was no easy routes down with a lot of 'pro lines' being the only options.

Roots, drops and steep chutes it was not for the faint hearted! As we walked back down we started to dissect sections and plan a route for tomorrow's practice. Feeling optimistic and relaxed we headed back to the cottage and went to bed.

Saturday practice was interesting for Mike and myself as newcomers. Jim gave us some sound advice and we tried to get as much practice in as possible! Unfortunately that didn't go as well as we planned. The uplift was only 20 minutes to the top (not too bad) but the queue at the top terrible, up to an hour long at times. The first third of the track was so technical (the organisers rated it as a 6 on a scale of 1-5!?!) that red flags were the norm and starting intervals even for practice. It made for some sheepish looks! Rain and mist throughout the day didn't help either as the course became rutted and treacherously slippy!

http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/British-Downhill-Series-Llangollen-Practice-Carnage,26235/Steel-City-Media,14510

All of us had crashes on pretty much every run we did! Unfortunately one crash meant the end of the weekend for Jim. A crash off the log drop ended with a written off helmet, bruised face and a dislocated finger! Strangely for Jim his bike was faultless all weekend which makes a change compared to previous rounds. Although disappointed he ended up chilling out up the hill with Josh and Gareth giving Mike and myself abuse as we struggled with practice.

Sunday - Race Day
After yesterday's practice both Mike and myself were keen to try and get up to speed on our lines. That didn't go quite as planned either. Once we arrived at the top of the track we were meet with red flags and eventually the course was closed when a rider went down with suspected spinal injuries. A stark reminder how dangerous it was to ride this track! 2 hours after we had left the bottom of the hill we got our only practice run in. The track was more rutted than previously and that meant even more roots exposed!


We took what we could from that run and prepared for seeding. With the event running behind schedule we had plenty of time at the top to chat to the friendlier riders, pretend to warm up like pros and generally wind each other up! Eventually we went down. Mike was first. I dropped in a minute later! I crashed on the first corner (again) so threw caution to the wind the rest of the way. I ended up riding behind 'Peel Steel' as he had also crashed getting tangled in the catch net and also hurting his fingers in the process. We both crossed the line wishing it'd gone better.

At least we had managed to qualify for race runs unlike 20 other Senior riders who had already gone home by that stage! With the weather improving, skies turning blue and Chatel changed to dry tyres for his race run and headed to the top with me. I played it safe and stuck with my wets.

Mike was first down in Senior. He attacked the track hitting the bigger lines he'd practiced and was again unlucky and crashed after the log drop! Not wanting to be DQ'd by a stupid UCI rule he crawled back up the track and rejoined where he left and finished the run to finish 29th from 54 riders. Annoyed with crashing Mike was a bit gutted about what might of been. Credit to him for making the big lines work and through the speed trap it was evident that he had the pace.

It was my turn minutes later. Anxious not to repeat my first corner crash I took my awkward line and made it through the first steep section. As the track had dried it was much gripper in the rutted corners and I managed to keep momentum through the woods. I frantically pedalled as much as possible on the fast middle section and really got into the moment on the final switchbacks! Dropping in to the field I crossed the line with my best run of the weekend and went away with a massive grin and 19th place!

If you'd have offered us a Top 30 position on Friday night we'd have bitten your arm off quicker than Suarez! All in all a challenging weekend for everyone and we were happy to go away with minimal injuries and bikes intact!


A big thanks to Team manager Gareth Faragher, our personal trainer Josh Coppins-Corlett and Jim Marshall for organising the trip and Mike Chatel for being 'on the pipe' all weekend!
Until next time!