Week 16 of 52 weeks

I'm attempting to compete in the Mega Avalanche in 2010 - It's a journey of 52 weeks till I actually get there and it's gonna be tough! Read on to hear more about my week of riding Hardtails, filming for Geax and BMX racing!

Inside are the pics, video diary and loads of letters from the alphabet, which form words that will tell you about week 16 in my mission to Mega Avalanche in 2010.

Week 16 - "52 weeks" - Week of the Hardtail

by jumble

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Monday

Day of rest - it should have been Sunday - but it was too sunny not too ride. I found out today on the grapevine that there is a BMX club race in Derby this Sunday - so I sent off an email for details and decided to train my butt off for my first ever BMX race. After looking at my chainring on my BMX I decided that if there was an MTB class, I would enter that instead.

Tuesday

Ok as lunch time passed and Elijah was ready for a sleep - we drove down to Alvaston BMX track for a session on the track that was to host this weekend's racing. As the rain fell and Elijah slept - I made my way up the mammoth drop in start for my first attempt at the track.

Soooo, interesting discovery - these jumps are insanely big - the first jump is a step up, which is a whopping 5 bikes length and is flipping massive! I decided this was not the best jump to warm up on so I headed to the final straight where there was a medium sized tabletop and step up to session on.

Ok enough of that playing around - feeling confident on the final straight I headed back to the first step up for a session on clearing the epic beast. I pedaled hard, pushed and gave it everything - and ...nope - nothing. Then again, nothing. Then again, nothing. Then again - nothing!

I decided maybe my gears were too low so I upped my gearing - hahaha - I am now front wheel clear and back wheel just on top. Surely I am gonna clear this pot noodle of a jump soon. Then good old reality kicked in and I was bucked off my bike from a rather rear wheel heavy landing. Crashes either send you home or egg you on to try again - this one made me think of one thing - Sunday's race - I gotta get back up the hill and try again - to be phased by this jump 6 days from a race would suck massively. I head up the hill and decided to hit it 3 more times. I wasn't bothered about clearing it - I just wanted to know I could hit the step up at speed and not be intimidated by my crash.

To be fair my last 3 attempts went well and I was really happy with my final jump, even though my rear wheel cased on top - I was able to suck up the majority of the landing and carry on with speed. Good times!

Wednesday

Rest day with Elijah followed by a new regime on the Turbo trainer - much more impressed with the higher resistance and new training format.

Thursday - Return of the non jedi!

Back to Alvaston today for round 2 - however now nursing an injury. This morning while helping load Julia's work into the car, I dropped a rather heavy box of work books and folders onto my right foot - bruising and cutting open the top of my foot. I strapped it up and headed down to the track with Dan to see if I could work out what I was doing wrong over the first step up jump.

Very quickly I realized that it wasn't my speed or determination that was preventing me from clearing the jump - it was my lack of technique of boosting the jump to get enough air to clear the entire gap. I decided that I would hit up Rushcliffe 4x track the next day to work on clearing large sized jumps that were a little bit smaller, and I could actually work on boosting the jumps there - and hopefully then I could come back here and clear this monster with more ability.

Friday

Filming with Nico today for Geax and joined by Tomo - which is great as he is able to keep the atmosphere really fun!

The weather conditions were pretty good and the track was nice and dry. So we cracked on straight away and got some sweet dolly shots on the park. As we filmed I began to start jumping the step ups and doubles one by one. And after around 30 mins of riding I was clearing all the jumps that I had never done before.



My ability may have been stretched at Alvaston, but at least I was now given the ability to hit the Rushcliffe jumps with bags of confidence and knowledge that not much can go wrong!

After a sweet session of riding and Nico even getting a burn on my bike - we headed home through the suburban jungle through a cascading waterfall of rain.

Saturday

Headed out on a rest day and family day to West Midlands Safari. Had an awesome day, even if the rhinos got way too close to my new car!

Sunday

Race day - First ever gated race and first ever time I will have done a whole lap of Alvaston BMX track while sprinting. On arrival the gated start practice had began so I quickly jumped up and found some people to introduce me to how to do this weird gate thing. I met a guy called Smiler, who was racing my category shared with me some tips and really helped me to believe that I was going to do well in the race today. He showed me and talked me through various techniques with how to control my bike and even did a couple of practice laps with me.


After signing in and getting my paper plate number board, I headed to the start to the first heat of the MTB / cruiser category. Our category had 11 riders competing in it altogether and we were split into 2 groups. There was to be 3 heats, semi final and then a final. So it was off to my first ever gated race. The gate dropped and I started in last position. By the first berm I was hanging in 3rd and I had decided to try and conserve a sprint until the last straight where I knew I could catch the competition on my strongest section of the course. I went high on the final berm and smoothly passed the cruiser and finished my first heat in 2nd place.


The second heat went pretty much the same and I finished in 2nd place again, very happily but really knackered! I was doubting if I could even sprint around this track again.

The third heat started well but I had a bit of a crash with another rider on the track, I managed to pick myself up quickly and finish in 3rd place. Not really being used to BMX racing decorum, I decided to wait at the finish line and apologize for anything that may have been my fault. He was pretty muddy with a few cuts and he didn't seem to be too upset with the ordeal.


The event organizers decided to use our results and throw us straight into the finals - we began the finals as the sky began to grow dark and the burger van queue disappeared. The gate dropped and we all left the gate at good pace. As I landed the step up my handlebars twisted upside down and had begun spinning inside the stem. I didn't know what to do so I continued racing and just aimed to finish the race as well as possible. As we hit the first berm I was in 8th place. As we hit the rhythm section I managed to pick off 2 riders by the next berm. The final section was definitely were I excelled - so I waited until the last berm before I gave it a little more acceleration and I cruised past another rider to finish in 5th place. I was dead chuffed and exhausted!

A quality day racing and I couldn't have had more fun in honesty on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Thanks to cycle derby and Haro for hosting such an awesome event and what a successful turnout for your first ever club race! Huge thanks to Smiler and Adam for your support and Julia and Elijah for lasting the day on camera and in the pits!

Another week down and some good new training discovered - even if it is the most exhausting type of riding I have ever done!

John Lee aka Jumble

Lumicycle

Aquila

Pinkbike

Ripnroll Goggles

Leatt Brace

Knox

Action Cameras

Dirtworker

Haro Bikes

Dirt mx

Geax

New Life Derby