ticket2ridebc.com Blog

Pitfichie was to be my first race back to full fitness after breaking my wrist at the start of last season.
The winter months had seen a few changes, 1 stone or so lighter, a hair cut and now riding an Iron Horse Sunday.
The winter months had been good to me, with training going well but far from complete. The new bike, training, and back to riding more cross country had left me feeling fresh and hopeful for the season ahead.
Choosing not to ride any of the winter races and concentrate my efforts on getting back up to the kind of performances that had seen me on 2 podiums for my first season racing in 2007.

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For once the weather forecast for the proceeding week and the weekend was for nice weather, with little to no wind, this could turn out to be a super fast track with little in the way of bus stop corners to remove the speed of the faster and braver riders.
With the changes to the uplift system in Scotland Pitfichie was destined to be the first push up race for a few years in the series, good for the northern guys who do not have the luxury of the of uplift services enjoyed by the southerners.

The track, Pitfichie is split into 3 distinctive sections; the top of the track is on open moorland, with some super fast corners and large rock slabs to negotiate on the way to the second section, this is entered using the Pitfichie step down for the good riders, a 6ft fly off, landing into a rough rock garden, the slower and less brave choosing to go round the feature, the track is now steeper and rougher with some nice corners thrown in, and one steep rock garden that makes you smile every time you hit it, 2 more rock gardens that require skill and bravery to not exit slowly and you are onto the 3rd section at the bottom of the track, flatter with some nice bermed corners and a number of drops followed by a nice jump into the finish of the track.

With confidence high and not wanting to put any doubts about line choices into my head I decided only do a limited number of practice runs, with no sectioning. Walking the track on Friday night I picked my lines, which I would stick with for the weekend, rock does not cut up the same way as soil, so sticking to the rocks that other were trying to avoid made sense to me. 4 Practice runs on Saturday and only 1 on the Sunday and I was ready to race.
Race run 1 and setting off from the line I had decided that this was going to be my fast run giving it 110% for 90% of the track. Only making 1 mistake on the track before catching my 30 second man, this being a hard track to pass on at the bottom section I cruised in behind him, loosing 4 or 5 seconds but confident that the rest of the run was good. The live timing was down so there was a wait until times were out. As the top 3 were read out I was not in the top 2, so thought I had work to do on the next run, then the announcement that Ticket2ridebc.com rider John Young was in a 5 second lead came over the PA and I nearly fell over. I knew training was going well, but this was more than I expected. I had planned trying to beat my first run time on the 2nd run, but had 900miles to drive in the next 36hours so took it steady on run 2, coming in 0.5seconds slower than the first run with the 2nd fastest Masters time of the day behind my run 1 time.
My first win, and delighted for it. Massive thanks to T2R and especially Steve, Ben and Pit man (LOL) Phil Moorhouse for their support last season whilst I was recovering from injury.

Other highlights of the weekend was the mini slalom race that was put on by the SDA on Saturday night, great fun to watch with some nice action and great crashes.

Roll on the next SDA (Fort William) if I can get an entry at a late date.

It was good to arrive at Caersws in some fine weather – the NPS track was being used and just getting down in the wet had been a challenge last time here, let alone thinking about going quickly. With that in mind, I was a bit disappointed to end up on my backside on my first run, sliding off a higher line.

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Come Sunday, I put in a safe first race run, missing one of the higher lines up top, and being over-cautious through the trees. On my second run I tried to let off the brakes a little and with one tense moment rounding the first tight right hander – the scene of many a fall during the day, I was able to get a bit of speed through the trees. The extra distance over a tabletop towards the bottom nearly had me slipping off a pedal but I got it back together to arrive safely in the field to finish. I had made up 10 seconds on my first run. I’ve no excuses now; I need to put this effort in to my first run for the next race.

I finished third Woman overall – good, but not good enough!

The course only opened the weekend prior to the race and all early reports were of a rough track as there had been minimal time to get the course builders up there due to the appalling weather in the preceding three weeks. The weather wasn’t looking too good for the weekend either, but then it hasn’t been for as long as I can remember, it usually always rains as some point.

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Friday evening was spent setting up camp in prime spot opposite the finish line and battening down the hatches ready for the gale force winds and rain forecast for Friday night and Saturday. The 200kg of water barrels strapped to the gazebo legs did the trick as everything was still there Saturday am and there were a few van rocking moments during the night, (and I was on my own before you comment – ha!).

As predicted, we had horizontal rain on waking, but just prior to the uplift starting it stopped, so it was an early start to get a few runs in prior to any rain returning or even the gondola being shut due to the high winds. The one saving grace was that the wind was blowing in a direction directly along the line of the cable so it wasn’t affecting the cars too much, any change of direction though would have shut things down.

There were a few rain showers during the day, but with good timing I missed all of them and got 4 ‘dry’ runs. The small jump between the board walk sections was interesting and was catching a lot of riders as they got blown off course, myself included on two occasions. You knew it was coming but there was nothing you could do about it!

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First run was going well and I was running pretty smooth but then got red flagged at the entrance to the forest section – balls. I pulled off the track to let the following riders through so as not to hinder them, but when I tried to re-enter to follow the last rider down a manic marshal jumped out in front of me which required me to brake sharply on ‘kitty litter’ and I consequently hit the deck. To say I wasn’t impressed was an understatement, and I used some choice language to tell him so, but then quickly realised that this would probably get me DQ’d, so I apologised immediately – ha!

I went up for a re-run and put in a time that could have been measured by an hour glass but still put me in 7th place! TBH the site of Mark Weightman lying by the track with his leg @ 90 degrees wasn’t the best preparation and knowing quite a few people who have been seriously injured here, it suddenly became a case of survival rather doing anything silly and hurting myself.

Second run I tried to keep the fingers off the brakes a bit more and pedal where I could. I got caught by the wind on the jump that sent the sphincter twitching a bit and I’m not sure how I managed to miss the rocks, but it must have been by millimetres. Kept it fairly smooth, but TBH a bit to cautious and hit the line in 6:32. Unfortunately two other riders went faster and I ended up in 9th.

A bit disappointed TBH, but then again pleased that I survived.

Pitfichie is approx 20 miles NE of Aberdeen and as John has mentioned many times on numerous forums, it’s a looong way up there for us English boys, (and he lives a further 1.5 hours north too)! Non stop it was a 5 hour drive for me, so an early flyer from work was required Friday afternoon and I rolled into the bone dry field just after 8pm with the rest of the team having just set up camp.

This weekend was old style DH, just like we had to do in the 90’s, push up!! It was noticed throughout Saturday practise that it was mainly the ‘older’ riders who were actually going all the way to the top every time, to me it seemed easier to walk up the fire road, which took ~ 35 mins, than struggle through the heather by the side of the track.

Saturday was dry but overcast, which was just about bearable on the push up. Just like the old days, the 2 Ltr hydration pack was strapped on so I had constant hydration during the ‘endurance’, as I hit the top 5 times, and with sectioning, rode all sections of the track probably 7 times. By my final run I knew where I wanted to go, so did a full run at 75% and put the stop watch on – 3 min 25 secs. I therefore reckoned come race run I would hopefully do a 3:00 to 3:05.

Steve Felstead-sda-series-round-1-pitfichie-19-april-09

Bit of a leisurely Sunday morning was had as I’d decided to do only one practice run as I didn’t want to push up more that 3 times in total. A cruise down and I was ready for the slow ‘plod’ up the hill to the start of run 1, this time in the open sunshine – it were a bit hot!

TBH my1st run was a bit too steady, I coasted too much on the top plateau and was too slow through the rock garden but finished with a 3:06 and 6th place. My normal sparring partner Kem, was up in 3rd on a 2:56 so that told me straight away I was off the pace – damn this winter plumage!

2nd run I set off determined to pedal harder and try and keep up the momentum over the rocks and try and do a sub 3’ time. Yes I pedalled more on the top section but a bar steward head wind had developed which counteracted some of the extra effort – D’Oh! I kept it smooth through the rocks and hit the line in 3:03, yes it was faster, but 3+ secs slower than I was trying for, so I was a little disappointed.

I ended up in 7th position with some training required to get the last of the winter plumage off the midrift. Big congratulation to John on a storming win in the Masters Cat after last years injury layoff.

This season we are having team handicap challenges too to spice the competition up btw the us, basically the differences between our ages is the time advantage we are allowed over each other. After round 1, John is in first place, I’m second and Ben third – ha!

With Peter and Phil in town we were on best behaviour this weekend and even Ben managed to delay going chasing Innerleithen skirt until late Saturday night, which is very unusual!

As Ben mentioned, not walking the course first, or certainly looking at the top section prior to leaving the start hut, was a bad decision. With wide taping and multiple lines the sheep trail that a lot of riders were following wasn’t the best option, so I was very sketchy on the first ‘sighting’ run down. Second and third runs were spent sectioning the complete course, so by my 4th run I knew what lines I wanted to hit and it was then just a matter of fine tuning the speed to make sure I hit them. On conclusion of Sat practice I was confident that 2 runs on Sunday am would have me nailing a good run and hopefully giving a few of the new Vets a run for their money.

Steve Felstead - Alpine-bikes-winter-round-2-march-09

TBH I should have gone to bed earlier as I wasn’t feeling top notch and the sore throat and blocked nose Sunday am was very unwelcome and a realisation that I shouldn’t have sat next to that bloke with a stinking cold during last weeks training course – D’Oh!

A swift cycle to the uplift had me in a right old sweat and one cautious run down had me switched into ‘just get the day over and tucked up in bed’ mode, I felt a bit crap!

With a bumper Vet field of 20+ riders, I was still fairly confident of getting a top ten even just taking it steady. As usual I put in pedal strokes were I could to maintain momentum and apart from one rooty section, hit nearly all of the lines I wanted to, but my legs started to burn really badly after the 2nd road crossing and I had a scary moment when my right foot came off the pedal on landing the double.

I was a bit pants through the arena area and took it too cautiously, but hit the line with a time of 4:19 into first place which was a pleasant surprise, but the euphoria was quickly dispelled as all the 6 subsequent riders came in faster. As usual, Alistair mullered us all with a time of 3.43 and going by past differentials, that put me about 15 secs off my usual pace as I can normally get within 20 to 25 secs of him.

A bit of a rest now until the start of the summer season, so chance to get out training more and hopefully build the new bike up.

Ben Moorhouse - SDA Series Round 2, Fort William

The track this weekend was a lot more beaten up than the usual Fort William conditions. The top section was the usual board walks with the drifty berms in between. The first bus stop was a lot rougher than usual with a lot of the large rocks seeming to have disappeared. Down through pinball which was a similar story and round the big berms to the gondola pass. Going down to the deer gate the track was a mixture of old sections which had been filled in more and some which had some big holes and breaking bumps due to the snow on the mountain over winter.

Through the deer gate the track goes down the usual straights with some new lines round the flat corners, winding down to the woods. Into the woods section you go round the board walk and then to the left and down a new section made up of some deep mud which was easier to hit with some speed. Most riders however did not understand this concept and the red flag was up on this section for the main part of the weekend. Down through the old wooded section and past both wall-rides leads you out to the top of the motorway. Here the rock garden had been filled in heavily with hardcore which made the lines a lot faster and smoother. This allowed you to carry more speed into the motorway without the usual sluggish pedalling.

Down the motorway the first jump and berm had been rebuilt with slightly softer dirt. This made it very sticky and sucked any speed you built up as soon as you hit the berm. This meant the hip replacement jump was a lot slower and you had to put the effort in to clear the next two tables and double. After these there was the infamous Tissot jump and the off beat wall leading into the 4X jump and the triple to finish the track.

After practice in the rain and wind on Saturday I went for another XC ride with John which was a mixture of gruelling climbs and hardcore DH. Sunday came around and after 2 practice runs in the morning the sun was out and the wind was almost gone so the track was drying out a lot. In run 1 I got a decent time with little mistakes and got a time of 5:34.739. In run 2 I put in more effort to put the power down along the straights especially on the top and motorway sections. This paid off and I improved my time to 5:28.509 and 8th place in juniors.

Ben Moorhouse - Northern DH series Round 2 – Hamsterley Forest

After landing you jump to the left, missing out the rock garden and you go round some more switchbacks and down the rocky chute to the road crossing. Back into the woods and it goes round some tight flat corners and round some muddy berms before winding down over some rougher rooty and rocky sections. Further down you go round the chicken route for the “Caersws corner” drop and then down to the big drop at the bottom. Before doing the drop you go up and drop down around a big stump. This was a bit of a steep roller and many riders ended up looking at the ground. To the left and off the big drop keeping all your speed around the big final berm and it’s a sprint along the last 40 metres of flat through the finish line.

On Saturday the weather was brilliant with bright hot sunshine and dust down much of the track. Typically on Sunday the heavens had opened over night and the cut down spikes were on in a flash. After 3 runs of practice on the new tyres I felt ready to race and I had all my lines just about dialled. In run 1 I made a few mistakes and seemed to be in the wrong gear for most of the track and came through with a 1.50 to put me in second. In run 2 I knew I could do better and I only had to make up 4 seconds to win. I got the top section mint and was all pumped up to let off the brakes more down the bottom. I got to the drop at the bottom and I knew my run was a lot faster. Then the inevitable happened. Pedalling out of the final corner my chain came off and my gears crunched jamming the cranks. I had to coast for the last 40 metres of completely flat, if not uphill ground and I crossed the line with a 1.48, just 1.5 seconds behind 1st.

As you can probably imagine I was a bit gutted that my gears had given up when it mattered most but still 2nd place wasn’t a bad result and I got a spangly new fox belt. Wooo.