Plymouth Festival of CX
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 2:55 pm
Day 1
I started on the front. Chris Goguen flew off the start and instantly had at least 5 meters on everyone, I had an decent start and slotted in 3rd. I heard a crash happen behind me on the very fast, downhill, pavement first corner. Goguen and Brad Smith had a gap of a couple seconds for the first lap. I reeled them in and hung with them for a little while. Goguen seemed pretty gassed and Smith was sucking his wheel, so passed them through the start/finish. I grew a gap of around 15-20 secs on Smith. Knowing I was racing the next day, I didn’t push too hard but tried to keep a comfortable gap of at least 10 secs. I won!
The course was ok… it had a rooty technical MTB downhill, followed by a long-ish run-up that required me to shoulder my bike for the first time in a race. 1 set of barriers, a deep sand pit short enough to ride, flowy through the woods, short stairs, not very twisty on the grass field, pine needled turns around trees and a 180 turn onto the pavement start/finish.
Cat 2/3/4 1st/44
Day 2
I got a mediocre start at around 7th. Mottram took the holeshot and held it off for the win. I made my way to 3rd place with Smith and Crossley not far behind. I grew a gap on Smith and was only a couple secs behind 2nd placed Horsley. I was planning on joining forces with him to catch Mottram who had a 10 sec gap... then my chain dropped on the second to last lap, so I had to stop and fix it, putting me back into 5th. I quickly re-passed Smith and Crossley with 1 lap to go. The course had more rooty MTB sections than the previous day and the run up was extended.
Cat 2/3/4 3rd/48
I started on the front. Chris Goguen flew off the start and instantly had at least 5 meters on everyone, I had an decent start and slotted in 3rd. I heard a crash happen behind me on the very fast, downhill, pavement first corner. Goguen and Brad Smith had a gap of a couple seconds for the first lap. I reeled them in and hung with them for a little while. Goguen seemed pretty gassed and Smith was sucking his wheel, so passed them through the start/finish. I grew a gap of around 15-20 secs on Smith. Knowing I was racing the next day, I didn’t push too hard but tried to keep a comfortable gap of at least 10 secs. I won!
The course was ok… it had a rooty technical MTB downhill, followed by a long-ish run-up that required me to shoulder my bike for the first time in a race. 1 set of barriers, a deep sand pit short enough to ride, flowy through the woods, short stairs, not very twisty on the grass field, pine needled turns around trees and a 180 turn onto the pavement start/finish.
Cat 2/3/4 1st/44
Day 2
I got a mediocre start at around 7th. Mottram took the holeshot and held it off for the win. I made my way to 3rd place with Smith and Crossley not far behind. I grew a gap on Smith and was only a couple secs behind 2nd placed Horsley. I was planning on joining forces with him to catch Mottram who had a 10 sec gap... then my chain dropped on the second to last lap, so I had to stop and fix it, putting me back into 5th. I quickly re-passed Smith and Crossley with 1 lap to go. The course had more rooty MTB sections than the previous day and the run up was extended.
Cat 2/3/4 3rd/48