Well, it would appear my concerns about a lack of progress on who would run the 2008 British Mountain Bike XC/National Points Series were unfounded, with the announcement that Thetford MTB Racing (http://www.thetfordmtbracing.com) will be taking over from Martyn Salt and his Inevent team.
I know how well run events managed by Frank and Paul etc. from Thetford can be, both from the Marin Winter Series enduro races and from Dusk 'Til Dawn, and am sure the series is in safe hands for 2008. It will be interesting to see which venues are selected, especially if, as suggested, there will be a return to Scotland for one of the rounds.
2008 will be a massive year for XC racing, in particular because of the Olympics, but also at national level. It looks fairly certain that there will be 2 Elite Men riding in GB colours in Beijing, with Liam Killeen and Oli Beckingsale the most likely candidates. Oli deserves to ride in China for the amount of travel he did in 2007 alone while chasing UCI qualification points! If Oli gets back to his 2005 and 2006 form, and Liam is fully fit, I am hopeful GBR will have a chance of some high finishes, not only in the Olympics, but in Italy at the Worlds, on a climber's course which should suit Oli.
At national level, particularly amongst the Elite Women, the competition is really heating up, with Amy Hunt now a real challenger to Jenny Copnall as British #1, and hopefully there will be more world class racers like Rosara Joseph (pictured) and Mary McConneloug making the trip to race in the UK.
On a personal note, I've not been out on the bike as much I would like, but riding round Richmond Park in SW London at night is a far better experience than during the day, with no pedestrians or dogs to slow down for! I've finally got round to putting more air in my forks so will start experimenting with the best pressures from now on.
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Thursday, 25 October 2007
What will next year's British national series look like?
After a break of many years from XC competition, I started going to XC races again in 2005 including the national events, then known as the National Points Series, which became the British Mountain Bike XC Series for 2007. The series under both titles was run by Martyn Salt of Inevent and supported by Trek and others, and was characterised by a wide variety of courses, spread over England and Wales mainly, with good facilities and a friendly atmosphere. It compared really well to the early to mid 1990s when I used to race, has been growing at around 15% per year in numbers terms, and had begun to attract top class riders from Europe and around the world, such as South African champion and top U-23 racer Burry Stander, pictured leading Oli Beckingsale at Thetford this year.
However, it is all change for 2008 - Trek will not be acting as a major sponsor, and British Cycling are seeking a new organiser to run the series, and to build upon the good work done by Inevent. BC made the announcement seeking new organisers a while ago, since when there has been no news whatsoever. There are no British national series races listed on the UCI calendar for 2008 (not even dates with venue TBC) and the final cut-off point for inclusion in the UCI calendar is approaching fast.
It would be a disaster for XC racing in the UK if the national series went backwards, with no UCI points and/or a step backwards in organisation etc. I hope for the sake of the sport that there will be some news soon, and good news at that.
However, it is all change for 2008 - Trek will not be acting as a major sponsor, and British Cycling are seeking a new organiser to run the series, and to build upon the good work done by Inevent. BC made the announcement seeking new organisers a while ago, since when there has been no news whatsoever. There are no British national series races listed on the UCI calendar for 2008 (not even dates with venue TBC) and the final cut-off point for inclusion in the UCI calendar is approaching fast.
It would be a disaster for XC racing in the UK if the national series went backwards, with no UCI points and/or a step backwards in organisation etc. I hope for the sake of the sport that there will be some news soon, and good news at that.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Marin Dusk 'til Dawn 2007 review
After D2D 2005 and Sleepless In The Saddle 2006, we were confident as a team that we had learned enough about team enduro racing to make D2D 2007 run smoothly. Oh how wrong we were.
We started out well enough - I got the train up to Brandon, despite the best efforts of Network Rail imposing engineering works on the route, and claimed a pitch near the main arena and close to the portaloos. The rest of the team shared a van, stocked up at the supermarket, and arrived in good time to prep the bikes, fit lights and pre-ride the course.
While they were making final adjustments, I had a look at the Chelmer Cycles stand, and took the opportunity to test-ride £5250 worth of final prototype Cannondale Scalpel team replica (http://gb.cannondale.com/bikes/08/ce/model-8VP0.html). I hadn't ridden a Scalpel before, so can't compare the new shock position for 2008 to that of older models, but the full build (with Crossmax SLRs, X0 etc.) is incredibly light and feels super fast even with high volume Maxxis Crossmarks fitted. The carbon Lefty fork meanwhile felt buttery smooth, at least to my untrained senses. I've fallen in love with this bike a bit.....
The course itself was around 11.7m long, and in contrast to the 2005 D2D, had very few climbs of note, but had gained 4 bomb holes to make up for it. Initial feedback from the likes of George Budd was that it would be very fast, and a quick practice lap supported this.
To the race itself: having learned from past experience how bad the single track queues can be at Thetford, I joined the grid really early in the hope of making a (rare for me) fast start. The race began with a 1 mile or so section before rejoining the course proper, which did a good job at the front at least of creating room to race. With fresh legs and fully-charged lights, the course was an absolute blast to ride.
I soon found myself following in the tread marks of Jenn Hopkins of Minx/Kona (pictured), the 2006 Solo Women's winner, on her singlespeed hardtail Kona. She would escape from me on the singletrack only to be reeled back in on the fireroad. Except for the occasional horrendous piece of riding by me slowing down those behind, I stayed with her the entire lap, a sobering thought when she was to ride at that pace for 12 hours non-stop. Very impressive.
A clean, delay-free first lap saw Steve start lap 2 with us in 15th place of the 52 four man teams - nosebleed territory! Unfortunately it was all downhill from there, starting off with Steve's high speed fireroad crash which cost him time before handing over to Andrew. Steve went off to get patched up by the excellent Extreme Medics (http://www.extrememedics.com/) staff. Meanwhile, out on course, Andrew was making good use of his training and the most powerful lights combination in our team to heat up the lap time rivalry between all of us which began at SITS with an impressively fast lap.
Roger was the final team member to go out, and despite having had little chance to get used to his new bike, bought the night before the event, he had a good first half of the lap and was looking strong on the second part when disaster struck. An unseen root/rock/obstacle sent him crashing heavily to earth, broke 1 light completely and damaged the other, and cost a lot of time.
Following on from Roger, I then punctured, but couldn't get the CO2 canister plus sealant to fix the problem completely, so had to ride with very low tyre pressure which made cornering interesting. Luckily I was near the end of the lap, so I ran the final bombhole and into the arena to try to minimise any damage before handing over to Steve. My Mavic XC717/DT Revolution-spoked front wheel was still almost straight surprisingly - good strength from some quite lightweight kit. With a horrible sense of deja vu from SITS, Steve's helmet-mounted Cateye lights soon switched to flashing mode, a sure sign that the batteries were running out, which didn't exactly help him picking out the trail. Andrew obviously used up all his bad luck at SITS meanwhile as he had another fast, uneventful lap before handing over to me.
Meanwhile, at the head of the field, an unflustered-looking Jenn Hopkins was going head to head with Sally Bigham in the Solo Women, while Andrew Patterson and team mate Jenn O'Connor appearing to be in 2 places at once in the Mixed Pairs, they were lapping so quickly. Yuri Hauswald, flown in from the US by Marin and riding a heavily-stickered titanium machine, was battling with Matt Page and Ant White in the Solo Men. Leading the Team Men's event for Whyte Racing, Billy Whenman was seemingly making the most of the on-site masseurs, going out every lap with freshly oiled up legs.
In unplanned solidarity with Steve, my batteries also ran out earlier than expected, so I spent the entire lap sandwiched between 2 other riders, kindly providing me with light. By this point, I was not particularly comfortable on my new Selle Italia SLR XC saddle. I'm sure it will be great, and it does weigh a mere 187g, but I'm not used to riding on such an unpadded seat yet! On returning to the change-over area, I had no team-mate to swap with, with Roger's crash-related injuries, Steve's lack of lights and Andrew resting after recently doing a lap, so we had an enforced break for a while, before Andrew went out in the dawn light for our final lap.
Despite not exactly going to plan, it was great to finish D2D this time, and to pick up even more knowledge about team endurance racing which no doubt will be useful in 2008. Thanks to my team mates for getting on with it and not complaining when things went wrong, and to Extreme Medics for patching up Steve and Roger after crashes.
Friday, 5 October 2007
Marin Dusk 'til Dawn 2007 preview
After a disastrous first Marin Dusk 'til Dawn (www.thetfordmtbracing.com/) in 2005, when we suffered punctures, broken bikes and broken riders, we're having another go at the fast-growing 12hr overnight race this weekend. The event has grown a lot in the last 2 years, is sold out this year, and has attracted some strong riders such as Jenn O'Connor who raced for NZ at the 2007 World Championships, Kate Potter the BMBS Marathon series winner, and some fast men's team such as Whyte Racing. The course has grown too, at around 11.5 miles per lap, but with roughly 400 riders on course at any time, it's going to be busy. The organisers believe it will be around 68 riders per mile - that's a lot of overtaking.
Our team is the same as in 2005, with Andrew and Roger Wesson and myself, plus Steve Chadwick who joined us for the 24hr Sleepless In The Saddle (www.konasits.co.uk/) this summer. With the experience we gained over 24 hours at SITS, plus the lights failures and mechanical issues we suffered, a mere 12 hours at Thetford should be relatively easy. The weather forecast is good for October, from around 8 degrees Celsius at night to 16 degrees during the day, and little chance of rain, so the mud tyres can stay at home and I'll be on my favourite Maxxis Flyweight 490s. Last time we raced here, both Andrew and I were on fully rigid bikes, and Roger was on a supermarket special so-called MTB, so some serious bike upgrades and front supension should help.
We won't be anywhere near the top 20 men's teams, but are aiming to finish higher in % terms than at SITS, and certainly higher than we did at D2D in 2005, which shouldn't be difficult! It's only Steve's second ever race, and Roger and Andrew's third ever, so we're still learning as a team.
The only concern at this point is that after having his bike stolen recently, Roger hasn't found time to buy a new one yet. He is going shopping today, but I'm not sure buying a new bike the day before a 12 hour race is ideal preparation! Oh well... I also broke my saddle last weekend, and am looking forwards to trying my new Selle Italia SLR XC (www.selleitalia.com/eng/index.html), but am not exactly used to it yet. On the plus side, Andrew has just invested in an Exposure Joystick helmet light (www.use1.com/exposure/products/exposure_joystick/index.php) which, combined with his 10W/15W Cateyes, should provide plenty of clarity in the dark.
We're team number 458 - keep an eye out for us if you are at the race.
Our team is the same as in 2005, with Andrew and Roger Wesson and myself, plus Steve Chadwick who joined us for the 24hr Sleepless In The Saddle (www.konasits.co.uk/) this summer. With the experience we gained over 24 hours at SITS, plus the lights failures and mechanical issues we suffered, a mere 12 hours at Thetford should be relatively easy. The weather forecast is good for October, from around 8 degrees Celsius at night to 16 degrees during the day, and little chance of rain, so the mud tyres can stay at home and I'll be on my favourite Maxxis Flyweight 490s. Last time we raced here, both Andrew and I were on fully rigid bikes, and Roger was on a supermarket special so-called MTB, so some serious bike upgrades and front supension should help.
We won't be anywhere near the top 20 men's teams, but are aiming to finish higher in % terms than at SITS, and certainly higher than we did at D2D in 2005, which shouldn't be difficult! It's only Steve's second ever race, and Roger and Andrew's third ever, so we're still learning as a team.
The only concern at this point is that after having his bike stolen recently, Roger hasn't found time to buy a new one yet. He is going shopping today, but I'm not sure buying a new bike the day before a 12 hour race is ideal preparation! Oh well... I also broke my saddle last weekend, and am looking forwards to trying my new Selle Italia SLR XC (www.selleitalia.com/eng/index.html), but am not exactly used to it yet. On the plus side, Andrew has just invested in an Exposure Joystick helmet light (www.use1.com/exposure/products/exposure_joystick/index.php) which, combined with his 10W/15W Cateyes, should provide plenty of clarity in the dark.
We're team number 458 - keep an eye out for us if you are at the race.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
2007 mountain bike Worlds - part 8
The final XC race of the Worlds was the Elite Men's XC. Reigning champion Julien Absalon was the pre-race favourite, but the likes of Christoph Sauser, Roel Paulissen and Jose Antonio Hermida-Ramos would fancy their chances. Hermida must have known every metre of the circuit, after doing more laps of the course in practice than any other rider. Making a return to top-class competition after an illness-hit season was GB's Liam Killeen, but starting 112th on the grid due to his low ranking.
With the TV helicopter providing a noisy backdrop, the leaders were soon up the first climb, and Florian Vogel (pictured) was the first to make an early showing, and led at the end of lap 1, 25 seconds ahead of a group containing Manuel Fumic, Absalon, Sauser, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe), Ralph Näf (Swi) and others.
Hermida moved to the front up the main climb on lap 2, and led over the start/finish line with Vogel and Absalon in close support. Absalon broke away from those chasing him on lap 3 and pulled out a 19s lead over the chasing group including Hermida, Vogel, Kessikoff and Fumic. Sauser meanwhile had slipped back down the field after suffering a broken shoe binding and was chasing hard to make up lost time.
By the end of lap 4, Absalon's lead was up to nearly a minute after his fastest lap of the race, but those chasing him began to slowly close the gap. Hermida was losing time however, his chances of victory hit by a damaged fork. Ralph Näf had moved up to 2nd on his own, with the pair of Vogel and Fumic and group of Sauser, Kessiakoff and Paulissen following on.
Despite the best efforts of Ralph Näf, who closed the gap to Absalon by 32s over the final 2 laps, the Frenchman won another World Championship with a controlled ride, with Näf an impressive 2nd. Vogel just about hung on for the Bronze medal, 8s in front of a very fast finishing Kessiakoff, who produced the fastest lap of the entire race on his final circuit. Fumic rode well to 5th, in front of another fast finisher in Sauser.
Of the GB riders, Oli Beckingsale finished a disappointed 35th, with Ian Wilkinson an excellent 42nd. Liam Killeen got some serious overtaking practice in, rising from 112th on the grid to 44th, as did Paul Oldham, 55th from 108th at the start. British MTB legend Nick Craig, in his last ever MTB XC Worlds, finished 61st. Simon Richardson didn't have one of his best days and retired.
With the TV helicopter providing a noisy backdrop, the leaders were soon up the first climb, and Florian Vogel (pictured) was the first to make an early showing, and led at the end of lap 1, 25 seconds ahead of a group containing Manuel Fumic, Absalon, Sauser, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe), Ralph Näf (Swi) and others.
Hermida moved to the front up the main climb on lap 2, and led over the start/finish line with Vogel and Absalon in close support. Absalon broke away from those chasing him on lap 3 and pulled out a 19s lead over the chasing group including Hermida, Vogel, Kessikoff and Fumic. Sauser meanwhile had slipped back down the field after suffering a broken shoe binding and was chasing hard to make up lost time.
By the end of lap 4, Absalon's lead was up to nearly a minute after his fastest lap of the race, but those chasing him began to slowly close the gap. Hermida was losing time however, his chances of victory hit by a damaged fork. Ralph Näf had moved up to 2nd on his own, with the pair of Vogel and Fumic and group of Sauser, Kessiakoff and Paulissen following on.
Despite the best efforts of Ralph Näf, who closed the gap to Absalon by 32s over the final 2 laps, the Frenchman won another World Championship with a controlled ride, with Näf an impressive 2nd. Vogel just about hung on for the Bronze medal, 8s in front of a very fast finishing Kessiakoff, who produced the fastest lap of the entire race on his final circuit. Fumic rode well to 5th, in front of another fast finisher in Sauser.
Of the GB riders, Oli Beckingsale finished a disappointed 35th, with Ian Wilkinson an excellent 42nd. Liam Killeen got some serious overtaking practice in, rising from 112th on the grid to 44th, as did Paul Oldham, 55th from 108th at the start. British MTB legend Nick Craig, in his last ever MTB XC Worlds, finished 61st. Simon Richardson didn't have one of his best days and retired.
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
2007 mountain bike Worlds - part 7
Saturday was the big one for XC - the Elite Women and Elite Men's races. The Women went off first, with the Men's race taking place later in the day.
Spectactor numbers had been rising gradually during the week, but Saturday was really busy with large groups walking round the course. Most fans were neutrally dressed, except for the occasional Swedish flag in support of Fredrik Kessiakoff (www.fredrikkessiakoff.com) and one large group clad head to toe in orange, cheering on the Dutch riders, in particular Rudi van Houts and Jelmer Pietersma.
Saturday also brought the TV helicopter for the first time, which did a great job of letting everyone know the location of the lead riders as it moved around the course. In addition to aerial coverage, the section of fire road above the 'Haggis Trap' cross-over had a quad bike camera crew riding next to the riders.
News had broken on Wednesday night that two riders had been excluded from the XC Worlds as a result of high hematocrit levels - Michael Weiss (Austria) and Margarita Fullana-Riera (Spain). Weiss had been training at altitude in Aspen, Colorado, shortly before the Worlds, and his exclusion caused some surprise amongst the riders.
With reigning World Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle (www.gunnrita.com/english/index.htm) absent through a season-long illness, Fullana-Riera sent home, and Chengyuan (world ranking #3) and Liu (#5) racing in the U23 Women, the Elite Women's field was looking a little depleted. Sabine Spitz (Germany) and Irina Kalentieva (Russia) were the favourites on the start line, along with Marie-Helene Premont (Canada). Also on the start line were 3 GB women, national champion Jenny Copnall, Ruth McGavigan and Elizabeth Scalia. After their initial non-selection caused somewhat of an uproar, a welcome U-turn from the British Cycling selectors saw them join the grid and give the spectators some local riders to cheer.
Since the U23 Women had completed 4 laps of the 8.6km course, the expectation was that the Elite Women would do 5 laps. Conditions were better for the Elite Women than the U23 Women but yet the Elite Women's race was cut to 4 laps, with very little explanation given.
Premont worked hard to build up a small gap on the first lap up the climb, but by the end of lap 1 a group of 12 had formed, including Kalentieva, Spitz, Jingjing Wang (China), the 2 Canadians Premont and Pendrel, Georgia Gould (USA) and Lene Byberg (Norway, pictured). After racing a few BMBS XC races in the UK earlier in 2007, Rosara Joseph (New Zealand) was putting her British riding experience to good use and was in also present. Petra Henzi meanwhile had a disastrous first lap by her standards, losing 2m 23s on the leaders after an early incident.
As the race progressed, it became clear that Kalentieva, Spitz and Wang were in a class of their own and that the winner would come from one of these riders. Maja Wloszczowska had to retire from a strong position after a crash, Elizabeth Scalia struggled up the main climb with an apparent moving saddle, to pull out shortly afterwards due to a broken seatpost, but the other two GB riders Copnall and McGavigan were receiving loud support all the way round the course.
Kalentieva slowly built a gap to win the Gold, producing the fastest lap of the entire race on her final lap, with Spitz in Silver 39s behind. Wang finished 3rd to win another medal for China. Rosara Joseph finished an excellent 5th, and Petra Henzi climbed from 39th at the end of lap 1 to 13th. Jenny Copnall moved up the field as the race progressed to end up 47th, with her GB team mate McGavigan 56th. Cheshire-based New Zealander Jenn O'Connor finished 52nd.
Spectactor numbers had been rising gradually during the week, but Saturday was really busy with large groups walking round the course. Most fans were neutrally dressed, except for the occasional Swedish flag in support of Fredrik Kessiakoff (www.fredrikkessiakoff.com) and one large group clad head to toe in orange, cheering on the Dutch riders, in particular Rudi van Houts and Jelmer Pietersma.
Saturday also brought the TV helicopter for the first time, which did a great job of letting everyone know the location of the lead riders as it moved around the course. In addition to aerial coverage, the section of fire road above the 'Haggis Trap' cross-over had a quad bike camera crew riding next to the riders.
News had broken on Wednesday night that two riders had been excluded from the XC Worlds as a result of high hematocrit levels - Michael Weiss (Austria) and Margarita Fullana-Riera (Spain). Weiss had been training at altitude in Aspen, Colorado, shortly before the Worlds, and his exclusion caused some surprise amongst the riders.
With reigning World Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle (www.gunnrita.com/english/index.htm) absent through a season-long illness, Fullana-Riera sent home, and Chengyuan (world ranking #3) and Liu (#5) racing in the U23 Women, the Elite Women's field was looking a little depleted. Sabine Spitz (Germany) and Irina Kalentieva (Russia) were the favourites on the start line, along with Marie-Helene Premont (Canada). Also on the start line were 3 GB women, national champion Jenny Copnall, Ruth McGavigan and Elizabeth Scalia. After their initial non-selection caused somewhat of an uproar, a welcome U-turn from the British Cycling selectors saw them join the grid and give the spectators some local riders to cheer.
Since the U23 Women had completed 4 laps of the 8.6km course, the expectation was that the Elite Women would do 5 laps. Conditions were better for the Elite Women than the U23 Women but yet the Elite Women's race was cut to 4 laps, with very little explanation given.
Premont worked hard to build up a small gap on the first lap up the climb, but by the end of lap 1 a group of 12 had formed, including Kalentieva, Spitz, Jingjing Wang (China), the 2 Canadians Premont and Pendrel, Georgia Gould (USA) and Lene Byberg (Norway, pictured). After racing a few BMBS XC races in the UK earlier in 2007, Rosara Joseph (New Zealand) was putting her British riding experience to good use and was in also present. Petra Henzi meanwhile had a disastrous first lap by her standards, losing 2m 23s on the leaders after an early incident.
As the race progressed, it became clear that Kalentieva, Spitz and Wang were in a class of their own and that the winner would come from one of these riders. Maja Wloszczowska had to retire from a strong position after a crash, Elizabeth Scalia struggled up the main climb with an apparent moving saddle, to pull out shortly afterwards due to a broken seatpost, but the other two GB riders Copnall and McGavigan were receiving loud support all the way round the course.
Kalentieva slowly built a gap to win the Gold, producing the fastest lap of the entire race on her final lap, with Spitz in Silver 39s behind. Wang finished 3rd to win another medal for China. Rosara Joseph finished an excellent 5th, and Petra Henzi climbed from 39th at the end of lap 1 to 13th. Jenny Copnall moved up the field as the race progressed to end up 47th, with her GB team mate McGavigan 56th. Cheshire-based New Zealander Jenn O'Connor finished 52nd.
Monday, 1 October 2007
2007 mountain bike World Championships part 6
After again riding up to the Worlds venue via the great new cycle path from Fort William centre, Friday saw me acting as a marshal at the top of the 'Lazy K' climb for the second day running, so it was on with the mosquito net from the moment I jumped off the bike. I got some very strange looks again, especially from Bettina Schmidt and some of the other Swiss riders, but insect repellent just wasn't good enough when standing there all day!
The favourite for the U23 Men was reigning World Champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) but rivals like Jaroslav Kulhavy and Jakob Fuglsang had been racing well at World Cup level too, so it could be anyone's race.
Schurter, riding a hardtail Scott Scale, started climbing strongly, and soon had pulled out a gap on Fuglsang and the group chasing him, led by Daniel McConnell of Australia, sporting an upside down #13 number plate. Schurter increased his lead on the climb all the way to 'Big Ben' at the top of the course, only for Fuglsang to reduce the Swiss rider's advantage on the downhill back to the start.
This seemed set to be the pattern for the race, with Fuglsang's Cannondale Scalpel full suspension bike helping him to catch Schurter on the rough stuff, but after a while, Schurter's lead was going backwards. Whether his climbing wasn't as strong as earlier in the race, or whether Fuglsang had left something in reserve, the Danish rider was taking chunks out of the gap between himself and the lead, and caught and passed Schurter at the end of lap 4.
Kulhavy was still in the chase group at this point and it was hard to tell who would win Bronze. Fuglsang meanwhile accelerated away from Schurter, who was really struggling and lost over 1m 40s to the Dane on the final lap, and crossed the line to win the U23 World Championship in style. Schurter couldn't repeat his triumph of 2006 and had to settle for Silver, while a strong final lap from Kulhavy saw him win Bronze for the Czech Republic.
Burry Stander, after racing a few British Mountain Bike Series XC races this year, must have been used to the cold and finished an impressive 6th. With a few more years in U23 yet, the South African must be strongly fancied for a medal sometime soon. The first of the Brits was Ian Bibby in 23rd, who didn't have the best of races compared to some good results this season, with Ian Field in 30th. Ross Creber crashed heavily and had to retire to seek medical attention.
Riding round the circuit back to the start after the races had finished, the impact of the previous 4 events was clear. Lines which were once smooth and fast were now destroyed by braking bumps, and a number of corners had large ruts through the middle of them. It all remained rideable, but was certainly more difficult technically than on Wednesday.
Many riders had punctured while racing, and I soon joined them and had to change the tube by the side of the track while watching the like of Meirhaeghe ride by. On the plus side, I did manage to clear the complete course without stopping, including riding the drop-off which had defeated me last time.
The favourite for the U23 Men was reigning World Champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland) but rivals like Jaroslav Kulhavy and Jakob Fuglsang had been racing well at World Cup level too, so it could be anyone's race.
Schurter, riding a hardtail Scott Scale, started climbing strongly, and soon had pulled out a gap on Fuglsang and the group chasing him, led by Daniel McConnell of Australia, sporting an upside down #13 number plate. Schurter increased his lead on the climb all the way to 'Big Ben' at the top of the course, only for Fuglsang to reduce the Swiss rider's advantage on the downhill back to the start.
This seemed set to be the pattern for the race, with Fuglsang's Cannondale Scalpel full suspension bike helping him to catch Schurter on the rough stuff, but after a while, Schurter's lead was going backwards. Whether his climbing wasn't as strong as earlier in the race, or whether Fuglsang had left something in reserve, the Danish rider was taking chunks out of the gap between himself and the lead, and caught and passed Schurter at the end of lap 4.
Kulhavy was still in the chase group at this point and it was hard to tell who would win Bronze. Fuglsang meanwhile accelerated away from Schurter, who was really struggling and lost over 1m 40s to the Dane on the final lap, and crossed the line to win the U23 World Championship in style. Schurter couldn't repeat his triumph of 2006 and had to settle for Silver, while a strong final lap from Kulhavy saw him win Bronze for the Czech Republic.
Burry Stander, after racing a few British Mountain Bike Series XC races this year, must have been used to the cold and finished an impressive 6th. With a few more years in U23 yet, the South African must be strongly fancied for a medal sometime soon. The first of the Brits was Ian Bibby in 23rd, who didn't have the best of races compared to some good results this season, with Ian Field in 30th. Ross Creber crashed heavily and had to retire to seek medical attention.
Riding round the circuit back to the start after the races had finished, the impact of the previous 4 events was clear. Lines which were once smooth and fast were now destroyed by braking bumps, and a number of corners had large ruts through the middle of them. It all remained rideable, but was certainly more difficult technically than on Wednesday.
Many riders had punctured while racing, and I soon joined them and had to change the tube by the side of the track while watching the like of Meirhaeghe ride by. On the plus side, I did manage to clear the complete course without stopping, including riding the drop-off which had defeated me last time.
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