Xc NPS RD 3 MAD MTB, Home Turf

So last weekend was the 3rd round of the Xc NPS, and for me it was on home turf nearly in my back garden, 3 Rock. The run up to the weekend didn't go so well for me as I came off the bike on the Tuesday and gave myself a black eye and bruised my shoulder, which meant I didn't go out on the bike on Thursday either, but sure these things happen. The weekend started off in Larch Hill at 1 o'clock. Once everybody arrived we had a talk about Psychological preparation and training with Karen Weekes. She had some great tips for how to prepare mentally for racing and training. After the talk with Karen we got ready to go out for a practise lap. As the track wasn't taped out I guide the team around the track. The track suits me as its just one climb and one decent with a good amount of technicality . It was slightly muddy as well which also suited me. With the practise lap done we headed back to the hostel for dinner which was cooked by the parents (Thank you). After dinner I went to bed at 10:30.

Race day

On Sunday I was up at 8a.m. and on 3rock with Jon at 8:30 a.m. We set up the team tent and the Start/Finish arch in the rain. After that I got signed on for the race and chilled in the team tent till the U16/U14 races started. I watched them till they finished. The team got some great results in U16/U14's. At 13:20 I started to warm up on a turbo trainer as I didn't want to go out on the track and get the bike and myself dirty and wet before the race. At 2 o'clock I was on the start line ready to go.

3,2,1 Go! We all sprinted off the start line up the tarmac. As we got to the start of the first section of singletrack we were all spread out a bit. I was second into the trail and stuck to Dans wheel to the bottom. As we came out onto the road Max passed Dan and I so I was now in third. Down to the climb where I sat behind Dan to the top. Into the next section of trail and I manage to get past Dan after a small fall in the mud. We battled on to the top of the course were I got ahead just before the decent. I managed to put 10 seconds on Dan on the decent before coming across the line to finish the first lap.

Second Lap went Much the same as the first with Dan catching me at the end of the lap and making his move coming to the finish line. So Back to 3rd again. I continued to try keeping with Dan on the climb on the 3rd lap but was starting to fall behind. For the rest of the lap I continued to ride by myself just trying to get my lines and keep up the pace. The track was still holding up pretty well even with the amount of rain that we had earlier in the day and during the race. The downhill sections of the course were so much fun and the final section was just flat out.



So I came into the finish area to start the last lap. At that stage I was down 2 minutes on Dan's which was more than what I would of liked but I continued on to the climb. By this stage my legs were tired and the climb was a real slog but I made it to the top and headed of to A1 Sharon. I got my line through it perfectly and sprinted of up the fireroad to the start of the last section of downhill. I pushed on in the tree's and came down to the bottom of the mountain. I came out onto the fireroad to the finish line and sprinted from the bottom of the frieroad to the finish line. Done!

 So the race went well and I am Delighted with 3rd in Junior in my home race.

Thanks to MAD for holding the race, Jon Hynes once again for giving the team and I a great weekend riding, information and Fun, to Dare2B for the team kit which kept us nice and warm in the rain/wind and James Hanrahan for once again doing a great job on bottle Duty.

Finally a big thanks to Expert Cycles for doing a fantastic job servicing my forks and getting my bike running unbelievably smooth. Big help on the day having a smooth running bike.

Scott