Llangollen BDS Round 3.

This weekend was round 3 of the British Downhill Series in Llangollen and a race I was really looking forward to, Big six pack came over to sunny Cumbria for some riding on the Friday morning before we headed down south! We had a real good session on some big booters and ended up getting carried away finally heading home at 6 at night, we quickly got the van packed and headed down to Wales.

I rode here at the Welsh champs a few months earlier so I had a good idea what to expect, we landed down at ten and quickly walked the track just before bed.

We awoke Saturday to mega sunshine and clear blue skies, we had some breakfast and headed on up the hill, I was feeling real good this was my type of track and I was having loads of fun, on my 3^rd run I got carried away having a big crash wrecking myself and my bike, I had dislocated my finger which a medic put back in it was pretty sore so I rested for the rest of the day.

Race day, I got up early and my hand was throbbing and about the size of a balloon, I got it taped up and headed up for a run, it was real sore so I cruised down and modded my grip with a big bit of padding on the end for it to rest on.

Qualifying I decided to just get down the hill which was going pretty good until the last corner and I had a big slide out, I just made sure my hand didn’t hit the ground, I crossed the line 3^rd to last haha it was no dramas though I knew I was more than capable of doing well here so I got sorted out for finals.

I went hard out the gate carrying good speed along the top, but the bumps were taking toll on my hand (I could only hold one with one finger) and my hand came off the bar before the 1^st left it was all good though as I stayed on the next few turns were fast and loose before heading onto the next fast chamber where my hand came off again I knew I had to hold on tight for the next section which I just made it through, it wasn’t fast by a long way but I made it, then the last two corners that had gave me trouble over the weekend, I boshed them, then it was jump, jump, jump and sprint to the finish, I came across with a 1.48 which put me in 8^th place and 6 secs off the win considering my condition it wasn’t a bad result but I was still disappointed. The next day I went down to A & E as my hand was black, turns out my finger is broke in 2 so its 2 weeks off the bike but I’m really looking forward to national champs in 3 weeks its going to be mega!

Team Mythdog is in Leogang, check out the track walk.

Fort William World Cup

We headed up to the big fort William with dirty milk man + milkshake = milky who had stayed at mine after the isx. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough room for him in the factory mythdog team bus civdog, so he grabbed a lift with my Romanian gypsy mate Marv in his pimp van that only runs on special fluid.

Big Brett my mechanic for the weekend was over as well for some training as he one of the posse now, so we headed to some mx on the Monday were I rocked the big 250 2 smoker in the b’s for some hard pack action.  It was a mega day, team eskin street was on the pipe along with enduro champ jonny balls walker who took top honours although he said he was tired for the 3^rd Moto so when the gate dropped me and jonny had a joint hole shot and he pushed hard in the 1^st turn I was right up his arse and I thought I would pass him so I did it was quite a clean move for me and a set about bashing on as I was hungry to take the win,  as the final lap was coming round I could still hear jonny so I kept pushing then on the final lap I slid right out on a off chamber turn and threw away it all I was devvoed. I ended up 2^nd overall which wasn’t bad considering I hadn’t rode for about 2 months. Jonny won and big Ben brayton was 4^th.

Anyhow back to the fort we got there Thursday morning and got signed on, I was well stoat when I blagged Brett mechanical a pass and a nice p sticker for the civdog so I could drive right in. We then headed up to check the track and see the new changes, I had rode the national there but there was even more changes which was sick, it was on with the mega track walk, Tom was still pretty rough from the radio 1 big weekend after a hards night Dee jaying but he still bought his sense of humour keeping the track walk alive.

Once that was out of the way I waited till it was online so I could see how funny I was and if it could beat the Maribor debut fortunately it did as the ending was mega.

We went to the digs for the weekend it was a tidy little bandb in the fort just for me and tom but where was Brett mechanical going to sleep? I was laughing my head off because I thought he was going to sleep in my car then I told him to go ask lasso if he could stay I didn’t actually think he would but he did and he did alright out of it 1^st night he spent on the floor, 2^nd night on a airbed and the final night on a bed! But I will explain that one later and all for 15 quid! 5er a night what a gypo.

Practice went good got a good 5 runs in I think, the track was so sick loads of lines and in and out of the woods which was good then the lower section was pretty much the same but was carrying good speed in the dry. Not being top 80 I was gutted I couldn’t put a timed practice run in but that would be sorted come Sunday.

Saturday the day of the dreaded qualifying loads of people had came to support me and with it being the home race so to speak I was feeling a little bit of pressure. I did 3 practice runs and was feeling good.

Brett mechanical came up to the top so we could get psyched we headed to the gate it was time I put my lid on then my goggles , it was all good, just needed a quick drink as my mouth was a little dry I turned round and Brett mechanical was already on the lift wtf like he wasn’t hanging about so I had to bosh out the gate with a dry mouth, it was a good steady run and I came across the line in 44^th after setting off 131^st so it was all good I knew I was in, it was such a relief, I ended up 46^th in qualifying, buzzing! Gutted for meat ball who didn’t get in and that’s how Brett ended up with a bed as tom made a quick get away and headed home.

That night me and mechanical headed out for a nice meal with my girlfriend and her family in a nice little pub after that I headed for a early nights sleep to prepare for tomorrow.

It came around fast, we had a lot to do though as the mytho was in bits, no tires on her no forks! What was going on. I went over to sram and picked my forks up after some loving they were feeling sweet then it got some fresh rubber on her it was ready, big shout out to Ralph malph for sorting me with some Allen keys. 3 more practice runs under my belt and I was ready for it.

Heading up the hill was unreal the atmosphere was something else, its always great at the fort but this time it was different it was tense up at the top with all the euro boys on turbos and shit getting in the zone I just did my own thing got the tunes banged on and kept myself to myself until it was time.

Before I knew it I was in the gate and I was on a charge my run was good I pedalled well up top and hit every section strong I just haven’t felt how I used to feel on the bike yet and that’s out of control wild speed but its coming! Coming into the motor way I could hear the crowd going wild team Cumbria were there I could still hear them at the bottom. I felt real fit right into the finish now it was just the waiting game to see where I would end up, in the end it was 45^th I was a little disappointed but I’ve made some changes to my set up this week and it has transformed the bike so we will see what round 3 in Leogang brings!

Team Mythic Mythdog track walk with me and meat ball

The Isx cup headed into innerleithen the weekend before the world cup in fortwilliam so it was definitely an event to be at, a fresh track was put in just for the event and the team had done a top job with loads of hucks and loose switch backs I was really looking forward to sending the mythdog in practice. 

Me, meat ball and Brett clownan stayed in our little bunk house which was blob on, my old team kenda playbiker was there so I had a good catch up with some old friends. 

Practice went well I got 3 runs in on the Friday and then 4 runs on the Saturday before qualifying. Qualifying started good but then I decided to do some disco dancing just before the finish and then I got a sandwich bag stuck in my wheel so I bottled the gully jump just incase it got stuck. I ended up only a few seconds off with my big disco so it was on for Sunday. 

I was really looking forward to finals and a lot of friend had come up to support me so I really wanted a strong result. my run was a weird one, I just never felt fast in my run so I wasn’t to pleased with my result coming home in 12th the only good thing was I got more uci points to cover me for the year and I have been on the bike a lot more pushing hard to get back up to speed.

Helmet cam here; Team Mythic Mythdog Factory Racing

I headed out to the Maxxis Cup in Fafe, Portugal as the old uci points were running a little low after the time off I had last year. 

It was a in and out job for me although it was touch and go with the volcano in Iceland but luckily we had  the green light on the night before so the civdog was packed up to head down to Bristol airport for my private Ryan air jet. 

The event was very slick, 2days of practice, qualifying and then finals. Practice went really well getting in some solid runs and getting up to speed. The weather was bang on nice and hot which was a nice change… 

Qualifying went ok and I ended up 6th and only 2secs off the pace I was confident for finals so I got some rest and prepared for my run. 

I was hungry for a win here so it was on the edge all the way which in the end cost me as I went off the course twice in a flat section I didn’t let this bother me and pushed on even more before crossing the line in 8th place. It was a little disappointing but I got the points I need and a little bit of coin!

Yo Recently I went to Sardinia for a bit of training on the new bike, Giovanni a friend of a friend asked me to come over and do his race which I was more than happy to do so I booked my flight and headed over. Details were a bit vague so I didn’t know if I would even get picked up at the airport but I decided to run with it anyway!

This dude came up to me in the airport which turned out to be my man so off we headed back to his bike shop Zema Bike, it was a sick little shop and everyone was buzzing which was cool we got my bike built up and watched about of 3 focus and earthed 5 then headed over to our swank 4 star hotel!

The next morning I headed over to the track with the hotel manager and pushed the Legend up the track was mega with flat out rocky chutes and some nice tight turns it was a cool track, next think Giovanni turns up in his truck and we bash in some runs I think I did 20 runs that day it was unreal.

Saturday came around quick it was the same again more runs but there was a lot more riders which was cool the track was cutting in nicely and getting pretty quick I was dialled in at this point so I started to have more fun trying some different stuff, practice was cut short due to a hill climb rally but I didn’t mind it was mint to watch, I got some shady looks as I cruised about in my t-shirt and all the Sardinians were in jumpers and that, I thought it was red hot!

Race day was here it was a 2 run format but I also found out that there was a street section added with double stair gaps some dodgy off chamber turns and a huge sprint to the finish.

My first run was good and I did a pretty good time but there was more in the bag at least I was in first that was the main thing! when I went up for my 2nd run I pushed it hard on the turns I was riding more how I like it but I made a few little mistakes I was sure I went slower but it turned out I went 3 seconds faster which was sick, I won a load of wine and a nice chicken plate.

So the job was done, good time on the new bike and I made some new fiends I look forward to going back again, Big thanks to Giovanni for sorting everything.

Cheers

Yo, not a lot has been happening at home we had snow for a month which was cool for a while but eventually we got over it. We had a tractor inner tube and we were getting towed behind the Zim bus which was unreal.

Anyway me, my bro, Jamie law, jonny walker and rich Lawson entered a 2.5 hour hare and hound down in stoke which was pretty sick, it was so wet and muddy I had my goggles off by the 3rd corner the course would have been unreal in the dry but unfortunately it wasn’t. I rode in clubman A and came 4th which I’m pretty happy with and I’m looking forward to the next one in 2 weeks time, with a little more time on the bike I should get a good result there.

 I’m also hoping to get back on my dh bike soon, I’ve entered inners round 2 which I’m looking forward to, it will be good to see how get on and hopefully I will get back up to speed pretty soon.

 Cheers

This is my new mini bike track in its very early stages, the track is slowly cutting in but it was frozen solid so I took a steady lap for you to check it out.

Cheers

This is the Gym posse! Enduro Jonny, JLaw, Chawda, Me and Wacka. Were missing one of our main men, Zim, he over done it on a sun bed the day before so was looking a bit worse for wear haha. We have been having some mega sessions at Cockermouth Gym this week hitting the pool with the over 60s them boys are like speed boats, so this is what I’m up to most weeks now just trying to get back into shape.

Cheers