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 3rd 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 3rd 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 1st 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 8th 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!

llangollen waap