It's one of the core prinicples of effective bike racing, but sometimes we get it wrong. It's been a while since I had a crash I couldn't get up from, but I made it a classic over-the-bars-flying-through-the-air head stack down the Medusa Drop at the second round of the British Mountain Bike Series in Dalby on Sunday.
I'm mad with myself for crashing, as up until that point on the final lap, everything had been going pretty well. I had another poor start after missing my pedal on the startline (must practice start drills!) but was steadily working my way through the field and had made it to third place with one lap to go. I had second placed Mel Spath (Cycleways Torq) in my sights and I was feeling strong, and working hard to reel her in on the final lap.
The new Dalby course was one of the most technically challenging XC courses I've ridden, and I was confident after practice that I could do well on it, as I'm (usually) pretty good with drops and steep stuff. However, I remember thinking it was the sort of course that would catch people out in the final laps when fatigue set in and concentration started to lapse a bit, and I must have jinxed myself because that's exactly what happened to me.
I landed on my head and left shoulder, but luckily my Catlike Whisper Pro helmet did its job and took the worst of the hit. No broken bones, just a dead left arm, and no major head trauma, just a few dizzy spells and a cracking headache that I'm holding off with an industrial dose of Ibuprofen.
The race was won by visiting Australian Katherine O'Shea (Torq Aus), who went off from the gun and got a clean run right through to the end. Sue Clarke (SiS) was also putting in some very fast laps, but a puncture on lap 3 put her out of contention for the podium. Mel held on to her 2nd place, and Lily Matthews (100% Me) inherited the final podium spot, after very nearly mowing me down and finishing me off I was being attended by medics at the side of the track.
Coach Andy Patterson raced in the Sport category at lunchtime, after missing a spot in the oversubscibed Masters race later in the afternoon. He finished 8th in a field of 50 starters, after working his way up from the back of the start grid, railing all the berms on the big Scalpel (Andy loves berms) and holding off some of the smaller racers with his condor-like elbows!
Oli Beckinsale (Giant) managed to hold off the other visiting Aussie Daniel McConnell (Torq Aus), with Brit rider David Fletcher taking third in the Elite men's race.
For full results from Round 2 of the BMBS please visit http://www.timelaps.co.uk/.
Our team mates were not with us this weekend - Annabel has had a fever for the past couple of days and decided not to race, while Ruth has had a family bereavement to deal with. Nadine opted for a road race up in Straiton, Scotland, and finished third, which is her first podium in a national series road race. We'll have a race report from Nadine up soon.
Our next event is Round 3 of the BMBS down at Margam Park in South Wales, which means we have three weeks in which to recover and rebuild. We will all be there, and hopefully staying upright!
Jenn
No comments:
Post a Comment