MTB XC Nationals Rnd4 Pippingford

I’ve not raced this venue before so didn’t really know what to expect. Our mechanic said ‘flat, it wasn’t! Apparently there was as much climbing as there is at Margam, which is usually the hilliest in the series.

No course recce on Friday so just an simple Activation and bike check. Time to catch up with the other riders and enjoy the social side of a race weekend.

Saturday morning and a slow start. Short track takes up the morning, then the main course recce opens around 11. I rode round with the faster Masters 60 guys. They are about my speed and are a good place to learn race-craft and line choice. If they’ve survived this long then they are doing something right. Nothing too technical. Some fast berms and easily squashable ramps on the way down, lots of roots, a tiny rock garden and two muddy bits. A few long, easy angle climbs back up and two A-lines, although one was more like rolling off a curb. The steeper one did need a ‘brain off and roll’ mentality, but I didn’t see any crashes on practice and only a few opted for the B-line.

We got gridded just before 3 and then ‘the launch’; nearly 50 riders, all old enough to know better, smashed it down 200m of concrete straight (no crashes for once) and then tried to funnel into the single track. A few gaps opened up and I moved into them, free places are always welcome. Time to hold on, and hold my nerve; one long, full-gas chain-gang going through the berms and jumps with barely daylight between the tyres This is one of the best bits of racing, but it’s absolutely terrifying at the same time. Got to the bottom of the run and everybody tried to maintain speed through the roots and rocks. A rider a couple of places ahead hit a landmine and went sprawling across the track, narrowly avoided by the rest of us. And that’s how it stayed for the first few laps. The groups opened up, attacks went (me) attacks got reeled in (me, sadly) and then the attrition started. I lost a couple of wheels, and then a one more came past me. Too much, too early maybe.

I got lapped by the leaders on the penultimate climb so was spared a last, tragic lap. I wasn’t making good decisions by then and I couldn’t make my skills stick when I needed to.

I didn’t get the position I wanted, I didn’t even make the front half of the results sheet, but that wasn’t for lack of trying. I hit new 2026 Heart Rate PB’s in all zones and not far off on the Power either. Some days, all you’ve got just isn’t enough. After two months on a ship I know my bike skills need a tweak, so I ‘ve got 3 weeks and a few more local races to get my self back in shape before Round 5 at Margam.