SWXC Rnd 5

Being only my first year back on the bike to any extent I was a little reluctant to do anything that may put me off continuing something I was beginning to get excited about after years away.

I decided against the Gravel race due to distance in the legs so last minute thought good prep for next season it would be an idea to experience an SWXC race.

So I travelled up to Old Hill bike park in St Kew. I think the ‘bike park’ bit should have been a give away on how the course would be setup 😂

After riding the practice lap I knew this was going to be quite a test of bike handling skills but also pretty tough as the hills were relentless each lap so knew I had this in my favour I just had to keep the bike under me.

When we went off I tried pretty hard to get to the front of my cat as I knew it was going to get quite hectic with traffic when we caught riders in front.

My tactic paid off as I only had one rider from my cat to chase when we had to negotiate the slower riders from previous starts.

Overall I felt great throughout and very strong on the tough parts and ended up with a 2nd place finish. I was really very pleased with my race considering the course not really my thing with so many jumps etc but the only time I lost on 1st place was going down something I can improve.

With 1700ft of climbing over the 1hr 7 mins of racing I would say a good Sunday spent riding the bike