Rab Wardell

Oakily Dokily. First XC Race in 2 years. First National level elite event in 4 years. Biggest push bike race of the year (Thus Far). In my favour going into the event I have had:

• A great winter consisting of consistant training, riding little and often and a few longer rides.
• Regular top up's of morale in the pub with friends
• 500g bar of cadburys caramel most days
• Probably the biggest training camp of the year; thus far anyway
• A strong showing in my first road event
• And recently added to the list the fastest mountain bike I have ever ridden!

Unfotunatly I had had one knock to morale having had to miss the first XC event of the year in Scotland due to a chest infection. I managed to recover pretty well and had been training well and feeling pretty good.

I picked up my newly built Kinesis KM 810 from Billy Bilsand Cycles in Glasgow (www.billybilslandcycles.co.uk) on friday afternoon right before travelling south to Sherwood. The build I had was unbelievably light and there is still a little more to come off when the new TRP Dash Carbon brakes arrive. The high point for me was having the best wheelset out there, Reynolds MTN C with a Geax Mezcal super fast tyre, all inflated using Effetto Mariposa caffe latex tubeless kit. All of these are available through Upgrade Bikes. I also managed to get my brand new Manitou R7 MILO forks onto the bike ready for their first big test. The rest of the kit was textbook stuff, Oval finish kit, Tectro brakes, my favourite fizik saddle courtousy of Extra UK and some XTR goodies from Madison. All in all a FAST bike!

So I travelled to the event on Friday evening and headed to practice late on Saturday afternoon. After the previous weeks bad weather we (my friend and work collegue Paul 'Elvis' Newnham) decided a late practice would be worth while; the course would change a lot and would be likely to dry out over the day. Also the sneaky lines would present themselves as the day wore one. The course was typical Sherwood. Although I haven't done a regular season for 4 years I have still raced Sherwood maybe 4 or 5 times. It consisted of some tight and bumpy singletrack all linked together with fireroad sections with a few short steep inclines. The nature of the race is that it normally stays in groups and it is also very difficult to move up if you are caught at the back. It is also the kind of course that if you commit too much to early and blow you'll put it in reverse and loose a lot. There where also a few prime locations to do a skid, and you had to jump over a log each lap. Sweet.

For the event on the day I managed to hit my pre race routine spot on. I arrived at the start line warmed up, relaxed and ready to go. I was gridded in 43rd, 4th row on the grid. This would make it difficult to move up and I was looking to get into the top 20 by the end of the first lap. The start was typically manic, however I was able to take a few opportunities to move up. On the first section of fire road the wind was blowing strongly, and the front of the race was echeloned from right to left. I moved up on the left hand side and was able to find shelter from riders on my right and slot onto the end of the front group of around twenty without spending too many pennies. Job done.

Going into the second lap a front group of 6 - 8 riders had clipped away. This group contained all of the race favourites except for Liam Killeen. There where a few desparate efforts from riders trying to get across to the group, however I was content to remain where I was and to try and race it out for a top 10. As the race progressed the group I was with was whittled down to just Robin Seymour and I. We rode some pretty consistant laps and passed one casulatly from the front groups relentless pace in Jody Crawforth. This left Robin and I duking it out for 7th. Unfortunatley the race was not over and Liam Killeen cruised past us having pursued us like the Reaper all race; not sure what was up with him but he seemed to be shifting in the last stages of the race. Half a lap to go and we where going for 8th. I tried to shake Robin off in the final km but he used his power and experience (think he might have done one or two bike races before???) to beat me to the line. So round 1 done and dusted and I finished top 10. This is my best ever finish and I was really pleased to ride so well against high class opposition on the day.

Also it was great to meet Nicky and Paul at the event and congrats to Nicky for the KMP's first UK podium! More to come hopefully!

Next up for me is the Tour Doon Hame Premier Calender this weekend. I'll be back on the KR 810 road machine and in my Glasgow Wheelers club jersey.

Til then...

Rabulous

p.s. Big shout out to the Glasgow Wheelers Squad ae Boys who won the 2010 Dick Longdragon Road Race in Aberdeen at the weekend. Boom!

New bike chillin' in the travel tavern. I also had my big plate ready for the buffet dinner as the ones the provide are only 9 inches... Back of the net. Cashback.