This weekend I held the first ever Southern Ladies MTB social ride. The idea came about when running Girls at Gawton. Girls who weren't into downhill needed a way to meet more girls who ride. It seems easier for girls to meet each other on uplifts and at downhill venues due to the nature of the discipline. Being stood around longer in one place defiantly makes it easier to chat than On the move all day covering large distances on an enduro or xc ride.
My friend Lo suggested starting the Facebook group spurring on the motivation I needed. Since then myself and Lo have been on the journey together holding our own Social rides and getting the group off the ground.
I decided to start nice and simple close to home so decided on Cann for my first venue. At least that way if no one turned up it would be a short ride home! To be honest I was anxious that many people wouldn't turn up as the weather was predicted to be torrential rain on the tail of Americas hurricane Gaston. Full credit to the girls everyone turned up which was amazing.
The day followed the format of easier official trails in the morning and harder off piste trails in the afternoon. We had a great mixed bunch of abilities and a lot of girls who had never met. Despite most people having never met there was certainly no lack of conversation and laughs
Follow us on Facebook for details of our upcoming social rides!
Our group of ladies who all braved the weather to turn upon the Southern ladies MTB ride led by Laura Griffiths
Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to attend one of Jay Williamson's impromptu coaching sessions. Following Jay's unfortunate training injury I jumped at the chance as usually he is completely booked and wouldn't be offering any more until end of the world cup season. The coaching session was aimed at xc and trail riders. Knowing Jay though I knew it wasn't going to be all tame.
The night before I had fitted a new shock on my bike but threw in the rough guide psi for my weight and got going. I was really pleased that The coaching also coincided with my first time riding at Gawton not on a downhill bike. It took my mind off over analysing that I was on less travel than I am used too. As usual though the Altitude took it all in it's stride.
We got started warming up on the first few berms looking at line choice, body movement and pumping. Already within the first 10 minutes he had us thinking differently about how we view entry and exit speed. Moving on to some small steps I was noticing how I didn't have to actively jump anything like I used to as we already had far more speed and our body weight in the correct position to simply ride off and carry more speed into the next section. Watching other riders we could see how over exaggerated their movements were requiring more energy and effort but causing them to stall and loose speed and flow.
As the course progresses the hill gets steeper and the features get bigger. Hitting the biggest rock garden Jay encouraged us to actively pump through to generate more speed. Although hitting it faster than ever before after a couple of goes I did start to feel the timing coming together to know when to pump. It was scary to ride so aggressive but also remain loose enough to allow the bike to work underneath me. I really felt like I was ridding on the edge. Such a shame we hadn't bought the camera out yet!
This event is one I've wanted to do since I heard about it so this year I secured a lift way in advance of sign up.
It was well worth the wait!
Driving up took 9 hours so we arrived on the Friday and headed in to Edinburgh to explore.
On Saturday we were all warmly welcomed by the red bull team And our host Rachel Atherton.
Uplifts were provided by Jeep, lush brand new Jeeps too!
The first run of the course was awesome. Starting off at the top riding down steep heathers we then head into flat out fast rough rocky clumpy grass, then over some climb and into the kids for A lines and B lines. The technical lines were so fun with a rock garden and sizable jumps. The dual slalom was brilliant. In the evening was yoga and beers. With more yoga from lululemon we a were refreshed and ready for a practice run. Having qualified in 43/126 I was happy and enjoyed an empty course one last time. Up top waiting for the race to start I was in the 5th row back. I was really nervous having never done a mass start race before.
Once the horn blew I stayed in the pack to suss out how it all worked, soon as I had chance I started seeing overtaking opportunity's opening up. I over took more than I expected, especially as I am normally am pants at overtakes. The whole race was a rush and felt amazing! Rachel over took me towards the end of the course and I finished in 38th place! 5 places up from qualifying. The weekend was amazing but the race was the most fun race I've ever done. I met so many nice girls too and was great to catch up with friends too. I would highly recommend the weekend to anyone no matter their ability or experience.
So we've moved and it seem like nobody who lives where we do rides a mountain bike!
In our sleepy little sea side village I have never seen more runners in my life, even if you went out in the middle of the night you would see someone out for a jog!
We've searched high and low in every bit of damp soggy woodland so heading a 10 minute drive to the next town we found prime building ground.
Round 2 was on Gnarkill. I had never ridden the track since it had a new start but I have to say it's one of my new favourites. Much more enjoyable than Scotsman used in round one.
For the first time I choose to ride my new On One codeine, a 29er enduro bike. It suited the course perfectly over the Demo.
The codeine came into its own on the flat turns and sailed over the roots and through tight techy sections. Honestly that bike can jump! whoever said 29er can't jump was obviously on the wrong 29er!
Being my second race back after over a year off I was much more settled and calm.
With a fresh perspective I put down a solid, safe first run putting me in 3rd place. Feeling confident that all of the girls were only a couple of seconds apart I really went for it on my second run. Unfortunately I clipped a tree and my cleat came out and I couldn't get it back in before the big drop. Even though I lost lots of time in the middle section I got a 1:29 again so must have flown through the start and end sections to have made up all the time.
I finished in 4th but was really happy as I was 2 seconds off 3rd place so felt Im getting back on my game with a competitive time.
From this race I learnt new shoes with different position cleats take more time to get used to than I thought!
I've been really happy with my progress doing all of the jumps in both rounds. It's one less advantage that all the 4x girls have.
In downhill I have always found my biggest weakness when ridding with boys to be my strength. Without good core strength and upper body I've always found it hard to hold my lines and muscle the bike over obstacles.
By practising yoga I have noticed a huge difference in my riding. From the humble beginnings of plank to headstand yoga has also taught me patience, perseverance and to focus my mind
In the video below I show my own routine I have built up which focuses on the core and upper body.
I am not a tutor so follow my guidance at your own risk
Wow its been along time since writing a race update!
Due to severe lack of funds my husband and I have had an entire season out of racing downhill!
We sure picked a good one to get back in to it!
Officially the hardest racetrack woodlands has to offer - the Scotsman... and of course some good old English rain!
It was a sloppy day on race day so all the previous days practicing and line choices didn't mean much so a fresh perspective was required. Having practiced all I could I knew it wasn't going to be an easy day.
The beginning of the track was straight forward, gap jump off the start ramp into a flat turn with tree stumps, try not to slide out of the corner and line up to pedal like mad and launch off another jump. Then on to my favourite section steep switchbacks.
All good so far and then came the horror of the bottom section....
It was steep, very steep with exposed roots criss crossing and sharp turns to negotiate. Once through those it was over some rocks and roots into the crap catcher, or around it, neither was easy!
Having practiced the crap catcher and going straight over the bars with everyone else I decided chicken line had to be a winner on this occasion although forgot to control my speed with the excitement of racing so still did an impressive hip slide down the hill. Once scrabbling around and back on the bike it was into the final section littered with rocks pointing in all directions keeping momentum was hard and the light was poor and in a fluster of nerves and frustration rode into a rock which stopped me dead! once having fought my way out I sprinted to the finish line.
It felt like my worst race ever and I was so frustrated and angry. I knew it would be hard from the start but in hind sight we all came off several times and our times were pretty close.
On reflection I leant a lot from racing such a hard track and am now even more motivated to push on with my training building my skill, strength and fitness for the next race.
A video for anyone who loves a bit of benny hill and riders falling in to the infamous "crap catcher"
I haven't posted for a long time! But I've still been riding 3 days a week. I've just not had the time to take interesting photos or do some video but I had a day off so thought I would treat myself to some video time!
We went back again for another year of Falmouth urban downhill at Tremough campus in Cornwall.
The course was completely different, much longer with different stairs and jumps. This year 5 girls took part instead of just me! Is amazing how fast our race scene grows every year.
After an amazing days riding at cafe the day before I was feeling pretty good and there was only one huge gap jump I didn't do, which would have made up the time to second place.
podium maya Atkinson, tyde D'Souza, laura griffiths
Although it was fun I think I'm all urbaned out for now and missed roots and rocks, plus st austell brewery didn't sponsor this year so there was no beer to be won and we all need a good beer after a days riding!
Despite my recent efforts to avoid the mountain bike world one industries mini enduro came to my doorstep and let's face it , it would have been rude not to take part. I have never entered an race so was pretty nervous at the thought of doing it. On Saturday I went with my husband up to practice and the stages were so much fun. The course was well thought out considering haldon was pretty much a forest on the floor with all the trees come down in the storms. Unfortunately having the home advantage didn't mean much as most of the trails had been rebuilt. never the less it felt like riding a whole new place which was pretty exciting!
The course was so much fun, the timed sections were really steep and technical, very downhill style and racing the clock to reach the next stage start was exciting in it's self.
There's an art to enduro racing Compared to Downhill. There's bike set up, dealing with punctures and how much kit to carry, practising 4 stages instead of one and refocusing at every stage start. Dealing with mistakes is different, there's no second run and you have to focus on the next stage.
The competition was fierce, most of the girls had ridden enduro races before and knew each other. I was the odd one out! With no section times at the end like a DH race you never really know how your dong until results are posted. Despite by stage 3 having total jelly legs from exhaustion and holding of for dear life down a steep loose gully I came in 3rd place so got a podium place. I was over the moon as it was totally unexpected!
I will definitely be doing one again, the race style is very intense but so much more for your money than downhill racing.
When I started riding about 3 years ago I loved it and couldn't get enough of it. I read about it in magazines, and the internet and watched videos and visited bike shops. I was made up to find something I loved. Then even better I found other people that loved it too and there was the biking 'community'. I started off riding with my husband and his two dirty ratty sidekicks Jim and Si. They had crappy old bike and threw themselves off anything and I loved it, we all wore jeans and hoodies and no one expected us to be any good even though the boys were rad and not many women rode so soon I felt pretty good about being faster than boys we saw. we started to meet more people and our riding circle increased which was fine at first But then it all got complicated like the good things always do and riding became more than me and my band of boys, we'd joined the riding community.
Lately I haven't blogged much because quite frankly I'd had enough of the world of mountain biking. being bombarded by the pinkbike experts who always know best and meeting people all day who had the 'best' bike and knew everything about the latest equipment. And girls downhill in the southwest is having it's moment with the 661 mini downhill so facebook is bombarded with which girls shorts should we buy, and what bikes can girls ride, where can all the girls be next and we should all read women's Wednesday. YUCK! just cos were girls we are no different, stop separating us!
I'd had enough I went into hermit mode, my life of riding bikes with the boys had been slowly invaded over years and at first I welcomed it but now all I ever seem to think is shut up and ride, how did it become this?
Giving myself some distance from riding in general, my avoidance of all things social media and running I can now ride my bike again with the boys and love it :D I still get annoyed with the same things but I choose to ignore them and block it out. So I miss racing and that but isn't it really all just about you and your bike?
Last years Southwest Champs was my first ever race.
When I first ever went to Gawton it was to ride downhill for the first time on 'HSD' track.
After riding for a year I decided to race on the new track 'Proper Job' which was quite a step up and this year they upped the game even more holding the race on 'SuperTavi'. SuperTavi is the old dirt 1:04 track and the track that had said to me when I started downhill "If I can ever ride that, then I will be a downhill rider" in my mind it was unobtainable... at the time!
In no way was I expecting it to be easy, I was nervous! I first rolled down it and with the new sections built in they had made the track harder. There was one section I just could not get around at first but got more confident with practice. I had a couple of really hard crashes but nothing could stop me with that feeling that every clean run was taming the beast. I was loving the challenge!
When it came to race day I was tired and now know that 3 days practice before was too much but every race I learn something new.
The pressure was off in someways because so many people had entered but didn't race because the track was so hard. By Sunday there weren't many girls left.
I had one clean super safe run and one terrible pushing it run. I came off twice my second run. I wish I had pushed it more on my first run but without more competition it was hard to risk such big crashes on so many nervous sleeps before!
Still I tamed the beast and raced SuperTavi and that is an achievement I never thought I would have, that and a Silver Southwest champs medal!
A couple of weeks ago myself and my team of 5 took part in Newnham parks Bontrager twentyfour 12.
I got the idea to do it as a challenge to raise money for hospiscare, Exeter universities campus services charity of the year.
As my last cross country race experience was some what terrifying I was pretty apprehensive about what I'd signed us up too. 24 hours of relay cycling night and day.
On arriving I realised how huge the event was. It was amazing to see so many tents and vans and how big the event arena was. The vibe was really relaxed and it didn't feel like a serious athletic event. obviously no beer or shots but lots of people milling around staying up late and enjoying the live music.
The next day I tried to keep my nerves in check knowing it was going to be a long night and day but it felt different knowing it wasn't once chance all out and your one run counts. In fact with the fun atmosphere of the kids race and relaxed approach of the past racers it was chilled but exciting.
Sue started us off and when it was my turn I was excited to know what the course was like. We didn't pre ride it seen as we were gonna do it about 5 times anyway! The course was awesome it had long slow climbs and short sharp get out the saddle climbs with loose rocky descents but mainly rooty technical single track descents. It sounds like a nightmare for passing but it was really well thought out and everyone was really considerate calling ahead to pass. With all my training I actually was keeping up a good pace every lap and did more over taking than being over taken which really surprised and pleased me!
My first night ride went really good and I was loving it, so much smoother lines that I choose in the dark and it was cooler and the perfect temperature. Just amazing although so different to the day. People were silent but riding in big groups together, almost earie. But the places where the track ran along side the campsite were amazing. So many people cheering and playing music. plenty of banging saucepans!
The second night ride at about 4 am was totally different, by then it was a cold start and there were a lot less people on the track and no one to cheer you on. My lights were both on red so I was nervous I would get stranded in the dark and then my light cleat came loose so I couldn't see in front of me on both lights. I fell off on the fireroad in a stupid place and honestly for the first time thought that it was hard, but I kept going and knew that it would get better when the sun came up.
On my next run it chucked it down on the most exposed part of the course and I got soaked and pedalling was hard going, I'd also only had two hours sleep and was really tired so when I finished I genuinely hoped I would not have to go out again but it looked like I was going to do the last run.
When it got to five past eleven and was chaining over from Emma to do my last run I felt elated and so glad to have a final run, The best I had felt after about 2 am was whenever I was on the bike and I got to finish on high tho I had to race round to get one last person round to count another lap on our total but I did it. I gave it everything I got and pedalled my heart out. When I came back into the area it was ten too and I had five minutes to get Jim out. I over took everyone sprinting through.
It was an amazing feeling to finish. We came 10/19 teams in our category and did 6 laps each. Although you have to dig deep when it gets hard and I'm still tired now! I would definitely do it again. It was a great event and so much fun.
And there was no one else on there with me, Never mind! Although being the only girl out of 77 other entrants it was still great fun and I still pushed myself to get the time I wanted. The course was brilliant and although short crammed in a whole lots of stairs and big jumps. Despite being sceptical about how much joy I could get from riding down stairs all day and the possibility of going splat on a hard floor with the competitiveness of a race atmosphere it was a great way to spend a day and well worth the trip down to Cornwall. I must admit I didn't risk it on the big jump with no need to compete against anyone I decided it was the best idea after watching lots of guys throw themselves at the floor.
Falmouth Urban Downhill from Frazer Waller on Vimeo.
So my first downhill race I was super nervous and had a couple of average runs but really enjoyed it so as soon as I had chance to do another race I couldn't wait.
Second time round I was no where near as nervous.
It was round 3 at Tavi woodlands winter series so not as much pressure as southwest champs but still almost as many entrants.
My husband and I arrived on the saturday and It was wet! As usual when I race its so muddy and the course was man made but built into the hillside with not much texturing so there was a lot of getting side ways. The course was so much fun with roots, drops and jumps. On the saturday there was hailstone so practice was really different to race day. Riding on hailstones was like riding on ball bearings it was so hard to keep control and even harder to push back up!
After a comfy night in our van we had 3 or 4 practice runs but the course was getting really cut up so our tyres were clogging really bad and it was hard to get enough speed for the jumps.
THe only thing I would have changed over the weekend was my tyres, I had spikes on but wasn't sure what else to change too, I think next time I will just have the same as my husband because he has a lot more experience.
My first race run I aimed for a safe time and went around a jump which was getting hard to get speed for and then also came off on a tight bend after a really steep stepped section so my first run was less than impressive but I was no where near as nervous as last time I raced so new I could focous and improve on my second run,
My second run was near perfect everything was so clear, calm and methodical, I pedalled in all the right places and hit every line I wanted to, the only thing that could have gone better was if my tyres could have got up to speed and maintained less resistance but they were so clogged and sluggish. Despite that what felt like an slow time was smooth and fast and landed me in a very unexpected second place.
For a change me and my husband decided to do what normal people do for a holiday and catch a plane to somewhere sunny for a winter break. But we thought... that's too normal so we still needed our bikes to come too!
We decided on 10 days staying in a relatives apartment as our base in Benalmadena. In Benal there's a cable car which is bike friendly with the front wheel off and with the help of you tube videos we were convinced there's good downhill riding to be had and were stoked on exploring.
Our Friends came with us too so we decided to try some uplift days and found roost was the best company for getting back to us. They were really flexible and offered us one day to start and more if we wanted too.
On our first days riding we rode with roost who took us to SRAM test track which is probably the most famous track out there, it's really sandy and rocky, it's a baptism of fire intro to Malaga riding.
The rocks are not so much the problem but the sand is if your not used to it. Honestly I was just sliding around all over the place at certain points but its great fun and the roost boys were really supportive and willing to help give advice on line choice and technique.
To get into to town for lunch rather than driving into town we drove further up the mountain to the telecommunication towers and rode a 15 minute downhill trail down with the longest biggest boulder rock garden I've ever seen it was totally amazing! The trail starts off fairly tame and not so much downhill style as it is a walking trail too but once it got going it was amazing with steep long rock slabs to negotiate, super tight steep sandy switch backs and loose off camber exposed sections. I'm not sure how anyone would walk some of it! clearly Spanish hikers like to go big or go home too! One thing i find funny about Spanish trails is they are all unofficial so a lot of them end near peoples back gardens and just pass through residential streets. It was the best trail I've ridden and think it will take something really special to beat it!
After a delicious dirty tasting kebab it was off to ride the trail from the Danny hart winter training in Spain video and to end the day back to the telecoms trail again. I have never rode so much in one day. The SRAM test track and Danny hart trail we rode about 7 times each and with the miles put in on the 15 minute telecoms tower trail twice by the end of the day we were exhausted but had huge beaming smiles on our faces and well and truly made up with riding in Spanish sand.
We enjoyed our first day day so much that we went with roost again for day two. This time it was a long hour and half drive out to Mijas to ride Motril race track. Driving there it was getting
mistier and mistier and once we headed up the foot hills of the sierra Nevada it was pretty bad visibility and the Spanish weather was not the warm sun it was at Benal. The track was amazing though, much more English style building and the ground was mud rather than sand so instantly felt much more at home. It still had the Spanish steepness, length and difficulty tho that we were loving so much. It started with a wooded steep top section with lots of root steps and drops, followed by swooping deep gullies , then into rock gullies and off camber rock sections to negotiate with an excellent middle section with difficult drops which saw us all at some point going over the bars landing on top of each other in the gorse bushes. We decided on four runs before stopping for lunch and on the fourth run coming through the trees it really started to rain and the gully were flowing and when we came out in to the open it turned into a really heavy hail thunder storm. the ride down was amazing sliding around, soaked and covered in mud squinting through the rain and hail to see. Again the trail ends through residential streets where we met trail doggie who sat in the bus shelter with us in the pouring rain while we ate sandwiches filled with grit and mud. The boys went out for more runs but most of us were happy to finish the day after amazing runs on an amazing course which wasn't spoilt by the weather at all.
After a days rest it was time to explore the cable car opportunities. A pass for the week was only €60. By then the weather was back to being warm and sunny. On our first day at the cable car we were lucky to meet an English couple who showed us the two main run although it is actually easy to find the runs it really helped us to work out the knack of getting the bikes in the cable car and quickest way back to the cable car station! The main run we rode was rockadillo which is in the video. It's super sandy again which us girls found a tad easier than the boys with our more gentle gliding approach. It's got everything you could possibly want from a trail with steep technical rocky single track, tight berms, drops and jumps. Each section is great in its own way and so much fun to ride over and over.
Apart from the riding we had great nights in the local Irish bar and meals out in restaurants with friendly Spanish owners telling us their stories and plenty other stuff to do with a lush beach, marina and dolphinarium. Its so English friendly with all the ex-pats running bars and a much more relaxed way of life.
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