Sometimes you have an awesome day

riders Laura Griffiths, Emma Braithewaite, Danni Benn

Straight to Silver at Southwest Champs

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!

Living A FORCE OF NATURE - Lula Darquier

Living A FORCE OF NATURE - Lula Darquier on Pinkbike

I am loving this video so much right now. I love how well she rides, the music, her family and the whole idea. We all have our own mountain bike life 

Bontrager TwentyFour 12

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.

uh wow!

Freeride = in my mind rolling down steep stuff

She sure as hell gives it a bit of commitment. 

Amazing stuff that girls can do!

Katie Hayes - Fall Promo from 406 Productions on Vimeo.

Falmouth Urban Downhill

My First ever First place podium!

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.

Second race second place

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.

Women

5 competitors found

Rank	Bib	Name	Sponsors	Run 1	Run 2	Best run	Diff
1	278	Heather KAY		1:46.422 (1)	1:56.039 (1)	1:46.422	-
2	289	Laura GRIFFITHS		2:18.303 (4)	1:58.380 (2)	1:58.380	11.958s
3	288	Emma BRAITHWAITE		1:58.640 (2)	2:02.107 (3)	1:58.640	12.218s
4	282	Katie PARSONS		2:07.946 (3)	2:09.555 (4)	2:07.946	21.524s
5	287	Sov ATKINSON		2:46.415 (5)	2:14.914 (5)	2:14.914	28.492s