The Gorrick race series’ carries a reputation for being friendly and well organised, with that in mind Rd 4 of their spring series seemed like the ideal race to start the 2008 season with...

I was to be racing in the Sport category, the first time I was to race in this category; I didn’t quite know how I would fair. The obvious fear was that I was not as fit as I thought and despite consistent winter miles I wondered how I would fair against more seasoned competitors.

Before racing I was very nervous and although I felt better once I started warming up the nerves were clearly still affecting me on lap one as I wasn’t riding as smoothly or technically strongly as I would of hoped. By lap 2 the field had spread out and I found myself with space around me, this proved to be a good thing as I settled into a good rhythm and concentrated on trying to ride smoothly, by the end of this lap and through lap 3 this steady approach paid off as I started to reel riders in from in front of me. The difference at this level to previous races is that when you pass riders they don’t let you drop them so easily, so a bit of cat and mouse riding ensued, but my strength on the hills paid off and I was able to build a bit of a gap. Lap 4, was very demanding although the course was generally drying out the ruts and channels in the mud were getting worse, coupled with the fact that my legs were really only just trying to hold on and finish the race by this point, and I was having to dig deep to keep pushing. The effort was worth it and I finished in a creditable 14^th, which was exactly on par with where I would have hoped to of placed. I had certainly given it everything, to the point that when I finished and got off the bike I could hardly stand up. Overall a good result but there is room for much improvement and I know what I need to work on throughout the rest of the season. 

Also riding for Bucksmtb at this race was Jane whom finish 11^th in the open women’s category after 2evenly paced laps. She finished with a huge grin on her face and had clearly thoroughly enjoyed her first XC race; in fact one of her first questions was, when the next race, just proving how infectious this racing is...

Full race results can be found at www.gorrick.com

Mark