What a fantastic weekend it has been, Couldn’t of asked for better weather for a start, Well were do i start, Well me and my dad agreed that it would be best if we travelled down to thetford on the Thursday night, we got down to thetford in about 5 hours which was expected, Got there at about 10pm so no chance that we could of set the tent up as light was low, We decided that it would be a bad idea trying to sleep in the car seats, so ended up chucking all of the kit out of the boot under the car and sleeping in the boot!, Wasnt the best nights sleep ive ever had but i wasn’t bothered on what sleep i had, i was Bothered about my race!, So looking forward to it i was it was like the feeling before Christmas day!..
Well Friday we had a leisurely start, and set the tent up on the campsite and got a good pitch, People were arriving in there Hundreds!, Really good atmosphere, I Made sure i had a good couple of laps around the course and got to know the corners well ect, The course was really fast flowing which suited me, Nice Singletrack With The odd bmx jump here an there nice rooty sections through the woods, The odd Log drops now and then, Then the one climb which seemed to keep everyone on there toes!, Nice fast course!.. Got to bed at a good time at 8pm, I Was thinking to myself as i lay in my sleeping bag, Jesus Tommorow is race day! i was so excited and knew it was going to be a very fast race with just the one climb, something with never suits me i always like a good couple of climbing sections but never mind i could only try my best i was saying to myself!..
Woke Up Saturday morning, Feeling slightly nervous, Thinking that my race is in 4 hours time!, My dad kept on telling me that i should think positive!, I Was feeling pretty nervous as i watched the other guys who i would be racing against get there practice laps in ect.. I Knew that i didnt want to get a pre race lap done as ive had bad past experiences, So i decided to give it a miss, I Managed to have a good breakfast and get some energy drink down me and did a couple of warm up stretches, i was feeling pretty good and knew that it was going to be a tough race, At 10am we all lined up, 50 Riders at the start line! Not all of them i was racing against but there was 20 of them who i was racing against!, I Managed to get an awesome place in the Start line, an i was feeling good but extremely nervous i had time just to have a quick energy gel so i made sure i got some energy down me, The Junior riders went first at a quick pace!, then the Youth! All going off to a very fast start!, Then after the youth riders i knew it would be us going next!, The Event organiser said that the race alarm was going to set off any time in the next 15 Seconds!, I Was just waiting for the alarm to go off!, that 15 seconds felt like 5 minutes i was just thinking really bad thinking that i might come off at the start ect i was so nervous!..
Then Off we went got a great start was in at about 8th place doing fairly well i was thinking, We soon hit the singletrack section at a fast pace and i could see 3 lads in the distance and i knew that there was no chance that i could catch them as They were fairly motoring it!.. As we came on to the forest track section i knew i needed to get up there, so i got the bike into The 3rd Ring And was hammering it on the forest track and i could see some lad spinning it like crazy and i knew i needed to overtake him before it hit the singletrack or there was no chance i could get past him in the woods, i just managed to get past him and through the woods i was doing really well i was doing so well i actually managed to make a big gap between the guy behind me!, I Could see one lad just starting the hill climb, i knew it would be hard to overtake him as this part of the race was solid, i was starting to feel tired at this stage but i did the same as before and got in the big ring and grinded up the hill and could see that the lad had just got to the top and i knew i could catch him!, And i did it i managed to overtake him!, I Was delighted!, but as i could turned the corner towards to finish line i could see there was another rider, i decided that i should also try and attack this bit but i was so tired!, He was fairly flying as well, but i nearly piped him on the line, He finished 2 Seconds in front of me in the end but i knew my day had been a great success, And
i ended up finishing 6TH Place..
Thats Round 1 Over and Done with!, Now Ive got to keep on training and wait for Round 2 Which is at Sherwood Pines on the 12th Of May!…
Sam
