As planned I went over to Curtis Bikes on the way to Cyclopark and dropped off the wheel and brake for Gary to figure out the disk brake mount for the 140mm rotor that I want. I then headed over to Cyclopark and had a really horrible journey that started at a standstill on the A303 as soon as I got on it and carried on until I got to the hotel in Gravesend at 17:30!
When I got to the hotel I dropped off all of my stuff and then got changed for the practice session that I was already late for!! The ride to the track was literally 5 minutes as advertised on google maps and was mostly on a cycle track as well which was a bonus.
When I got to the track I got my practice band and dumped my stuff off at the team gazeebo and then went to the pens and found my friends and then waited to get on the gate! When we got to the front we found out that this was the last set of gates before the end of the session so I basically paid £5 for 1 gate!!! I then hung about and then rode in the open session which was really chilled and I got loads of laps and gates in and a group of us from Bath and Bristol all got on the same gates each time which was really fun and a really good laugh!
I was really happy with the way that I was getting out of the gate but unfortunately I was backing off half way down the start hill to not hit the first jump at speed! This was really frustrating as I was hitting it almost flat out a couple of weeks ago at the Regional!
After Practice I rode back to the hotel along the same cycle path but I had forgotten to pack a front light so it was really dark and hard to see. When I got back to the hotel I ate some rice pudding and then had a shower and chilled in bed until I went to sleep.
In the morning I woke up early and got ready and went to the track to register and practice. The practice session was manic so I did one lap and then went to the supermarket to get food and drink for the day. I had an OK day moto wise and beat people in my first 2 moto’s but my times were well down on last year and I backed off a lot. My last moto was super stacked and I finished last but I at least hit the first jump almost flat out which was something. I ended up finishing 22nd as a couple of the guys that I had beaten in my other motos finished above me as then had easier moto draws by the looks of it as they got 5th and 6 places in their other motos. Although my times were slower tht before I felt way better than I did last year and was not tired until about half way down the last straight so I am definitely getting faster. The 3rd straight also felt easier than it has every other time I have ridden it which was an improvement. Although I wasn’t really happy with the way I rode I did make my goal of not coming last, and I am in one piece and didn’t crash so it wasn’t too bad.
After watching all of the finals we went to the supermarket and bought some food and drink for a team barbecue and then wandered down to where the rest of the team were staying and had a really cool evening and then headed home at about 10pm. Luckily I had bought a head lamp in the supermarket so I was able to see where I was going this time 🙂
When I got back to the room I showered and then messed about on my phone and decided to get a new Jump Bike Frame from Wiggle so that I can run my Shimano DXR’s on the jump bike and run a 32×16 on it as my current frame had the wrong kind of bottom bracket (Spanish not Euro BB) and also does not have enough frame clearance for a larger chain ring than a 25t! I went for the octane One Zircus 2022 Frame and I went for a blue one for a change as I have had a bunch of black frames and a couple of white frames but I have not had a blue frame for years!
The frame ticks all of the boxes for now, Its really cheap (£160), take a euro bb for the 68mm cranks, has 135mm x 10mm rear dropout so my current back wheel will work with it, has clearance for up to 34t chain ring and has clearance for my current tyres although I was talking to a couple of the guys who race Jump and 4x guys at Nationals and they recommended getting 26×2.10 tyres if possible as they feel way better on the track, I will stick with my current tyres for now but will start looking for a good option in 26″ tyres. The frame should be here for the weekend so I can hopefully build it up and ride it all weekend to get used to it. I also have to cut the handlebars down as bit as well as they are too wide at the moment. I am going to try and do a mixture of pump tracks and race tracks over the weekend and really work on jumping and manuals
I wasn’t riding the Sunday as I had to go back to play basketball in my coaches Memorial game so I got up and showered and got dressed and then packed up and loaded the car and then rode to the track to withdraw from the race and also say goodbye to everyone. I then headed to the game and arrived back about 20 minutes early.
The basketball game was really good fun and there were a lot of the players from back in the day which was really good fun and there was a lot of banter going on I’m really glad I made the effort to get back to play.
The take away’s from this weekend were that I really need to work on my manuals so that will be my focus from now until the next National next month! I also urgently need to get into the gym to try and strengthen my knees ready to increase the amount of bike time I have.
This weekend is a long weekend for easter with good Friday and Easter Monday off so I plan to get a lot of riding in.