April Recap

This month really brought the British Cross Country season into full swing. The first couple of rounds of the British National Cross Country Series have taken place, as well as another Junior World Series. 

The month started at Cannock for the classic season opener. I was racing both the Open Short Track on the Saturday and the Junior Open Cross Country on the Sunday. The Short Track course was slightly different to last year, making it a bit less hilly and including even more sharp corners. This meant there were constant re-accelerations, which made it hard to close gaps.

I was randomly gridded near the back and had to spend the first couple of laps moving through the field to get to the front of the race. This mostly consisted of bold undertaking and overtaking on the corners and generally squeezing my way past people. After this, I had overtaken my way into second, but the elite leader was quite far ahead, and despite my best chasing, I was unable to close the gap. Towards the end of the race, I was caught by another elite rider who managed to get past me on the penultimate straight, leaving me to finish third. While I was disappointed to lose a position at the end of the race, I was beaten by a couple of very fast elite riders who I could not realistically expect to beat. 

The course for the Cross Country was similar to every other Cannock course. It mainly consisted of short climbs and descents, with a good amount of fairly easy singletrack and a bit of fire road. The course had three A-lines, which were no trouble for me.

I was gridded first and had a good start, moving straight into second position into the first descent. About halfway down the first descent, I tried to turn too tightly through a dog-leg corner and lost control of my bike, sending me over the handlebars. I got up quickly and only dropped back to seventh, losing some time. I pushed hard over the rest of the first lap and managed to make my way back to the front of the race. Over the next lap, I kept the pace high at the front, which left myself and one other with a good lead. With half a lap to go, I was gapped leaving me to finish second. While the result was good, I was frustrated with the crash as it forced me to burn energy that I needed at the end of the race. In the end, a podium was a good result, and I cannot be too disappointed. 

The next race of the month was my fourth Junior World Series of the season in Nalles, Italy. The course was one super long climb with a technical section and a very steep thirty-second pitch at the top, followed by a rolling descent with some very technical sections including a gap drop, rooty corners, and a lot of dust. Because our race was early in the morning, it was not very hot, but that did not stop there being a lot of dust.

I was gridded on the front row and had an acceptable start. I was at the back of the lead group but was not ready for the tactical team racing. I sat on the back of the group before team tactics caused me to lose touch with the leaders.  I chased hard over the last lap and almost caught back up, but in the end, I finished ninth. Not the result I was hoping for, but there were a lot of valuable lessons to take away from the weekend.  

The final race of this month was the second round of the British Cross Country Series at Margam Park, where I competed in both the Short Track and Cross Country. The Short Track course was very fast, mostly consisting of wide, open corners in a grass field and a bit of singletrack.

I was randomly gridded mid-pack but got a decent start and moved forward quickly. I was not far off the front about halfway through the first lap when the rider in front of me slid out, and I had to dodge him, losing all my speed into a long straight to avoid a crash. After that, I did not have the legs to chase back to the leaders again. I settled into the chasing group and finished sixth after a hard final lap sprint. 

The cross-country course was long with a good amount of climbing. It had both fire road and single-track climbs with some decent descents and technical sections.

I was gridded first and had an okay start, managing to move through the group into second wheel by the bottom of the first climb. I sat in second until the top of the climb, where I put in a short attack to be first into the descent and the following single-track climbs. Towards the end of the last lap I forced the pace on the last technical climb causing some splits in the lead group. Going into the second lap, the pace went up dropping the rest of the group leaving a two-up. On the second, long climb of the final lap, the pace went up and I could not match. I kept going as hard as I could and came in to finish second. It was frustrating to be dropped with half a lap to go. 

I am looking forward to British round 3 at Glentress then immediately into a European double header with Heubach in Germany and the world-famous World Cup at Nové Město na Moravě in Czechia. As always, a massive thank you to the British Cycling Olympic Development Squad, Scotia Offroad Race Team, and my parents for all the support.