Racing at Southern XC Round 4 at Clanfield, last weekend made for quite an expensive weekend with some unfortunate trouble after being in a very different position at the beginning, leading out the race, before suffering with flat issues and coming away with an unrideable wheelset, getting banged up, meaning I’m now unable to get out on the mtb, currently down a wheelset.
Check out the rest of this post to find out how I got on and what happened.
I have a few posts on the site of my mountain bike racing however this year I’ve been racing the Southern XC MTB Series again, after a hiatus, being unable to get to any races last year.
The season has been going pretty well so far, this year finishing 2nd at Rd.1 and 2, including 1st at Rd.3 at New Forest, being just outsprinted for first by less than a second at Round 1.
A Run-through a techy course with some exciting features
With multiple A/B lines, rock gardens and drops, plus a dual slalom towards the beginning, Clanfield made for a solid, technical course including a good mix of climbing, covering just over 300m of elevation gain over 10km of racing.
A long drag started the lap before heading into the dual slalom followed by a rollable short and steep off-camber drop into a grass singletrack up into the first A/B line.
I was taking the A lines every time, being much quicker, with the first being a drop followed by an abrupt right hander into a short rock garden going up and over, with this one having a need to carry in speed, since you were unable to pedal through.
Afterwards it led into a series of fast downhill grass switchbacks down into a steep wood climb, which led into probably the most technical A line compromising of a long rock garden broken into 4 sections with really only one line and no room for error (see the video).
Next were a couple more short grass switchbacks (this time uphill) before going over some smaller uphill rock gardens and then down over a group of small log drops, but painfully fast, uneven and close together.
Through the grass led into the final A/B line with the biggest drop, landing onto a singletrack bank before some uphill switchbacks to join back up onto the start straight into the finish.
How the Race Panned out
Being 1st on the grid made for being able to pick the best line, and I was away fine but slipped my foot out of the pedal mid-effort so had get going again however was in a joint lead by the dual slalom after a quick jump up to the front and then was leading just a little after, after a small stumble from the leader who’s wheel I was on.
I led for the rest of the first lap up until half-way through the final uphill switchbacks where I had the first flat trouble, feeling the rear sliding out on each turn, with the tyre now off the rim, meaning time to run until I could jump it back on with a CO2 canister.
With the gap to the front now big, I set out on putting in an effort, with nothing really to lose, before unfortunately losing the front on the off-camber. The tire sealed back up but now the gap was really big and I was way back (6 minutes) so focused on just putting in an effort for a solid workout and enjoying the course.
I did claw back a number of places and my last 2 laps of 4 were within a couple seconds quicker and slower than the winner, so that was good to see whereabouts I potentially could’ve stayed and been had I not had those issues.
⁕Some more videos at the bottom
Post Race: Expensive Problems
After the journey back and the bikes out the car we thought to check the wheels considering all the rocks and so, and being left with a triple dented rim was a less than ideal problem!
I have aluminium wheels so, with a much heavier wheelset compared to carbon, and a hardtail instead of a full-sus mtb, the rear wheel just dented inwards at the force on the rock gardens, meaning I am now left without a wheelset and just buying a new one straight away isn’t something I can do unfortunately, so am now unable to ride at the moment.
It’s really annoying but not much I can do.
On other terms my technical skill has improved and the effort level is there and it’s good to see things like this coming out of my racing.
On triathlon topic, I have the British Triathlon Super Series Youth European Championship qualifiers at Mallory Park next weekend over a two-day format of heats and finals plus a mixed relay, so I am looking forward to then.
Once again thanks for reading and feel free to subscribe for free and comment at the bottom and ask any questions and I’d be happy to answer as I haven’t had any comments or questions in the 3 or 4 years I’ve been posting.
Cheers for reading 👍
My Triathlon Journey 
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