Olympic MTB photo blog

Liam Killeen practicing on the section that ended his race the next day.

The leading girls dropping down after 'Snake Hill'

I was very lucky to get some last minute tickets for the womens Olympic MTB race a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day out and good to watch some of the top women in the world tackle the technical Hadleigh Castle course. It was amazing seeing that many people there to watch an XC race. So many that you really had to fight to get to the front at the technical sections. Although I enjoyed watching, what I actually wanted to do is ride! It has just been announced that Hadleigh will host the final round of the National Series next year so fingers crossed that is still the case in 10 months time and I can get a feeling of what these girls were going through. Here are a few photos from the day.

Georgina Gould on the wall ride at the bottom of 'Deans Drop'

Julie Bressett.... somewhere...

This climb was a lot tougher than it looks and caused a few errors further down the field

Sabine Spitz and Georgina Gould tackle the top section of the 'Rock Garden'...

...And a bit further down... on the penultimate lap

Annie Last on the 'Rock Garden'

Emily Batty on the 'Rock Garden' riding with a broken collar bone after a crash in training

Annie Last just dropping in to the chute at the end of her last lap

No racing, just riding around Anglesey, Swinley and Blenheim

Since the national championships I have felt pretty uninspired to get out and train. There have been a lot of races in quite a short period of time which seems to have taken it out of me, mentally and physically. I think in situations like this the best thing to do is get out of the routine of training and racing and do something a bit different. I this instance, the offer of 3 days cycling from Chester to Holyhead and back carrying everything we needed was the perfect tonic. Add into the mix that the Saturday was my birthday and that is pretty much my ideal weekend. The only person i knew on the trip was the organiser, Christopholopolopolis, who I have known since my days as a bike guide in his native Greece. We only rode about 50 miles a day but it was nice riding and although the coffee stops weren't up to much it was a good weekend.  

National XC Championships - Wasing Park

Apparently we have a couple of weeks of acceptable weather and all of a sudden I forget to update my blog. Poor show! Over the last 4 weeks I have had 3 races, one biggie and 2 chippers. The most important race amongst this was the National Championships 2 weeks ago at Wasing Park. After a week on holiday in the Lake District doing a little bit of MTB, a couple of road rides and some hiking I made the long drive from Keswick to Wasing, via Cambridge to drop Emma off. A solid 8 hours of driving is not generally considered the best pre-race preparation but short of buying a helicopter I had no other option!