Bonjour! At the end of February I spent a week in Spain riding downhill with Matt Simmonds, Matti Lehikoinen, Joe Smith, Ralph Jones and Richie Thomas. It was amazing, 27 degrees, full on dusty tracks, beat FM radio, 80 downhill runs and plenty of banter MPH and PPH!! Enough said! GoPro videos below.
A few weeks after Spain I had a day riding with Steve Peat, Josh Ratboy Bryceland and the newly formed SPS team, they were spending a weekend together at the Shropshire mountain bike centre www.mtb-shropshire.co.uk . Amazing to see the effort Peaty puts in to help out the riders.
BDS Rd 1 Nant Gwrtheyrn, A new venue and track that I thought worked out really well, a good mix of everything. This place has some stunning views as well as its set on the sea front !
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| Sunset over looking the race pits and sea |
The elite category was packed with big names so it was going to be tough to get a good result. After a Sunny Friday and Saturday the wind and rain picked up and also picked up some e-z ups which landed a few feet from the newly stickered Blazing Bikes van! Not good! Marc Beaumont started 2011 where he finished 2010 taking the win and all the prizes; I ended up 14th which I was happy with. A nice start to the season …. Still on my old v10 though!
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| Blazing Bikes handled the wind, others didnt ! |
The Cheshire Cat, a 100 mile road sportive, I entered this with a few friends who race motocross, I completed the 100 miles in 5 hours 33 minutes, finishing 75th . In total the event had around 3800 riders, there were some pretty big pelotons going on! It was a nice feeling to complete it, and it was a good event. The famous Mow Cop climb even had a full line of spectators on both sides!
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| Team setup at the Travelodge |
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| Completed |
Midlands series Rd 1 Hopton, A sunny day on Saturday meant the track was nice and dusty and running fast, that all changed for Sunday though with heavy showers bringing the waterproofs and tear offs out, we couldn’t even get the Blazing Bikes van up the field to the e-z up! At least I had some fresh Forgoodnessshakes to keep me going. After 3 practice runs on dry tyres I put the cut spikes on for the race runs, I finished 3rd on both runs and 3rd overall after two solid runs with a few mistakes in the muddy conditions. Marc Beaumont won by a country mile and continues his good form heading towards the world cups.
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| Saturday practice in the dry |
Downhill photos here:
http://www.rootsandrain.co.uk/rider333/robert-smith-elt/photos/ Next up the 2nd BDS at Moelfre Hall
All the best
Rob Smith
