2nd Round of the BDS at Moelfre Hall was my last race on my old bike, the v10 has been a cracking bike over the last year and has given me some great results, especially this one, 12th in the elites with a full field of world cup stars, I was pretty pleased with that !. The red beauty is now for sale ! This was a great race with a great atmosphere over a Sunny weekend with a super fast track. Gee Atherton won with a 2.23 followed by Steve Peat 2.23.5 and Brendan 2.25, with myself in 12th with a 2.29.
Full results and Pictures at http://www.rootsandrain.co.uk/rider333/robert-smith-elt/results/
The next few weeks I had some time to wait for my new carbon V10 to arrive and take part in the Dyfi Enduro which is a popular xc event i entered with some friends and Matt Simmonds, sadly Simmonds knee wasn't ready for the 60k, but his carbon hard tail was so he let me use that for the event ! It was fast, but I wasnt as fast at fixing punctures as i had a few. Still a cracking event and i completed the the 60k loop in 3 hours 58 minutes around 75th position ! Sweaty !
 |
| Popping a wheelie at the start ! |
New Bike ! Finally the box arrived at Blazing Bikes with the Santa Cruz Carbon V10 inside ! Look Out !
With the bike fully built i had a few runs at a local track before heading down to Pro-Bolt to get the bike tricked out with some titanium ! Thanks to Kevin for the help, check out http://www.tastynuts.com/
After a few rain storms the track was pretty slippy, We didnt get too much practice in as the cable slipped off the chairlift, an hour later it was back on and after seeding Ben Baker was first by 5 seconds, with me in second after a steady run , James Stock 3rd and Ralph 4th.
 |
| Stay safe ! |
 |
| Shambhala |
 |
| New bike New kit |
Race day, with the mountain covered in fog, it was pretty cold, and you could hardly see where you were riding in practice, sadly this was the case for one marshal who didn't see Rocking Ralph Jones coming and got hit at full speed, he didn't sound too good, hopefully he is OK now ! I had a solid race run and went into the lead with a 3.57, James Stock went into 5th and Baker 4th on his new bike, which got plenty of attention in the Monster pits, So a first place for me which i was really pleased with ! Ralph was 3rd and a young guy from Slovakia who will be one to watch 2nd. A good start to racing on the new bike ! Cheers guys
 |
Photography: Georgi Kazakov |
 |
| Podium after a Champagne fight ! |
I now have a few weeks before the next BDS and rounds 2 and 3 off the world cup ! All the best
