BMBRS - Round 1 - Sherwood Pines - George Flinton

Four Bears set off from a very foggy Malton at 8am heading towards Sherwood Pines for the first round of the National Points Series. The fog continued to thicken as we drove down the A1, but as we approached Nottinghamshire the fog cleared and the Sun was out, it was looking to be a lovely day.


We pulled into the carpark and wandered down to the main field to sign on. Just as we were setting off back unto the team pickup, the commentator announced that Annie Last was approaching the last kilometre, so we hung around to watch her cross the line then wandered back up to get the bikes ready.


My dad (Adrian) had unloaded the bikes, so we set about checking tyre pressures and fannying about with adjustments and strapping on the numbers. We then set about getting into team kit, Sam and myself chose to go with a jersey and shorts, but Morgan decided that it was freezing and dressed as if he was going out for a ride in the depths of winter...


Morgan decided it would be a good idea to go for a 'mystery tour' around the forest to warm ourselves up, after about 15 minutes of riding we turned back towards the start line to "reccy" the course. We could tell straight away that it was going to be a fast course, it was tight between trees in places and had some technical aspects, the one thing it was lacking was hills... Morgan and Sam both had a tumble on their practice lap, and I thought it would be my turn next...


12 o'clock rolled around which meant the start for my race, we were gridded based on last seasons points, and with this being my first year as british cycling registered I was put to the very back. Just as we were ready to set off, we were informed of a large crash that had happened in the previous start, which resulted in the rider being air lifted to hospital. Our start was moved forward 100m to avoid the incident. The start gun was fired and we were off. The speed at which the front lads set off was unreal, I was still at the back but gaining places gradually, I settled into a pace, gradually moving up the odd place. As I was coming to the end of my first lap, the rider in front of me, braked hard and turned into me (for no reason at all, we were on a straight flat bit of single track) This resulted in my foot coming unclipped and my knee smashed into his pedal taking with it a great lump of skin. I pushed on in anger and passed him, that was the last I saw of him until the finish. 

We cracked on with the second lap and I was feeling good, still picking up the the odd place, working my way up the field, this all came to an end when the rider in front of me dropped his bottle, I had no time to react and my front wheel mounted the bottle the slipped sideways sending me over the bars and into a rooty 

hole, I quickly picked myself up and jumped back on the bike. My knee hurt rather a lot, and I was struggling to keep going, I made it to the fire road and cracked out a gel, I dropped down a few gears to keep my legs spinning, my knee soon eased and was able to pick up the pace again. This incident had cost me two minutes and a few positions. But I had to crack on...

The third and final lap was now underway, and I was racing a lad from Clifton Cycles. This was a good lap for me, managed to claw back a few places and I was on the back wheel of the Clifton lad and was determined to pass him, I continued to chase him down, and we both started to pick up speed in the final kilometre. We came to the last corner of the race, and we both went for it, stood up out of the saddle sprinting for the finish, I didn't think I was going to be able to have him, but I kept on pushing and got past him in the last 20 meters. Result! 

That was it, my first nationals race was over, and I had certainly enjoyed myself. Myself and Morgan hung around waiting for sam, who was still out on course (as a result of last nights drinking & incidents), so we thought it would be an ideal opportunity for a cheeky photo (shown below)

Sam arrived back at the start field, and after having chatting to the Yates cycles team, we all returned back to the pickup to get changed. After getting changed we returned to the start field to find out our results. Morgan was 22nd and Sam 54th in the Sport Men and I was 34th in the Junior male. We watched the Vets sprint off onto their first lap, then headed back to the pickup for the final time, loaded up the pickup and headed back for the A1 northbound, all smiling and eager for the next round in April, which is at Dalby Forest.  Follow the link to my Garmin race data... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/161529301


Until next time...


George