20

World Cup, Champrey – Switzerland

I was excited leading up this event because even though I hadn’t raced cross country for a good few weeks due to a break in the races, I was confident that my form was building well and I would have a good race and get the result I was after…..top 50! Unfortunately, our usual travelling van failed the mot which meant that only me and the old man could fit in the car, leaving my usual entourage (finance, daughter & mam) behind.

Driving to the race was a long haul and at some point I would have to try and get some sleep while travelling, which wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. After 27hrs constant driving we arrived at Champrey on the Friday, signed on, then headed for a couple of laps of the course. The course was quite short, a lot of singletrack, lots of roots which wasn’t technical but sometimes catch you out if you go of your line or not concentrating. Overall my lower back was a little stiff from attempting to sleep in the car, my legs felt quite fresh and my welsh champs kit went down a treat with spectators. The following day same thing, rode the course, only feeling a little more stiff which was making me feel a little awkward on the bike.

Race Day. After a good warm up and waiting in the holding pens I was really confident that the hard work had been done and today would be a good day, despite feeling a little weak in the warm up. I’ve lost count of amount of times I’ve felt s**t in the warm up and had a really good race, so that wasn’t bothering me….I was just well up for the hard race! Off the start there were a few crashes which I managed to pass fairly smoothly then onto the long tarmac climb where I planned to move up through the field. However, the longer I was putting in the effort for, the stiffer I seemed to get and ended up struggling to even stay with the guys in front of me let alone pass them.

For the next few laps I was flat out, but instead of my legs feeling tired from the effort they felt really restricted like as if I couldn’t access any power from them. By the end of the race my back was swollen and after crossing the line I felt quite fresh even though I felt like I was on the limit for the whole race. Disappointing!

After the race I decided to come home despite the plan of driving straight from there to Austria and visit a chiropractor before doing anything else. There was no point in racing the following week when something mechanical is slowing you down. Luckily the van should be sorted by then and we would have a comfy journey coming back out, and my well missed family could re-join the trip.

I’m happy to have a few races before the last round of the British Mtb Series, as the races will get my legs ready after a few race less weeks, and I should be good for a great ride!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Lee Williams, Team Wiggle, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.