Flow MTB rider Corinna picked up 3rd place in the second round of the Pearce Cycles downhill series at Bringewood
Now in its 22nd year, the Pearce series is renowned for its slick organisation, good courses, and finely tuned uplift service. A lot of hard graft goes into putting on this race series which is accessible to all riders from your beginner juvenile to elite riders. On her new Trek Session 88 Flow MTB junior rider Corinna entered round 2 was held at Bringewood, here’s her race report.
Going to a race weekend with a brand new downhill bike is the best feeling, I felt so excited to ride the new rig finally at a race. Not only that but I love riding at Bringewood, the tracks there are so much fun.
It had rained a bit on Friday night but not enough to change the track very much. I rode all day ramming in as much runs as I could, the track was pretty lengthy for a Pearce race which was tiring but I loved it. Throughout the day I was trying my best to find high lines through the top corners as some were quite tight and hard to carry speed through. The middle section consisted of just jumps and a few rocks, I was finding the jumps difficult as some were pretty long but I found a line through that worked for me and I managed to make nearly every one of them… I wasn’t scared of much with this bike!! I did 2 full runs to finish the day off on Saturday and they felt amazing, I was going into Sunday with a big grin on my face!
With a couple of hours to practice Sunday morning I got to the top of the hill asap and managed to fit in 3 runs. I was planning on 2 but my first one felt slow, and the second one my foot came off over a drop in the middle section so I wanted a perfect one to finish off which I managed to get… 3rd time lucky!
First race run came round quickly and I was really nervous on the uplift and waiting at the top. It felt pretty tame and I made a few mistakes at the top but I still managed to scrape into third. I thought about where I wanted to make time up and went into my second run pretty focused. Second run I pedalled my arse off. Pedalling between jumps and pumping through the woods section by the time I got to the bottom dusty woods I was pretty knackered. I tried to catch all my lines which I did excluding one… I had a fast nearly perfect run and got myself into 3rd!!
I was very, very happy as 3rd was more than I thought I could get! With two dry days and riding in the sun on Sunday it definitely made me feel excited about riding and every run I was having so much fun which I think is what works best when racing! Bringewood was a great venue and I came away with a result I wasn’t expecting and absolutely buzzing for the year of riding to come on the new bike!
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