Heather Kay

Last weekend I was supposed to go to my last race of 2019, my last ever(ish) race (yes I’m done with racing, except maybe once in a blue moon for shits and giggles), I had vehicle problems on the way and unfortunately had no other option than to turn back. A month ago, I was supposed to be at round 4 of the Welsh Enduro Series but I woke with muscle ache and fatigue, barely able to crawl out of bed. 2 months ago, I was supposed to be racing ‘Ard Rock Enduro and we all know the incredibly unfortunate events that led to the cancellation of that event.

So, my last race of 2019 was the WES at Llandegla, the one where I crashed so hard in practice I could barely race (and still have an elbow that hasn’t healed) and then punctured on the top section of the first stage of racing and DNF’d. I guess this year just wasn’t meant to be. I had thought of retiring at the end of last season, maybe I should have. It’s so easy to wish things had been different.

Rather than make this a terribly morose blog post to accompany a season I didn’t enjoy I am going to look back at what mountain biking has given to me over my ‘career’ (can you call it that?).

You have to start with the friendships, right? Those long enduro transitions riding along with your competitors chatting about everything and nothing, sharing a podium with 2 of your mates with not even a second separating the 3 of you, travelling with the 4X family across Europe, one of your 4X mates jumping on a plane to come and visit you in the middle of Norway, or just the fist bumps and high fives that come at the end of every 4X race.

More than that it has brought me friends outside of racing; the absolutely fantastic community that is the Aber Uni MTB Club (you guys rock); being converted to road and gravel by the Ship & Castle 100 mile challenge and the people I met through that (or should I say in the pub); being persuaded to try my hand at criterium racing by Ystwyth CC. On top of that I can’t begin to mention all the amazing people who put so much time and effort into Gawton Gravity Hub, Woodland Riders and Carrick Riders, my time on the committees of those clubs, out at dig days, and organising events taught me so much, the awe inspiring people dedicating hours of their free time to enable people to get out on their bikes and enjoy life.

Through the years I have been racing I have also had the amazing opportunity to see the rise of the female MTB community, when I was 15 I was told that ‘girls don’t do that’, but I went on the North Wales MTB residential anyway, now look at us! Hundreds of women participating in events across the UK and the World, showing the younger generation that girls CAN do that (and so can women, no matter your age!). I have had the immense privilege of encouraging women down the renowned Super Tavi (black run) at Gawton on the Girls at Gawton weekend and also, due to my job in Halfords, the opportunity to teach women basic bicycle mechanics.

Of course, there have also been the great moments, travelling across the UK and Europe visiting locations I may never have been to otherwise; the terrifying track at JBC Revelations, surviving ‘Death Woods’ in Llangollen in the pouring rain, snatching the win in the last couple of meters before the finish line of a 4X race, standing in my GB jersey watching Katy Curd becoming 4X World Champion, winning the overall British Enduro Series Open Women, and taking the 4X Masters National Champion title are all highlights from the time I have spent racing, all stemming from that first South West DH Championships title at my first ever race (thanks again Tony for convincing me I should try racing).

But alongside those highlights there have also been the tough times and hardship, the crashes and injuries. Once, I crashed right in front of the finish line at Bala and had to grab my handle bars with one hand and wave the other hand to ‘break the beam’, I remember Monday mornings at work after a race weekend at the opposite end of the country: the fatigue from the driving, the sore muscles from racing, the realisation that life just goes on despite all the intensity and excitement of the weekend. Making those tough decisions that come with racing, accepting the mistakes you made on your race run, the wrong lines, the wrong decisions, those few seconds where you could have dug that tiny bit deeper, the decision to continue chainless rather than stopping to put it back on. The crashes, the rain, the wet, the mud, the cold.

Yes, there have been highs and lows, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world and none of it would have been possible without the support of my sponsors throughout the years. I know you are supposed to say that, but I could never have afforded to race without Stanton Bikes or Flow MTB, between them they have helped me with bikes, equipment, spares, kit and race entry. They have been there to support me through the highs and lows, through the emotions of race day, through the disappointment and success. I cannot thank you enough. I also have to thank all those race organisers, commissaires, marshals, trail builders and countless other volunteers that make this sport what it is. No matter how much the mtbers whinge, you are amazing.

So that’s it. It feels a bit weird to finish this blog post, as a kind of final commitment, but I know that I will still be out on my bike, I will still bump into riding buddies all over the country, and knowing me I will still show my face and my battered hardtail at a few select events over the next few years (I will, after all be a Vet next year…). Maybe I should finish with a photo from this year, taking the win in my hometown of Aberystwyth, reminding myself that although it didn’t work out how I had hoped it was still pretty awesome too.

Thanks to our 2019 sponsors DHaRCO clothing, 100% UK, Glower Clothing, FINDRA, MTB Instruction, Corley Cycles.

The season finale

So that’s it, another season over and with downhill racing not on the agenda for me next year, I feel a little sad that it marks the end of what has been a huge part of my life for the last few years.

It’s been a roller-coaster year for me, injuring myself at the first race of the year, then I got married mid season, then finally getting back on track to finish 3rd at national champs, then crashing again at Hopton. The missed races meant I didn’t stand a chance of getting a result in the overall series, but I wanted to race the last round of the national series at Ae forest.

I was pretty excited for a road trip and a fun weekend of racing with my friends, the last time I’d checked the forecast it looked like it was going to be dry, so it looked like it was going to be a good way to end the season.

After a 6 and a half hour drive on Friday, me and teamate Becca arrived at Ae forest just about in time for a track walk before the sun set. This was our first glimpse of the infamous “Elevator” at the end of the track, a ridiculously steep grass bank, easily mistaken for a mini “cheese rolling hill” from back home in Gloucestershire.

The rest of the track was a nice mix of rocky sections, tight wooded sections and an open “bike park” section with a big step down, huge berms and a double. So aside from the terror of the elevator we were pumped for practice.

On Saturday morning, I tried not to let it put me off that one of the first riders down crashed on the Elevator as I was walking past ready to head up for my first run. It was a glorious sunny day Saturday so at least it was dry!

We queued an hour and a half for the uplift, which was rubbish. Without taking more than a 20 minute break to eat, we only managed 5 runs of a 3 minute track in 7 and a half hours. According to the locals, this is just what you should expect when racing Ae Forest.

I enjoyed the riding and the time queuing meant plenty of time to chat to other riders. After a few minutes of contemplation on the first run I managed to convince myself to ride down the terrifying “Elevator” and of course as these things always go, it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

Unfortunately the forecast changed and the rain arrived about 2am and there was another downpour as practice started on Sunday, which continued through practice and conditions on track got pretty sketchy in places, particularly the Elevator, which was now basically a mud slide.

We were told to anticipate race runs being cancelled due to the weather so seeding run might count as our race run. So I put Saturdays drier kit back on and switched back to flat pedals for dry shoes and the ability to put a foot out instead of crashing. It felt like I rode half of my seeding run with either one or both of my feet off the pedals which made it incredibly messy. My back wheel drifted sideways as I went in to the Elevator but it straightened up and I crossed the finish line in 4th just 0.04 seconds off teamate Becca in 3rd.

There were groans from all the girls as they announced we would actually have to do race runs, so it was back to the tent to figure out what to do about kit as we were now completely out of clean or dry kit.

Race run went pretty similarly to seeding run and I just wanted to survive. Another slow messy run left me in 4th. I knew my riding had been well below my ability but I hadn’t crashed and it was nice to finish the season with a podium. And finally a podium with teamate Becca!

I feel a little emotional saying I will not be racing downhill again. I love racing because of all the people you meet from all over the UK with the same passion and drive, but unfortunately my life plans for next year do not allow for racing and the commitment it requires.

I am extremely grateful to Flow MTB who have supported me for the past 2 years. I feel very lucky to have had their support and friendship and wonderful teamates too.

Emily Turner

Thanks to our 2019 sponsors DHaRCO clothing, 100% UK, Glower Clothing, FINDRA, MTB Instruction, Corley Cycles.

Ae Forest; queues, queues, the dreaded elevator and more queues but what a belter of a track for the final round of the 2019 National series. Oh and I collected a bit of trophy bling despite some awesome squid moves wahoooo!

The final round of the national series was at Ae forest in bonnie Scotland. I hadn’t been to Ae before but team mate Emily had been a few weeks previously and the track sounded amazing. The forecast also looked amazing and I was excited to see if I could put down a good result and finish on a high. I packed my kit for a dry race but since we were going to Scotland I added my wet weather gear just in case.

The drive up went on forever as the traffic got worse and worse. The blue skies and sunshine outside taunted us as we sat in queue after queue and the satnav time went the wrong way with every mile. The traffic swallowed my plans for a leisurely track walk, afternoon nap and lazing in the sunshine. Still as we finally drove into the finishing field the evening was a stunner and track walk beckoned. Until…hang on a minute, Emily what the hell is that?! We were both stunned at the sight of what looked like the finish to the track. It was taped and riders were standing at the top looking at lines so we must be riding down it but blimey it looked like a vertical wall of tussocky grass. Emily had not ridden it the other week and we established that the track normally finished to the side but this was “The Elevator” and apparently the standard finish for races at Ae.

With the elevator looming above us we found space for our tent in a field that wasn’t anywhere near big enough for a national series round and set off up the track. Standing at the top of the elevator it looked even worse than from below as we realised the top actually overhung a little and the compression at the bottom looked hideous. Whilst it would be intimidating in the dry it should be fun and everyone was clear it was fine in the dry.

Then we heard it was not going to be dry on Sunday. Whaaaaaat?! How had I missed the changing forecast?! Ok so now the elevator looked bloody terrifying and I had no idea how you were supposed to get down it and through the compression in a swamp? Trying hard to ignore it we walked the rest of the track.

Emily had explained about a huge step down that I had already guessed I wouldn’t want to ride. Standing at the top of it I absolutely wasn’t riding it which left me with a slow flat turn across the take off before weaving around the drop and tentatively heading back on to the landing hoping not to get squashed as riders came in blindly. I knew that was not going to be the fastest option but having never hit anything as big as the stepdown before I figured I had little choice. The rest of the track looked amazing with rocky corners, greasy chutes, roots galore and even a bit of off camber grass thrown in for good measure. I just had to hope I could ride the track fast enough to make up for the chicken line on the step down….

Saturday dawned the most perfect blue sky day as the sunshine burnt off the mist and we nervously got ready to get on track. We had thought that avoiding the elevator in the wet morning grass was a sensible idea so planned on starting a little after the first uplift. I watched people ride the elevator from my tent and it didn’t look too bad until a girl crashed and knocked herself out. The track had been open for 15 minutes. Great, I could hardly wait!

But wait we did! For bloody hours and hours on the fire road all day! The uplift had a long way to go with few passing places and the queue was unbelievable! Alongside the nerves of needing to get that first run out of the way we were now faced with the reality that we would struggle to get many runs in on a track we didn’t know. Apparently this was standard for Ae and locals were explaining how it was fine because they always raced the same track so everyone knew it. In a quiet voice I explained I hadn’t been before….ah yes they could see how that would be problematic but at least the track was fun! Great, the day was getting better and better!

Finally we were at the start tent waiting to set off. We rolled into the first tight rocky corner and I hit the highline confidently starting as I meant to go on before slamming on the brakes to avoid running into Emily trying to avoid a fallen rider. The rest of the track was surprisingly greasy but less slippery overall than I expected. The line around the step down was terrifying as I crossed back on to the track watching over my shoulder for incoming riders. Perhaps it would be easier to hit it but I wasn’t brave enough to try. I felt quite a lot of pressure to do it knowing it was so much faster but I bravely swallowed it down and stuck with the chicken line.

I rolled into the elevator and just went for it. I knew that if I stopped and looked I would never do it and trying to get clipped back in just above it was enough to discourage me from stopping. I crept over the edge at snails pace and accelerated into the compression. It was a rough old ride but not as bad as I thought and I was so happy to be safely down it. One down, many more to go!

We joined the back of the ever growing queue for the uplift and waited in the baking sunshine chatting to other riders which was hard to complain about. Run 2 was better than run one with a bit more pace. The top of the track was starting to come together but I was still didn’t know the track and found myself casing jumps, missing lines and lacking flow. Hopefully we’d manage another 2 or 3 runs if we were willing to queue for them and some of that would settle down.

After 4 runs I was feeling pretty good on track. My lines were settled, I was still terrified of the elevator but riding it cleanly and overall I was feeling happy but very tired. The long drive, standing round for hours in the sunshine (literally 1-2h per uplift) and a physical track, which I was never warmed up for given the wait at the bottom, were taking their toll. We managed to squeeze in a 5th run before calling it a day. A track walk late evening got a little hairy as we nearly got mown down by a pack of elite riders. The track was shut, the marshals and commissaires walking down, but lack of organisation meant a last uplift had dropped them a group off at the top and they didn’t know the track was closed!

I woke up early to the sound of heavy rain but by the time my alarm went off the morning had dawned and was really quite pleasant. We got ready to get on track hoping to avoid some queues and make the first uplift. As we left the tents the heavens opened and the rain was torrential. We joined the back of a soggy queue and stood around for 40 mins waiting as the rain dripped steadily down our necks whenever we moved. I hadn’t changed to flat pedals and was a little nervous of riding a steep wet track in my clips but I wasn’t going to the back of the queue so there was no choice. Besides, when I thought about it, I rarely put my foot down on track anyway so it was no different to normal.

The water was running down the track and yesterdays greasy chutes were now rivers and less slippery. The dusty corners and roots however were a different matter and the off camber grassy section was rapidly turning into a bog. I had a great run down the track, finding grip where it was unexpected and generally nailing my lines but approaching the elevator I was feeling extremely unsure! I rolled over the top opening up a view of muddy ruts where there had been dusty grass yesterday. Repeating the mantra no brakes, no brakes, no brakes I rolled down the slope, held my bike as it bucked out over the compression and slid to a stop at the railings with a deep sigh of relief before lining up in the uplift queue to do it all over again! The second run was even wilder as the track grew ruts and holes amongst the bogs. I narrowly missed the barriers on the way down the elevator as I slid sideways and hoped for the best. I went back to my tent, washed my bike off, stripped my muddy kit off, dumped it outside in the rain and tried to get some food in before qualifying.

A message went out that a storm was expected at 1pm so qualifying might be our race run. Normally I would be a bit sad about that but the thought of only needing 1 good run was appealing and I settled myself at the top ready for a race run glad it meant we could get home earlier. The rain had eased off a little as we stood at the top waiting for qualifying. My googles were safely stowed in my pocket inside a dog poo bag (clean obviously!) to stay dry and I whipped them out at the last moment before getting on the start ramp.

The beeps sounded and I realised that although nervous I hadn’t called them dreaded beeps so I guess that’s progress! I convinced myself there was loads of grip and committed to the track right out of the start gate. I zipped over roots, railed the off camber swamp, sent the little stream gap beautifully into the berm, hit the step ups with no brake checking, took the chicken line round the step down and generally loved every second. I took a deep breath and practically stopped at the top of the elevator which had the crowd shouting “come on love you can do it!” as I rolled in to the steepest mud slide ever. My reflexes corrected the bike as it bucked and slewed across the line and with shaky hands I removed my googles to see I had put down a pretty good time.

I realised just how good my time was as others came in behind me and I was sat in 3rd place! Emily and I had ridden together all weekend and it showed with less than 0.1 seconds between us! I was so pleased until I heard the organiser announce that second runs were going ahead. I swore loudly much to the surprise and laughter of the crowd. I did not want to ride that elevator again, it was so unpredictable that I really couldn’t tell if I would make it or not. Line choice seemed irrelevant and the track was getting worse as the rain stayed light and things turned claggy. Oh well we had 2 hours and the storm might arrive.

I spent 2h sat in my underwear and knee pads hoping for rain to keep the mud wet rather than claggy. Emily and I laughed hard as one of Astons team mates popped his head into the tent looking for Aston only to be met by us sporting socks, knee pads, wet muddy undershorts and sports bras haha we were so classy! Watching the elevator from the door of our tent we could see deep ruts forming that would be impossible to see on the run in as riders slid out in the mud and had to run over the finish line. It’s the first race I have done where the commentator could repeatedly be heard saying “rider Joe Bloggs has made it safely over the line”. Great, it looked like we’d get claggy race runs and be lucky to cross the line upright.

The rain was barely there as we lined up again at the top for what would actually be race runs this time. I slid my goggles out of my dog poo bag at the last minute for the second time and sat waiting for the beeps. I again committed straight out of the gate and had another awesome run that felt even faster than the first until I came in a bit hot to a set of very tight very muddy corners in the bottom third of the track. I somehow made it round the first one but went wide on the second, clipping a tree stump which fired me back across the track into a tree (I always love a good tree hug) and I went down into the bank next to the track. Feeling pleased I was mostly upright I stood up only to have my bike slide over the drop I was perched above with me sat on the saddle, feet flailing. Through some exceptional squid moves I stayed upright and frantically tried to clip on the way into the next boggy steep corner coming to pretty much a standstill as I finally pushed through the mud in my cleats and got my right foot in. I rode the rest of the track, took another deep breath on the way into the elevator and slid across the line grateful to be in one piece.

I looked up at my time and was pleased to see I was only 3 seconds slower than qualifying despite my crash which confirmed my feeling that I had been flying for the rest of the track. I had only been 0.1 seconds ahead of Emily in qualifying so I figured that was my 3rd place gone. Emily crossed the line safely and somehow I had managed to hang on to 3rd place and I stayed there as the other riders crossed the line. I was bouncing! Not only would 3rd be my best result at a national but team mate Emily and I would finally get on a podium together!

We frantically washed bikes, threw muddy kit in bags, took down the tent and tried to wipe mud off our faces so we were ready for our podiums and the long drive home. It was my third podium out of 5 rounds at nationals which meant I got to climb on a second podium for a huge trophy and 4th overall in the series! I had done it! I met my goals of a series podium at nationals wahoooo! The drive home went on forever and my eyelids were dropping as I finally pulled up on my drive at 1.20am with a full day at work ahead of me. I was met by 2 very excited springers who bounced around on my head as I crawled in to bed still coated in mud and not caring in the slightest.

I’ve got a couple of local races still to go but that is the last of the long drives to nationals for another year. I might have done the riding but I can’t thank my sponsors enough for their support and help to get me here. Flow MTB provided another year of support with the best set of race kit on the circuit for the second year running. It is a great team to be part of and I feel lucky to have their support and belief not to mention all the other sponsors that support the team providing kit and training to help us look smart and cosy both on and off track. Matt at the Physio Clinic delivered another amazing training programme with personalised strength and conditioning coaching to keep me interested and strong enough to take hit after hit over the whole season and stay in one piece. Matt and the team also provided sports massage and rehab keeping me in tip top condition. Ash helped me sort out my diet and mental resilience keeping me strong and healthy over a tiring season and also helping me have less fat to lug down those tracks. My race pants look nicer too haha!

I’m looking forward to a bit of a rest before off season training starts but first I’ve got a few more muddy tracks to slide down and then a season of nice dry indoor netball! No rest for the wicked.

Rebecca Smith

Thanks to our 2019 sponsors DHaRCO clothing, 100% UK, Glower Clothing, FINDRA, MTB Instruction, Corley Cycles.

Final round of Pearce was a crazy dusty blast for final overall trophies

The weather was a little wet in the week running up to the 4th and final Pearce race of the series so I was surprised and delighted to find a dry field for camping. A quick walk up the track before it became fully dark revealed a bone dry track with inches of a weird chalky dust! I could hardly believe my eyes but the little puffs my feet kicked up confirmed it was indeed dust! I last raced at Bucknell two years ago and the team have made some great improvements to the track including a lot of work to smooth out and remove the braking bumps in the corner after the big ski jump. I was excited to get on my bike the next day.

Saturday morning dawned warm and sunny and I headed up for a first leisurely run down the track. I’ve always struggled to find flow on this track and run 1 showed me that today wasn’t going to be any different. I straight lined into corners, overshot key turning points, stalled here there and everywhere and generally made a bit of a hash of it.

Run 2 was done with different people but otherwise went exactly the same as run 1. Normally by this point I’d be feeling frustrated but because I had expected this I was as cool as a cucumber. Previous frustrating races here had left me disappointed and having a fairly rubbish weekend and I was determined that it would be different this time. I was not bothered if I didn’t get a great result as long as I had fun. This attitude coupled with the knowledge that I had all day to try and learn the track meant I had an absolute blast all day long!

I had a great day riding with friends and making new ones. Everyone was finding the dust slippery but awesome fun and oddly it turned out that everyone found the track a little like I did. If you went slow it was cruisy flowy fun but as you turned up the pace it was hard to find flow, easy to stall and the track punished every mistake. Hmmm maybe I had been a bit hard on myself at previous races here.

As practise finished most people took advantage of a lift to the top and spent the glorious sunny evening walking down the track exclaiming at the dust and huge holes that had appeared on track. Well sort of appeared as most were hidden behind inches of dust so weren’t that obvious until you pitched into them! My track walk didn’t reveal any new lines but it did confirm that although it felt awkward in places I was on the right line.

As it was the end of season Pearce had their big hog roast and we all settled in after a great day riding with soft floury baps filled with goodness. The locals had been really friendly and invited people to pop down to their village fete. They had also extended the offer of using their sports field showers so anticipating a nice hot shower I set off into the village with Katie. Katie turned on the first shower muttering that she hoped it wasn’t cold… the water ran hot and we both gladly stripped off and dove in. Then we dove out again pretty damn fast as the water continued heating up until it was scalding! With no options for temperature control, I tried the boys showers but they were just as hot. We took advantage of the water by using various items of clothing as flannels so we could get clean without melting our skin off. Not perfect but it felt good to be clean after all the dust. A laughter filled evening with friends over cider finished off a pretty perfect day.

Sunday dawned clear and sunny with heavy dew on the grass after a cold autumnal night. The track was short so I didn’t rush to get on track as I figured it would be easy to get 2 practise runs in. I walked up to the uplift and was surprised to find a pretty big queue but it had moved fast on Saturday so I didn’t worry too much. After we’d stood in the queue for quite a while and it hadn’t moved it was clear there was a problem. Apparently one of the vehicles had gone off the side of the track and all the others were needed to haul it back up. So we stood in the sun watching riders slide out on the wet grassy turns as the sun gradually dried off the field. Eventually we got on track for a pretty good run and figured we could squeeze in another run before practise closed. At the bottom we were greeted by a closed sign 20 minutes earlier than the uplift should have closed. Normally that would have been fine but with such huge delays many riders, including us, had only done 1 run.

The uplift had closed early to make sure they got through the queue before the end of practise so we joined a group of maybes hoping to fill any gaps in the last uplift trailer. We got lucky and rushed to fill those last few spaces and get a second practise run in. Katie and I were the last to set off from the top so we could have a clean run without faster riders catching us up. This all worked really well until part way down the track when people started dropping in behind us and wanting us to pull over. I’m always happy to pull over for a faster rider but when they drop in right behind me, having seen that I’m slower than them, I am not so obliging. We continued with our uninterrupted run and were pleased to see the field had dried out completely when we got to the bottom.

I went to the top for my first race run feeling calm and excited. My aim was to get a better time than my last race here without worrying about positions. My run was a bit ragged and far from perfect but for bits of the track I actually had some flow! I was surprised to get to the bottom and find myself in 4th place not too far behind some very fast girls. I figured if I tidied up my run a little I could take a couple of seconds off so I set off my for my second race run with that in mind. Despite riding more smoothly I went slower than my first run but managed to hang on to 4th place. It turned out that not caring and just enjoying myself was faster!

My goal for the season was to get a series podium in the national series and stay out of fracture clinic. With one national race left I’ve managed a series podium at Pearce with a surprise 2nd place and am on track for the national series podium too. I just need to get through that last race on my bike to meet my other goal hahaha.

Rebecca Smith

Thanks to our 2019 sponsors DHaRCO clothing, 100% UK, Glower Clothing, FINDRA, MTB Instruction, Corley Cycles.