On the 14^th February, we headed up to Tunnel Hill for the first round of the Gorrick Spring Series.

It was a good start to the season, with yet another weaving, intense and fantastic course laid on by the Gorrick crew. While using some of the best parts from last year they managed to improve on last year’s course with more up and in turn some fast paced runs downhill.

With Tim and James off first they was up and at it early, starting as they did at 09:47. Tim put one of the most consistent lap times of the day with only 4 seconds separating his fastest and slowest laps. Tim managed to get a PB to boot with a top twenty position, something he chased all of last year. James also put in very consistent lap times in his first ever full mountain bike race to finish 29^th in the Master Male category, no mean feat when you consider there were 57 people in the race and the fastest racer would have rivaled those at the top of the Sport category. Well done to James, looking forward to seeing you at the next race.

Faye was off next and was leading from the first corner putting an impressive sub 27 minute average lap over the race. Having held onto the lead for all but the last 100 meters and following some questionable tactics from the second place Master Female, Faye ended up in a foot deep puddle and was quite literally pushed into second place losing out by 8 seconds to Jo Munden. Congratulations to Faye for the highest race position of the day 2^nd in Master Female.

Setting off 5 minutes behind Faye, Tina put in a solid performance to complete her first Mountain bike race in 4 years and first ride on the Gary Fisher for a couple of years.

Chris started the afternoon races with the Expert male at 14:15 setting off for the arduous 5 laps. Chris set off at a blisteringly fast pace sticking to the pack well and putting in the fastest laps of any of the GearedBikes.co.uk Team. Chris continued to push himself towards a good season at the British XC series working well off base training to get a 9^th place in the Expert Male and retained his title as our fastest racer / rider for another race.

Following hot on the heels of Chris was Pete and Andy in the Male Sport Event. Looking round on the start line Pete mentioned he was of a maturity level that would have allowed him to Father almost all of the entrants in the race (How politically correct?). Having initially started well Andy succumbed to the lack of food eaten and the constant power that is Pete, who pushed through to gain both a place and nearly 3 minutes by the end of the 4 laps. Well done to Pete despite his cold getting 21^st in his first 4 lap race.

Congratulations to all in the first race of the season just remember if things went wrong you can always get your own back next time and if you didn’t do as well as you thought you would there is always another opportunity to achieve at the next race!

Next Race – 7^th March 2010 – Crowthorne Wood Spring Series Round 2

Posted in: Racing