Wednesday 31 March 2010

Pearce cycles round 1, Bringewood (Shropshire)

Pearce cycles round 1, Bringewood.

I went up to Bringewood, in Shropshire with Harry and Liam. We arrived on Friday at about 5pm and went to walk the track. We walked about half way up before deciding that it was really too dark and we couldn’t really see anything! After a nice spot of dinner we decided on an early night ready to walk the track the morning.



In the morning we could actually see what the track looked like. It looked like a really fun track to ride, it was mostly in the woods with one open section in the middle. The open section looked really cool, it was basically a moto whoop section with about 7 rollers in it. It reminded me of riding pump tracks. The track was surprisingly tough to ride because there were so many things that you had to pump and jump to keep your speed up, and it was really tight between tree in the woods so you had to be bang on your line.

Saturday practise went well. The track was very wet because all of the rain during the week but it slowly dried up over the day. I got quite a few runs as the uplift was running well. I was happy with most of my lines but wanted to walk the track again before Sunday practise, I thought that there were probably some more lines I could find to help me keep me my speed better. There were!


After a mix up with the clocks going back we ended getting up an extra hour early, we decided as we up we would walk the track again. At the top we saw a really nice sun rise. Harry and I found a couple of sneaky lines that we had missed before. That was cool

My first race run went ok. I made a few mistakes at the top of the track where I didn’t carry my speed that well and a reasonably good bottom section. I came down in second place with 2.minutes 30 seconds behind Jack with 2.27 . I was ok with this as I didn’t have the best run and knew I could do better. For my second run I tried hard to stay smooth and carry my speed but after a bit of rain and a rougher track I could tell it was running slower. I had a much better run, no major mistakes but I didn’t really feel fast enough. I got a bit quicker but not enough. I ended up second with a 2.29.29. 2 seconds behind Jack Geoghegan.


All in all a good weekend, I’m looking forward to the first national at Rheola, in south Wales in a couple of weeks. I am going there this weekend as there’s an uplift and to spend some time riding with my friend, Tom Attlee which will be fun.


Thanks to Funn, Superstar, Axo, 661, Maxxis and Ti Bolts.

Cheers
Olie

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Aston Hill Black Run race

The first Aston Hill race for 2010 was to be held on the famous Black run track. Here is my report of the race.

The black run was built many years ago by the well known track builder, Ian Warby. It is definitely the toughest track at Aston Hill but I would say the best one there. As most of you may have seen in the recent helmet cam of the track, it has fast sprint section at the beginning of the track with some high speed berms, this takes you over to where the hill starts to get steeper and has some of the best and well built corners I have ever ridden. A short but tough track for sure.


One of the best sections of the track.

Aston hill does not have a uplift but you can push up right next to the track which makes it really good for practising, making it easy to section and look at lines. I felt pretty confident with all my lines after Saturday’s practice. I had done a couple of full runs as well to see what the bottom section felt like after pinning the top section and it feels pretty good and I was not too knackered. After practice we retreated to race organizer Richard Abbott’s house for some of his finest home made Lasagne (best I have ever tasted) and some DVD action, We decided to hit the hay early and get a good night’s sleep ready for Sunday’s race.

We woke to a fresh but sunny morning. Before practice, I still had to finishing dishing over a new prototype 120 point engagement Superstar wheel I am testing. I had a few other tweaks to do on the bike but we were soon ready to go. I spent a bit of time looking at the first section of the track to see if there was any sneaky lines that straightened out the track and also looked for smother lines over some of the roots.

Chilling in practise with the man behind the tracks upkeep, John Holbrook
I tried not to practise too much to not wear myself out as it was a demanded track and 2 race runs. My first run went ok, I had the top section good but missed some important lines further down. I noticed this in my time as I was 3 seconds back on Nathan and 2 on Harry. My second run was a lot better, A couple of hesitant moment but apart from that I didn’t make any big mistakes. My run felt amazing and with everybody shouting on the track made it awesome. Final result was me 3rd with a 1.34.68, Nathan 2nd with a 1.34.50 and Mr Molloy 1st with a 1.34.16. All within 0.6 of a second made for some close racing in the Expert/Elite category. This was cool and it is always a good race against those two.

Expert/Elite podium

All in all, a sweet weekend, great track and I hope to be back to Aston for the race in September.
Thanks to;
Funn, Superstar Components, Axo, Maxxis, 661 and Ti Bolts.

Cheers
Oliver Burton

Thursday 4 March 2010

2010 British Cycling Awards

Just got back from Manchester for the 2010 British Cycling Gala Dinner. I went up to collect the award for my Mountain Bike Downhill, Senior Men, National Series Win.





I was thrilled (to say the least) to win the 2009 series. It was my main goal for the year and a lot of hard work went into it. I have same goal for the 2010 National series but this time up a catagory, to Expert Men.

My mum, Steve and me.
Manon Carpenter winner of women's National series.

Hello

So, 2010 racing season is so nearly here. Only a month 'til the first National and two months to the first World cup. It still feels like there is so much to do. I can't wait to get travelling again, so many cool places to go to and awesome tracks to ride.

Check back soon for updates, race reports and much more.




Thanks to Tom Grundy for this recent photo taken at Rogate.