Last weekend Dan competed in the 4th round of the UKBikePark Summer DH race series. Coming from his good performance at the English Championships at Caersws the previous week, Dan was looking forward to racing again at UKBikePark on a track that had been ‘updated’ since it had last been used for a race.
Dan:
“Practice went well: the track was odd, the top section was flat out and lots of fun, the bottom was likewise, but in between was a slightly weird flat, almost uphill section, which had been recently added, which completely ruined the flow of the track, and was a real slog to get across carrying speed. This led into some jumps, that while fine at a slow speed, when hit flat out were way too small, with very steep lips that kicked you up way too high, making hitting them at race pace dangerous and scary! Despite the track being awkward, I had fun and felt fast. Towards the end of the day I did some runs with Isaac fairly fast, and was keeping up with him fine, so I went into Sunday feeling good.
Sunday practice went well, I got 4-5 runs in, 2 of them with one of the other top youths, Ty, and I kept up with him as well. I got all my lines sorted, and on my last practice run, hit the track fast to check I could stick my lines at speed. My first run was ok, it felt slow, and I expected it to be a slow run, but it turned out to be the good enough for first place. I was surprised by this, but happy as I knew that I could go faster on my second run. My second run was good, I rode the top section well, keeping speed and pedalling lots, then dug really deep on the pedally section, and hit the bottom section fast, I took nearly 3 seconds off my first run time and kept first place.
I am very pleased with this result as I beat Isaac, something that I always aim for, and this shows that my speed is improving. I am looking forward to my next race to see if I can keep up the good results.”
This was another very good result from Dan, showing progression by for the first time being in a leading position after the first runs and then keeping that lead whilst going almost 3 seconds faster in the second runs. Also, for the first time Dan was able to wear the ZeroG hoody on the top step of the podium (for his last win the branded kit hadn’t arrived yet)!
The next race will be the 5th and final round of this UKBikePark Summer DH series on the 18/19th September.
Attached pictures:
Race run (UKBP_Rd4_Win_1.jpg)
On the top step of the podium! (UKBP_Rd4_Win_2.jpg)
Tim & Dan.
Last weekend was the English Championships, held at Caersws, Wales (yes, the organiser apologised too!). Dan has raced at this venue once before last year, but he was keen to learn the track being used for this race as it is a new one that is also to be used for the last round of the BDS National race next month that Dan will compete in.
It had rained quite hard in the days leading up to the weekend, but the forecast was for some showers during the Saturday practice, but then dry for the Sunday race day after a wet Saturday night.
Dan: “Practice went well, the track was super fun, and even after the rain, still rode well. I was finding it not too challenging, and was hitting all the lines I wanted, every run. I was picking some lines that utilised what I learned at my training day with Rowan Sorrell, and finding I was going much faster, and staying in control. By the end of Saturday I had all my lines sorted, and felt good on the track and was looking forward to racing it on Sunday. The track dried up considerably through Sunday practice, and was rutting in nicely. Through the off camber sections, the high lines were defined, and whilst slightly tricky to get on to, had good support and were much faster than the riskier lower lines. I felt faster and faster each run, letting off the brakes more and more, and felt confident of a good finish in the race.
First race run started off well, I rode the top section fast, but unfortunately caught someone up very quickly and got held up behind them, costing me at least 2-3 seconds. The rest of my run was good, and I came across the finish line in 10th place. I knew I had 2-3 seconds to easily make up in the second run, so I was confident of a top 10 finish. My second run went well, I hit all of my lines, kept my speed up and stayed off the brakes. The only slight moment was just before the finish line where my foot slipped off the pedal, but I managed to get it back on quickly and not loose any time. I took 7 seconds off my first run time, and ended up in 6th place (4th in the English Champs)
Overall I am very pleased with this result as there were a lot of fast riders there, and I placed well. Next race is UK Bike Park round 4, and I am looking for a podium.”
This is arguably Dan’s best result to date – he was very close to Isaac Anderson, his main rival who has been recently been getting some very good results, and Dan also beat other rivals, who are typically close to him, by a good margin. Dan even surprised himself by the 7 seconds that he was able to improve his first run by in his final run. Dan’s training day with Rowan has definitely helped – all through practice he was saying how he was trying new lines and techniques that he would not have tried before, and finding himself faster as a result – thanks Rowan!
Since the race was also being held as the English Championships, although Dan was 6th overall in the race (49 competitors), with one Scottish rider (Fraser McGlone) and one Welsh rider faster than him, Dan ended up being the 4th English rider, just off the podium for the English Championships. Not bad when Dan is still riding his Marin Quake ‘freeride’ frame, compared to the other faster riders on full downhill 8 to 10″ rear travel frame bikes!
Marin have just launched their Quad-DH 10″ travel frame at Crankworx in Canada, announcing production after four years of development – we will try to get a frame to upgrade Dan’s bike to be on a par with his competitors since he finds the Marin’s Quad suspension design far better than all others he has tried on demo and friends’ bikes!
I’m writing this in the car park at the UKBikePark where Dan’s practicing on the newly-modified ‘Big Grin’ track being used for the race tomorrow.
Tim & Dan.
First spy shots of the new Marin Rift Zone, which is due to be released at the Eurobike trade show next week.
Read more @………………….
http://www.bikemagic.com/gear-news/marin-rift-zone-2011/8610.html#historysub
We ride our bikes……..
Check out Yuri, Marin’s Marketing Manager hitting the Whistler Trails on the new 2011 Quake DH.
Riding with AT……………………………..
Read more at…………………………
http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycle/bike_blog/?p=1939#more-1939
http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycle/bike_blog/?p=1920#more-1920
National Championships, Ae Forest Scotland 18th July:
These were the second National Championships that Dan has competed in – last year he came 41st out of 42 riders, so any improvement on that was going to be a bonus! Going into the event Dan was seeded 12th out of 49, and we had previously ridden the track last year so he was fairly familiar with what to expect, although some changes had been made to the track in the previous weeks before the event. The weather forecast was predicting rain for race day, but with practice dry after some heavy rain in the days leading up to the race weekend.
Dan:
“After arriving on Friday to rain and course-walking to find a wet track, I was not looking forward to riding the track too much, as parts of it were very wet, the top part resembling a river in some parts, and the bottom looking slippy and challenging. The middle of the track looked good, it was like a large scale BMX track, and looked great to ride. Saturday practice went well – I picked my lines and got steadily quicker throughout the day until on my last practice run, I clipped a tree in a tight wood section, and bent my thumb around, causing considerable pain. The track had dried out lots by the end of practice and was very fun to ride, but unfortunately it rained all night, and made the track wetter than it had been all weekend. I did a practice run on Sunday, nursing my thumb which sent a jolt of pain every time I hit a large bump. 0
Qualifying went well, I came down in 14th, with a steady run, knowing I could knock a few seconds off to try and get into the top 10 for finals. My final run wasn’t appauling, but equally, it wasn’t amazing. I made some mistakes, running wide in some corners and being on the brakes more than I would of liked. I finished in 17th place, which was disappointing, I wanted to top 10, and missed out by making a few mistakes in my run.”
The rain on Sunday was continual, meaning putting the tents and gazebo away wet, and on the drive home the rain only stopped when we reached Lancaster on the M6 – the MetOffice rain radar confirmed that the south of England had had a completely dry day! With a one-run race format it is always difficult to get as close to your fastest without crashing, and with a damaged thumb causing pain, on reflection Dan felt that he was quite pleased with this result even though it was not the overall placing he knew he should be capable of – and it was much better than the previous year!
MIJ DH Round 4 – Taff Buggy, Pontypridd Wales 1st August:
After a late change to our holiday plans we were able to fit in the race day only for the MIJ race series at Taff Buggy. Many of the previous rounds had clashed with rounds of the UKBikePark series which Dan has been racing, so this opportunity to race a ‘free’ weekend was ideal to fit in.
Dan:
“After turning up on the Sunday to do the race as a one day event, I did 6 practice runs in the morning, getting my lines dialled, and the track sussed. I felt fast on the track, and was enjoying practice. The track had many jumps, which suit me, and lots of pedalling, which was not ideal, but it was all high speed, so fairly easy to keep the speed.
My first race run went okay, I felt slow, and as if it was another practice run, but came down the hill ending up in 4th, just 2 seconds off the pace, I knew that I could gain 2 seconds from a my run, and headed back to the top confident of a podium finish. My second race run felt fast, I hit all my lines and pedalled hard, but turned out to be a whole 3 seconds slower than my first, I think this may be down to pushing too hard, and loosing speed in corners and in braking. I ended up 5th, getting a podium. This result is okay, but I would of liked a top 3, as I know I can ride at that level.”
Next race for Dan is the English Championships being held at Caersws, 21/22nd August.
Dirt School DH training day – Cwmcarn, 11th August:
Dan:
“We headed up to Cwmcarn for a training day with Rowan Sorrell today (Wednesday) and it was great, I learnt a lot about setting up for different lines, and where to brake to carry as much speed as possible out of corners. We spent a lot of time on one section trying out all the different line choices and getting braking dialled. By the end of it I felt much faster through the section, and more confident that I could hit it every time. I will be carrying this through to races to help me choose lines that can save time, and making sure I hit them as fast and smooth as I can to put a good race run together. I managed to get in a play on the jumps at lunch time, so had some fun and threw some awesome whips down. After lunch we headed up the track further to look at drops and tight technical sections. I ended up doubling some rock steps, something I had looked at before but never managed to do, so I can take this into a race situation where there are consecutive drops and double them up to save speed. Unfortunately when we were riding the tight sections I was pushing hard and got a bit off-line, clipped a tree and ended up pointing down the hill, not what you want to be doing, I bailed from the bike and smashed my lower back into a tree quite hard, making the end of my day a rather painful one. The good news is as I type this, my back is feeling lots better after some rest and an ice pack, and I hope to be back on the bike in a few days!”
Back garden pump track building:
As Dan mentioned in a previous update, he has started to build a ‘pump’ track in our back garden. The deal with Mum was that she would end up with a vegetable patch if Dan did all the digging, and in return he could route a track around the outside of it! The grass had turned to mainly weeds and moss after several wet winters, so as long as he left the other end of the garden alone (deck and patio), we wouldn’t be losing any usable turf. After discussing with the local builders’ merchants, a supply of 25kg bags of ‘10mm to dust’ was decided, getting a few bags at a time to provide the top surface with the base of the track built from the clay dug up from the other parts of the vegetable patch to-be. Dan’s got the first part of the track built, as can be seen in the attached picture (back_garden_pump_track_start.jpg). More news as construction continues!
Tim & Dan.
Buy the latest copy of What Mountain Bike magazine to read about this hard hitting bike which can climb back up as well.
Buy a current copy of Cycle Active to read about the Marin San Anselmo Alfine……
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/san-quentin-10-36423
“Single-handed proof that you can buy a do-everything fun bike on a budget” – Bike Radar.
“Marin obviously know how to give a bike an instant feel-good factor. Full 710mm width bars with a superb shape are clamped into a diminutive 45mm stem. Lock-on grips as standard are a quality touch and show Marin really do listen to riders about spec”. – Bike Radar
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