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BUCS Downhill 2015

29/4/2015

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BUCS Downhill 2015 was a roaring success. Forgoing last years final field-motorway section, this years course was a steep and rough affair, with an even steeper final section, which made for a great atmosphere and lots of noise. After a long slog up the M6 and a warm up ride at Glentress on Friday, Saturday saw UOBCC’s downhill contingent get to grips with the track during practice. 

Cattle trucks and coaches were the order of the day, and luckily the sunshine held out, meaning practice was fast and dry. The track, a ribbon of trail weaving through various bands of forested conifers, had only a sparse handful of jumps and fire-road crossings to punctuate the relentless onslaught of steep rooted sections and rutted corners. The final descent began with several very steep turns, which dropped riders into a tricky off camber root section, before a final few berms and jumps and a short sprint into the finish area. It was on these steep turns that, even during the last few runs of Saturday practice, spectators began to gather in order to heckle and watch riders come flying down the hill. After a long day’s riding we were all refuelled with a nourishing BBQ, washed down with some of Eric’s exquisite home-brews.

Sunday morning saw a few hours to squeeze in a few more practice runs, and get used to the slightly wetter conditions created by the morning dew. As race runs drew near, a big band of cloud was gathering, but luckily we were let off with just a light drizzle. After some carnage ahead of the Bristol riders in the girls field, Naomi and Louisa were told they would get to have another shot at an uninterrupted run after men’s qualification. Lawrence was the only Bristol rider to qualify, with a blistering time of 3:44, which he then bettered by a good 6 seconds in his race run, to take home 19th place. At a race where the top 10 riders are also riding professionally on the world cup circuit, this is an incredible achievement, so congratulations go to him. Also worthy of note was Elky who was on an absolutely blistering run, but crashed due to forgetting to constrain his airtime to normal people standards on the second to last jump, overshooting the landing by about 3 bike lengths, before getting back on the bike and crossing the line in 4:21, taking home 116th place. The time cut off to qualify was 4:15. Naomi and Louisa also took home some metal, winning bronze in the women’s team category. Some great results all round, and clearly confirmation that cake-racing is an effective training format.

After the dust had settles and we had collected our winnings, it was time to break camp, drive off into the sunset up the Tweed valley, and (eventually) back south.

A great weekend was had by all, the track was an absolute riot and the company even better. Thanks to everyone who drove, cooked, helped organise, and made the weekend such a blast!

Words Nat Aaronson


Some extra videos from the weekend: Unofficial Race Report on pinkbike and a short one from Sam.
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BUCS 10 TT 2015

29/4/2015

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Man. Alone with himself. Time Trialling is a lonely, sole pursuit of glory. One must aspire to those famous words: “Every superior human being will instinctively aspire after a secret citadel where he is set free from the crowd, the man, the majority.” Once away from the safety of the start, testing is a battle between oneself and the clock, an exploration of new depths of the pain that it is possible to endure. 

With that in mind, on Saturday 11th April, 5 of UOBCC’s finest testers headed to Oxfordshire for the BUCS 10 mile TT championship. Having had a pessimistic course preview mid-week from Sam, a feeling of trepidation was prominent in the contingent. The conditions on paper, however, looked good: 9km out east and 7 back, with a strong westerly wind bringing hope. 

Confusion amongst the timekeepers up on arrival reported that the course record had already been broken by the time we arrived: someone, and not Ryan’s eternal man crush in the form of Edmund ‘Bradberg-Watts’ Bradbury had gone below 19 minutes. 

Of course it was not to be, and we soon went to concentrate on out own tasks in hand. Andrew, with an earlier start time than the rest of us, left the HQ to ride over to the start, we went about warming up. Steadily, we followed him, and rediscovered him far too quickly; he managed to take turn around at the wrong roundabout. Becca “Heart-rate” Stubbs and Tom “I’ll give it a go” Harrington, both riding their debut time trials, soon followed, set free from the starting gate like lions in the Colosseum. Onward they went, navigating the course somewhat more successfully, and powered on their respective ways.

The wind was picking up all the time, and sure enough, by the time the start time rolled around for Chris “Colour Scheming? Never heard of it” Brasnett, everyone was flying along the course. Ryan “mega-watts” Witchell started his determined chase 4 minutes later, tearing up the road. Andrew “Navigation” Kirby was given a second chance several minutes later, and shot off, resplendent in his new aero guise.

Everyone gave it their all, leaving nothing out on course. The tailwind out was taken full advantage of, before the pain and suffering of the headwind on the way back took its cause. We reconvened at the HQ, all immensely pleased with ourselves. Highest placed was Ryan, with a highly respectable 21:23. Andrew out performed all expectations, and stood in disbelief at his time: 21:51. Chris post man-flu, put in a pleasing enough 24:08. Tom put in a sterling effort to get 24:43 in his first ever TT, whilst Becca arrived back after 26:33 in hers.

UOBCC continue their upward trend in time trialling prowess, and things now look ahead to the forthcoming 3-up and the 25, as well as to the further future. Thanks goes to Ryan for organising, and of course to all those who helped with transport on the day!



Words Christopher Brasnett.
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