National XC Championships at Richmond: 29th place

“It was a good race, with some some fierce racing as you’d expect. I was gridded almost last out of 60 so could only go forwards from there! I managed to pick up a few places on the first lap. The course had some hard steep climbs and some flowy singletrack that became tricky after monsoon rain in the morning. I worked my way up to the top 40 by the 2nd lap but my left knee started to play up so I had to back off a bit towards the end. I finished up 29th which I’m pretty pleased with as this is was the first time I’d raced against the elites and on a very hard course that was worthy of a national championship race.”

Midland Series (round 3) – Hanchurch Woods: 2nd place.

“This was my favourite course of the year, about 90% singletrack through rooty woodland. Some rain on the first lap made the decents tricky so it was a test of skill and there are some good climbs. I had a good battle with Adam Biggs of Forme Cycles for 2nd place over the first 3 laps and managed to break away from him on the last lap to take 2nd, just over a minutes down on the leader. My legs felt really good which bodes well for this weekend, the National XC Championships at Richmond! I’ll be taking a kicking from Oli and co!”

Manchester Midweek Madness Series: 2nd place

British XC series at Margham: 5th place

Sweet singletrack

Steeply does it!

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He finished 5th at Dalby for round 2 of the British series (pic attached of Tom riding “Worry Gill”). Here is what Tom had to say about the day:

“I finished 5th in the sport race, my best result yet. The Dalby course is a real test of fitness and skill, it’s pretty brutal in places with rock features that you’d expect to find on a DH course! The climbs are tough too so you need a bit of everything to do well.”

However Tom’s best result yet has again been beaten.. Coming 1st place at Round 1 of the Nutcracker series. Fantastic result Tom. Here is his report:

“I was racing on Sunday at round 1 of the Nutcracker series at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. It’s actually held on the MOD training ground. There’s no big hills but plenty of short and steep climbs and a mixture of rocky trails and woodland singletrack and a huge water splash which gave me a good soaking each lap! I rode well and led from the start in the Sport race, building a good gap each lap to take the win. I also passed all but the winner of the Expert cat who set off a couple of minutes ahead of us so pretty chuffed with how my training is going! If I do well enough this year I can get promoted to the expert cat which would be cool but would mean much harder competition!!”

Looking forward to seeing what we can do at this years Sleepless in the Saddle!!

The post Joyriders takes 1st at Nutcrackers: Tom Albutt appeared first on Joyriders.

The pace was quick off the start and I tried my best to hold on to the top guys but fell back and was 7th at the end of lap 1. I was feeling good though and really enjoying the course, a mixture of smooth flowing berms with the odd jump and some steep rocky chutes, oh and steep climbs too – they don’t do flat at Lee Quarry! The dust made some sections quite tricky but it was very fast and a lot of fun. I had some good little battles throughout the race and I managed to work my way back into 5th by the end of the 7 laps. I’m pretty happy with this result in the heat and it’s an improvement on my result in round 1. I’m already thinking how I can improve for round 3 now!

Tom Albutt

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For those who haven’t heard of Mountain Mayhem, it’s a 24hr race around the grounds of Eastnor Castle in the Malverns. Soloists (nutters), teams of 4, mixed 5s or 10s race around a 9 mile lap in a relay style event, the winner being the team who has completed the most laps at the end of the 24 hours. It’s an extremeley popular event with what seems like the whole bike industry turning up. There are 2500 racers entered making up about 500 teams.

But it’s more than just a race, there are demo bikes there, trade stands and plenty of things to look at and have a go at in the main arena. It has a real family friendly atmosphere too with kids races on the Saturday. It’s not just XC racers who do it either, there are all sorts; Scooby Doo was racing, there were guys in unicycles and the retro bike teams who were riding bikes from the dawn of mountain biking! For me, the best part is the atmosphere and how everyone cheers each other on. One group of supporters were giving chocolates to all the soloists going past, and some were even giving out cups of beer! A good motivation to get round for another lap I’m sure!

I was entered in a mixed team of 5 with my biking mates and my girlfriend who were all Mayhem virgins who I’d promised a fun weekend of racing with chilled camping and a festival atmosphere! By the time we’d all done a race lap of the course I’m not sure they were convinced as it was a bit of a killer with over 400m of climbing over the 9 mile lap! There was however some brilliant singletrack as reward and I have to say, I’d go and ride that trail again anyday because at speed it was a lot of fun, helped by being baked dry and dusty.

The race started at 2pm on Saturday with a Le Mans style dash, erm, sprint for 3/4 mile to spread the field out. I got a good start and came through to the bike collection area in amongst some of the pro teams. This could have been an error because it made for a very fast and frantic first lap. I gave it some beans and came in 27th at the end of lap 1. Everyone went for it on their first lap, getting caught up in the atmosphere and with fresh legs. But this is a endurance event so it was now time to settle in for the long haul!

Along came the night laps following an amazing sunset. Racing through the tight twisty woodland singletrack at night was a blast. Getting up at 3am to go and race wasn’t! By day break we were on the homeward straight and despite tired legs we all put in quick laps in the morning. I was dreading my last lap after cramping on the previous but some newfound energy and knowing it was my last meant I could push on the climbs and let it out on the decents. We completed 23 laps in total, coming 20th of 112 teams in the Sport Mixed category. A result we’re pretty proud of considering our laid back approach to the weekend.

Will we enter again next year? I’m not sure, it isn’t easy but as memories of the tiredness and pain fade it leaves those of a festival atmosphere, camping with your mates and riding in the sun. I wouldn’t be suprised if we go back!

Cheers Tom,

Joyriders Race Team 2010

Lined up for the start

And they’re off!

Sweet singletrack

The post Mountain Mayhem 24hr Race: By Tom Albutt appeared first on Joyriders.

There was a high standard of racers there for Sunday’s race with the series now counting towards BC ranking points. High winds also contributed to make the already technical, rocky course even more tricky and we had to fight hard against the wind to keep a line on the narrow rocky singletrack. It’s fair to say I felt battered after an hour and forty minutes pounding round the 5km lap of the quarry.

It’s a great course, with both rocky trails and some fast and flowy singletrack. This year a lot of money has been spent building new trails at the quarry and we got to race on them on Sunday and very impressed I was, well done guys.

I finished 9th overall, a result I’m a bit dissappinted with as I was aiming for better but I had a good battle with Craig Holden, a previous Weekend Warrior category winner, matching lap times for most of the race, unfortunately he just got me on the line with a sprint finish. That’s 2 races in a row I’ve lost out on a sprint finish! Something I need to work on it looks like!

Anyway, there’s still 4 races to go in the series so I will be back and better next time! This racing lark is very addictive!

In the mean time my attention has turned to mountain mayhem which is in 2 weeks, very excited about that so look out for a follow up report in a couple of weeks!

A full race report can be found on Singletrackworld here:http://www.singletrackworld.com/2010/06/hope-xc-race-series-race-1-report/

Tom Albutt
Joyriders Race Team 2010

The post Brownbacks racing report: By Tom Albutt appeared first on Joyriders.

And lots of singletrack there was as reward for all the climbing, taking in a lot of the purpose built trails in the forest with everything from off camber roots and rocks to fast and flowy singletrack, linked up by fireroad climbs over 2 laps of the forest. Lap 1 was quick and I got carried away on one of the rocky descents puncturing my front tyre on a sharp rock. It cost me a couple of minutes and 3 places. On lap 2 I started to pay the price for the quick start and the legs began to tighten up but i managed to catch and re-pass 2 of the riders that overtook me. I couldn’t quite catch the 3rd guy, chasing him to the finish and coming in 14th in 2hr44, 15 minutes behind winner Rob Jebb. A result I’m very pleased with and hopefully next time I can avoid a puncture too! It was a good race on an excellent course and a really good job by the organisers. Next race, Colne Valley Mountain Bike Challenge…

By Tom Albutt
Joyriders Race Team 2010

photo: http://joolzedymond.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=84401&q=7

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