On a bleak May day Hannah, Emyr and Ffion headed to Winchester for the third round in the British Cycling cross country series. This race was part of the national series which travels across the UK and attracts the best riders in every age category.
The racing started with Short track, a short course with high speed racing for around 20 minutes. Emyr was first on track for this race, his first ever short track battling a large field to come sixth overall in his age category.
As the rain continued to pour and the course turned to mud the hours ticked by until Hannah’s 2:30pm race. A big shout out to little Ffion who stayed in the car all day at only 18 months her first race experience was not the best! Nerves and conditions nearly sent us packing on more than one occasion this being Hannah’s first cross country race in eight years. But we stuck with it, and at 2:30 along with one other girl and a huge field of men she lined up between the tapes.
Riding her own race from the start and not letting the conditions let her down Hannah kept consistent lap times and consistently falling off once per lap! After 1 hour 10 minutes of racing she crossed the line in first place, ending up on the podium (very unexpected).
At home the kit clean up ready for Emyr’s XCO race on Sunday began… Three hours later, kit bikes and people were clean and heading to bed ready to do it all again on Sunday!
Up early again Sunday, choclate spread sandwiches in the car for Ffion and we headed to a now dry but foggy matterley basin. Although it was not raining the mud had turned to thick brown gloupe and the race was carnage!
Spending an hour and 40 minutes running and riding in equal measure Emyr finish in a very respectable 15th position in the vets race.
A great weekend in the saddle!
