NDH Hamsterley TT 19th April 2015 - It was all about the ladies

I am starting to write this blog before race day to try and capture my true feelings before the big day. The race is Northern Downhill's Hamsterley TT. This is a huge deal if you are a woman (it may be for the men too, but this blog is all about the women!). There are an unprecedented (for NDH at least) number of girls racing....over 30 of us!! Usually there may be 1 to 10 entering the female category. We range from women who have never raced before to an elite ex World Cup rider, and in age from our teens to somewhere in our 40's.

How do I feel? It is very hard to say exactly as the range of emotions are wild! I'm excited, very nervous, fearful, vaguely confident and most of all just really looking forward to taking part in such a great day with so many wonderful women. I say this, not because I have met them all, but because of a facebook group called MTBChix&Trails and I feel like I know many of them already! The group only started in January this year, but has over 250 members and is the most supportive and encouraging group I have ever been a part of. Regardless of who we are, our level of riding, age or why we ride, we are all there for each other providing support and encouragement. One of the huge positives of social media in the world we are lucky enough to live.

Until a few months ago I had not met my other mums who mountain bike or race and I was desperate to......I knew they must be out there! I had only ever ridden with boys and raced with younger women without kids. I felt old, and I think our experience of riding as women is quite different to the boys. Yes we are competitive and fit, but we don't have the egos and we inject a whole heap of care and support throughout it all. We don't brag about the awesome line we took in our last run or how much "we sent it to flat", we commend each other on how awesome their line choice was and discuss how we can improve together. If one of us is nervous, there is someone there to give us confidence and lift us up. We understand, we care and we love riding together. And as a bonus for me, meeting other mums who ride and race and with whom I can share experiences has been fantastic.

As for the race, the prep hasn't gone according to plan or desires.....broken sleep most nights this week with incidents in the night that most young kids have, illness and too much work have meant I'm not as rested and full of beans as I would hope to be....but lets see how the day goes...nervous!!  I was hoping for another great result given the last two TT races, but having seen a list of the strong women racing today I am not going to hold my breath! I'm just going to try to enjoy the experience and do the best I can. Did I mention I am nervous?!

After a sunny week we arrived at Hamserley at 9am with a bit of rain and cloud but nothing would dampen the day. The sign on que was huge and the fields at the bottom of Nitrous were jammed but the atmosphere was electric with approximately 250 riders!

This was the first day racing as our new team for Roots Mountain Biking, so we threw on the shirts and took our first team shot before heading up for a practice.

Practice run went smoothly, just slowly riding down to see where the track was taped. My only fear from this was the bottom berm which was taped in to jump over. I nearly flew over the bars after nose diving, ahh! I won't go into the details of the track and race format as you probably know it, but for those who don't.....it is a timed run down a red graded trail, we set off with 20 second gaps, best of two runs.

It was lovely to meet up with so many of the girls from the MTBChix&Trails which helped with the pre race nerves! We all rode up to the start together which gave chance to chat and meet other ladies on the way. The que for the start line stretched back up the trail from the famous rock back towards the mast, with everyone chatting and having fun. Lining up however the nerves were getting the best of me and I got that dry mouth thing. The women started setting off and we all cheered each other off the start line.

I made a few mistakes in my first run, I think being too nervous and over thinking the line choices. I didn't think I had done well at all but was surprised to find I clocked 4 minutes 11 seconds, which was enough to put me into 4th place! With three really strong riders were in front of me, Helen Gaskell who is a Downhill National Champ, Lucy who was 2 seconds in front of me and Melissa who was only 1 second in front, but she usually smashes her second run and improves her time massively so I knew I had to step it up if I wanted to get on the podium!

After cheering the rest of the team down we peddled back up for the last race run. This time I felt much more relaxed and remembered to put my goggles on! I had a brilliant run, with spectators cheering me on all the way down the track. I could hardly breathe at the bottom and had no idea what my time would be. To my surprise I had improved by 5 seconds to give me a time of 4.06, Lucy had improved her time by 6 seconds so it left me in third place! Best result I have ever had, 3rd out of 17 women in my category!

Hamsterley sadly saw the last of the TT races for 2015, but there are more Northern Downhill events coming up this this year. The next is Kidland Forest on May 24th, Kielder Enduro on October 4th followed by the Chopwell Enduro. If you are interested you can find out more details and enter here. A few of us ladies are definitely racing Chopwell enduro and the more the merrier.

The TT races by NDH have been such a great experience and I would highly recommend them to any girl, woman, mum or grandma who would like to have a go at racing. Whatever your skills, years of riding on a bike, your style of bike or age, you will fit in and will be made welcome! Find out more details for other events and total female awesomeness on MTBChix&Trails.

Finally thanks to Dan at Roots Mountain Biking for his coaching and generous support and encouragement. This time last year I could not ride down Transmission at Hamsterley without freaking out, now after lessons and support from the team I am racing it. Looking forward to developing my riding further with the team and all the ladies from the chix!

Also a big thanks to the team sponsors, especially Henry at Henry Armer Fitness for helping my legs peddle that bit faster!!

Kielder TT March 29th 2015

The second Northern Downhill TT race was held in Kielder on 29th March. I'd never been to Kielder, but fortunately we were in the area two weeks before the race so called in. I am so glad we did because at first I felt quite intimidated by the track. We had planned to spend a bit of time practicing but we spent most of the day trying to find it, so by the time we got there light was on it's way out! Ooops. Don't think we were the only ones to make that mistake either! 

I walked the track first and just got the fear at a section with a tricky root. On it's own the root would not have been so bad, but it fed into a steepish muddy chute with a sharp turn and a drop on the exit. The drop would have been fine too, but mixed together I found it really intimidating. I had quite a few attempts trying to nail it, finding I kept going straight into the bank on the other side and shouting about how scared I was!

Eventually after having a word with myself I successfully cleared the root and the sharp turn, 

then I tried again and managed to link it all up, 

I have to admit to doing a little dance of joy!

I then did it another 5 times to make sure I was comfortable with it, but this meant we only had time to do one full run, so I wasn't as ready for race day as I'd hoped.  

I am not sure if it was the root or the fact that it was steeper and more technical than Chopwell, but I was really nervous leading up to the race. I think I also put pressure on myself to do well having taken a 3rd at Chopwell. But actually when I stopped to think about it, I realised I was just so happy to be able to ride down the track after my initial reaction and knowing that this time last year I would not have been able to do it at all.

Photo by Zach Robson

On the day I did two practice runs, both times clearing the root but realising I had been focusing on that small section so much I hadn't really thought about the rest of the track. I did not get on with the jumps at the bottom and need to improve my jumping!

 My second practice was fairly smooth, but for some reason I was holding back and couldn't really go for it. Time for the first race run came around and standing at the top was the first time all the girls had been together, and it was fantastic support and great to see everyone.

Photo by John Latham

My first race run was brilliant because I cleared the root and made it down ok, but I did not feel like I was on race form. Sometimes knowing I'm a single mum with two small boys to look after makes me wonder what I'm doing as the last thing I can do is hurt myself. How would I look after them? But whilst this is a genuine concern, even if I wasn't a mother I think I would still feel the same. Its just the general fear of racing DH, even if it is a mini DH.

The whole thought process is a really negative spiral and often gets hold of me, as I'm sure it does to others. When it does, if I can pluck up the courage to ride, I find that I ride within my comfort zone and always in control without pushing any limits. And whilst I am battling with it inside, my confidence vanishes for a while. Instead of letting the negativity in I try to remember why I'm doing it and that just being there is enough, I just have to be the best I can be and to enjoy the ride without pressure. Easier said than done with my competitive nature!

To help I bought an Evoc Protection vest to help with the confidence and reduce risks and wore it for the first time at Kielder. More about this in my next blog....

The second race run went well and it was fantastic to be cheered on by fellow lady riders who had come to support us, it makes such a difference. Although I didn't know they were there so I wondered who on earth the crowd of ladies were shouting my name!

One of them took this brilliant video clip, thanks Sarah!!

I managed the root section again and thought I had put in a much faster time, but only improved by 1 second. But amazingly it was enough to put me in second place! Amazeballs!

Mellisa who took the win was 6 seconds in front and even if I had been on a full confidence day, I doubt I would have made up that time. And I was just lucky to be able to pull a few seconds in front of the rapid lady Lauren who was hot on my heels.

And being second was perfect because I won an awesome bike pump thanks to NDH and their sponsors, which is a piece of kit I actually really needed! 

The next and final TT for this season is in Hamsterly on 19th April  and a record number of girls have entered which is amazing!! I'm really looking forward to the atmosphere and racing with over 20 ladies! The growing support and community I have entered this year is amazing and I'm loving every minute. If you are thinking of entering but have never raced I would say enter this one! You can enter here at Northern Downhill.com

For lots of girls it will be their first race and the support you will receive from everyone on the day and before via social media is huge. Even if you are on your own, contact the other girls via facebook and you won't be on your own for long!

So for me, I need to work on the confidence.........oh and all the other skills with a bit of help from Roots Mountain Biking!