Soggy Bottom Round 2 Race Report by Carla Haines

Soggy Bottom Round 2

Race Report By

Carla Haines-Elite Female

The first race of 2011 had come around so quickly!I was quite excited and nervous to. The week leading up to it I wasn’t really 100%, had quite a chesty cough and very runny nose which didn’t help but I needed a good hard race to sweat it all out to bust my lungs.

I rode over to Newnham park for warm up, then pre rode the course for a lap. It was very very muddy which I liked and good fun to.

The females started together and went off first. The start was a steep gravel climb, so it was important to get out in front. Myself and Jane Cummings, from Southfork, were leading together. She is a very good climber so found it a bit hard to keep up with her. She slowly pulled away, so I tried not to let her get out of sight. My first lap was pretty good. Since I pre rode I knew what to expect.

By lap 2 I seen Cummings had a mechanical, so at this point I could get ahead and keep a good distance away from her. Everybody’s bikes were clogging up so much with mud which did lead to quite a few mechanicals.

Lap 3 I was climbing up the gravel hill and could see Cummings at the bottom. She was about a minute down so my aim was to increase the gap or at least keep it the same. The course was getting more and more churned up and much harder, but in a way I preferred it like that. This was a good test to sort the stronger riders with the weaker riders.

The final lap (4) I was still ahead at this point and Cummings was still a minute down. For this last lap I worked hard on my weaknesses and went even harder on my strong points and targeted other riders on the course to catch up and pass, which worked really well. The last muddy single track section I could feel my legs burning, which was a good sign and I knew I didn’t have far to go.

I kept up that minute gap between myself and Jane which I was pleased with. A win for my first race of 2011 is a great start to the year so I was very happy indeed. I can take away many positives from the race and carry on working on my weaknesses so I become a much stronger and better rider.