Circus of Dirt South West Series R3-Abbeyford Woods, Okehampton

CIRCUS OF DIRT SOUTH WEST SERIES R3

ABEEYFORD WOODS, OKEHAMPTON 3^rd July

RACE REPORT BY

CARLA HAINES-ELITE FEMALE

At 10am this morning the sun was beating down on Abbeyford woods. I volunteered to marshall for the enduro race as they were short. Luckily I had a place in the shade as the sun was quite hot even at that time. There were few competitors for this race but still enough for it to go ahead. I was positioned at the bottom of a small descent and make sure riders got down it safely.

After the enduro had finished, I managed to get a quick lap around the course. It was the same as last year so a lot of it was very familiar.

I decided to go off with the Elite/Expert and Sport men’s category as I didn’t want the hassle of trying to pass riders that were slightly slower. I had a pretty good start. It lead out from a wide tarmac road into single track so made sure I had a good position to pass people.

I crashed into a tree on my first lap-my foot got stuck in my pedal so took a bit of time trying to get it out. Luckily there were only a couple of riders behind me so I didn’t cause a cue!

Due to the fact that I was the only competitor in my category I used the male riders as much as possible to gain time-whether it was on single track or on the climbs.

My legs felt pretty good whilst riding-still on quite a high form last weeks performance too! I felt a lot stronger on the climbs compared to last year when I raced there. As it was hot it was essential to keep hydrated. I used the normal Accelerade for the first 3 laps and for my final lap I tried flat coke. This was new to me so I wasn’t sure how my body would take having the coke, but it was much better than anticipated. I did get a little bloated but I felt a difference in my performance on my final lap.

My main goal for the race was too maintain consistent lap times-previous races this year I have been unable to manage this but today’s race was better.

My third win of the season so was pretty chuffed with that. Next week I will be off to Perham Down for Round 4 of the Southern XC Series.