UCI Mountain Bike World Cup-Dalby Forest, Yorkshire

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Round 2

Dalby Forest, Yorkshire 21st-22^nd May

Race Report By Carla Haines

U23 Female

My very first World Cup ever!!!I had such a mixture of feelings; excitement yet nervous but full of adrenaline and ready to take on the worlds best riders for the first time! This was the beginning of an adventure and a step up to a whole new kind of racing! 

It was great that my first international race was in England but to get up there was very tiring. Accommodation was booked for 3 nights so we had plenty of time to chill out and mentally prepare ourselves for the race. We had the likes on Womens Elite Multi World Champion Gunn Rita Dahle (Merida Mulitvan), Current Mens Elite World Mountain Bike Champion Jose Hermida Romas (Merida Multivan) and a successful U23 rider Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek) all on our doorstep!! To be honest I was speechless when I turned up at the cottages knowing that these athletes were here to. I even got the chance to have my photo taken with Jose Hermida! J

Thursday was quite a chilled day after travelling, although we did pre ride a couple laps of the course to freshen our legs up.

Friday was sign on day. Standing in a queue for over an hour was not good for the legs I must say! But we were at a world cup event and there were LOTS riders.

Arriving at the arena where all the Teams had set up it was just out of this world. All the team mechanics were busying themselves setting up their rider’s bikes while the athletes sat and relaxed it was just great.

In some ways it did feel like one of the British mountain bike events but with triple the amount of trade stands. As I had raced there all ready I knew what the course was like and was confident on my riding ability. It was a technical course which suited me; I just wasn’t sure what my climbing was going to be like.

We headed into Pickering Town Centre where the Pro Sprint Eliminator was held. This is where the Elite athletes sprint around the town against each other. The atmosphere was great-people cheering and shouting the riders as they sprinter past, it was great!

The days that we were there the weather was ok. A little cold and windy but sunny, cloudy also. Team mate Jessie arrived in the evening as she had finals at Uni to do.

Saturday Cait, Jess and I were able to watch the juniors and U23 male races. It was good experience watching them to see how aggressive they all were at the start!! After the races were over we headed back to the cottages to prepare for our race.

Sunday morning was a chilly start. Jessie and I were in the U23 category and Cait was in Elite. We set off a couple minutes after the senior ladies as they had to complete a start loop before they headed out on to the main course.

 

 I didn’t have a very good start at all. A rider in front of me unclipped her pedal and slowed right down so I had to chase down the other competitors. It was very aggressive and different what I raced like but it was a good experience for me.

Technically my riding was superb but climbing my legs felt slow and heavy. I thoroughly enjoyed the race. There were so many people around the course encouraging you it was great.

I ended up 25^th position which I was very happy with for my first international race. I had learnt so much from the race and I now know what it is like to race against the world’s best riders. I have a long way to go but from this experience I am determined to work hard and be the very best I can be.

Next weekend Cait and I will be heading to Offenburg in Germany for Round 3 of the World Cup series!

Thank you to the sponsors of WXC World Racing for supporting us throughout the whole weekend.