Cait on her way to 3rd spot

Well done on the great performances by our mountainbikers Mel Spath (Cycleways) and Cait Elliott (WXC MTB Team UK) taking 2nd and 3rd spot in Round 4 of the British XC Series race at the weekend.  Read on for Cait’s report on the race, also see report on Britsh Cycling.

Dalby NPS report by Cait Elliott

Mel and I were over in the UK on Saturday for the 4th round of the British NPS series on the world cup course in Dalby Forest. We set off, charging across the grass to get in to the first singletrack – I was 6th or 7th at that stage and had to get around a big loop before a passing opportunity. As soon as possible I got up to 3rd behind Mel Spath and New Zealander Rosara Joseph. As we hit a fireroad Lee Craigie came flying past and I spent the rest of the first lap following her wheel. The course was relentless, no chance for a break at all, you’re working hard all the way through be it climbing, descending or flat. Although following Lee, I was keeping an eye of Mel Spath who wasn’t far ahead of us, and hoped that we’d be able to keep her in reach.

Looping around the grass field at the end of the lap, I was surprised when Lee went left, I was sure the course went right. I began to follow but realised just in time that she’d taken a wrong turn.  I veered back on track and put my head down to get as much of a gap as possible. The next couple of laps I concentrated on making the gap bigger, and by lap three I was sure I was clear. Although it was really hard, especially in the sun, I was having a great time. The course is so much fun and really comes alive in a race. Lots of big berms, nice singletrack and rocky, steep descents that seemed to get faster each lap with the adrenaline pumping.

Next target – Mel, familiar feeling!  I knew she was about a minute ahead at the start of the lap, though the nature of the course meant she was out of sight a lot of the time. On each lap I had her within sight as we went up one of the nasty climbs, but she’d disappear again on the flatter, more draggy 2nd half of the course. By the last lap I was pretty knackered and had to force myself to keep pushing on, but into that climb for the last time I realised I’d gained some time, Mel was less than 30 seconds ahead. That spurred me on to ignore the pain and dig deep, but I couldn’t quite find enough to get back up to her.

Results are here:

http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EventReport.aspx?eventID=134Dalby03/07/2010

Many Thanks to Cait for the report and the photos!