My first race…
Kim Wills Clayden | Blog, Mountain Biking Uk | 21/01/2013 09:46am
Guest blog: Newest blogger Paddy Taylor on his inaugural competitive outing
Paddy is MBUK’s latest guest blogger
My name is Paddy. I am 19 years old and live in Kendal in the Lake District, where I do a lot of riding. Hope you enjoy reading about my exploits.
This is the tale of my first race. It was the 121 race at Hamsterley forest, with a cross-country race on the Saturday and a downhill on the Sunday. I came third in the juniors on the Saturday, having overtaken my mate on the last corner.
The Sunday didn’t go so well for me as my ‘steady run’ to get a solid time in went a bit wrong as I stalled a bit and head-butted a tree. The next run had so much more flow over and I was feeling good on the top section. It was all going to plan until midway, when I hit large slippy root on a corner with a steep bank and had a little crash. I carried on straight away but noticed my chain was off and pedalled like crazy to try get it back on – this usually works, but not today.
Some leg pushes later. the finish line was in sight, and I pumped through the final section and decided to take the chicken line to the finish but a steep/tight corner and a soft fork resulted in one last off, right in front of everybody. This was greeted by a group rendition of a sound similar to the one you’d make if you saw a small kitten fall over - ‘Aawwww’! This was the final nail in the coffin. I crossed the finish line in the end and someone immediately pointed out my broken rear mech. I later checked and that run was only about two seconds off my first.
Apart from that it was actually a great weekend with top banter with fellow Kendalian youths and I managed to scoop third overall. I have done more cross-country based races since then which you will hear about soon.
Paddy on the podium in third place
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