Pra Loup in southern France was host to the 2008 World Masters Mountain Bike Championships. 860 competitors came from 29 countries around the globe, Chile, South Africa, USA, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and of course sunny Scotland.
I made the 3288mile round trip to try and come home with the rainbow stripes and title of World Masters Champion.
Tuesday was course inspection. The course was fast and open on the top section, 40mph off camber sweeping corners lead you down into the steep pine forest in the mid section, this is where the track became more technical with large drops and hundreds of hidden roots due to the thick dust. The bottom of the track picked up speed again, still in the trees and requiring a careful choice of line that needed to be executed with precision or the consequences were painful. A 30ft jump greeted you into the finish arena to conclude your run.
Wednesday and Thursday was official practice which flew by rather quickly, 30 degrees and blue skies everyday. All the riders were enjoying the course and the pits had a good buzz to them.
Friday came and it was qualifying run time. I’d been seeded in behind the 07 World Champ Shaums March from USA (no pressure). Feeling nervous at the start, I looked back up the hill as Shaums left the start hut, I never like watching other riders leave the start. Two pedal strokes and into a fast compression, you exit doing around 35mph and that sets your pace for the rest of the run. I’d decided not to pedal for my whole run. The course was more about less braking and carrying speed. I qualified 14th, 2nd fastest Brit’ behind our new World Champion Lee Bertram. My run was good, I clipped a tree on the top section and nearly lost the front of the bike on one of the steeper mid sections but I was happy with my run.
Saturday. Race day. I was sitting three seconds outside the top 5. I knew with a clean run I’d be up there with the best of them. I took the Gondola up with my friend Dave, we watched some of the riders from our vantage point in the sky, the course was looking rough, the turns were blowing out, the riders were all looking fast but on the edge. There was talk at the top of the mountain about changing lines, inside here outside there. I already had my whole run mapped out and knew not to start messing my head at this late stage in the game. We decided to climb up behind the start hut and chill out away from the other riders.
Fastest qualifiers goes off last, there are 30 second gaps between each rider. Dave got ready for his run, I was left sat on a Snowboard ramp thinking about my run and wondering how the other 500 downhill racers had got on, they’re all done and dusted and I knew all eyes were looking up the mountain. Feeling calm I cleaned my googles one last time and headed down to get my bike.
Less nervous than qualifying, my descision was to not try and go any faster, just do the same run but without the two mistakes. The UCI official called me into the start hut, “Bonne chance”, 15 seconds, 10 seconds peep peep peep pee… I didn’t wait for the fifth pip and dropped out the start hut, my token gesture two pedal stokes, pre jumped into the compression and floated out the other side already doing mach 5. The run was started, I didn’t brake into the second corner and heard “holy sh*t” as I railed out of the wood, it felt faster than practice and faster than qualifying. The top section was brilliant, as good as I could have hoped for. On entering the woods ( and not clipping the tree) I dropped into a blind right hand corner to be greeted by a Frenchman stood ON THE TRACK and waving his arms!? I put the bike into a slide and drifted past him. I was going to fast to stop so I let off the brakes over the next drop and tried to make the corner, for a split second I thought it was going to hold, I was drifting towards the trees and knew I wasn’t going to make it. I hit the last pine tree on the exit to the corner and the bike stopped dead, I hit the tree with my shoulder hard. Still not believing what had just happened I climbed up onto the track thinking do you go back and punch the guy or carry on? I’d had a good top section so jumped back on the bike, I rode the bottom as fast as I could and crossed the line just outside my qualifying time. I was absolutely gutted, in downhill so many things can go wrong but I never expected that one. What could have been? Some people were suggesting a re-run but I was not in the mood, 29th out of nearly 500 was ok but not what I wanted. It was good that Bertie won the Gold for Great Britain, Misser 2nd for Spain and last years Champ March was 3rd for USA.
Sunday. A long drive home through the south of France and back to rainy England and then north to cold and rainy Scotland. I must have replayed that crash in my head a thousand times already but it’s done and dusted. Last race of the season this weekend so I’ll try and set the record straight.
Next time.
