|
|
Pearce Cycles 2008 series: Round Four
Rhyd Y Felin, Nr Bala
Words: Jamie, Photos: Jim - 2nd July 2008
Back to racing archive
Barely recovered from an epic trip up to the Fort William World Cup I hit the road for round 4 of the amazing Pearce Summer Series at Rhyd Y Felin… A track that (just like the Big Bill) is flat out, loose, rough and a real test of staying off the bloody brakes! There aren’t too many opportunities to race here so it would have been rude to miss it!
Emily Horridge - fastest lady on the hill!
We rolled into the race village late Friday night to find loads of people already pitched up, having a beer round camp fires and buzzing for a great weekend of racing. The Pearce races always have a great vibe to ‘em, with lots of families turning up for the weekend and lots of familiar faces. It was great to see that this was in full swing before the riding had even kicked off!
Saturday AM rolled around with clear skies and sun. I hooked up with the guys from Foel Gasnach and we did a quick lap of the pits to say hi to a few familiar faces. We spotted a couple of interesting bits and bobs including Steve Parr and the MSC boys, who were camped up next to the sign-in tent, showing off the fleet of bikes and a brand new MSC full face lid. Definitely a must have for the MSC owners. Pete from 2Stage Bikes was camped up with Paton and the Descent-Gear truck and was also still recovering from Fort Bill. He was showing off the 2Stage Elite9 DH bike… They’re just getting to work on the UK so keep an eye out for ‘em and their riders.
Wide tapes mean plenty of line choices
More familiar faces in the uplift queue and plenty of time to catch up as an hour wait for the uplift lay ahead… Something that was a bit of a ball ache all weekend. I’m sure there’s no easy way to run uplifts and there will never be enough trucks to keep everyone happy, but it was a hell of a wait and a lot of riders were getting a grump on. The trucks were also all running in convoy, meaning that everyone was on the track at the same time and it was a bit of a struggle to get full runs in. On the plus side, it was warm n’ sunny and there’s worse things than sunbathing in the countryside! Whisking us to the top were of course, the excellent Pearce Uplift trucks which are safe, better on the bikes, pretty comfy and a welcome change to squashing on the back of a trailer.
Unmistakeable Bala scenery!
Finally we reach the top of the hill and onto the track… It was my first time at Rhyd and I was completely blown away by just how bloody fast it is. I think we take tight, wooded tracks for granted in the UK and it’s such a different feeling to hit wide, drifty, open stuff! Rhyd is flat out from the very start, cannon balling you over shale and rocks, round loose, drifty turns and over floaty bus stops. The brave few were hitting a pretty decent looking stump gap down onto the first fire road, before railing it down into the famous S-bends. Through the top section it’s all about keeping off the bloody brakes and squeezing every bit of speed out of the track that you can.
Mid way there’s a tough loose left hander that drops you into some flowing and technical woods… Just in case you’re feeling homesick for some traditional UK style. There are loads of lines, tight tree gaps, stumps, roots and tight berms all over the place. Thanks to a weekend of sunshine things were getting super loose and dusty meaning drifts aplenty and loads of Sam Hill impressions. Or maybe attempts at them…. The hardtail kids were looking on real good form in here, throwing their bikes through the tight bends and gapping roots all over the place.
The top was FAST and dusty
Out of the woods and you’re back into the open again for a sprint across the fields, over (or around) a pair of doubles and over the finish line. Thanks to the tasty weather this section stayed grippy and there were no repeats of the ice skating at Caersws a couple of weeks before! There were a few grumbles about the final doubles being a bit short but otherwise an amazing track that had everyone raving all weekend.
The day ended after about five runs, which seemed just enough to start having a ridiculous amount of fun but also leave us gagging for more. The hardcore spent the evening walking the track and scoping out lines… whilst the rest of us drank cider and wondered why the farmer had charged some riders 2 quid for camping and others a tenner. Late to bed and lots of dreams of going sideways really, really, really fast.
Dont forget we're in Wales boyo!
Race day kicked off with a bit of last minute practice and more sitting about in the uplift field waiting for trucks to appear. It’s hard to say much about the race runs except that everyone was going absolutely flat out whether they liked it or not. Possibly a bit too much for someone as the air ambulance was sighted making a visit.
The Morgan’s were killing the track as ever, same goes for James Hughes who was tearing the steep woods section apart and gapping everything in site. One of the best sites all weekend was hardtail rider Lee Huskinson chasing a full suss rider tyre to tyre through the woods. The boy is flat out, hard tail or not. Needless to say he was looking quick in his race runs!
Pearce Cycles had a strong team out there
Fastest time of the day went to James Hughes, followed up by Tom Deacon and Rob Smith. Emily Horridge took the top spot for the girls, followed up by Monet Adams then Emma Wareham.
Look out for a return to Bala in a couple of weeks for the UK National Champs. With rumours of some crazy track updates including a MONSTER road gap and a bridge into the finish arena it’s set to be an amazing weekend of racing. See you there!
Massive thanks to Pearce Cycles and everyone else who puts a shit load of time, effort and cash into helping us ride our pushbikes. Cheers!
Look closely at the stanction stickers. From Boxxers to Bolloxx..
|
|
