This is the frst blog that will follow one of our members Jennifer Wilson (my better half) on her exploits within the UK mini downhill scene. Jen has so far had four races, each being small local mates races, her results are as follows;
Urban X 4.1 1st
Following this great run of podium results Trevor at Urban X offered to sponsor Jen for the 661 mini dh series which he knew she fancied having a go at. So after Trev sorted her out with a stunning race jersey emblazend with sponsors logos and the race entry fees we were ready to roll.
As Jen had only ever sessioned small sections of the trails at the venue for this series ( the forest of Dean ) in the summer we thought it would be a good idea to go down and spend Saturday practicing. We arrived on friday night in our new bike bus loaded to the hilt with bikes and equipment as well as warm winter clobber for the weekend. After tucking into a hearty beef stew it was time for an early night so we could hit the trails at first light. With the rain pitter pattering down on the van roof all night we were expecting the worst for the conditions of the trail the following day.
It was 7.30 by the time we'd polished off a fried breakfast and got kitted up, for the first hour or so we were the first on the trails, which deffinately helped to keep the new trail nerves away. As for conditions, it was slightly slippy first thing but by the time others had begun to turn up to practice it was drying up nicely with the bottom flowy section, full of berms and a nice table and then a road gap into the finish, running really fast.
The top section was the section Jen was most concerned about, as there was a tight off camber line that squeezed between two trees before dropping down a steep shute across the fire road. After the morning spent sussing it out she had it dialled and moved on to practice the last fast section, this had a tight hair pin bend that required you to commit into the corner and get straight on the gas on the way out. Soon Jen was ready to put it all together and have some full runs down with me following behind and watching her line choices as well as shouting at her to pedal in between technical features, I could see was determined and was flowing nicely, even jumping the tables and the road gap better than I have seen her before.
By the end of the day Jen was happy with the track and we were both spent from the pushing up all day, not to mention the light was all but gone. Judging by the style that some of the youngsters were displaying on the table at the bottom, the level of ability come race day was going to be tough, with the pinners already standing out.
As we set off to the van we had a nice suprise in the form of a text from new found friend Jenny Beesley from the Steve Peat Syndicate, saying that her flight home to New Zealand had been delayed until the following week and she was down to race. Depite knowing that this was going to make the competition even tougher it was great news as Jen now had two friends to race with the next day.
We met Jenny number two in the car park and was suprised to see that she was also in an LDV campervan, that evening we enjoyed a couple of ciders and spagetti bolognese together. It was at this point that I left the two Jennys deep in downhill related natter and got geared up with night lights and my faithfull german shephard and set off to ride the f.o.d.c.a red trail.
Early the following frosty morning the racers had begun arriving in droves and it was all systems go. The nerves had well and truly set in now and Jen was feeling the pressure of a big race. As we queued for registration we could see from the digital time display at the end of the track as well as the p.a system and m.c that this was going to be different from the mates races she'd done before.
Time for a quick couple of last minute practices and line tweeks, I had seen a little line the day before that looked like a good option for the race run, which involved missing the hipped table and using the left hand side of it like a berm and thus keeping both wheels on the ground and carrying more speed onto the last table, it seemed to work with many others using the same line, we opted to use the same theory for the road gap too and use the line that missed the kickers and kept the bike firmly grounded into the last two berms, theres no shame in using a chicken run after all if it gets you a quicker time.
Two runs done and that was it, two quid for an uplift to the top courtesy of Fly Up downhill. First rider up Jennifer Wilson, no pressure then ahem. As Jen came down first I couldn't gauge how quick she was, but could tell she was really trying, "pedal!" I yelled as she came out of the hair pin bend, and to my delight she remembered the sneaky line and it looked quick! As elite rider Lianne Bartleman came pinning down and caught up the rider in front it was clear her time was going to be good. And as SPS rider Jenny Beesley came down she also looked extremely quick, little did I know she had crashed on the section bothering Jen the day before, so after run one, Jen was in second.
Then there was the long wait until run number two, during which we watched in amazement at the talent of some of the juniors, even the jrippers were of an awesome standard one lad even pedalling in mid air over the big table.
The second runs were seeded on the first which meant Jen was going to have the elite rider hot on her heels, something I was anxious about. As the women came out for thier second run it was clear that some were determined to improve on the first including our Jen. Cath Short looked in good form as she flew in off the fire road and over the rooty section which had caused myself to take a tumble the day before, however she lost grip on the next off cambre section and smashed her knee into a stump and was unable to continue, Jenny Beesley stopped in her run to assist the fallen rider and so got a red flag, with another run to be fitted in at the end of the juniors. Into the steep rooty section Jenny Wilson looked fast and was easy to see even into the distance on her luminous green Scott and sporting her bright blue and pink kit, shortly followed by Bartleman who was fast even compared to some of the men, I could only hope Jen had enough pedal left in her to not get caught.
At the end of the women Jen was still in second having knocked three seconds off her first run time and only eight and a half behind the leader, but with Beesley still to go. The tension was immense and after the wait the timer said it all as Jenny from SPS blitzed across the line to steal 2nd from under Jen's nose five seconds quicker than our rider, her experience speaking volumes, a sterling effort Jen who was a good eight seconds ahead of the fourth place rider.
So as the sun went down we gathered around the One Industries podium for the results, that ended an incredible weekend of racing and podium number five for Jenny Wilson. Our thanks go out to the support from the Urban X team and everyone that put the event together, naked racing, 661, One industries Fly up Downhill and Extreme medics (sorry if I've missed anyone).
As the weekend drew to a close we sadly wished farewell to Jenny Beesley as she leaves for New Zealand on Wednesday, her words of wisdom and support to our Jen for the following year of racing were definately taken on board, starting with a purchase of a B.C lisence for next year, well done Jen and heres to many more to come.
click here for the 661 mini downhill round 1 results
| 661 Mini Downhill FoD December 2011 |
| Mini Downhill |
| Event Ranking |
| Rank | Bib. | Name | Club | Run 1 | Run 2 | Gap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 395 | Bartleman Lianne | 1:17.15 | 1:17.27 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | 219 | Beesley Jenny | 1:35.17 | 1:20.18 | 3.03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | 399 | Wilson Jennifer | Urban X | 1:28.17 | 1:25.94 | 8.79 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | 397 | Burgess Helen | 1:31.19 | 1:33.76 | 14.04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | 393 | Smith Rebecca | 1:37.81 | 1:31.36 | 14.21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | 396 | Mchale Helen | FLCUK.com | 1:55.92 | 1:37.15 | 20.00 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | 398 | Short Cath | Team Idiot | 1:37.20 | 20.05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | 392 | Preece Sarah | 1:45.61 | 1:45.76 | 28.46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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