RCC ride Nutcracker MTB

Baking heat and a stiff breeze meant dry and dusty conditions for the second round of the local Nutcracker MTB series, which took place at Richmond on Sunday. As far as I know, just three Richardsons riders made the trip: Mike Thompson, Tom Stockill, and me (Dan Joyce).

I never saw Mike, who was racing in the morning, but understand that he came second - a great result. Tom Stockill got a top 10 finish in the senior race, while I came somewhere anonymously mid-field in Veterans. The results hadn’t been announced as I type this, but they’ll be here shortly.

The conditions sound great for mountain biking, but it was so hot and so windy that it was a very tiring race. The long climbs into the wind weren’t so bad if you could find a wheel to hang onto (not literally - that’s roadiespeak) but blasted you when you were alone. And it wasn’t long into any of the races before the fields were blown apart.

The course was a bit like the one at Lightwater Valley, in that there were a lot of grassy sections and some twisty singletrack. Except there was more singletrack here - albeit on soft, energy-sapping soil - and it was a lot hillier. The surface was quite bumpy too. It was a good course for the 29er I was riding; it wasn’t a good course for someone as unfit as me. To add insult to injurty, my saddlebag came open and spewed my tools, spares and car keys (!) over the trail behind me. Luckily there was a rider just behind me who spotted it shaking out, but I had to backtrack searching over 100 metres or so of trail looking for (in particular) the keys.

When I got back to the start I begged a zip tie off the organisers and used it to tie up the saddlebag. Luckily I didn’t need anything from it during the race, as (it occured to me after I’d set off again) I’d have had to bite the zip tie off with me teeth to get at the tools…

Other local riders were Rob Powell and Tom from Malton Wheelers. Tom had a great ride and did five laps. Rob was going well when I saw him - he lapped me. Luckily, being lapped meant I only had to do three laps instead of four.

The next race in the series is on 13th June at Dalby. Should be good. Why not enter? It should be well organised, if today’s was anything to go by (we even had timing chips on our bikes), and being at Dalby the course should be a bit more technical.