Champery and Val Di Sole
The Sam Dale race report
08.20.10 After my trip to Morzine I went back to the UK for the National Champs. I had a bit of a cold leading up to the race so I wasnt feeling ready for it. I turned up and was surprised as the organiser had said it would be a complete new track, as it turns out it was very similar to the track that i raced for my first national back in 2002! I had fun in practice but wasnt feeling on top of my game. I kept trying to get full runs in but it wasnt possible. I was either held up by another rider or got red flagged. In seeding i set off and after 3 turns I was red flagged again. The organisers said I wasnt allowed another run and they would just slot me in with my ranking. They didnt do that and set me off as the 3rd rider down. Just when there was a huge rain storm, I had done 2 tear offs in the start as the rain was coming in sideways, I set off and within the first minute I had done another 4 tear offs, I had a terrible run and was pretty gutted about the whole weekend.
The Monday after I left for Champery! This is a real downhill track, and now its one of my favourites! When I arrived it was baking hot sunshine but for first practice it started to rain, and rain in the alps is real rain! The track went from bone dry and dusty to a river within minutes. I was loving it, I couldnt stop riding it, and had a permanent smile on my face.
Qualifying came around and I was having a good run, just before the first split I had a pretty big crash, my bike went off the side of the track and I slid down the hill on my front with my hands out trying to stop! I got back up and ran to my bike, I tried to take my gloves off but there was so much dirt I couldnt grip anything. Instead I just took a tear off off and pulled my bike back onto the track. I trucked on and came to the finish in 12th. I was pretty surprised with that, I finished up in 20th.
Race day came along and my last run before the race I had another big crash, I jumped a double and landed with my front wheel on a rock, I went down hard and smashed my elbow pretty bad, I had a big hole in it and went to the medics to get it stitched, They said they couldnt do it there and then so i put a plaster on it and went for my race. I was pretty excited to race as it was such a mint track, I rode the top fairly steady but as I got further down I was having way to much fun to go steady. I had a few moments which can be seen on freecaster.tv
The week after we headed to Val Di Sole, I had good memories from this place, one being the track there is awesome and another being I won the silver medal at the junior worlds a few years previous. The track was pretty similar to then with just a few new sections near the bottom. Practice, was going well there were plenty of lines and the track was so dusty it meant for a lot of changes. I qualified fairly average with a steady run. This was on a Friday so it meant we had Saturday morning practice then the finals were on Sunday.
The track was getting so blown out and dusty that I actually rode with cut spikes on for the finals. I felt like it was working well. In my race I set off and came to a stop twice before the first split, It was nothing major but I wasnt riding well and was in 39th. I got back into it at the bottom and pulled it back to 24th. It felt like taking a step back after the two races before I had been in the top 20 but I guess every week isnt going to be a good one. I was pretty disappointed with myself, but I soon took the good points from the weekend and looked on to Windham. Im now sitting in 27th in the series with one round to go.
I have been training in Pila for the last few weeks, which included a 25minute downhill race, It was hard work but I finished 2nd, I havent had to sprint for 3 minutes after riding downhill for 20+ minutes before. I couldnt stand up at the finish but Im glad I did it! It makes normal sprints seem much easier!
Thanks to all my sponsors, It wouldnt be possible without you.
