FNSS XC MTB, 27 Aug 2021

John Taylor

I raced the FNSS round 5 on Friday evening. These are a series of low key cross country mountain bike events in Northamptonshire/Leicestershire. This round was hosted in a field of 3 metre high reeds, and cut in and around it, also dipping into some woodland, which by the end would get very very dark! There were many draggy straights and hidden off camber holes to keep an eye on, and a few technical sections. It was bone dry so you could hit most of the corners brake free.

The start was like any offroad mass start, full gas carnage. Being my first of this series, I was very passive when going to the start grid so was in the 5th row, which was really too far back. I overtook a good number of people as quickly as possible then stayed alone until the 3 veteran leaders caught and passed me. I paced the effort perfectly, big efforts out of the corners and up the long drags taking some recovery on the tighter sections and when braking. My legs felt great, I seemed to have got stronger riding 300km in the week leading up to it! What was noticeable is how my enduro bike didn't feel like it was weighing me down all that much, and the big fork helped truck over anything bumpy. It did make me laugh lining up next to these 9kg carbon XC weapons. I came 3rd u23 and looking at the times this puts me 4th of 5th overall senior, a result I am very pleased with. The only thing I'd do differently is push forwards to get a better spot on the grid.

Ollie Maynard