Hey,

Well its the final race of the year for me, Caersws Rnd 5 of the British Downhill Series, and in all truth was looking forward to a little break from the riding / training. 

However there was a race to be raced, so i put it out of my mind and focused on what had to be done. Practice was going well, i was just taking it steady and having fun on the bike, there were plenty of jumps to get some scrubs on, and a fairly scary jump at the top. I didnt do many practice runs, as i found i was almost completely up to speed after my first couple of runs. I decided i would call it at 5 runs, and save myself for the long sprint in the field.

We stayed at a lovely B+B just down the road from caersws. So i had a good night sleep, and a nice big breakfast.

Race morning, and i could only get one practice run in, due to a couple of red flags, and a mechanical on my one run. I stayed chilled and used my seeding run to fully get up to speed.

Seeding didnt go quite as planned, I started out well, but one of my lines had been completely blown out and i went off the track. not wanting to be mid field for my race runs i stopped to let a rider past, then made sure i got all the  sections left on the track, as i wanted to get them in my race run. i qualified 46th!

Race run time, and in light of my fairly chaotic morning i was calm and focused. In my race run i knew the track was going to be blown out, so i set up for all the turns nice and early, and focused on carrying speed, i was having a smooth run, till near the bottom, on one of the last jumps, i drifted into the take off, and sent it, with one foot on the bike, to flat, almost wobbled off the track, and dabbed the brakes! I got on the pedals again and sprinted the 30 second long flat field! 

I was 4th down from the beginning of the category after my seeding, and went into the hotseat, i wasn't there for long, as just 2 riders after me, i was knocked off by just over a second, i knew i could have saved some time by not having the big moment at the bottom of the track that i had, but I knew i had put in an okay time, that would probably hold for top 10. The riders kept coming down, and were slowly getting closer to mine and Greg's time. The top 10 started coming down, and they were all just a little bit off, the final 5 were coming down, and they were still all just a little off the pace! i knew i was gauranteed for a podium, and the final few all just fell short of my time! Fastest qualifier Sam flockhart came down, and was a just half a second off my time. 

My first national podium, was a 2nd in my first year junior, and 19th overall, i was happy to say the least!

A big thanks to Paul, from Swiss and Swallow, and all the guys + girls who have supported me and helped me get over my injuries. And finally thanks to all the mums and dads who take everyone to the races, none of us could do it without you! :)

So thats it for this year!

See you all next year.

Sam.