British Series Round 1 - Sherwood Pines, England

Once again the mountain bike season is upon us and a huge list of fixtures once again gives the team plenty to focus on and look towards as each of the four monkey's targets specific races throughout a season which stretches from February to September!

After a successful period in Cyprus mid February the team headed up to Nottingham for the now traditional season opener of the British Series at Sherwood Pines in the heart of England.

The team have never really had a good relationship with the Sherwood Pines venue but after one of the best pre-seasons ever the team travelled in optimistic mood that this could be the year to change all that! They were wrong! Once again the bad luck struck, Paul had a reoccurance of the dental problems experienced in Cyprus and was unable to take the start line much to his disappointment, so it was left to the remaining three riders to fly the monkey flag.

This year the organisers have introduced a relay race on the Saturday night consisting of a 4 rider team each doing 2 laps of a 3 minute course. We were lucky enough to be joined by Verity Appleyard from MSC Bikes who completed our team along with Ben, Chris and mechanic Mark. Ben got us off to a fabulous starting getting through the first corner ahead of both Lee Williams and Billy-Joe Whenman and after an eventful and fun well natured race we finished 4th just loosing the sprint for 3rd. A great bit of fun and a good wake up for the legs and lungs!

Alex was our early starter in the Youth category and made the perfect start throwing the gauntlett down with a stunning first 1km to put himself right at the sharp end of the race. This, however was not to last as a rear puncture scuppered any chances he had of challenging for the podium positions and leaving him incredibly frustrated knowing he had the pace to match the leading riders. After two brief stops to fix the deflating tyre, Alex completed the race after a mature ride to finish 12th and gaining what could be valuable points at the end of the season.

Ben and Chris were in the afternoon slot of races and Chris was the first to go in a strong Elite field including internations from Belgium and Denmark.

As Alex in the morning, Chris made a stunning start putting himself close to the lead group and into contention. Chris then road his heart out, quite literally as he moved upto 7th position ahead of such talents as Liam Killeen, Paul Oldham and Robin Seymour to name but a few. As the race progressed though Chris tired, and dropped back on the final 2 laps to finish in 23rd position exhausted but happy in the knowledge that he has the type of speed needed to match some of the best on offer in the UK. A fantastic sign of things to come!

Ben made it three out of three leading out the Juniors and showing that all of our riders have dramatically improved their raw speed from the start line. For Ben it was not to be though as he suffered throughout the race. Sometimes its just not your day and after knee problems from Cyprus disrupted his build up their was obvious disappointment that he had not found the form that he showed on the Greek island.

It was no surprise really that the curse of Sherwood Forest continued for the team but their were signs that the team are very close to achieving great success both at home and abroad. next week the team travel to the Netherlands where they will look to put the disappointment of Sherwood firmly behind them.

A great result in the afternoon race by our mechanic who managed an 8th placed finish in the Open category and a special mention must go to our Cyprus buddy Lee Williams who took 2nd place in the Elite Mens race.