Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Mike Thompson to Represent GB
TEF Rider Mike Thompson (Junior) has been selcted to ride for Great Britain in the MTB XC World Cup Round at Houffalize in Belgium on 15th April 2012. Well done to Mike and the Team hope he has a great ride at his debut World Cup race. Mike will be back riding for TEF at Dalby Forest on 22nd April.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Round 1 British XC Sherwood Pines
It was a great sunny weekend at the British XC Nationals 24th and 25th March which meant as expected - a fast course for the opening round at Sherwood Pines. All the team were in attendance and we had riders in Youth, Junior, Expert and Vets races.
We arrived on Saturday and soon established our base next to the team motorhome...well not exactly it was the team motorhome for the weekend. Club Gazebo was out for the first time after its purchase so plenty of room for the team mechanic and massage facilities. It also proved to be a great sun shade for the turbo warm ups on Sunday.
Alex our team mechanic Alex Peacock from AP Solutions was soon to work checking brakes bleeding them as required and changing gear cables. He was busy and worked well throughout the day to make sure the bikes were in good condition.
Mark was quick to equip Bobs bike with the video camera to capture the whole 4.5 mile course on video for the team briefing later that day. 2.00pm was the team recce and a chance for everyone to ride the course together.
Whilst the riders were out it was a chance to for the support to grab some lunch and chill for a little while. Mark was in need of a afternoon sleep after working nights friday.
4.00pm was the team debrief where instructions and guidance to riders on times to be at the start, how the races are gridded and who required support at the feeds. Discussion was had on race tactics and then a showing and debrief of the course from the video taken. The potential course bottle necks were discussed and any technical areas on the course were viewed and discussed. All great info for the team. Finally instructions to get a good nights sleep and that Mark would call them with any info from the managers meet.
The managers meet took place at 5.30pm and the commisaires had decided on one less lap than advertised for all BC cat races. Also Juniors were allowed technical assistance which was a special allowance for this category in prep for the world series. This is unusual as only Elite Category riders are normally allowed such assistance.
Mark, Alex and Bob left for their hotel the Days Inn which turned into a nightmare to find......Sat Navness. Eventually we found it and Alex and Bob went for a short walk to the pub whilst Mark was in need of sleep and retired early. Alex and Bob's excursion to the pub turned into a long walk to find one serving food and then at the final place told that the kitchen had closed but luckily their hard luck story won the day and food was served a taxi ride back made sure there was no late night .
Sat was an early start back to the forest for 8am where the team were soon out early for a recce to see if there had been any changes to the course at all due to damp or from churning up of the course from the fun races on Sat.
The race schedule was
9.30am - Youth - Scott Woolley 48 riders
Midday - Expert Bob Hewitt - 45 riders
Also Midday Junior -Sam Roper and Mike Thompson 43 riders
2.30pm - Vets Nick Wilson 113 riders!
9.30pm Scott was off, expectations was for maybe 20-30 placing and Scott was in the lower 20s at the end of the first lap but on the second lap crashed on a corner near the feed zone. This lost him 5 places and he dropped to 33rd place and was unable to claw it back. Still a sound result for his first national race.
Midday - Experts were off and a bad crash on the start narrowly missed team rider Bob Hewitt. This crash took down 3-4 riders and one was left laying unconscious and the Air Ambulance was to arrive mid race to take the rider off. Bob rode extremely well in lap 1 and 2 and held onto 9th place. However lap 3 he dropped to 18th place as his endurance started to fade in the heat. Finally he came in 23rd place after 4 laps. This was also his first national race and a good result and we know Bob has huge potential for the rest of the season.
Juniors were set off slightly after Experts and the start was moved down to allow the race to continue whilst the injured rider was being treated by medics. Mike was not on the front of the grid and entered the first corner mid field with a huge margin to make up if he was to have a chance at top 5. entered of the first lap he was 5th and 23 secs down on the leader. End of the 2nd lap he was 4th and as he came to the end of the last lap he was right behind 3rd placed rider Iain Paton this was going to be a sprint finish and as they entered the final straight Mike put the power down and took the lead with about 5 mteres to go and crossed the line a wheel length in front wow a poduim place!
Sam meashile was taking the first lap easy after last weeks asthma attack in the Midlands XC. He finished slightly lower than expected in 35th place. However it was a goal for him to finish the race.
Final race was the Vets with Nick Wilson. We knew Nick has not being training as much as last year so the outcome was unknown and very much lets just wait and see! This was the biggest field with 115 riders and therefore inevitable that there would be a crash on the start. This crash was so big it blocked the whole straight and therefore 50 riders got away off the front with a large gap. Nick stayed around 60th for the entire race. rode consistently and came in mid field at 58th. A respectable finish when 50 riders had left at the start with a huge gap.
so results:
Mike - 3rd place Junior
Scott - 33rd Youth
Sam - 35th Junior
Bob - 22nd Expert
Nick - 58th Vet
A huge thank you to TEF Transport who provided transport and fuel at the weekend. Also Alex for a great job as team mechanic.
And finally well done to Mike Thompson great result and the rest of the team for some sound results.
We arrived on Saturday and soon established our base next to the team motorhome...well not exactly it was the team motorhome for the weekend. Club Gazebo was out for the first time after its purchase so plenty of room for the team mechanic and massage facilities. It also proved to be a great sun shade for the turbo warm ups on Sunday.
Alex our team mechanic Alex Peacock from AP Solutions was soon to work checking brakes bleeding them as required and changing gear cables. He was busy and worked well throughout the day to make sure the bikes were in good condition.
Mark was quick to equip Bobs bike with the video camera to capture the whole 4.5 mile course on video for the team briefing later that day. 2.00pm was the team recce and a chance for everyone to ride the course together.
Whilst the riders were out it was a chance to for the support to grab some lunch and chill for a little while. Mark was in need of a afternoon sleep after working nights friday.
4.00pm was the team debrief where instructions and guidance to riders on times to be at the start, how the races are gridded and who required support at the feeds. Discussion was had on race tactics and then a showing and debrief of the course from the video taken. The potential course bottle necks were discussed and any technical areas on the course were viewed and discussed. All great info for the team. Finally instructions to get a good nights sleep and that Mark would call them with any info from the managers meet.
The managers meet took place at 5.30pm and the commisaires had decided on one less lap than advertised for all BC cat races. Also Juniors were allowed technical assistance which was a special allowance for this category in prep for the world series. This is unusual as only Elite Category riders are normally allowed such assistance.
Mark, Alex and Bob left for their hotel the Days Inn which turned into a nightmare to find......Sat Navness. Eventually we found it and Alex and Bob went for a short walk to the pub whilst Mark was in need of sleep and retired early. Alex and Bob's excursion to the pub turned into a long walk to find one serving food and then at the final place told that the kitchen had closed but luckily their hard luck story won the day and food was served a taxi ride back made sure there was no late night .
Sat was an early start back to the forest for 8am where the team were soon out early for a recce to see if there had been any changes to the course at all due to damp or from churning up of the course from the fun races on Sat.
The race schedule was
9.30am - Youth - Scott Woolley 48 riders
Midday - Expert Bob Hewitt - 45 riders
Also Midday Junior -Sam Roper and Mike Thompson 43 riders
2.30pm - Vets Nick Wilson 113 riders!
9.30pm Scott was off, expectations was for maybe 20-30 placing and Scott was in the lower 20s at the end of the first lap but on the second lap crashed on a corner near the feed zone. This lost him 5 places and he dropped to 33rd place and was unable to claw it back. Still a sound result for his first national race.
Midday - Experts were off and a bad crash on the start narrowly missed team rider Bob Hewitt. This crash took down 3-4 riders and one was left laying unconscious and the Air Ambulance was to arrive mid race to take the rider off. Bob rode extremely well in lap 1 and 2 and held onto 9th place. However lap 3 he dropped to 18th place as his endurance started to fade in the heat. Finally he came in 23rd place after 4 laps. This was also his first national race and a good result and we know Bob has huge potential for the rest of the season.
Juniors were set off slightly after Experts and the start was moved down to allow the race to continue whilst the injured rider was being treated by medics. Mike was not on the front of the grid and entered the first corner mid field with a huge margin to make up if he was to have a chance at top 5. entered of the first lap he was 5th and 23 secs down on the leader. End of the 2nd lap he was 4th and as he came to the end of the last lap he was right behind 3rd placed rider Iain Paton this was going to be a sprint finish and as they entered the final straight Mike put the power down and took the lead with about 5 mteres to go and crossed the line a wheel length in front wow a poduim place!
Sam meashile was taking the first lap easy after last weeks asthma attack in the Midlands XC. He finished slightly lower than expected in 35th place. However it was a goal for him to finish the race.
so results:
Mike - 3rd place Junior
Scott - 33rd Youth
Sam - 35th Junior
Bob - 22nd Expert
Nick - 58th Vet
A huge thank you to TEF Transport who provided transport and fuel at the weekend. Also Alex for a great job as team mechanic.
And finally well done to Mike Thompson great result and the rest of the team for some sound results.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Mike Thompson Takes 2nd Place
Today TEF Richardsons RT rider Mike Thompson took 2nd place Junior in the Midlands XC Round at Cannock Chase. Mike suffered a crash and a fall over the bars but still managed to secure a secnd place behind Alex Welburn.
Our other rider Sam Roper did not finish his first lap in the same race after an exercise induced attack forced him to retire.
Our other rider Sam Roper did not finish his first lap in the same race after an exercise induced attack forced him to retire.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Racing this weekend
Mike Thompson is racing at Cannock Chase Midlands XC round 2 whilst Sam Roper missed the entries as this event is now full. However committed as ever Sam Roper is making the long drive to Reading for a round in the Southern XC series......will this northerner make his mark in that race?!
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
The Blog is launched.
The RT will be blogging on here in 2012. Keep up to date on the riders and races in 2012
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