National MTB Series Finale for TEF MTB Team

Round 5 of the National Mountain Bike Series was held on Sat 25^TH August  at Langdon Hills Country Park near Basildon in Essex.    This was the finale of the National Series and TEF Richardsons Race Team were well up in the Junior Race with Mike Thompson top of the field after 4 races.  Each riders series position would be decided on their 4 best results with points available for the first 40 riders in each category.    With the top 5 riders in the Junior race so close together it would all be down to this final race to decide the series winner.

Despite its name Langdon Hills the 6km course was a flat course and with fast flowing single track.   The team arrived for course practice on Friday and it was soon confirmed that lap times were going to be fast and 15 minutes per lap an average speed of 15 mph.  

The first race was off at 9.30am and Youth rider Frazer Clacherty competing against a field of 30 national standard riders.   Riders are gridded on the start according to their series standings and Frazer was three rows back at 17th.  From the off Frazer moved through the field up the initial slope to the first singletrack.  Frazer rode three laps of the course moving from 13^th place after the first lap to 10^th at the end of the final lap.  A great race and his best race position for the series.  

The Midday race was going to be the largest field with amongst others both Expert and Junior categories racing.  Mike Thompson as Junior series leader was on the front grid and got a good start entering the first corner as second rider.  Disaster for Iain Paton of CNP Orbea who was 2^nd placed rider in the series as he threw his chain at the start and lost 7 places.   Mike finished the first lap in 3^rd place and was riding alone whilst Tom Evans of  Ben Wyvis Bike Club and Alex Welburn of Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching were riding together in 1^st and 2^nd place about 15 seconds ahead.  Thompson had to beat Tom Evans who with a win in this race would take the series win.  Iain Paton was also closing on Thompson as they started lap 2.  Thompson in lap 2 continued to lose time to the leaders and Iain Paton was also unable to catch Thompson as he and crashed badly on the course launching himself over the handlebars but was able to get on his bike to finish the race further down the field.   After 4 laps Thompson was unable to catch the leaders Welburn and Evans and it was all down to the finish and a hope that Evans would take second place and leave Thompson to take the series win.  However the sprint finish showed that Evans had the mosre powerful finish and he took the race win and the series.  Thompson made the podium with third place in round 5 and overall second place in the National Series.  

Meanwhile Bob Hewitt was battling in the expert category and was aiming for a top 15 finish in the 34 rider field.  He started strong with a 12 place position but his tactic was to finish the 6 lap race strong and try to make places up as the race went along the plan worked and on lap 5 he had moved into 8yth place but the last lap was going to be a fast one and he was unable to hold his top 10 and dropped to finish 11^th placed expert rider.         

Final Results:

Mike Thompson  - 3^rd place Junior

Frazer Clacherty – 10^th place Youth

Bob Hewitt – 11^th place  Expert 

TEF Richardsons Race Team Riders Shine at Dales Mountain Bike Race

TEF Richardsons Race Team Riders

 Shine at Dales Mountain Bike Race

The North’s Regional Mountain Bike Series final round was held on Saturday 18th August in the stunning countryside of Swaledale in The Yorkshire Dales.   This was the second year the race was using the course at Fremington on a technically hard 5.6km course which would see the riders climbing over 600 foot each lap.  

TEF/Richardsons Race Team have been targeting this series in 2012 and the riders were on top form for this particular race.   

This was a gridded start depending on series standings.  This was to be a mass start with all categories setting off together and after an initial single track hit ‘the grind’ a steep and rocky twisting ascent up to Fremington Edge before a rocky and fast descent on the dry limestone. 

From the start Junior riders Mike Thompson and Sam Roper got a good start with Mike leading the field and Sam holding 3^rd place on the first lap.   Mike was able to pull away from the field and then came in first after the full 3 laps with a lead of 2 mins 54s ahead of second placed rider James Nixon of mtbmarathon.co.uk.    Mike Thompson showed his class over the course by also beating the Adult Elite riders with his time.   Sam Roper suffered a disappointing crash on the descent and lost 4 places to come in as 7^th placed rider.

Frazer Clacherty  the  race teams newly signed rider youth rider again led from the start and was able to hold off 2^nd placed rider and series leader James Edmond with an attack from the start line.  Frazer held a large lead over Edmond which he maintained until the last section of the course when Edmond started to accelerate and close the gap on Clacherty but  TEF took the win with just a 50 yard lead.   Other TEF rider Scott Woolley came in 4^th placed youth rider.  

1^st place Junior – Mike Thompson TEF/Richardsons RT

1^st  place youth – Frazer Clacherty TEF/Richardsons RT

Other results:

Nick Wilson TEF/Richardsons RT  12^th Veteran

Dan Joyce – Richardsons Cycle Club 26^th Veteran   

Steve Hopper Richardsons Cycle Club 7^th Master

Martin Allanson – Richardsons Cycle Club 1^st in Fun Category

The team will be travelling to Essex on 25^th August to race in the National Mountain Bike Series.  TEF/Richardsons Race Team are a mountain bike race team sponsored in a joint venture by TEF Transport and Richardsons Cycle Club to keep up to date on the team check out the club website www.richardsonscc.co.uk

 

Dalby Training 7th August

Great day in Dalby today with Tef Riders Mike Thompson, Frazer Clacherty and guest rider from Richardsons CC-  Alistair Chalmers.  Day started with some core skills power assisted front wheel lifts, rear wheels lifts and then bunny hops.  All the riders showed god technique although Mike Thompson did not have quite the height that Alistair and Frazer had on the bunny hop.

We then moved to manuals on the field with the lets see who can go the furthest competition!  Frazer showed the better technique and furthest distance.  A short sesion on linked corners on the red route then we broke for lunch.  After lunch we then moved onto a secton of the world cup course and ran a 3 lap handicap race - Mike of course caught Alistair and Frazer to finish first.  

We moved into the second half of the world cup course but Frazer managed to puncture and demonstrated how not to change a puncture after breaking the valve off.   A long walk back to the van for a quick inner tube change.  We finished the day on the red route and a short debrief on what the riders were taking from the day.

See a short video from the day:

https://vimeo.com/47100586

Photos from National XC

 Mike Thompson riding to 2nd Place

 Mike Thompson takes 2nd place 22secs behind winner Sam Stean

Sam Roper retired from the race

Nationals Weekend 21st to 22nd July.

Yes its the National XC Championship this weekend at Wasing Park Estate Berkshire.  The weather looks to be more settled for the races tomorrow Sunday 22nd July. Mike Thompson is showing great form at the moment and has been doing well in the National Series.  British Cycling are tipping Mike or close rival Iain Paton for the win but the Junior field is strong this year so their are other riders who could get the win.  
Fellow team member Sam Roper is also racing in the Junior field and his form looks good at the moment and had a good ride recently in the CRC Marathon event in Shropshire where he rode the 45km circuit as fastest junior. His goals are to get into the top 20 which are well within his grasp.

Missing this weekend are Scott Woolley who is away in Germany with School.  Scott rode the Clifton CC 13 mile TT on his road bike and came 15th overall and 1st Junior.  Nick Wilson remains out of action due to injury and Bob Hewitt has a new addition to the family.

Closer to home Frazer Clacherty new Youth rider rode in the Pedal Sport Mid week cyclo cross race in leeds last week with Mike Thompson both rode on mountain bikes against the cross riders.   This was purely a warm up for the weekend for Mike and a chance for Frazer to ride to gain race experience.  Both these riders also rode last weekend in the Olivers Mounts Road Races in Scarborough again to get some racing in. 

Frazer is also road racing in Middlesborough on Sunday at the CDNE at Prissick Circuit.  Although we are a MTB team  its still important to gain other race experience as this helps to mentally and physically prepare for racing.  Also can help with perfecting nutrition intake for race days, warm ups and race strategies.

HERE HOPING SAM AND MIKE HAVE A STORMING RIDE AND WE GET A NATIONAL JERSEY IN THE TEAM

 

Hope Series Round 2

Sunday 1st July was round 2 of the Hope Series - we had two team riders at the race after we missed round 1 as this clashed with the British XC Series.   If ayone is familiar with Lee Quarry its an unusual and unique venue.  Its as the name suggest an old working quarry and with some investment and some great local volunteers mtb trails were put into the quarry and there is a maze of single track, descents, ascents, pump tracks and drop offs in just a 1km area.

  

 

The only downside to the venue is that it is on a hilltop and therefore exposed to wind and rain.  Sundays race was no exception and the rain and conditions were harsh for the days racing.   TEF rider Sam Roper was in the Racers category so the field with the most experienced racers.  Sam was also racing alongside our home club Richardsons CC rider - Steve Hopper.   The start was hectic with numerous riders in the start from different categories and even some youths  sneaking into the race (they were later DQ'd)  Sam came 10th in his category and from RCC rider reports going well.  

Meanwhile we had a debut for new signing Frazer Clacherty (14yrs) who was in the lads Category with 10 riders.  Again a confusing start for his race and Frazer thought he had come 2nd but was told he was 3rd - a podium in either case.

Scott Woolley was not racing due to a recent illness. 

Results for the series came out today and we confirmed that Frazer was 2nd after all - a great result for the team though.

Next up for the team will be British XC Series in Essex.  We will also shortly be setting our training dates for the team once the season has finished.  

     

BMBS Round 4 and season so far...

Kirroughtree was a fast and dry track back on April fools day when the Scottish MTB round was there but this weekend it was far from those conditions with a couple of days of heavy rain the track turned into a very muddy and unpredictable affair!
Race day I got up to watch first race of the day at 9.30 to see what the course was riding like and to cheer on a rider who will be joining the team in 2013, Frazer Clacherty who put in a brilliant ride, finishing in 12th place and racing the majority of the race in contention for a top ten place! And for a first year youth in only his second national round it is a result that he should be proud of and one that I think he can definitely improve upon, so a rider to keep an eye on!
My race was at 12.00 and starting on the first row and with the course conditions being sketchy I knew how important it was to get into the first piece of singletrack in a good position, I had a good start and got off the line first and after a long fire road climb I entered the singletrack in 3rd position, after the 1st lap Alex Welburn got away with me and Harry Franklin in pursuit around 20 seconds behind with riders just behind me and Harry so we knew we had to push, as the second lap went on me and Harry were catching Alex and the gap was around 8 seconds, we both knew we could catch him and as we hit the descent to the arena he was at the side of the course with a ripped front tyre, he did manage to get a new wheel and finish the race in a respectable 15th place. It was then down to me and Harry, I had done all the pace making throughout the race and knew at some point Harry would attack, we got close to the finish and he attacked before the final swooping descent, he got in front and couldn't get around him even in the small finishing straight so he took the win by a second, he deserved the win as he rode well from the gun. I was really pleased with the result.
I now have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the series with one round to go, and with 4 out of the 5 rounds to count to the overall series it is still all to play for with many riders in contention for the overall series title.
This season I have also been very proud of being selected to ride for GB in the junior ranks at 3 rounds of the UCI MTB XCO World Cup Series, I rode in the 2nd round in Houffalize, Belgium which was a shock to the system, starting 105th on a grid of 140 riders, the start is absolute madness, i eventually finished 88th on a challenging course, an experience I loved, just to be riding round in practice along side the best riders in the world! The next two rounds were just a week apart and after finding out I had being selected I was delighted. The 3rd round was Nova Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, voted the best round in the 2011 season and home to the World Champion Jaroslav Kulhavy! The course was truly incredible and the temperature was really hot, Race day I woke up to pouring rain and at breakfast the coaches had to break the news to all the Junior riders that all the bikes had been stolen, we were so shocked! with hours before the race we all had to make do on borrowed bikes that we had never ridden before! Again the race was mad, with over 120 riders, I rode feeling strong to 49th after being gridded 65th. The week after i was racing in France and after a couple of days at home Debbie and Ian at Richardsons were on it, to get a bike ready for me, one which I was familiar to and one that would be up to standard for the race in France and the British round a week later and after hours searching and working for me they could not find a solution within the few days that I was going to fly back out to France. Luckily the owner of Godleys cycles owned a bike which would do the trick for France and would give Debbie and Ian time to get a serious race machine ready for the British series a week after France. The race was mad again, 128 riders took to the start and gridded 78th, with some mad descents and gruelling climbs under such high tempertature under a beating sun I managed to ride up to 54th, again a result I am very happy with!
I know have 2 main objectives left of the shortened MTB season due to the Olympics, Firstly the last round of the national series on the 15th July near Essex and a week later the MTB National Championships at Wasing Hall near Reading, with around a month to these two important events I will now enter a few weeks of very hard training!
I would like to make a special thanks to Debbie and Ian at the shop as otherwise I would be seriously stuck, the bike they have managed to put together is truly a beauty, a very nice bike which I will keep riding to its limit to get the results it deserves! The support from both of them has been more than I would ever have expected and I hope I can do them, the shop and the team proud in the remaining races.
I will write up after the National Championships in July.

Mike Thompson