Heading out west to Coed-y-Brenin for the first round of the Dragon XC Series we were treated to some spectacular views when the sun came up - somewhat different from the weather we had for our last trip over this way for the Marathon Champs last September when it took about six washes to get the grit out of my shorts. This was to be my first XC race since 2005 and I was really looking forward to doing an event that would be a couple of hours at most instead of at least six!


We got there in plenty of time, signed on and decided that as it was just too cold to stay hanging around the still minus-something car park, a brisk walk of the course would do the trick. Unfortunately around half way round we realised that the course was longer than we expected so had to run the rest of the lap back to the van to get togged up to actually make the start line! Not the best relaxing preparation but at least I was VERY warmed up!

As we hung around waiting for our wave to start my hands and feet started to freeze again but we were soon on our way up a short section of tarmac before diving into the single-track climb. At this point I was about mid-pack and getting stuck in when disaster struck. An extremely keen chappie decided to ricochet off a fellow rider whilst trying to get through a gap that probably wasn’t actually there and slammed into me taking us both straight down on the deck. The spectators thought it was great fun yelling “riders down, riders down” but by the time I had got back up and on my way I was pretty much dead last in our wave – a rude reminder of how frenetic an XC start can be!!!! Oh well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, I wasn’t too worried though as there was pretty much a few miles of solid climbing ahead and plenty of time (and space) to hopefully make up some places.

The course was very similar to that used for the marathon champs course last year with the evil twist of replacing a section of nice smooth fire-road climb with an energy sapping rocky climb instead. It was a hard but really rewarding course to ride and it’s the first race I’ve been to that the cheery marshals were warning you to watch out for sheet ice!!

Roving reporter Santiago was on hand to take the scoop on how it went and catching my breath on a rock here’s what I had to say:

“I was sure I could detect the faint taste of blood from breathing so darned hard but it was a real nice change from doing endurance events and great to see that it was so well supported. Despite the freezing temperatures most folks hung around for the presentations, which was only right and proper, as the organisers had gone to a lot of trouble to have a proper podium and trophies for the top three in every category. The course was top fun and a decent length, marshals cheery and the general atmosphere very welcoming to all abilities so all in all pretty amazing value for money really. Well worth supporting if you are in this neck of the woods.”

So there you have it. First outing of the season and from now on events are coming up thick and fast so stay tuned to hear how it’s going. Happy riding x