Racers Guild December 2010- Riders report

After last months massive turn out i left my house at 8am to get there to beat the massive off season queues I was expecting after Novembers timed practice, but i arrived shortly after 10am to find riders looking a bit thin on the ground.

It seemed most riders wanted to avoid the morning frost and get there later once the track (CDL this month) had thawed.I unloaded my bike, greeted a few of the people i had got to know coming here and set about having a crack at the track. which went a little bit like this Out of the start and into the right hander of the Red Line, I turned off into the narrowest ribbon of singletrack in Britain and fired out the end of that onto what was at the time dry grippy frozen ground, quick scrub of the brakes and drop into a steepish chute, keeping left to gain maximum exit speed onto the off camber section, over the stump and roots and through a compression into the 'nightmare switchbacks'. Now its heavy on the gas, giving those legs a thorough workout through the next bit of tight singletrack with stumps all over to catch you out and make you wander off line. over the two jumps and into the left right combo, inside line for the win. then, as in true RG fashion, there was a tight left hander over the roots and a short slog of a pedal to the line and you're done. the quickest boys were just about cracking the 1 minute barrier but any time under 1:15 was something of an achievement.

With an absence of most of the regular speed boys like Gratton, Halling, Machin(who turned up late on aboard his trail bike) et al, it looked like a toe to toe battle for fastest time between Moto Mitch Ingley and Andy Hughes, both of the Rg squadron. I followed Andy down in practice for a run, yes yes its so much easier to follow someone at that pace but to ride like that off your own back takes a LOT of skill. A couple more practice runs later and it was time for sign on, get my board - number 20 this month. Signed in, time to get a start time sticker and get some a quick drink and do some wheelies to warm up before its time to have a blast down the course and post myself a time.

Now its my turn to see what i can do at this refreshed-by-scruff CDL, Simon Paton, the man behind the BDS and Descent Gear who sponsor the guild has just gone down and i know he's not exactly slow, a minute later I'm clicking my chain across its cassette into the first turn, trying to get to the bottom as fast as i can and post a time i can be happy with. At the moment i just want to go faster than Paton. As i cross the line, after crawling round the last awkward turn, Alex tells me i've put in a 1:06.5. Got to be happy with that! Its getting warmer now and every run i do the conditions are softer as the ground thaws so i never quite challenge the time of my first run.

Booked myself in to marshal at the compression/'nightmare' switchbacks part of the track until all timed practice is done with. Bob Dangerfield is last man down this time and once he crosses the line i start to gather in tape from the track and pack up ready for my well earned KFC. Get in!

ste tomlinson.