My first MTB Race - Gorrick Skedaddle Spring Series - 03 March 2013

I hate writing retrospectively. Whilst I acknowledge that almost all blogs are in fact written retrospectively, I like to write whilst it's all still fresh in my head, not a week later, sorry guys!

Although there isn't much to talk about, I still think it's important that my first race is documented. I finally took the plunge and signed up to a race. I travelled down with my friend and team-mate Will Kearse, his dad Paul, and his girlfriend Nikki. I'd spent all week talking to sportsman and woman from all difference sports looking for advice. The one piece of advise I kept hearing, was to just relax, enjoy it, and do my best. Being my first race, it didn't overly matter that much. It wasn't even part of our local series (Mud Sweat and Gears East). I got some good advice from my manager at work who used to be a racing driver for Dodge. He told me to relax and not let the adrenaline get the better of me. We were competing in the Mens open race, open is a really interesting category because it's made of cyclist all of abilities. It's a great way to benchmark yourself. Which was exactly what I was looking to do.

We had done our practise lap and were ready to go. The course was relatively technical, but nothing I couldn't handle. Whilst I'd felt pretty confident in the build up all of a sudden things became very real, once you're all lined up on the grid, there's no turning back. The tension was high, everything I had done (on a bike) had effectively built up to this moment! I was on the second row, just behind Will and a guy I met called Andrew who rode for Team Wiggle. He offered last-minute advice on the line, which really helped, I also learnt a few new stretches to help my every troublesome back. Paul (Kearse) also gave me one of his famous pep talks.

Andrew giving me some top tips! God I love those shoes <3

The whistle went and we were off. There were 60 of us all banging down the first descent and all that was going through my mind is "this.is.nuts, what the hell am I doing!?". I lost a few places on the first climb, I wasn't too bothered though. My plan was to take it easy, and slowly but surely pick people off.

Where it all went wrong: About 10 minutes into the race, going through the second bit of single-track, I noticed a rider down in a bit of a heap clutching his elbow. It wasn't until I saw the bike that I recognised the bike. It was Will! Immediately I put the brakes on and went to assist him. I spent the next few minutes trying to access the damage and calming him down, he was obviously pumped full of adrenaline and in a lot of pain. Before he crashed, he was leading by ten metres or so. I got him up and into an ambulance, who put some ice on it and put it in a sling. He crashed at about 20mph and landed on his right shoulder and elbow. By the time we got back to the start/finish line, the race was over. He later spent five hours in A+E, who confirmed that it wasn't broken, just severely bruised.

It was all a bit of an anti-climax, I remember as I waited with the bikes whilst Will was being treated. I was full of adrenaline, my heart was racing; I was really concerned for my friend, disappointed that I hadn't finished my first race, but at the same time, pleased that I had I'd done the right thing and helped my teammate. There would always be a next time....

Nick