Cannock Chase Winter Classic MTB, 26 Feb 2023

This was my first MTB XCO race for a good few years. I arrived the afternoon before the race to give me chance to ride the course. The course was mainly single track and flowy. Nothing too technical just a few tight corners here and there. A good start was going to be crucial as there wasn’t much distance between the start and the first section of single track. 

On race day I got warmed up and as I finished that it was announced there would be at least a 40-minute delay. So, I ended up doing my warmup twice - probably a good job with how cold it was. I managed to get a good start and lead into the first single track section, but we had already started to catch the men that had set off briefly before us. Coming back into the start finish area I was in a group of 4 and coming up the hill towards the finish I realised I’d gone a little too hard. The short sharp burst of high intensity XCO requires was definitely a shock to the system after the longer steadier races I have been doing up until this point.

About half way into the race the constant changing of light when weaving out the trees was giving me sore eyes and I moved down to 4th position. I continued to pick off the men that started before us but never saw the leading girls again. I finished in 4th place for this one which I’m happy with. I’ve definitely got things to work on before my next XCO race which will be round 2 of the national series but first a couple of road races which I’m excited to get stuck into.

Kim Baptista