MTB East Round 1, 29 Mar 2026

The clocks going forward made for an early (and pretty chilly!) start to Round 1 of the MTB East series.

There are three women’s categories – Fun, S1 and Elite – and after surviving the Fun category last year, I decided to move up and have a go in the S1 group this season.

The course itself is mostly woodland riding: tight and twisty, with plenty of tree roots, some rocky sections, and a few technical features including a bridge to keep things interesting.

S1 and Elite riders started together, with around 12 of us rolling off the line. My start was, as usual… not great 😅 I entered the woods near the back of the field. But by the end of lap one, I’d worked my way past three riders and caught another early on lap two.

Knowing there was still a long way to go, I sat in behind her for around three laps, trying a couple of overtakes on a slight climb. Each time she responded and I just didn’t quite have the strength to get past.

Then on the penultimate lap, I spotted my chance—a flatter, wider section. I committed and put in a solid 50m effort. It was enough to get ahead stay ahead.

The race format was 1 hour + 1 lap, and I ended up being out there for 1 hour 15 minutes after just avoiding being lapped by the leader. Some might say easing off would have been the smarter move to avoid an extra lap, but the voice in my head was saying: “Don’t give in—keep going. You’ve paid for this, make the most of it!”

In the end, I finished 4th out of 7 in the S1 category—which I was I’m really pleased with.

As always, plenty of lessons learned:

➡️ Starts still need work

➡️ Overtaking on twisty courses takes planning and timing

Huge thanks to Tim and Catenary Coaching for the ongoing support, and a massive well done to fellow coachee Sophie for an incredible 2nd place in the Elite category 🚀

Julie Taplin