Well I had a big weekend of competitions planned but on Thursday I started to feel full of cold, by Friday I’d decided that driving over 100 miles to Tamworth and then arriving home at 5am wasn’t going to be a good idea so I put the Burton Scrap Metal on ice and decided just to hit the British Snowboard Tour at Milton Keynes.
Saturday morning dawned and I was up and scraping wax from my board at 6am, a quick energy breakfast of porridge and we were on the road. For once the journey to Milton Keynes went without a hitch and we arrived there just after 8:30, in time for me to hunt down some caffeine for The Boyf and pick up my bib. The new pre-pay of bib deposits online (for the indoor comps) is definitely making a difference this year and the queues were moving swiftly for a change.
So it was out on to the slope for the boardercross warm-up, nose and eyes streaming from the cold and my cold I battled my way to the top of the slope on the world’s slowest poma (Yay for skier lessons!) and took a practice run through the course, it was a nice set up, although the stepup kicker was claiming quite a few riders as the caught their noses and crashed out.
I managed to get plenty of runs in and had managed to find a line that I thought would keep me upright, so it was time to get racing. With 3 in the heat it was pretty crowded and Jules Chappell got away first at the start, goofy rider Charlotte Kierly and I were back to back (I’m regular) and actually pressing up against each other right through the 2nd bend and into the step down kicker, this is where it all went wrong for me and spinning on landing I ended up heading towards the step-up switch, Charlotte went by me and took 2nd and I took a close third. On the bright side, she’s senior and Jules and I are Masters so I actually finished 2nd in my age group!
By now the lurgy was really kicking in, after a quick chat with the other half we decided to call it a day. Although the slope style looked quite good it was going to be pretty icy by the time all the skiers had finished on it and with the big comp in France on the horizon I decided I needed rest and my bed more.
I’m still feeling a bit snotty now but reckon I’ll be fully fit for the final of the Westbeach Snowflex Freestyle Campionships. I’ve prequalified for this but am heading out for 2 days practice to make sure I ride as well as possible and don’t get beaten by too many international or UK riders. Mind you as a 32 year old riding in the over 16’s category I won’t feel too bad if they kick my ass……….just so long as I land a couple of good tricks! Plus there’s a pipe competition as well (check out the comp format) and as I haven’t ridden pipe since the 2006 Brits I think I need to work on that a bit too.
Update: it appears that I’m actually the Master’s Indoor Snowboardercross Champion! I think this is because Jules winning overall meant she was only counted in the overall rankings…..so yay me!