I am privileged to have an occupation that entails time spent in the fresh air in hills and mountains. Every so often we are presented with a race venue that, even for a group of seasoned racers, blows us away with its beauty. Champery, host of this weekend's World Cup, is one such venue. Nestling amongst snow capped peaks the scenery here provided the perfect backdrop for some intense racing on a short but fun circuit.
With downhill and four cross events as well as the cross country the whole town was full to bursting with mountain bikers of all disciplines. Word was out that the downhill was one of the knarliest ever. While our course did not win that accolade it certainly presented enough challenges to keep us all on our toes. The start loop comprised a steep gravel road climb followed by a slick, rooty and rocky descent that included a series of tight turns with step downs and next to no passing space anywhere. After a short foray onto the bottom of the four cross track we then went out onto the lap proper. This featured fast road sections interspersed with wooded singletrack, over roots and rocks, before returning to the initial start climb and descent, now at the end of the lap. At just 5km per lap the loop was a short one and continued the trend in cross country for shorter loops with a greater number of laps to be completed. For the women's race this was 6 laps plus a start loop.
Despite posting a respectable 50th in Offenburg two weeks before, my lowly current UCI ranking still placed me back in 77th on the grid. While I am happy to accept what is the result of my relatively light race schedule in this pre Olympic year, it is the case that some courses allow me greater freedom to move forward through the field than others. Champery was a tricky one in this respect. After narrowly avoiding a crash just after the start I did my best to move past slower riders up the opening climb. However, as 100 riders reached the descent the inevitable bottleneck formed. Having had our lungs on our handlebars moments earlier we all now had not choice but to wait our turn to trot down the top of the descent on foot. I did manage to remount quickly and passed odd riders here and there but it was basically a slow train back down to the bottom. Only after this start loop had passed could I assess where I was and begin to work my way forwards.
Fortunately I felt pretty good, a relief after Margam Park. My bike also felt spot on after much work by our mechanics to remedy the damage caused by the mud in Offenburg. This meant that I was able to gradually pass riders. A lot of the course was singletrack so, in order to pass people, I had to make repeated efforts to beat other riders into these sections. The resulting oxygen debt made for some ragged and rather hit and miss descending. I seemed to get away with it for the most part and, after a couple of laps, was beginning to ride amongst riders that I am familiar with. A few riders ahead of me at this stage was my Swedish team mate Asa. Seeing her up in front spurred me on to join that group and soon the two of us were racing hard against two riders from another team. It is always great to be in a race alongside a team mate as, while mountain biking does not have the tactics of the road, we will always allow one another a little more space and lenience. Together we continued to pass riders until a small mistake hindered Asa's progress and I moved ahead.
With more riders in sight I was ready for the final lap but the over zealous commissaires on the finish line had other ideas, and began finishing riders from about 45th down a lap early. While this still assures a finish position, it is frustrating when you are progressing and when most of the time lost on the leaders has been on the opening laps with all the hold ups. Without the start loop queuing I would certainly have made it onto the final loop and probably have taken a few more places. As it is I am satisfied with the result and was also thrilled with team mate Willow's fantastic 5th spot on the day. Champery marks the end of a series of hard fought races for me. Now I have a period of rest followed by the training build towards the defence of my National Champion's jersey. I hope to be able to raise my game in the second half of the year and will be working very hard in the next few weeks to realise this.
Jenny
Jenny Copnall
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Underdog
