San Remo road trip - Report

I have just got back from great Team Abarth MTB road trip in San Remo, Italy. We went to this area in northern Italy mainly because of the quality of the tracks in the area. We were out there as a team to get some time on the bikes and do some testing before the main part of the season kicks off.

I spent the first part of the trip working mainly on bike setup. I tested lots of things from different breaks and handlebars to springs in my forks and shock. As I got to the middle of the trip I really started to feel comfortable on the bike and was happy with how everything was feeling and from then I concentrated on going faster, only small suspension adjustments to help me feel even more confident with the bike.

We were staying in an apartment in the town of San Remo right by the sea. This was a great place to be based as we had easy access to some great road riding along the seafront and very central for all the different tracks. It was also nice to been in the town for the odd meal out and supplies.

I met up with one of my good friends Scott who was also out here doing some training and he showed us a load more tracks that I didn’t know about, including a new one that Fabien Barell had recently built. The track was very fast and rocky but good fun to ride.

After this I am heading home for a while. My plan is to try and put in some solid training in preparation for the main part of the World Cup season which is fast approaching. I am racing round 2 of the Pearce Cycles race series this weekend but my main focus is of course, the World Cup series. I am looking forward to travelling again and getting back into competing.

San Remo road trip - Days 1 and 2

After an 11 hour drive down to San Remo we had finally arrived at are beach front apartment for the week, With amazing weather and everyone feeling well, we were looking forward to the next morning when we could start are week of training.

Day 1: San Remo to Sospel… 8/04/2011

We headed out on the road bikes for a quick spin to explore the sea front, covering a steady 12 miles with an average speed of 24mph. I think we all came to the conclusion that the sea front mountain views were some of the most spectacular scenery you could ask for, making for a perfect start to the trip.

After a quick breakfast, we loaded up the downhill bikes and headed back in to France, to the Sospel bike park. The tracks at Sospel are quite varied, going from fast and rocky, to Champery style steepness all on one side of the hill. We started off on the fast rocky track which was around 5 minutes long, and just so happened to have a car parked halfway down (which may have lost part of its wing mirror during the day). After more punctures than any sane person could cope (about 6 between Michael and John in 5 runs) we started to get to grips with the fast, rough nature of the track and grabbed the helmet cam (link here). A total of 8 runs, spectacular sunshine and an uplift road that would put a smile on anyone’s face (10 miles of switchback corners), we headed back to the apartment to have some well deserved food, and get some much needed sleep.

Sospel Downhill, Italy, Olie Burton follows John Holbrook form Team Abarth MTB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjZbjvXCtCk

Day 2: San Remo… I’ll take that one please! 9/04/2011

08:55 1hour on the road bikes done, it was time to load up the van and head inland from the Italian coast. After yesterdays record number of punctures we stopped off at the local bike shop in San Remo to stock up on tubes for the day, 10 should do us for a few day…!

Tubes replenished, and a quick stop for another €100 of diesel in the Ducato, it was time to head to another new riding spot over in Pieve di tiaco, a fast rocky track about 30 miles inland from San Remo. The track was really worn in as there had been a wet race on the track during the previous weeks. The top half was rough, twisty and tight, leading into a fast, flat out bottom section. This traversed along the side of the mountain on old rock paths and had the tightest wooden corner out of a chute any of us had ever seen, before leading into a floating step down and on in to the town.

After 7 runs down the track, a load of bike setup changes, and getting a bit carried away with the banter along the uplift route, we prepped the bikes and headed back to the apartment. Tomorrow we’re keeping it local and heading up to San Romolo (just above Remo), as the annual Rally San Remo (which we forgot about) should be over now, meaning we can get some time in on one of our favourite tracks here.

Helmet cam footage from today. Olie follows John down the top section of the rocky Italian track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo2o2BHpVvk

BDS Round 1, Nant G

I got the go-ahead a week before Round 1 of the BDS, (UK National Series). With my new Saracen all ready to go I managed to get a bit of time on the bike before the race but noting like I wanted to.

The track at Nant Gwrtheyrnin north Wales is amazing, it’s a mix of steep, rocky technical at the start and flat out jumpy at the bottom. I really liked the track and had a great day practising track with my new team.

Sunday morning brought back the normal Welsh weather and it rained pretty much all day. This made the track allot harder and more fun in my opinion. My aim for this race was to have fun and get a clean race run and see where I placed with all the time of the bike. I was stoaked to finish 23th in Elite which showed me that I was no worse of than I was before I got injured so from hear all I can do in improve.

Check back for more team new soon….

Injury and XC bike.

Unfortunately I have been out injured for over month now mainly with a Hematoma in my leg but now with a broken finger. My leg is nearly all better now but my finger is not. I have been having regular check-ups and healing is going slow but hopefully I will be back riding soon.

I have been trying to keep my-self busy with things at home. Mainly trying to complete the van conversion that I started last year and never got around to finishing. I will put some photos up when its all done.

I got a xc bike as well now. Not that I have been able to ride it much but it differently passes the car park test. Thanks to the guys at Specialized for that.

2010 Season round up.

This season has been my best season yet. My first year on the World Cup circuit and my first year racing in Expert hear in the UK. After Champery and Val de Sole there was only one World Cup left this year and that was Windham in New York.

This was my first race outside of Europe and I was excited to be travelling to another country and seeing new things. Windham had put on a great event there and it really had a different feel to any other race I had been to. The track was good as well, It was fast and rough, very physical as well with some pedalling sections to. The course had a few big features on it, one was fast drop onto a of camber rocky landing which was hard to get right but all in all I had fun practising the course.

I was really happy to make it in to the top 80 for the finals and to finish a solid 72^nd at the race. This result ment that I finished 62^nd overall in the series. I feel that this is a great achievement for my first year as a World cup races. I have learnt allot and I am looking forward to coming back strong next year and to start making my way up the ranks.

After Windham I have one more race to go. This was a UK National at Caersws in north Whales and I was excited about going there because I have always loved Caersws. The trees there have been cut down recently for harvesting so it was a bit strange first run with no trees about. It was nice weather at the races and I got to hang out with some good friend which I haven’t seen for a while as I have been away allot. The race went well and I finished a solid 4^th.

I would like to say a big thanks to anybody that has helped me in this year, it has been greatly appreciated and not been missed. Thanks also to all my 2010 sponsors that have kept me and my bike going through the year, and my family as well.

Champery and Val de Sole World Cups

Champery, Switzerland

World Cups Round 4 and 5 where back to back weekend starting with Champery in Switzerland. This track was raced a few years back for the first time and I would say this is one of the most talked about World Cup. Mainly because of how steep the track is and also the amazing run of Sam Hill the fastest qualifier by 15 seconds, coming down the heavy rain to nearly win and taking 2nd behind Matti who came down on a dry course.

I was really looking forward to this race mainly because of the track. I knew that the steep terrain would suite me and couldn’t wait to ride it.

After first practice the track was more amazing than I ever thought it could be. Every section was amazing and there was not a bad bit on the track. The rain moved in for the second day of practice and it was like a completely different track, I thought that it was more fun as it made it so much more wild to ride.

I had a good qualifying run that put me in 13th place so I was stoked with that. This has been my best qualifying result yet. For the finals the track was getting really rough so I was aiming to get down with a sold run. I ended up 25th which is my best result ever.

Hear is a link to my race run on Freecaster.tv.

http://freecaster.tv/uci-mtb-world-cup-dhi-2010/1011052/uci-mtb-world-cup-dhi-4-champery-replay

I’m run is around 2 hours 28 minutes.

Hear are some Dirt Videos I am in form the race.

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirt-tv-champery-qualifying.html (Small clip at about 3 mins)

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirttvchampery-qualifying-chit-chat.html (at 2 mins 20 ish)

Val de Sole, Italy

Next was the Italy World Cup, I was looking forward to this race as well because I had seen a lot of videos of it from when they had the World Champs there a few years back.

The track was supper rough and rocky. It was really dusty as well, we had a little bit of rain during practice and that didn’t change anything it was still the dustiest track I had ever ridden.

I had a solid quailing run which put me in 73rd, I maybe held back a bit too much, but there was plenty left in the tank for the finals.

Finals went well, I had good run and felt fast but in control. I finished in 54th which was another good result.

My results after the last 2 races has put me back up in the top 80 World Cup standings. I’m now sitting in 62nd coming in to the final round in Windham USA.

Hear is a link to my race run on Freecaster.tv.

http://freecaster.tv/uci-mtb-world-cup-dhi-2010/1011054/uci-mtb-world-cup-dhi-5-val-di-sole-replay

I’m on at around 57 minutes.

UCI World Cup series Round 2 Fort William UK

Round 2 of the Mountain bike World Cup series was held in Fort William, Scotland. The hill has been used for many years now for World class events as well as UK Nationals. The course at Nevis range is very long and fast. The track is made up of a lot or rocks which makes the track very rough.

There were a lot of changes to the usual track for this race. They had redone some of the section and also there were some cool sections that had be made by digging down the bedrock.

Friday practice was going well. I was really enjoying the new bits on the track and though that the track had good flow to it. There was a new woods section as well which was cool.

After a good finish in Maribor I was now in the top 80, This means that I get extra practice on Friday and Saturday, Having this extra practise means you can be a bit more chilled out and you don’t have to cram in runs, you can relax a bit.

The cool thing about the World cup being at Fort William is that a lot of uk companies and distributors come the event with stands so its really good to be able to catch up with the companies that help me.

In top 80 you get timed practise at the end of Friday, I decided to do a times run just to see what I could do, My run was good, no major mistakes and I just cruzed the motorway at the bottom to save energy. My time from this was a 5minutes 20seconds.

I got up early for Saturday practice because I really wanted to try and make a good improvement on yesterdays time. Practice was going well, I felt fast and was loving the track. I did 3 runs and by the 3^rd I felt that I was going nearly as fast as I could so was looking forward to qualifying.

I headed up for my qualifying run, I was in good spirits but very nervous at the same time. I start of well but got a flat rear tire on one of the first rock features in the track. I was so disappointed that this had happened, I think that I just missed my like slightly and clipped a rock that gave me a pinch flat.

Im looking forward to the next world cup with is only 2 weeks away and is being held in Leogang in Austria.

Big thanks to Jez form Nema clothing. I am really happy to be running Nema clothing now, Its really nice kit and im looking forward showing it of in Austria.

Thanks to Specialized, Superstar Components, Funn, Nema, 661 and Maxxis.