13th October 2013: My First DH Race - NDH Northern Champs, Kidland

So my first downhill race... actually one of the first times I'd even ridden proper downhill... Could count on both hands with fingers to spare how many times I'd ridden DH but as the race was in a lovely location up in North Northumberland I just had to have a go. What's the worst that can happen, right????

So I'd marshalled a couple times for Carl and his Northern Downhill events and always thought, hell yeah I could have a go at that- so having grabbed a lovely bike off Hannah back in July and had a couple days uplifts at Innerleithen and Hamsterly Forest I thought I'd throw myself in at the deep end and enter the NDH Northern Champs race at Kidland. I know the area really well and had ambled round on my XC bike with the dog plenty as I have family that live there so i figured I'd feel at home and if anything happened at least I'd have relatives close by to come scrape me off the floor ;-)

I was petrified on the day (yes even i get scared it's true) that I'd get in people's way and they'd all hate me being there, turns out there were only three of us girlies there too me, Janine and Rachel. I found out this is apparently as the NDH tracks are notoriously steep and twisty and can be pretty intimidating...oopsie!

Anyway, we got to the top of the track on the uplift bus and it was so foggy and misty I had to ditch the goggles in the bus and just go for it- my goodness it was carnage, so funny but literally all the way down I was slipping on roots, mud and tight corners, some sections seemed so steep to me I had to literally slide down them on my backside and hope the bike went with me (it did most of the time...).

I did both my race runs- the first was super scary as the masters lads were let loose right behind us so I had to get out the way of them as they were so fast it was like a herd of scary, wild animals were chasing me down. The second run was better as they waited til I got to the bottom, was great fun and although I found it hard and nearly took a marshall out when I launched my bike off the hillside its was great and the cheers and support of the marshalls, spectators and even Carl the organiser running along beside me at the bottom really helped me feel at ease. Anyway, I was so slow and rubbish and probably did more of  race on my arse than the bike but I laughed all the way down and had such a blast, I'd definitely got the bug.

Thanks to Yasmeen at 'The Hills Are Alive' for the photo, she has some skill that girl to have caught me at one of the rare moments I was actually on my bike :-)

So, overall I had a great day, met some top folk and set myself a target now to get into this and try get down some tracks without falling off a thousand times... I've a long way to go but I'll get there I'm sure, and a podium place & two medals - even if it was by default ;-)