View from (the back) – FNSS Round 2 Milton Keynes Bowl - Paul Morris
Well it was time for me to start FNSS racing again, having missed the first week.
It was good to meet up again with people I hadn’t seen since last year, then I set off to do a recce of the course and warm up. In contrast to last year I managed to complete the whole lap without getting lost – although I did meet a few people going the opposite way to me!
Soon it was time to start, so we lined up in the middle of the bowl. Tom and I took up a position in the second row with about 10 other riders, the remaining 70 riders decided to all take up a position in the front row. Given that about 100 yards after the start we were all to go through a 6 meter wide gap, it was obvious there was going to be a problem. Maybe we should have followed last years example and gone for a rolling start – It seemed to work well – less crashes and queuing later on.
After a near false start, we were off. Tom and I decided to not join the mass sprint for the first gap, but the sight of 70 riders converging on a 6 meter gap was quite interesting, and we settled down to watch the inevitable crash. Sure enough a few people went down, and the pace at the back was reduced to walking speed. Someone next to me snapped a chain and exited straight over the handlebars – Snapped chains seemed to be a theme for the evening. Tom managed to keep going, and that was to be the last I saw of him, except in the distance
Once through the cones we were back across the middle of the bowl, and the race was spread out into one long line – I had forgotten how fast the starts were at these races. Shortly we hit the first bit of singletrack and joined the inevitable queue that had formed, and that was pretty much what it was like for the first lap, queuing through the singletrack, and then trying desperately to make up a place or two on the wider sections or the tarmac. I managed to make up a couple of places, and was pleased that after about 30 minutes I had not been lapped (something of a record for me). I did notice that there appeared to be quite a few people standing at the side of the track – most holding a snapped chain, not sure how many in total but I think I saw about 3 or 4 people out through chain problems.
The sky was getter darker by now, and at first the light drizzle was quite refreshing, then there was a torrential downpour. The singletrack which up to that point had been twisty, fast and fun was now like riding on ice. People in front didn’t so much fall off, they just disappeared sideways of the course. I was riding with Ken Bolton at this point, but just after someone fell I managed to pull ahead and kept ahead for the rest of the race.
Soon enough I was lapped, but managed to keep ahead of a few people who had lapped me last year, so overall I was quite pleased. I think I finished around 30th, but won’t know until the results are published. Next week will be Sulby Aerodrome, and I am looking forward to that ploughed field already J
