Miami Bryce

The National Champs this year were at a rad track called Bala in Wales. I was excited about this race because it was my first UK race all season. I’d missed all my mates who race and don’t come to world cups, so it would be nice to catch up.

We arrived Friday and walked the track which was pretty wet, but looked as good as ever, so we set up the pits and got to bed. Saturday morning I went up for some runs before qualifying. The track was great and I was having a ball riding with mates and just enjoying the atmosphere.

My last practice run was quite a while before qualifying so the track had dried out a load, and I had full wet tyres on - but it didn’t really bother me. I just had a steady one and went into second behind a local ripper called Emyr Davies.

That night we chilled by the fire and then watched a film put on in the sign on tent by the organisers - then off to bed for some good race sleep.

A few practice runs Sunday morning and the track had dried up loads too, I put my dry tyres on and got into it. My race run went pretty good, made a small mistake in the middle section then it took me a few turns to get going again but it went well. I went into first place but Emyr was still on course - he was 4 seconds down at the split, which would have put me in second, but then he took a big crash on the last jump. Steve took the Pro Men’s which was rad and my time would have been second overall, so syndicate one two.

I got home for a night then had to get my stuff packed for heading out to Canada for the next world cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne! It was a long day but the two legends Rob Warner and Tim March were on my flight so I hung out with them in the airport. When I arrived we had so much stuff to cram into two small hire cars but we got it done and headed to our chalets.

I arrived kind of late so I missed the track walking but I wasn’t bothered because it was such a long track - I just rode my first few runs steady until I got to know it. My first impressions; I was so stoked, it was flat out with some rad turns and some big jumps to finish at the bottom. I only did 3 runs on the first day though, because it was the most physical thing I have ever ridden in my life!

Second day was kind of similar - I think I did another 3 runs or something because I wanted to save myself for finals, and my arms were already hanging off! There were some cool jumps at the bottom of the track which were all rutted and boggy at first, but they got some wood down on them and they were nice to throw down some whips off.

Saturday came around fast. I did two runs in the morning and then set out for my qualifying. I knew a full run was going to be really hard so I took some sections really easy and I ended up 21st after doing a huge whip on the finish line jumps. I went back to the chalet got some fresh kit and sneaks on then headed up for my final. I started off rad and had a pinned top section in the open turns. I went into the woods and then made a mistake going into a right hander and turned left when I lost my balance and rode off into the tapes. This cost valuable time but it didn’t phase me although I made a few more mistake through being tired. I considered myself out of the running so I did another big whip and cruised out of the finish area. After going to commentate with Rob Warner and then MTBCut in the Freecaster booth, I saw the results and realised I was 15th position! This came as a shock but I was stoked because I took back the lead in the junior category.

All in all I was pretty happy to know my speed was right up there so I’m going for top-ten this week in Bromont. I’m going to change nothing about my approach to the race because I feel really good at the moment, I’m just going to focus more on my riding.

That’s all for now! Miami.