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Will Weston - BDS Round 4 - Balla

JUL 03 2015
Will Weston - BDS Round 4 - Balla

Here is the latest update from our NS Bikes / Hotlines UK team rider - Will Weston. Check out what he is up to and what are his plans for the upcoming weeks.

 

BDS Round 4 – Balla

 

I have finally finished studying for my A Levels! My exams are done, and for the rest of the season my focus is entirely on racing my bike, which is always a huge relief and in years past has resulted in a sudden surge of improving results. I finished my final physics exam just over a week before we set out for the weekends BDS, so I had a chance to get out on my bike(s) an aweful lot more than I have been able to throughout the races prior to this one, which is always a huge confidence boost.

 

Somewhere in the back of my mind was the niggling thought that due to three weeks of none stop revision leading upto my final exams, my fitness and strength was not where it had been, or where it ideally would be. Never the less I entered the weekends racing (my first of five in a row) with an expectation to produce a good result, because for the first time this year, I was entirely focussed on riding my bike as fast as I could.

 

Balla, as it is known to most, has always been one of my favourite tracks, I first raced there aged 11 and fell in love with the fast, long and rough nature of the track in comparison to other UK venues. In the BDS and other regional series its relatively rare to visit a location that actually has a hill big enough to allow for a track that isn’t constantly concerned with squeezing all the track time possible out of what is ultimately a very small altitude change. I often get frustrated with the very tight, awkward and often flat nature of the courses that we have to race, that are poles apart from the kind of thing you would be tested with at a world cup, this weekend we were racing on an actual mountain, so Balla is always circled on the calendar as one to look forward to.

 

The track we were racing is totally different to the one i raced back in 2009, originally built and designed by Affy for an Atherton weekender project a few years back, the distinct sections, high speeds and big jumps that lay between the tape set out to be possibly the toughest, but most enjoyable test of UK riders so far this season. Starting off with a whole host of freshly built booters at the top that had every decent rider smiling, I commend Si Paton and the builder (Gazzy B) for pushing things in that direction, a track consisting entirely of jumps is lame, but having a few big gaps on a track is a rarity in the UK and I for one loved it.

 

About a minute or so in the track then darted into some very claustrophobic and tight woods that rode very well so long as your wheels were rolling through the right lines, technical without being awkward. From there downwards the track had a whole host of awesome flat turns, flowing ruts, stump gaps and some fast paced off camber. All of which, when ridden properly, was awesome fun.

 

The BDS is often associated with poor uplifts, so its essential to be ready at the crack of dawn, and be very prepared so that no time is wasted, and you can focus on learning the track and getting up to speed, at the first round I only managed 5 runs, and that isn’t a lot to get a track dialled. Luckily though, the uplift fpr this weekend  was the best the BDS has ever seen (possibly because it was entirely run and organised by pearce cycles) so fitting in 7 or 8 runs with extended breaks was a doddle.

 

Will Weston

 

Saturday was the best time I have had on a bike this year at a race, an awesome track and plenty of runs, the Fuzz is also most at home on the harder tracks, with big compressions and fast repetitive wholes, so naturally as this track was testing, the Fuzz excelled. I felt amazing all day, once the suspension settings were dialled in I knew I was riding more towards the level I am capable of; flowing well, much more relaxed and confident and willing to push very hard, all of which in my eyes has come from the sudden lack of educational commitment.

 

I finished on Saturday knowing I was capable of good things come Sunday, and expecting to be met with the same dusty and dry conditions we had gotten used to. Of course I woke up on Sunday morning to rain, not just drizzle, but proper, hard rain. It had rained all night but it was still a difficult thing to predict how slippy it would be up on the hill, in my mind rain would dampen down the dust, make the hardpack a little slippy and make the finish field very hard. So i opted for dry tyres as I didn’t think it would have cut in enough to give a spike anything to get in to.

 

Boy was I wrong. . . we were welcomed with a good 80 minute delay at the top of the hill as early riders had been having a lot of issues, and as I made my way over the jumps and into the more natural sections I could see way, it was very, very difficult. Worse still, due to the delays; that was going to be the only practice run I could fit in before seeding. A lot of riders struggled with mud clearance to the fact their tyres couldn’t spin, luckily for me the Fuzz was designed with mud in mind and even with the bike set up in the shorter rear end setting, I had no issues at all.

 

Seeding was a disaster, the conditions were still treacherous and one foot unclipping, a cleat full of thick welsh clay, a second foot unclipping, a crash, two more crashes, and a generally embarrassing run put me in 14th. A complete mind set alteration  had to be done between this and finals in order to salvage a good run, the course was slowly drying and conditions would be a lot better second time around. I sat for a while and just had a quite 30 mins or so to wake up, focus and get ready to attack the course again. Race runs came round quickly as they always seem to, and I put down a very average run, I didn’t push in the slippy parts, I made a few mistakes and didn’t take any big risks. But I did carry speed on important sections, stay smooth and conserve energy and generally rode smart. I crossed the line expecting a relatively average time, but went into the lead by 8 seconds, with what everyone else seemed to think was an impressive time.

 

I was expecting to be shifted pretty quickly but rider after rider came down and I beat them, by a lot. The last two riders down the hill, both of which I have huge respect for nudged me down into third, and to be fair pulled a big time margin on me. But in my head, I completely understand where the time has come from, which is a good thing. Third is awesome, it’s my best result at the BDS so far this year, but my confidence is growing, a tapped race run would see me improve on this, so let’s see what the next few weeks have in store!