Dalby World Cup Race

Three times GB Olympic team mountain biker and Endura sponsored rider, Oli Beckingsale, regularly visits the Centre for Sports Studies for sports science and sports therapy support. You can follow his blogs on Sports Studies' web pages here. Oli also hosts his own website here.

Hello,

Last weekend I took part in the Dalby World Cup Race the biggest XC race in the UK this year by a mile.

The UK round is the second in the seven race series that started last month in South Africa and will finish in August in Italy.

The Dalby event is an impressive affair and was awarded the best XC World Cup award in 2010. The Dalby forest venue is great and the course is amzing, mixing man made trail centre sections with natural trails. The crowds are huge and noisy, which make being a home rider a special day.

I started the race with a grid position of 40th place but did a good start loop with a bit of luck and judgement and came round in 26th. The legs were good and on lap two I was up to 19th spot, but then had a slow flat whch meant a stop at the pit for a wheel change and went back to 27th.

By lap five of six I was back up to 20th then had some more bad luck as my front gear cable pulled through leaving me in the smaller ring! On the rough sections this was a nightmare but i managed to hold onto a finish position of 23rd, my best WC result for 16months

Now its recovery time as the next WC is in Germany this Sunday.

Above is a photo from Luke Webber at British Cycling

For a full race report and results click here

Thanks Oli