661 Mini Downhill - A Race Report With A Difference.

When I saw the 661 Mini Downhill appear on the calendar I thought to myself... Yeah that'll be a good event to go along to. I'll grab some photos, shoot a video and write a report for MoreDirt. They'll be loads of riders a great friendly atmosphere and it's only a 2 hour trip from home. What better way to spend a sunday!

This was all going to plan until one Saturday morning out riding with the usual lot we were pushing back up one of the local downhill tracks and my boss kindly suggested "Why don't we do something a little different for the race report for the Mini Downhill... You can race it and then report on your first ever downhill race..."

6 weeks later the alarm clock is going off at 5-30am, I'm all packed up in the car and heading to the Forest of Dean to ride the first of the 2013 661 Mini Downhill's.

This was to be my first ever downhill race. I've never even ridden that many different downhill trails in a non-competitive environment, but up until about about 7 years ago I did used to race BMX at a national standard. That being said I never set the BMX world on fire and could probably count on one hand how many of my moto's I had actually finished first throughout my 5 year "career" as an early teenager in the sport. I did know a little of what to expect though, like that nervous feeling that you can only get before racing bikes.

The bike I would be racing was to be our current long termer aggressive weapon of choice, the Lapierre Spicy 516. Lets be honest you didn't see Aaron Gwin winning the UCI Downhill World Cup onboard a 6 inch travel All Mountain/Enduro bike so it's not the ideal bike for the job so I was forced into some slight changes. Off came the trail friendly tubeless tyres and on went a borrowed Maxxis Swamp Thing up front and a Specialized Clutch tyre on the rear, Fitted a bash ring and repositioned the cockpit so I didn't accidentally press the Reverb remote sending me over the bars before I even knew what had happened... That was it. The Lapierre was a race ready machine.

We arrived at the race and the car park was already filling up! The event had sold out in advance and 250 riders would be racing down one of the forests many downhill trails "Ski Run". First up I went to sign on and picked up my number board and zip ties along with a free mince pie which is always welcome and then we headed up to walk the frozen track.

I have walked loads of tracks with the guys before and always gave them my 2 pence on which is the fastest line and where I would be going if I was racing. This time I actually did have to ride the track so I thought I had better take the whole track walk thing a little more seriously than I had previously. This new "serious racer Angus" lasted all of 5 minutes, until It dawned on me I have the memory of a goldfish and I would end up missing all these intricate line choices I had decided on anyway. I returned back to the old me, pointing fun at the other guys and giving them a lesson in where not to go while trying not to slip over on the frozen solid earth.

This new "serious racer Angus" lasted all of 5 minutes, until It dawned on me I have the memory of a goldfish and I would end up missing all these intricate line choices I had decided on anyway.

Practice was to run from 9 until 10-45am and i had a picture in my head that I would get 3 clean practice runs in, be well up to speed, happy with what direction I was going and still be feeling fresh in the leg department, everything would be Hunky Dory.

This was not to be the case. 250 riders of varying classes all practicing together causes some delays and queues especially at the start. Never mind the horrible 15 minute push back to the top of the hill which was a tiny bit off putting! I got in a sighting run early at a gentle cruise and then 1 more run getting up to race speed which amazingly I didn't get held up behind any slower riders. (Before you even think it. No, I wasn't the slowest rider of the day!) just before practice finished I pushed up to the lower section of the track just to make sure I was 100% happy with the 2 jumps at the bottom. Before I knew it practice was over.

I went back to the car to grab some essential energy food and discussed over a banana how I thought I was getting on with some friends and if I was ready to race on a track that I hardly even knew! We then headed back over to the track to find out my start time for my first run and watch some of the ripper category fly over the bottom jumps.

The time had just gone 11 and my race run was at 12:43 and 40 seconds so I thought I had loads of time. Cue the fastest hour of my life before I started to make my way to the top of the hill. To the seasoned professional racer 40 minutes early is a little excessive but by this point I was absolutely terrified so I wanted to make sure my head was in the right place before the beeps started and I would be racing.

I joined a melee of riders up at the top and soon after the number 71 was called and I would be in 4 riders time. At this point I still didn't actually know how the start of a downhill race worked. There was a beep at 10 seconds before you have to go and then a countdown from five but everyone had already started before zero so I thought I would just copy and do the same.

I got the bike in the right gear, waited for the beeps then sprinted off the start. The 20 second intervals between riders meant it was pretty tight gaps between riders and this worried me slightly that I would be holding up a faster rider. Before I had even reached the 2nd marshall point I had to overtake the chap infront of me who had crashed. I started to settle into my run feeling fast and getting in a sprint on the pedals on a short flat section but still careful to save myself for the sprints and jumps at the bottom. On the track walk I spotted a root I really didn't like the look of and made a note in my head to avoid it. What did I do in race run number 1? Hit that said root and slide down a camber off the track getting my head caught on the race tape. I quickly jumped up and started again but had to let the rider who I had already passed further up past me again before rejoining the track losing precious seconds. The rest of the track went without hick up but I finished with a disappointing 1:37.63 which seeded me in 70th place for the second runs out of 77 riders.

On the track walk I spotted a root I really didn't like the look of and made a note in my head to avoid it. What did I do in race run number 1? Hit that said root and slide down a camber off the track getting my head caught on the race tape.

In the time before my 2nd run the track conditions had worsened as the temperature rose and the track finished thawing leaving the bottom half which was previously a fast frozen sprint, a more sluggish affair through thick, energy sapping mud. I felt even faster at the top of the track but once again caught up with a slower rider just before the bottom section which is unfortunately one of the consequences when you crash on your first and seeding run! He kindly let me pass without to much hassle and no real lost time and I made sure thanked him after had finished my run. My legs and lungs were burning as I tried to power my way over the bottom tabletop and road gap before breaking the beam and celebrating my first ever clean downhill run.

I beat my first run time by 9.13 seconds meaning I finished on a 1:28.50. I was super happy to just make it down without crashing a second time but I'm sure that first crash cost me more than 9 seconds so it's disappointing to think I could of placed even higher than my overall 67th position but It wasn't bad for my first ever attempt at a downhill race.

So the most important question still remains... Will I be making a permanent return to racing bikes in the future? Probably not a permanent return as I am aching like hell writing this and somebody has to go and shoot the photos and videos for MoreDirt that I hope you all enjoy but you will definitely see me racing again.

I am living proof that you don't need all the best shinny new gear and world cup level downhill bike to go out and have a go at your local downhill race. Just a reasonable level of bike handling skills a good pair of lungs and bags of enthusiasm and you'll have one of the best days out in a long time.

Photo Credit: Chris Davison