We arrived at the track around 3 p.m. so I only had less than an hour to practice as the gates to the military base where the race was being held were being shut at 4. The first lap was.... interesting, I think I rode 100 meters of sand out of the whole lap. Every time I hit a sandy section I fell off. It is impossible to describe in words what sand riding feels like. Imagine trying to pedal uphill in your biggest gear while the hill keeps getting steeper and steeper, also the surface keeps changing, not even each lap but each minute and there's only one safe-ish route up, and to stay on this route you have to be loose on the bike while making sure none of you movement gets transferred to the steering, somewhere in all this you also have to find traction.
After about 45 minutes of practice I still wasn't confident in the sand, it was a 50/50 chance if I could make it through the section, but I had to leave and hope everyone else was also struggling. Off to the town hall then for sign-on, managers meeting and dinner then back to the hotel for an early night.
Sunday was an early start and a quick breakfast as we were staying in Brugge, so had to drive about an hour to the track. Despite all the added security and marshals we still ended up in V.I.P. parking close to the track so that suited us. There was no pressure for results so I wasn't as nervous as I normally am. I got a good warm-up and lined up with all the other juniors in the holding pen. Because of UCI points and rankings I wasn't gridded last which was a welcome change. We got a 3 minute warning, one minute warning, then lights, green light and all hell broke loose. I was completely unprepared for the spray off the wet tarmac, the crunch of gears and the sheer speed of the start. We reached the end of the straight and the speed turned into 1,000 screeching babies as everyone grabbed a handful of brake.
The speed didn't slow at all for the first lap, I made up some places in one running section and a few more in the sandy descent, shortly after I rolled my rear tub going round a relatively easy corner. That was my race over and watching everyone ride away from you as you pick up the bike and start running is the most disappointing thing that has ever happened to me. I ran for over a kilometer to the pits where I jumped on my spare bike and set off in an already lost battle to try and regain some time. I struggled round for another 3 laps before being pulled with one lap to go. On my own over the course of the race I got better at riding the sand, even though the spare bike had mud tires that kept catching the sand and trying to throw me over the front of the bike. I came to the race looking for an experience and I can't say I didn't get that, so overall a disappointing but enjoyable trip. Sand is definitely now one of my favorite riding conditions.
Huge thanks to all involved in this trip, my pit crew for looking after me all weekend, David Vaughan for lending me his file tread tyres which made the sand and speed easier to deal with, Daniel Brickenden for the loan of his bike as a spare and to the team and all the sponsors for the ongoing support. Check out all the action here.
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