Aston Hill 423 Downhill Race...

[nessiemac]

Morning all

Well,after a short break since my last DH race (about 13 years!!) and several months after getting the all clear after the worst year of my life,my mate thought therapy might come in the shape of this race!!!

Aston Hill held a race yesterday on a brand new track that was only open on Saturday so new to all. Was described as fast,loose and fairly short and totally different to anything else at Aston.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrIVQtQqT5M

So thought it might be fun to enter and my mate was itching to race his fantastic IH Sunday so entered we did...

Bloody hell.......

The course was superb,fast at the top,fair few jumps and lots of flowy berms that really rutted up and very steep dusty last switchback section.

Brilliant weather and atmosphere and apart from a big crash on the second jump on Saturday (thank goodness i bought some upper body armour) no one got hurt.

Wanted to achieve 3 things..be within 10 seconds of my mate on the Sunday,not come dead last and just enjoy it!! Well i achieved all 3 and even though i was 54th out of 66 in Masters and 268th out of 330 or so,for an unfit old bloke that can't jump well and after the year i have had i am a very happy bunny!!

Here are some pics from the race,not me though!!

http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/to...

Courses have certainly changed in the last 13 years thats for sure but blooming great fun!!!!

Roll on some more dates for next year.....maybe.....

Edited by nessiemac on Monday 14th September 13:23

[militantmandy]

Top effort! Takes some big stones to throw yourself in at the deep end like that. Good on ye!

[Steve UK]

Hi Nessiemac,

Your ankles fixed then

That looks wicked fun, I reckon I could do that. Is it steeper than it looks? What sort of gear do you have to wear eg; full face hat?

Steve

[nessiemac]

Steve UK said:

Hi Nessiemac,

Your ankles fixed then

That looks wicked fun, I reckon I could do that. Is it steeper than it looks? What sort of gear do you have to wear eg; full face hat?

Steve

Hi Steve,

Hope you are keeping well mate? Still biking??

It was my toe that was broken but that what the least of my worries at the time !! The 8 months or so of chemo,radio and various ops for hodgkins disease was worse!!!! Anyway,yeah was great fun but very difficult for me to ride fast. It was a LOT steeper than it looks,the last few switchbacks were as far off the back of the bike as possible on really loose dusty soil and was very rutted up by the race. The jumps were not too big and lots of loose off camber corners that were tricky at race speed!!

Me!!!!





Usually wear full face,goggles with knee and elbow pads but invested in some upper torso armour with back protector for the race and tested it well on Saturday!!!

A really good day and another track to add to Aston hill. If anyone is thinking of going it is a fantastic place for shortish (2 min or so) downhills with a challenge for every ability!!

http://www.rideastonhill.co.uk/Home.html

If i can ride it and not come last then anyone could have a go!!

Edited by nessiemac on Tuesday 15th September 19:00

[Steve UK]

Crikey! good to see it hasn't stopped you doing your biking. Sorry yea toe! knew it was your foot, 5 months without work has pickled my brain.. Start at Cossy on Monday

Yep, still biking Nearly came down to Bracknell forest last weekend but G-friend disappeared to a car boot sale and it was too late grrr.

Did some downhill biking in NewZealand on an early 90's hardtale in July, which was interesting.

I bought Dirt 2 yesterday, not very simlike but great fun.

Good pictures, I need some body armour then. I have some Troy Lee knee pads but no full face hat. I might try it on my mini dh if they do it again.

Steve

[Moose.]

Looks awesome! Well done

Went to Aston Hill earlier this year with a friend of mine. Really good place to practice downhill with plenty of trails for all abilities. Must go again some time!

[chuntington101]

Looks good mate! What bike did you do the event on?

Chris.

[nessiemac]

chuntington101 said:

Looks good mate! What bike did you do the event on?

Chris.

Cheers bud! Couldn't justify a proper downhill bike when i was buying last year for all the use it would get so went for a Santa Cruz Bullit. It's used for a bit of everything really but geared towards pointing down more than anything!! Built with RS Totems E13 chain device and some good (heavy) dual ply tyres it can handle everything and more than i can do on it!!

[nessiemac]

Steve UK said:

Start at Cossy on Monday

Great news Steve,where are you going to be based then?. Anytime you are down near me mate with the bike let me know and try and arrange a bike ride. Hopefully i can keep up better than i was at Race Pro!!