{"id":2620,"date":"2011-04-15T17:10:19","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T16:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stodgell.co.uk\/?p=2620"},"modified":"2011-04-18T08:55:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T07:55:16","slug":"mtbo-world-cup-sprint-tapolca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stodgell.co.uk\/?p=2620","title":{"rendered":"MTBO World Cup – Sprint – Tapolca"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Waiting for the start of the World Cup sprint event in Tapolca in a disused army base I tried some recently learnt relaxation techniques chilling generally for about 20 mins and was in a good frame of mind rolling up to get my map with a minute to go.<\/p>\n

The warm up area was a huge grass runway, but there was a stiff wind blowing across it which noticeably slowed you when heading into it.<\/p>\n

I had decided to take it easy, the goal being a clean ride with no mistakes rather than blasting it around.<\/p>\n

The event I planned on MOD Stafford last month, helped me a lot, it being very similar terrain, only derelict and overgrown. I rode really well and lost no time to nav at all but at times it was very scary riding through the grass and leaves which often hid ditches, concrete blocks and kerbs. At one point I just had to lift my front wheel high at the last second and just clatter the rear over a series of kerbs in the grass and hope for the best.<\/p>\n

Just before the road crossing I nearly T boned another rider (I think it was Em Benham but she didn’t notice me) and I ended up in a ditch avoiding her. This threw my concentration slightly and from then on although I didn’t make any mistakes I felt a bit out of control and was navigating by the seat of my pants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Punching the last control on yet another tank (there seems to be a military theme to MTBO this year) I gunned the circuit of the athletics track to the finish.<\/p>\n

I went up on the leader board in 9th but had to then watch my position slowly slide until finally the red group (top 10 in the world rankings and last to start) came in dropping me to 26th just 2 mins 38 seconds down.<\/p>\n

This equals my best ever international result but really it was better as there were 77 men’s elite riders today and has given me a great start to the 2011 season.
\nhttp:\/\/www.mtbo.hu\/series.php\/lists\/indexCommon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waiting for the start of the World Cup sprint event in Tapolca in a disused army base I tried some recently learnt relaxation techniques chilling generally for about 20 mins and was in a good frame of mind rolling up to get my map with a minute to go. The warm up area was a … <\/p>\n

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