Its blog update time

Chris Rathbone on it ! 

Rathers didn't want his photo taken so took action !

With the CX season in full flow and the CX team racing week in and week out and in Rathbone case racing Saturday and Sundays ! ,  We even lent him out to charge bikes at Rapha Supercross at Alexandra Palace to race for them ;) .. Below is a report from Rathbone 

So the cross season is well and truly underway with two rounds of the National Trophy done and a heap of local leagues done too, the big news is... Im still keen!

Learning lots from the last two years I decided to not go into the season fully blazing with form, its no secret I like bikes and racing, but I don't love it to the extent I`ll happily race my brains out.

With just the FNSS races and a fair bit of running keeping me ticking over the first National Trophy at Shrewsbury would be a "See hoe it goes" kind of race with no real expectations, it would just be a race.  Turns out I was gridded 12th from the previous year so 2nd row for gridding, not too bad.  I managed to get off ok and miss a crash early on which split a leading group of five from the rest.  I pushed on but ultimately ran out of gas on the last lap and ended up 8th, still happy.

Trying to keep momentum up and get race fit I decided to keep up the Notts & Derbys, Lincs League and West Mids, whichever was nearest. Never finishing less than 2nd and with two wins so far its going in the right direction.  

A last minute invite to ride the invitational Rapha Supercross at Alexandra Palace in London for Charge bikes was the order last weekend. A great event Ive ridden the last two years but in the supporting Vets race.  To cut a long story short I crashed my brains out on the first lap wiping out in an off camber corner trying to overtake Dave Collins from Team Hope, my Nationals co-pilot. Best though was a failed attempt at bunny hopping the planks. It was fine in practice at 8mph but boy did that second set close in fast in the race.  I made the first plank but then it all went wrong resulting in me landing on a photographer, but not before he had a chance to rattle off a snap.  

Round 2 of the National Trophy was the day after at Southampton.  Gridded 7th now I was front row and liking the fast dusty (!!) conditions.  I felt good after Saturday and finished a credible 5th after a last lap surge.  Not sure i`ll ride the next round in Durham as you can drop a round for the first time this year. We`ll see.  

West Mids yesterday on a fantastic course at Aldersly Stadium.  I blagged a 2nd row grid so would hopefully get a good start. It was fast but manageable, I sat 3rd wheel trying not to get too excited and get on the front, thinking about the next 50 minutes.  The pace though seemed to drop so I thought Ah, lets have it. The legs played along and I won by almost 2 minutes, happy days.  Max ranking points should see me go from 5th National Rank to 4th (maybe) It would be nice to finish in the top 5, again...we`ll see. ...

Nick Popham has also been flat out racing and taking some good results even taking time to have a sit down and a chill at one CX race ..

New Boy on the block Juan Rodriguez to the long trip from Scarborough to Thetford for round 1 of the winter series and took 6th place on his first outing for the team ! Top work Juan really looking forward to seeing what Juan can do this season ..