It's been 5 months since my last competitive mountain bike race and on rolling up at the Midlands XC race at the National Forest Mounatain Bike centre my nerves were at a level I've not experienced for a long time - but this is a bike race this is what I do! How hard can it be?  

Well this year I've made the educated decision to move back to Expert so just below elite with the young guys trying to get to the next level and most just racing and attacking without much in the way of tactics which after a few years in enduro racing is a little hard to get used to but like I said earlier "it's a bike race it's what I do!".   So upon arriving and catching up with everyone (which every year feels like the first day back in school) I headed for a practice lap and upon this  lap I had a revelation- this isn't a mountain bike course it's a cyclo cross course! But I have a 29er so happy days. Berms, table tops, double jumps, single track and steep little drags - this place had them all in buckets so  I was very happy smiley boy after practice - but come race time its a different matter. I had 5 laps of this 6km course so 30km of sprint after sprint after sprint after sprint, well you get the idea and after seeing the elite guys shoot off down the start straight it was my turn and somewhere between the rider pen and the grid I got swamped and found myself at the back.  In the melay at the start  I struggled to find my pedal and lost a little ground.  I'm always here to the end though so I just got my head down and chased back as we hit a sticky muddy drag. Flying into the berms and jumps in one mad fast flying line  I was giving everything and chased each wheel in front of me. As is the way with racing, before you know where you are your heart is beating at 190bp and your struggling for breath but this where the bike race instincts really kick in and your body starts to feel that familiar burn and ache which you have been missing for the last few months. 

The race itself was a great one for me as I was a little off form but fought as hard as I could and even got my fastest lap on the 3rd lap showing my stamina is good and my endurance training is working well. I was happy to finish a few mins down in 15th place but still its a start, a finish and something to build on for the next few months of racing,training and generally dragging Chloe around the UK.  

So on reflection I'm a happy boy and can't wait for 2012 to really kick off and the racing to get serious, bring on the battle and let's see how many peolpe we can Derail along the way.   Corby

2012 is going to be fun year with a focus on the shorter XC races but so far this year I haven't done one due to weather and lack of entries but did get the chance to do 2 new events for me, The Dyfi Winter Warmer and Fearless X Duathlon at Llandegla. I also did these on a new type of bike for me, a 29er, which in these events have shown how brilliant they are and I'm definitely a big wheel convert now.  
The Dyfi was a 28mile off road marathon which had the potential to be very very very cold but we luckily managed to miss all the snow and started on a sunny North Wales day with the neutral roll out on the road,  but unfortunately this was down hill and a little too slow so was a very cold start to the day! Turning onto the first big climb (which went on for about 20 odd mins and hurt a lot) I managed to place myself about 7th or 8th  with Phil Morris (xcracer.com) in second about 30secs ahead which pleased me even tho Matt Page (Team Wiggle) well out of sight at this point. My lack of time on the big wheels did tell on the first downhill run with me being a little to nervous and losing time but I don't race to be beatem that easily and on the following climbs and laps  Ieventually managed to find my racing legs and pulled myself upto 6th after 2hr 15mins of suffering.  
Next up was the Fearless Duathlon which was a nice change following the last minute cancellation of the Welsh XC at Margam Park. The thought of a 8km run followed by 17km of mtb and 4km of running seemed like fun before the start but come race time I started to feel like the total novice I am in these events. As the siren went to start the race the racer in me took over and I just focussed on what I had to do and on the first 2.5km climb I managed to get myself around the top 20 and settled into my pace before my strong discipline came along. I even surprised myself by putting some others into the hurt locker on the run and attacking a little but come the bike leg I knew that was where me race would really start as I stuck in the big ring and set off after the rest of the guys ahead of me and very quickly moved into the top ten. Unfortunatley some bad luck was around a corner quite literally as on one apex of a corner I hit sheet ice and bent my gear hanger and banged myself up quite badly and costing me about 5mins in total - but I needed to finish the race for the training benenfit at least and I started so might as well finsih! I just went as fast as I could on the bike coming into the transition area in the top 10 but on the second run  Istarted to feel tired and my bruising from the bike crash started to hurt. I struggled to get up to speed and quickly lost a few spots which was disappointing. I also got lost losing another 5mins or so but finished in 23rd overall with the 5th fastest bike lap,  2mins off the fastest time but feel comfortable that I could have beaten that time and got fastest bike split of the day.  I think some work on my running would help a lot and make me more competitive next time so will be including some more running work in my training plan.  
Well its my day off from the shop and its not raining snowing or cold so I think its time to do some training .  
Corby

Well I'm Steve Corbyn (Corby to most) and I started racing in 2002 at the Schwinn 100 at Builth Wells (and finished in around 7hrs) but its fair to say the bug was well and truly settled in me and very quickly that year I was racing most weekends including the Schwinn part 2, SITS and Dusk til Dawn (so long ago that was when Rob Lee won his first solo !) 2003 was my first year of XC racing in the sport cat which inlcluded the result of 4th in the Welsh Senior elite Champs race at Builth Wells.   Over the years I have tried all disciplines from xc to 24hour solo but find marathons keep drawing me in (probably something to do with my first race experience as a senior) but recently have been doing off road duathlon which is a little different but strangely quite fun. It has been a roller coaster journey in the world of mountain biking over the last 10 years but it has lead me to here where I'm setting up my own team.   We are starting with a simple aim - build a team that does everything very professionally and races to win but doesn't take it too seriously, as after all we are here to have fun and enjoy this silly but awesome sport we all take part in.  
Right now it's fair to say I'm excited as the future is looking very Derailed but I wouldn't have it any other way.  
Corby