Descent-Gear Unclipped | Moelfre

Posted: Oct 15, 2009

Each year there is always an event that acts as the swan song for the season. Having had a long year of racing, it's usually a pretty chilled affair, involving drinking and chatting long into the Saturday night. This year, despite a lack of top riders in attendance, Descent-Gear Unclipped proved a very fitting end to what has been a stellar year of racing in the UK.

Words: Alasdair MacLennan, Pics by Scott Cartwright

Now Moelfre isn't famed for being technical. In fact, anything but. However, it is famed for being open, fast and windswept. Over the past few years, Mike Marsden of Borderline events has made the hill his own, having started off with uplift weekends and culminating 12 months ago with his first race. This year has seen Mike learn from that event and add to his portfolio of successful races with the Easter weekend bash back in April, the inaugural Kill the Bill last month at the legendary Fort William, and now Unclipped. Despite having to shelter under the biggest awning we could find to avoid drowning whilst having a few cold ones on Friday night, the weather turned out well for the rest of the weekend. Having been greeted by perfect blue skies and a still visible moon first thing on Saturday, moods were visibly bright (if a little bleary eyed).


The track itself hasn't changed a great deal over the years from that original Atherton creation although tweaks have now seen it become a very different beast compared to those early, decidedly off camber, days where you wanted a 50mm left hand crank to avoid grounding out your pedal when spinning away. From the top of the tallest hill for miles, and from which you can see five counties, the track scythes across an open grassy field, layered with small quarry drops and stony outcrops. Fast and flowing, it soon sees you hitting the first jump and dropping into the new for this race gorse line. Now the gorse has always been one of the features of Moelfre, possibly remembered more by those who crashed in the loose and technical corners whilst pushing hard and were left looking like a pin cushion as a result! Yes, crashing into the thorny shrubs was not to be recommended.


Hit the road crossing (or road gap for the few) and soon you're through the split on the off camber traverse. Hit the few technical corners and obstacles here which are made challenging by the speed and narrow nature of the track, and it's not long before you're in sight of those at the finish. Pedal hard, sweep through the chicane like turns before jumping onto the rock slab, crossing the road again and hitting the step down, scene of several long jump comps in the past and the scene of many big crashes. And you're nearly home. Nearly home because what lays in front of you is a simple turn and compression into the field. Except it's not simple, it's fast, involves massive forces and leaves many riders getting closer to a very large and very solid gatepost. Very solid because the last one was snapped in half by a rider crashing into it at what must be close to thirty miles an hour. This was also the scene of Steve Peat's failure to win the 2005 National Championship when his back wheel imploded on impact.


Now, of the complaints that some riders have with the uplift at Moelfre, a lack of runs certainly isn't one of them. Even with 340 entries, 12 tractors made light work of the load and there were rarely any queues lasting more than ten minutes with a thirty minute round trip easily achieved. The only downside was the road crossing which, as it frequently has in the past, became a bottle neck as riders were stopped for the tractors to pass. It hadn't been too bad in the morning when the tractors were climbing the hill in small groups, there were gaps between the riders. Unfortunately, after a rider hit the ground hard on the road crossing and practice was temporarily suspended, all the tractors (and riders) ended up in much larger groups which led to issues with getting clear runs without red flags.


To his eternal credit, because of the delay losing half an hour or so of practice, Mike opted not only to add half an hour at the end of Saturday, he also started half an hour earlier on the Sunday, meaning that the first tractors began to load at 7.45am! This worked well, allowing the keen riders to capitalize on the number of runs they could manage and allowed those not quite such early risers the chance to jump on an uplift without much queuing. Some riders managed 5 runs before racing started at eleven which is pretty impressive it must be said!


So with the dynamic due of Elle Smith & Steve Hardcastle providing commentary, the racing started. Now normally it's the Juveniles who kick racing off but for this race there was a change and instead the Hardtail riders got to be the pace setters. And in that, Barry Glover secured third with a 2:58 having not completed his first run. Just ahead with his 2:56 was Stuart Bond for second but taking the win was a hard charging Dom Mcrae with a time of 2:48 in his second run.


Juveniles were up shortly after and Tom Proffitt of Bad Ass Bikes pulled a 2:45 out of the bag for third, just under three seconds behind William Weston for Tolbar Warwick Volvo. However, taking a decisive win was Callum Harvard for PS Cycles & Cwmdown with his time of 2:36.


Youth saw a tight podium with several riders fighting it out for the each spot. In third was Alex Glass for 2Stage Bikes with a 2:28, whilst less than a second ahead on a 2:27 was Dave Kynaston for second spit. Bradley Craggs of the Bike Place, Newcastle was the eventual victor however having put in a storming time of 2:25.


Juniors next and AW Cycles’ Danny Bradford took a 2:26 to third with Simon Stuttard nabbing second on a 2:25. However, taking the win as well as fastest time of the day was Last Bikes’ Harry Molloy on a 2:17.


Had the three riders on the podium in Seniors entered Expert the podium would be unchanged. In third, Elliot Machin took third for Swinnerton Cycles whilst Ralph Richardson put in a 2:20 with his first run to take second. Going into the second run with a deficit of three tenths was enough to spur Oli Burton on and improve his time with a 2:18 to take the category win.


Masters saw some pretty quick times posted. In third was David Fairservice with a 2:31, less than two seconds off the win. Second place went to Adrian Bradley who will be rueing any mistakes he made as he missed out on the win with his 2:29 by just one hundredth of a second. However, winner, and possibly most deserving rider of the day was Sion Jones. Having finished the night shift, he grabbed a few hours kip in the car before heading straight down on the Sunday to make up for no practice on the Saturday. Also on a 2:29, his win will have gone some way to improving his weekend. Just don’t go picking fights with him!


Veterans now and John Moreland was third with his second run time of 2:46. Eryri DH racer Dai Jones took second with a 2:44 and John Cobb the win with a 2:34.


Women this weekend was a combined category and well turned out it was too. In only her second race and having done little practice all weekend because she was feeling pretty ill, Rosie Smith pulled off a solid 3:16 for third place, a brilliant result considering the two riders ahead of her both have World Cup experience. In second was Monet Adams with a 2:52 but taking the win was Harriett Latcham with a 2:44.


In Expert, Don Howe didn't let his Evil collapsing in the first run get him down or keep him away from a podium for Kustom Bikes. On a borrowed Cove he set about putting in a solid run for third, just shy of the 2:30 barrier with a 2.31, two tenths up on fourth. After the first runs, Si Parsons was sitting in the lead but went about putting in a faster time on the second runs. This was a 2:25 but wasn't quite enough to secure the win as he sprinted across the line for second. Taking the win for the UK Pinkbike squadron was your author, Alasdair MacLennan, with a time of 2:24 and who was very glad there wasn't a breath test required before first practice on Sunday!


Was Elite a category with just one rider? Either way, James Hughes was that rider and put in the fastest split of the day in his first run with a 1:27 but a mistake in the lower section cost him a huge chunk of time and subsequent fastest time of the day. Just don’t go scratching his bike on the uplift!


Also, two bikes were stolen from Oswestry on the Saturday night from the family of a competitor. Keep your eyes peeled for a Turquoise Yeti 575 and a White Orange 5. And if you see them, let us know as anything which can be done to return them to their rightful owners will be much appreciated.

So overall a really enjoyable event, and one which benefited from Mikes growing organisational experience. How does he consistently attract so many new riders for each of his races, from Wales to the North of Scotland? However he does it, this race was had the biggest field of any downhill event yet held this year which is an impressive feat and a fitting end to the season. A fun track, good weather & plenty of riding all contributed to most riders having a great weekend. Those with injuries may disagree but unfortunately the fast nature of the track can lead to some big offs and the associated pain. Next up on the calendar for Moelfre is Descent-Gear ‘Clipped In’ over the Easter weekend in 2010 so get that in your diary pronto. Sponsorship and podium prizes will again be provided by Si Paton of Descent Gear (free next day shipping guaranteed)!

www.descent-gear.com
www.borderline-events.co.uk
www.eggraphy.co.uk

Full results available HERE - Thanks of course to the Pearce team for their usual great job.