Tidworth Root1 Race Review

“Try a downhill race” they said… “It’ll be fun” they said… and actually, it was and I’d recommend it to everyone.

“Downhill” mountain biking can be quite a misrepresentative term at times and probably puts lots of people off trying things they’d actually enjoy. As an avid follower of the Downhill World Cup on RedBull TV, I instantly relate downhill to the crazy jumps and speed I see there, forgetting of course that the World Cup is the pinnacle of the sport and everyone starts smaller.

That was the thinking behind the Root1 race at Tidworth – a downhill event that anyone could have a go at. Team Mitchell Cycles manager David Webb explained the concept to me when he convinced me to enter. The idea was to pick a “beginner friendly” downhill track – Sicknote – at Tidworth. The course had no compulsory drops or jumps, with everything being rollable, or you could get more aggressive if you wanted. In addition there were categories to suit everyone, from the under 12 Rippers (and wow were some of them fast!), additional First Timers categories for Men and Women, all the way up to old timers like me. So somehow I agreed to give it a go!

Day of the race came and an early start (practice opened at 8am), combined with nerves, left me rather apprehensive!

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So I wandered into the racing village, where Mitchell Cycles and Dame Cycling had tents, grabbed a coffee and started talking to people. I wasn’t sure quite what to expect, but everyone was very friendly and welcoming and considerably less nervous than me. The billing of an event for all was spot on – there were all ages watching and racing, great support from Mitchell’s and B1ke/Tidworth, a good food tent and very welcoming vibe. So after settling in, I went to check out the other thing that had been worrying me – the course!

I’ve ridden at Bike Park Wales and some DH tracks at FoD, but I’d never been to Tidworth before, so didn’t know quite what to expect. Plus my version of riding downhill wasn’t exactly race speed – more like Last of the Summer Wine…

There was a special pushup along side the rack track, so I got a glimpse on my way up – some nice looking roots and berms were my first thoughts, but quite steep in places. At the top I stood having a quick chat with those around me, but suddenly I was off on my first practice run. Not sure I remember much of it if I’m honest! It was a blur of new features coming at me thick and fast, whilst trying to work out my lines. The lesson here was to turn up early enough to do the track walk in future – it would have been well worth it! But after managing 4 practice sessions before the first race run, I felt a bit better about the course.

Photo by Muddy Shots
Photo by Muddy Shots

This was however, my first ever race, not just my first downhill race! I didn’t know what to expect at all, so went up early to watch people setting off. Not too many people were up at there from the beginning (there were 150 people racing after all), but slowly more and more joined. It was a case of beauty before age, so I was almost the last to set off, which didn’t really help my nerves. But I was encouraged by watching the other classes go first and all the support everyone gave each other. It was a great atmosphere – not competitive (in banter anyway), just everyone cheering each other on. Special credit needs to go to Dame Cycling who had loads of ladies entered and stuck together like a family. All the Dames were giving great encouragement to their club mates, lots of whom were also competing for the first time.

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Photo by Muddy Shots

Eventually it came to my turn. Having been up the hill a long time, I was cold and somewhat unprepared for suddenly having to blast out of the gate. So my nervous queasiness was immediately replaced with a sharp pain in my leg from a muscle that wasn’t ready either, but then adrenaline took over and I focussed on my lines.

Photo by Hannah Crossley
Photo by Hannah Crossley

A race run is a strange, but great thing. The adrenaline does push you on, as does the encouragement from the crowd, but I realised something a race run gives you that you don’t normally get anywhere else – a trail that is soley yours, set up for you to go as fast as you want on it. Before I could quite embrace that, suddenly it was over and I was catching my breath in the timing booth, huddled with the others in my class craning our necks to see how we had done. The atmosphere was great though – everyone very encouraging and supportive. My first run placed me 12th, with an unspectacular time, so I grabbed a quick break, before heading up the course again. I had learned a bit and took my time, stopping to cheer people on and examine a couple of the tricker corners and watch other people attempting them. There was one I’m convinced no-one other than the winners figured out in the end – didn’t seem to matter which line you took it was just as slow!

Back at the top I joined the queue early and sat back-peddling to warm up the muscles, which seemed to work a bit better. I managed to preselect a decent gear for hitting the pedal into the first corners and charged off feeling pretty good. Other than that awkward corner,  the run felt great – well, scary in places, but I didn’t think I could go much faster. The results took agonisingly longer this time, but I had knocked 4 seconds off my first run, breaking the 1 minute 30 barrier. Annoyingly it only pushed me up one place, but the times were tight (at my end of the class anyway!) with 4 of us separated by less than a second. I was chuffed though – I wasn’t convinced I could go any faster, which turned out to be true, with my final run being a second slower.

Tidworth race

So in the end I dropped back to 12th in my category (101st overall), by a mere 0.13 of a second, but I didn’t care. I had had a great day, meeting some great new people and great fun riding.

Huge thanks and credit to B1ke, Tidworth, Mitchell Cycles and Dame Cycles for putting on a cracking event that I would thoroughly recommend. It really was good for everyone – I might have been a first timer, likes lots, but people had travelled from all parts and some definitely more experienced (found myself waiting for the start gate next to Cheesy Pete Laurie on my final run!), but everyone enjoyed it.

Next time the event comes along we will be getting heavily involved as a club, so come and be part of it – you’ll not regret it. I saw all sort of bikes take part too, from hardtails to full on downhill rigs and I did the race on an XC full sus, but I was soundly beaten by some hardtail too, so don’t worry about your bike either.

Oh and finally, congratulations to TMC rider Matt Collins, who had the fastest time of the day – a bonkers 1 minute 10 seconds! I don’t think he stopped pedalling at any point! Well done