Cycle Madness: More BMX Racing

So its been over 6 months since I have written on here. Best get you all up to speed on whats happened then, hadn’t I!!

According to my lovely wife Jus, BMX is taking over my life and, to some extent, I guess she is right.

But Ssshhh, don't tell her!

We are trying to balance it with at least one days family time at the weekend but it isn't easy!

On 2^nd Sept 2013 I woke my daughter up very early in the morning for the short 180mile journey up the M6, etc to bonny Glasgow for the Scottish Open Championships at Cumbernauld ( just outside Glasgow ). There are a lot of Scottish riders that make the trip south to race in our The North Regionals so if we can’t go up there once to support them it’s a poor do. It ended up being a long day and with so many riders taking part the poor organisers couldn’t quite cope which was a real shame but hopefully they will learn from it for 2014!!

Special allowance for the home rider and my nemesis David Lindsay with Russ Hanlon gave us the chance to jeer at them ( everyone say loudly boooo ) as they had their own private practise having been on the pop the night before ( well Russ had, as Dave told us several times that he was driving.....).

There was a bit of chaos in the 5 pens initially which meant Tara missed one of her races. Usually there are 10 pens for the 10 races to line up in at a time, but ( I think ) due lack of space, or the fact they don’t normally get so many riders, maybe 5 pens has always been sufficient for their needs?

I tried to beat David but couldn’t get close to him really.

My excuse? It was his home track so he should do well, shouldn't he!

Slipping my pedal ( again ) over the first jump seems to be a thing I do quite regularly. Maybe I should try clips? Maybe not.......

I still managed to finish second to him which was good enough to me.

And I couldn't resist posting this of good buddy Geoff McHugh

who finished 3rd. Or was it for the legs? You decide........

Runner Up in the Scottish Open Championship sounds quite good. Ha ha.

Just a shame this isn't me, but I love this photo - whoa, watch out,

there's a bro-mance starting! He's not bad for a plastic knee'd man!!

So, after the last Regional of 2013 we had the end of season one off race called The North Regional Club Championships.
This was on Preston’s BMX track on 29^th September and was a well supported event in good weather too.

Some big names entered and I managed to finally beat my target man

David Lindsay in the final with a fine 3^rd place. Guess I’m improving a bit!

Ahead of Big D - Yes!

But not ahead of Mr. T - boo...

Big D getting Rad....so jealous

And again......Sod....

But not me...as.....

I come off...Oops!

Preston Pirates ran a Winter Series on the first Saturday of every month starting October. These are the final standings and as you can see I didn't do too bad.......3 wins and 2 seconds!

There is even a video of one of the finals where I got Russ Hanlon on the last berm ( SuperCruiser Final Dec 2013 ) but you will need to watch the 17+ Final and the SuperCruiser B Final before hand. He wasn't too happy I think but thats racing!!

Scottish buddy David Lindsay even made an appearance too. Top man. This is what I love about BMX. Its friendly and good fun ( of course if you win! ).

Highlights from the series for me or should these be low lights?

Well, trying clips for the first time. What a nightmare. The first race I couldn’t get clipped in on the gate and lost my balance. Luckily I managed to get my free leg over my bike and stood there like a wally as the gate went down and the rest of the riders shot away. I think that might have been the race I scared David Walker by passing him on the 3^rd straight though?

David L taking out Richard Todd on the first berm with me following him whilst we both laughed at the move. Unfortunately for me, Rich got revenge at the second berm - Damn.

Finally beating Rich Todd. Hurray! Even if he does think I'm sketchy....

David Ives making a one off guest appearance on a cruiser in the last round of the series after breaking his collarbone and showing me how to ride the 4^th straight – well, how to ride it properly unlike me! He’s super smooth.

Staying on the track. They do say practise makes perfect but the number of motos I ended up being pushed out over the end of the first berm was just ridiculous. I’m sure I’ve ridden the grass in between the 2 straights almost as much as I have been on the actual track!

Mr. Andy Hill, I'll get you after this...

Stand back Suzanne....

But then the next race

Revenge. Andy said his legs had gone but I don't believe him!

And because of all this ( maybe ) I’m now known as Calamity Nelson.
Oh Well.
Mr Richard Sealey isn’t funny ( as Emily tells me... )

Here is version 1 of the Super Cruiser Final from January's Meeting and here is version 2 from Claire Walker's perspective

At Christmas me and Tara were asked if we wanted to ride for a team. Last time out for me that was on the Robinson National Team in the 80s!!!

BMX Widow Photography team is a cracking team to ride for and we are both grateful of being asked by Team Manager Suzanne McHugh.

Suzanne takes most of the pictures at the BMX racing and puts in a lot of effort doing so. She has captured a lot of really good action shots which I know is much appreciated by all who ride.

She can be bossy though ( he he ) – but maybe that’s just to me when she doesn’t like me nearly taking her out as I leave the track!! ( See earlier )

Here is some comments of FB after one of the Winter Series races -