Mackie showing that old farts can rail corners to - 4th!

You can’t get more grass roots racing than racing on grass roots!

As part of the Bristol Cycle Festival a series of rides and races have sprung up all around the city. On 22nd an old skool slalom race was set up in Victoria Park – literally 100m from my front door!

The course was ‘designed’ by world renowned Phil Saxena – well, when I say designed, I mean some carefully positioned slalom poles put in the ground!

Race format was simple: two riders go head-2-head in a straight knock-out down parallel slalom courses. The start gate was a pneumatic 4X affair provided by Chris Roberts and timing handling by a light gate at the end of the course. Although seemingly a level playing field (pardon the pun) practise showed that the red line offered better traction and smoother lines giving a distinct advantage. My RRP NeoGuard also came in handy to protect my face from some dog muck I rode through!

65 riders entered and locals gathered along the side of the track giving the race a great atmosphere.

Happy to get through the first few rounds against a bespectacled guy on an xc bike, 12 year-old-boy and a bloke on a battered old Saracen I found myself up against World Cup 4X racer, local and DMR rider, Duncan Ferris. Thankfully, I had been drawn in the quicker red line. Snap! The gate went down and before I’d put a pedal stroke in, Duncan had made a metre on me. But as the race carried on, my opponent went too tight on one of the corners and his back-end stepped out. Keeping it smooth and steady I put in some extra pedal strokes near the end and pipped Duncan to the line. It was close though, and even my wife thought I’d lost! But no – into the final 4!

Up against the eventual winner, ‘Mop Head’ I was again drawn in the red lane. Happy days! However, over eager I locked the rear wheel into the first corner, missing my line and braking point. In catch-up mode I couldn’t make the gap up and was beaten to the line by a faster rider on the day. More than happy to get a 4th especially against some decent riders.

A fun, proper grass roots, cheap (paper plate number boards), inner-city race. Great stuff and possibly a glimpse into the future of bike racing…