Thanks to all of of you that have bought tee shirts and donated toward the cost of my flight I am heading the the ‘Urban Downhill World Championship Final’ in Mexico
It has been an incredible two weeks to see the help that has been offered by all of you. All the shirts have been delivered so please contact me if yours has not arrived – you can still buy one too (will be delivered when I return).
When I first had the invite come through I did not believe that I could possibly have made it. This shows that dreams do come true and you have to chase them. The three weeks of preparation and training I have had has been intense and has flown by. I wish I could have another week of training but that’s what any racer will tell you. So here I am, ready to race.
Over the past three weeks, I have covered over 150 miles. This has been made up mainly from long cross county rides but also includes the Downhill and static bike sprints I have done. My fitness is hovering around 92% at the moment which is good enough for me to go racing.
As mentioned previously there have been numerous people like I would like to thank and I hope to get round to see everyone upon my return from Mexico. I would like to say a special thanks to James Breese who has to be one of the most generous people I have ever met in my life. I first met James, his Wife Jess and their child Maddy back in Alpe D’huez in July. They ended up in the same gondola as me checking out the Megavalanche course. After meeting James and his family in July he asked me to do some coaching with him back in the UK. We had a great day of riding and James learnt how to ride a couple of drops on a course near his home.
We spent most of the day chatting about bikes (as you do!) I told James that he would benefit from buying a full on Downhill bike and that his riding would improve. A week or so later James emailed me to get my opinion on a GT Fury that he was looking at online. I said it was an epic bike and that it would see him ride some big Downhill courses with ease. He then emailed me the following day to tell me he had bought the bike and would I like to borrow it to race in Mexico.
I have met a lot of very kind people in my riding career but this has to be one of the most generous offers ever! I did not want to say yes but knew it was ideal for my race so spent a day thinking about it before saying YES PLEASE! He invited me to his house for a Sunday lunch with his family and to pick up the bike. What an amazing man. I hope the bike comes back unscathed from Mexico…
So I leave you all in the UK and will return on Monday with a full update of the race and results. If you want to watch it live on Saturday head over to citydownhill.com as it will be streamed live at I think about 5pm.
Adio’s Amigos.
Ben.