Leon’s Blog : Positive Cadwell
Well that was Cadwell out the way and this year I’ve walked away with both legs fully in tact, thankfully! It doesn’t seem that long ago when I had my big crash there last year and broke my femur but things have moved on rapidly since then. A few people asked me over the weekend how I felt going back there, but to be honest I just tried to treat it like any other track and with my memory of the crash being so vague I was ok. I got two strong fourth places and I’m pretty happy with the results that I got.
The first few times over the mountain I was a bit cautious but once I got into the flow of things and started thinking about bike set up and gearing etc it totally took my mind off anything else. I’ve not had a good run of form of late but I felt back to my normal self at Cadwell and hopefully I’ll be able to end the season on a high note for myself and the Airwaves Ducati team.
I felt good throughout the weekend, it takes a little longer to find a decent race set up at Cadwell as it’s so different to any other race circuit that we go to and you need to try a number of things before the bike feels right around the entire track, each bit of the circuit is very different so in some places the bike may feel great and in others not so great. It’s all about trying to find a happy medium there.
My only niggling problem over the weekend was the tendonitis in my elbow seemed to reappear; I’ve not had it for a while but with Cadwell being so physical I think it may have triggered it again so I’m going to have to go and see my physio before Croft.
After Knockhill, Storka and I decided to go up to Fort William to have a play on the downhill mountain bike course. To say it was awesome was an understatement, although a little daunting we thought we’d give it our best shot. Dangerous and scary spring to mind but we were up for the challenge. I’ve been out doing loads of cross country cycling recently and really been getting into it. So we thought whilst we were up north we’d give it a bash. I had a few good rides down the course and felt half in control; Storka on the other hand was having a fight with the track, with the track winning! I looked round at one point to find him doing a triple summersault over the handlebars off his bike and rolling down the rest of the hill – it looked painful – rather him than me!! There are times you wish you had a video camera with you and that was one of them!
We’ve got a few weeks off before Croft now so I’m off back home to Kent, do a bit more cycling and spend some time with my trainer before coming back up north again.
Thanks to everyone for their comments in the guestbook for Cadwell, much appreciated.
Catch you later
Leon