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It’s time to go racing! Finally after a long winter that followed a year of stop-start racing in 2021 thanks to the Coronavirus we can now all look forward to a full season of our preferred cycling discipline. For some people though, one form of bike racing is just not enough; bring on Lucy Bell, Wheelbase’s own multi-discipline cycling star who thinks nothing of mixing up a year of racing that includes gravity-focused Downhill and Enduro racing or swapping the big travel bike for the superlight cross-country MTB and taking on long-distance mountain bike marathon events. How’s about the curly bar bikes? Yep, she’s into them too and it’s not unusual to see her onboard her gravel bike taking on the latest, most grueling gravel event on the race calendar or even lining up for her local time trial on her aero road bike. It’s this open-minded attitude to riding and racing which keeps her equipment sponsor Cannondale happy as there’s always a cycling-themed challenge to overcome and a story to tell…
I was looking forward to kick-starting my racing calendar again and after a productive off-season which saw me spending a lot of time on my big travel Cannondale Jekyll Enduro bike I was super-keen to get myself to my local gravity event to see exactly how my form was. I’ve really taken to the Jekyll and it’s given me a renewed motivation for racing downhill and enduro events this year.
Lucy’s spent a lot of time on her Cannondale Jekyll this winter, honing her skills ready for the new season. (Pic by James Vincent)
Hamsterley is my local trail centre and it’s packed full of technical downhill trails which I ride all the time so I was stoked to be able to take on the Hamsterley TT run by the Northern Downhill as my first race of the season; the event staged two timed runs down the well-known Transmission-Accellerator-Nitrous tracks and would prove a challenging but enjoyable early-season tune-up.
Hamsterley is Lucy’s local riding spot and made a great race venue to kick off her season.
There was a little more motivation to head to Hamsterley too; after really getting into his riding this winter my 12 year old nephew would be making his racing debut, this made it all the more special for me and it was good to see just how excited he was to compete for the first time. Although this event was deemed a downhill race I’d spent the week before practicing the course onboard my Cannondale Jekyll enduro bike and decided that this would be my weapon of choice particularly as I knew there were some seriously pedally bits.
Lucy rails the berms.
The weather was kind to us on race day with dry hard-packed conditions which encouraged me to swap out my Maxxis DHR rear tyre for a semi slick and add some tyre pressure in the hope I’d gain some ‘free speed’. I wanted my Jekyll to be as responsive as possible on this relatively short course so tuned my suspension with a little more pressure too; the track was damp but not slippery and actually provided more grip than if it had been completely dry and dusty.
On a fast but pedally course Lucy’s Jekyll benefitted from a couple of tweaks to her setup.
I did one practice run to ensure I’d sighted any changes to the taping of the track and then it was time to race! My first run went OK, I felt like my big 170/160mm travel Jekyll coped pretty well on a fairly pedally course which even included a small portion of uphill fireroad which required me to sprint as hard I could out of the saddle. Learning from how I’d felt on my first run I tweaked my rear shock, adding a little more pressure and on my second run I finished 4 seconds faster coming away with a 3.50 run and finishing 2nd behind Helen Gaskell in our race category as well as 3rd overall female. The Hamsterley TT was a great way to start the season and has got me itching for more! I’m glad to see that my form is improving and I’m super-keen for more Enduro racing this year!
An excellent 2nd place gives Lucy plenty of confidence going into Enduro season.
Written by Lucy Bell
Photos by Digital Downhill
