News

by Nuno Luz

Just before the very last race of the 2026 Gorrick Evening Series, I was able to take part in a Mini XC Racing coaching session that club member Will Matthews (who happens to be a qualified British Cycling coach) had kindly offered.

The aim was to look at:

• Improving cornering technique to gain those precious seconds
• Basic understanding on reading the terrain
• Tackling more technical features such as drops and steps
• Have some fun!

Myself and Robin met up with Will on the Monday at 6pm at Highlands Farm, near Frimley Green. It was a hot evening, but the sun was starting to set and it was cooling down, which helped 🙂

First we did a warm up lap, to get our muscles ready and joints well oiled, and this gave Will an opportunity to follow us and see where there was some room for improvement.

After a quick lap, there was a particular section of the course that provided the perfect opportunity to tackle some of our knowledge gaps. It was a fast section coming into a couple of twisty turns, a tight left with quite a few exposed and tricky roots leading to a tight right hander between two trees.

Line choice here was crucial, not to overshoot our braking, riding into the roots without losing control, and avoiding colliding with the trees, and to get on the power quickly enough as soon as we were done negotiating this tricky section.

Will first made us try without any tips or advice to see where we could improve, and it was clear there was a lot of room for improvement!!

After watching, Will mentioned to me what could be improved, and it was basic but very important advice that breaks down the moment into important steps:

• Braking: good and timed braking is essential. Brake too late, and you will miss the best line and lock up your wheel and lose time. Brake too little, and come in too hot and lose control. The idea is that you brake just enough to slow you down without locking up your back wheel and at the same time focus on the following step.
• Looking ahead: always look at where you’re going, don’t just focus on your front wheel, lift your eyesight and look a good 10 feet down the track. This will allow you to look at the next section, get on the brakes with enough time and prepare your body position as needed.
• Shifting & prioritising the exit: at the same time that you’re decelerating, you want to get ready to be on the power. Will pointed out I was not shifting down and preparing to pedal in the right gear, losing precious time and energy after negotiating the section to then shift down, do a couple of pedals and finally get into optimal gear and power. This is inefficient, and you should always try to shift one or two gears down depending on how slow the corner will be and the speed you come into it.
• The line: we also spent some time at looking at the best line for this section. The “Outside-Inside-Outside” rule was followed, where you enter the corner wide, and then cut across the middle – which was advised given the massive tree roots that could easily make you lose control – and exit wide and ready to put down power.

Will then demonstrated how to do it, buttery smooth and fast! And then myself and Robin did our best to replicate. Spoiler alert – it did work! 👏

Next we went over to a steep track section with some tricky steps, where some of the steps were almost a drop and we had to negotiate a tree and then use a nice berm to shoot out.

We all had a really good time coming down and discussing lines, the benefits of having a dropper post, and just going up and down to test new lines. In the end Will found a very good line on the left side which was fast and would help you to better align with the berm at the bottom.

The next features were a couple of drops that presented different challenges. One was easily rollable and open, and at speed you could do a little jump. I tried and really enjoyed it as it was quite easy.

The other one was at the end of a slight downhill, and presented a slight bend and a tree. A bit steeper, but a gradual ramp was quite helpful if you didn’t want to go too fast. If you did, you would have to quickly set up for the tight left between the ferns.

Arm positioning was key, making your arms wide and slightly lower, ready for the drop. Air time can be slow time, so you want those wheels to be on the ground and ready to pedal as soon as possible.

There was even time for Will to show us a secret passage in one of the sections which was not so obvious while you’re racing. As long as you’re between the lines, look at options, and sometimes the best line is not always the most obvious. This was the case where if you took the high line behind some ferns, you would avoid a slow bombhole and most definitely help preserve some much needed strength.

After all the great tips and runs through the tech sections we had a couple of laps around the track and decided to call it a very productive day!

Absolutely enjoyed it, great also to have a chat with Will and Robin and chat about bikes and bike racing.

I do absolutely believe the tips really helped the next day, having them fresh in my mind as I was doing the final Gorrick Evening Series race and remembering what we had discussed. Putting it into practice in a competitive context was just amazing and paid off with me getting third position.

Thank you Will for showing us some of these pro tips. Looking forward to the next one!

by Nuno Luz

The great team behind the well known Gorrick MTB races such as the Brass Monkeys XC Endurance series put together an amazing, and new for 2026, set of evening races which happened in June for a period of 4 weeks every Tuesday.

This series was open to a wide variety of categories, from 13 years old all the way to Super Veterans over 60’s. And especially as an open and easy step into racing, a Casual & First Time Riders 17+ category, which I was part of.

Organisation & Race Type

The races were quick 20m to 45m fast paced (for some) goes at the course, which meant that it would be a very good level of mid-week exercise, allowing for enough time to finish off and get back home in time to have a late supper and a well deserved night’s sleep!

My races all started at around 6:15 or 6:30pm and lasted about 30m (with the exception of the last race that was only 20m). We had to do as many of the short (up to 3km) laps as possible in that time.

Each category had its own series points, which was quite refreshing to see – since I’ve been on other series where my category (usually the Fun category) did not have points – making it more interesting for me! And I’m sure it does help to keep riders consistently signing up to all the series events.

As the organisation put it: series points would be awarded for attendance, results and special Bonus Points could also be won for the 3 riders with the fastest first laps in each category.

The price of each entry was extremely reasonable, ranging from £13 to £19 per race depending on category, and you could even get a good deal if you were to have purchased all entries in one go.

The Venue

The course was different every race, with different levels of difficulty and tech. The Gorrick team does such a great job of working with the trail network and building different courses and features to keep you busy and never bored!

I mainly remember the third race, which was the most challenging, from both a tech perspective but also with the most elevation of all. We had these great features, such as drops, small jumps, rollable drops and steps, nice well built berms and loads of great single track as well as challenging climbs!

All the races took place at their iconic venue of Highlands Farm, Frimley Green, Surrey, which is an amazing venue with huge MTB race potential that they exploit very well.

Weather

For the first couple of races we had some cool weather and slightly wet patches, but little mud as the course drains quite well.

The last two rounds in particular were quite hot, making them especially hard, being that we had a scorching 33 degrees on the last round! But thankfully most of the course was in the shade, as the trees provided a most welcome respite from the sun!

Quick view of round 3 from onboard camera: https://youtu.be/oCmnaqNI-HE

Results & Turnout

As usual there were some fast boys there, so I am quite happy that they offered this entry level category so I can improve and still have a bit of that competitive feeling!

Depending on the course, each lap could take me anywhere from almost 9 minutes (on the first round) to close to 5 minutes during the last round. This meant doing at least 3 laps for my category, but other categories would do up to 6 laps in under 45 minutes!

As for results, in the first round I was 3rd, then dropped to 4th in the second round. Each round would usually have about 7 participants in entry level.

The third round was a bit of a funny one as only one other rider showed up to race my category, so I got an easy second. In the Final round we had good turnout once more and I was able to finish third again.

In the end I got 3rd in the 4-race series, just about, and I have to thank Will for his very helpful mini coaching session the day just before the final race which definitely had a massive contribution for the 26 second lead I had on the 4th position rider – every second counts and technique is important – Thank you so much Will!!

The category with most participants was the Grand Open Veteran 50-59 which had in one round up to 21 riders! Overall each round saw around 50 riders more or less which is a great turnout for a mid-week competition!

Also have to mention that we had three other FCCC riders competing: Will, Robin and Scotty. And a huge thank you to Steve, the man behind the camera cheering us on and supporting us throughout, making this event not just a great competition but also a great place to meet other club members and socialise!

You can also watch the great video that Derek made of the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_595Tcz2q4

by Nuno Luz

My journey into improving my XC skills and overall stamina and fitness level has brought me to try for the first time a British Cycling National Series MTB XC race. Spoiler alert – I wasn’t ready 😂

I’ve been racing XC from a casual and very amateur approach since 2023, going mainly to local and regional races.

It’s been a learning curve but until late 2024 I was feeling confident, and had a good level of fitness and gear. Unfortunately having my precious bikes stolen affected me more than I thought and I feel like I’ve now regressed to before 2023 or even worse. Believe or not I used to be able to fit into a tight XC race jersey!

Nonetheless I’ve since been back at it, and trying to slowly improve all my metrics and get back on track. First by attending the same local and regional races that I used to, such as SouthernXC, Bedgebury Forest CC XC, MTB East, and Gorrick races, and this time my first ever British Cycling National XC race.

This is a 2 day event, which saw the Fun and Open plus age category races on Saturday and then Youth, Juvenile and Expert & Elites on Sunday.

As soon as I arrived, the grounds were familiar to me from a past race I had there, albeit for my other favourite discipline, Enduro.

Yes, part of the track is used for a gravity event and I was familiar with that bit, which was quite fun and flowy and even had some great jumps and techy bits!

Arriving at the venue, it was busy and hot, but easy to find parking. The number of stalls and bike brands was much better than on the local and regional events, and it was also great to see loads of young riders that day which means a great future for the sport.

I was able to get a practice lap in, just before my race, and soon realised that it was a level of difficulty way above what I have been recently doing. The duration of the race was still 1h:30m, but there was significantly more elevation (478m) and it was a fair bit more technical.

There were some steep and long inclines, as well as some off camber sections and some challenging gaps. It also didn’t help that there was a muddy and loose top coat, since the hot weather was still drying out some of the sections where it had rained during the week.

A couple of A and B lines were also available – but from my initial first view these equated to a couple of large drops which I wasn’t comfortable to do, as when I was getting to them all my energy had already been sucked from the climbs and techy bits.

Fortunately the race went well for me, with some sketchy moments but no crashes, and I at least had really good fun, especially negotiating the first downhill section right after the start line.

My Epic 8 was running well, with no technical issues, which I’m happy about. I only had to use the lockout on the climbs and not forget to unlock it when on the descent, which I usually do when tired!

The route was really well marked and easy to follow, with several marshal checkpoints, and with more spectator attendance than usual, even in more remote locations of the track. A positive note also for the spectators, who were super supportive and nice to riders, giving me a much needed boost! It’s always great to see this.

Time wise it was nothing to write home about (averaging 28.5min per lap), and in the end I got last place but had a really good day on my bike, being able to finish, and hopefully I can improve my performance in future. At least the next day I was feeling comfortable enough to do a 2h easy ride alongside the River Wey.

At the end, I ate probably one of the best burgers I’ve ever had at a bike event, and enjoyed a really nice coffee before making my 1h25m journey back home and collapsing on the sofa for the rest of the day 😀

Next up for me will be completing the Gorrick Evening XC Series!

by Nuno Luz

Hi FCCC’ers, my name is Nuno, I’m from Lisbon in Portugal, living in Guildford, and have been a member of the Club since last December.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet and ride with some of you, and get to know a bit more of the great trails and off road rides around our area.

Recently, I’ve also been doing a mix of races in two of my favourite bike sports: Enduro and Cross Country.

My last Enduro race was at Matterley Estate, near Winchester, run by Pedalhounds. Paul Hunt, the founder and former British quad champion, also shares a passion for bike races and created this Enduro competition series.

My goal was to enter the Fun category and have a fun day with a healthy competition mindset. This category isn’t the most competitive, and as they describe it, it’s open to riders starting their first enduro and less experienced riders. Once a rider has scored a podium they must race in the appropriate age category.

I have been doing the Pedalhounds series for the past 3 years now, and there’s no pressure to join my age specific category, but I think that if my training goes well and I feel fit enough I will probably do the last round of the year.

The organisation is always top notch, and for every event there’s always free parking, a well prepared race HQ with food, coffee, free Redbulls and male and female toilets. One can also camp overnight if needed on most venues.

The race format is simple, usually 5 stages which can be done in any order as many times as you want/are able to do 🙂

Riders have to do each stage at least twice so they can get a time. And the organisation provides a timing chip bracelet that you should wear on your right hand and return at the end to get your times.

The best two runs on each stage will count to your overall result, which allows me to go back, correct any mistakes and find where I can get some time back!

Overall there were 199 competitors at the event, ranging from under 15’s to over 50’s on both acoustic and electric mountain bikes. Almost 10% of the riders were women.

On race day, I had to register and then was able to walk the track just before heading to the start gate at 10am. Most riders, like myself, tried to squeeze in as many stage runs as possible before the end of the event at 2:30pm, when we’re supposed to return the timing chips.

The race itself was quite good, with some steep sections, flowy single tracks and a good amount of pedaling involved. Especially going back uphill to the start of the stages!
The weather was nice and cool, with some wind, but the tracks were dry and somewhat sandy.

Being a grass roots series, the level of technical difficulty is very reasonable, so perfect for those who want to try their first Enduro race.

When climbing up to the first stage, I heard a familiar voice who turned out to be none other than Ben Deakin, a well known mountain biker who has a very popular youtube channel ( you can check his account of the race here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHjF4ofchF4 ).

He quickly went past me whilst vlogging, on his ebike, only to go and finish first of his category! Last year it was Jono Jones that also tried one of the events, and it’s always great to see these amazing legends race the same events we do!

I started my first stage with the mindset of not going all-in, but trying to get a good clean run. My goal was to do every stage twice, then go back to race HQ, check my times and see where I could improve.

I was making clean runs (could’ve been a bit faster, but I need to lose a couple of extra pounds 😀)  and feeling that both myself and the bike were doing well, which made me enjoy the track and feel quite happy.

It took me well into noon to complete two laps on each stage, having some stops in the middle, and then I had a couple of hours to ride three more stages and get over 10 seconds back, which ended up landing me second in my category.

Unfortunately I was way too far from first place, about 1:46, and my energy was gone. So I was happy with a second place at the podium.

Overall, it was a really good race day, and I highly recommend everyone tries at least one Enduro race at some point!

Next – and final – race of the series, will be Land of Nod on the 4th of October in Bordon (GU35 8SJ). If you want to join, you can enter here: https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=16918