Racing in Germany and Crashing my Van!!

 

I was looking forward to the Albstadt 3 day race and was looking forward to racing with the Horizon Fitness girls again and being part of the team.

 Unfortunately things did not go to plan for me… I travelled to Belgium on Tuesday ready for the race. I picked Penny up on my way and we set off to the Euro tunnel. We made good time and it was good to have Penny as my company for the journey as she kept me entertained! We got on an earlier tunnel and were looking forward to getting to the team house in Tielt Winge. 

 

Photo shoot for In Style and Zest

I travelled to Shoreditch, London for a photo shoot for In Style &
Zest magazine. The shoot was for part of Sensodyne product promotion. I have been trialling Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste and mouthwash and have given feedback on the products. To promote the products further Sensodyne has been featured in fashion magazines.

Gabby at Photo Shoot

I stayed in a nice hotel overnight and then headed to the photoshoot location the next morning. (http://www.theshoreditch.com/) The studio was in a very cool place and was very stylish inside. The days shoot was in the Loft studio. I was very excited and apprehensive about the day ahead. I felt like a real model for the day!

Dalby Forest MTB race for Gabby Day

Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire was the venue for the fourth round and penultimate round of the Mountain Bike British XC Series. The 7km course took in all the main features, Worry Gill, Medusa’s Drop and the Dual Descender. It certainly is a very technical circuit and certainly tested me to my limits.

Gabby Day - Welsh MTB Champion

I arrived at Dalby Forest on Friday afternoon and headed out for a lap, I was feeling fairly confident as I had ridden the course 2 weeks prior at the Nutcracker Series. However it was tougher than I remembered! And all of a sudden seemed a whole lot more technical. The course had a few extra sections added in that I had not ridden before and although I managed to combat most of the sections one of the short rooty bus stop descents reduced me to running! (luckily I was certainly not the only one!)

Welsh MTB Champion – Gabby Day

This weekend I have been in Wales in a town called Builth Wells for the Welsh Mountain Bike Championships. You couldn’t have asked for a better weekend weather wise. It had to be one of the hottest weekends so far, perfect weather for a beach day! And not so perfect race weather as it was a little on the hot side. But I shouldn’t really complain.

Gabby Day - Welsh Champion

I travelled down on friday with my Gran & Grandad it was a nice mini holiday for them both! We stayed in a lovely little B&B in the middle of the welsh countryside it was very picturesque down a tiny twisty lane surrounded by sheep!

Video of new Welsh Mtb Champ – Gabby Day

Please check out this video of Gabby Day riding to her first Welsh National Title this weekend.

Congratulations to Gabby from everyone at the team.

Mountain Mayhem

Last weekend I competed in the 24-hour mountain bike Mountain Mayhem event at Eastnor Castle, Ledbury. I was riding as a guest for the Hope Tech MTB team in the mixed expert race. On the team were Paul Oldham, Dave Collins, Neil Crampton and myself. We were up against some tough competition from Team Scott who had 2 top Swiss international world cup riders.

Gabby Day - Nutcracker MTB - by Neil Hendry

I arrived on the Friday evening and hung out with the team, we were all ready for a tough challenge ahead. The race started at 2pm on the Saturday so we all rode 1 lap together in the morning. I can see why it is called Mountain Mayhem, there is so much climbing and it is very tough. The lap was about 9 miles and was extremely hard going. It wasn’t particularly technical just hard on the legs.

MTB Win for Gabby Day

Today I raced the Nutcracker MTB race at Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire.  The course is absolutely stunning, hard and testing in places but this is a course designed to test the worlds best after all.  It was used for the recent UCI World Cup back in April so I was a little apprehensive before the start as it was super technical.

Gabby Day - Nutcracker MTB by Neil Hendry

We did a pre race ride on the course and checked a few sections out that were more demanding, there is a lot of climbing at Dalby but also lots of technical downhill so it was a great chance for me to see what I have to face in the upcoming NPS race in July. The course was very wet as we had rain overnight so this made the rocky sections very slippery.

Gabby Day – Ranked number 3

The Mountain Bike NPS overall series standings are now up on the British Cycling website.

Mountainbiker Gabby Day - by Joolze Dymond

I am currently in 3rd position overall after 3 rounds. The next round is at Dalby Forest and will be using the world cup circuit so it will be good to test myself on a circuit like that!

Everything seems to be going really well for me and I look forward to seeing you all at Stoke for the Horizon Fitness GP.

Off-Road all the way for Gabby Day

Last weekend I rode the lastest series of the Gorrick mountain bike series. The venue was a Frith Hill vey close to Deepcut in Surrey.

Mountainbiker Gabby Day - by Joolze Dymond

It was a great venue. In the woods with about 70% singletrack, which was great as it means I get to practice my technique. There were also a few short sharp climbs which were good for me.

Getting Better Each Race – Gabby Day

Last Sunday I raced the second round of the Mountain bike National Points Series at a new venue. Wasing Estate, Aldermaston. The venue is a 4000 acre private country estate.

Gabby Day by Joolze Dymond www.joolzedymond.com

On Saturday I pre rode the course to familiarise myself with it and check out any more technical sections. I completed 2 laps, and although the course may have appeared flat it was deceptive and you could certainly notices the climbing in the legs!!