Tom Knight's World Cup Blog Rd 1

UCI World Cup 4X RD1

On the 1st and 2nd of May the best riders in world descended on the small town called Houffalize in Belgium for the first round of the UCI World Cup 4X series and the second round of XC series.
We arrived on Wednesday before the race as did many of the Brits who were racing, arriving in Houffalize in the late afternoon giving us a chance to grab something to eat then head of to the hotel for a well deserved rest after a long days travelling.
The next day it was up bright and early for us as we needed to head down to town to ensure ourselves a good spot near the track as there was practice that evening. During the day I caught up with a lot of the Brits and had a detailed walk of the course to see whether is had changed from last year, I was walking it was evident to see that it hadn’t changed at all it was still very loose and there had been no change to any of the jumps of corners so all was looking good and I was itching to get on my bike for practice. As the first practice session dawned I got ready to ride and hooked up with fellow team mate Pat CJ and the Brit crew and headed to the top very eager to ride. I thought the first practice session went pretty well as I sorted all the jumps out even though they weren’t that big and practised the lines I thought would be fastest for qualifying without crashing. All the other Brits seemed to get on well to as they were all looking really fast come the end of practice. After practice a quick getaway was needed back to the hotel to make sure we in time to have some grub before the restaurant closed along side a nice cold jupiler.
On Friday we headed down to town again early in order to get a good spot and we managed to bag a spot up the top of the track which was really helpful during practice and off Course qualifying which was held that night. Trough out the day I spent most of my time chilling with Jake ward and watching the XC riders attempting a pretty gnarly downhill section which amused me for a while. Anyway before I knew it practice was about 15 minutes away so it was time to get ready to ride. Again during practice I just practised the fastest lines and I also did a few gates which were pretty fun. I was happy with how I was riding and was looking forward to my qualifying run. My qualifying run went ok I thought I didn’t make any mistakes or hold back from the speed I was going during practice anyway I crossed the line in roughly 54th place meaning I was just inside the qualification cut of point, however with quite a few riders still to go I had a feeling I may not have done enough. I turned out to be right as I ended up 69th 0.2 seconds out of the brackets. However many of the other Brits did including my team mate Pat CJ. So I was still looking forward to watching the racing and cheering the others on.
The eagerly awaited race was soon upon us and I was allocated the job of Pats mechanic which didn't last long as pat had an unfortunate crash just after gaining second place in his first moto meaning that he wouldn't be going through. Most of the Brits went out in the first round which was unfortunate leaving just Dan Atherton and Scott Beaumont flying the flag, Scott Beaumont raced really well managing to avoid all the carnage in the first corner to carry him home to a very impressive 6th place which I am sure was a big confidence booster for the rest of the season ahead. After the race was over we headed back to the hotel for some sleep because we had to leave early to get the tunnel home in the morning, missing the after party!.
Anyhow I really enjoyed my time in Houffalize chilling with all the crew and riding my bike it couldn't get much better really and I am really looking froward to Fort William which is the next WC in line for me to do it all again. I would just like to say a quick thanks to all my sponsors and people who are supporting me this season especially Matt at Ison and also my dad for putting in all the time and effort to get me there, Cheers guys. Tom.


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