2007 Expert. Top 40 Vigo, National Expert Champion, but what everyone will remember is 6^th at Champery World Cup.

Yes 2007 I went into expert, I wasn’t too happy about it, so I thought I better make sure I make it into elite! I went to the first national that year and qualified third, I remember that I went to space and back on the bombhole jump, but that was a result I was happy with, but also totally shocked. It was a stacked field that weekend! I won expert by a fair bit and ended up 8^th overall on the day. I did most the World Cups that year, things were just starting to develop nicely. I had the confidence and the speed and everything just started clicking. Vigo was hard, I was suffering from such bad nerves I spewed up before my qualifying. I went with my brother and some mates, as I couldn’t hire a car and I was in a hotel almost two hours away! I ended up 39^th, my run just started as it began to rain, it didn’t effect me too much, but I didn’t see it as a legit result as a lot of the mid–pack was caught out by it.

The next round was Champery and what a wild place that was, but it was very similar to what I ride at home. There were some big crashes going down that weekend, especially in my qualifying. I came off three times, hit a small child off the triple and also broke my wrist in the crash, they must be made of iron out there because off that jump was fast and I hit him square on. I got up and he was there holding my bike telling me to “chop chop”. Alex Rankin (film maker) was my final victim in the final switch backs. I must have been rolling past him too quick as it didn’t make Earthed 5 video!

I went home with my broken wrist and showed my dad, “can you wiggle your fingers!?” I think my little one moved about 1mm “it’s not broken then!” Something I would later hugely regret.

Sixth on the day, but I don’t see that as my best result though, it was a dry run and Sam Hill showed everyone how it’s done, now that was sick to witness that! My time was still top 10 qualifying when everyone came down in the dry, so I took what I could from that. Next was Schladming, and after a few weeks off I came in there hungry and running in 13th overall. Not to bad for my fourth World Cup! I was feeling great, attacking everywhere and on the edge, I came down in qualifying and I thought I had a pretty mint run. Once qualifying was over I went to see where I ended up and I stared at 80th and went down the results, I got to about 30th and thought “shit I’m not in”. My heart literally stopped. I carried on and there I was holding a strong 14^th just ahead of Peaty. The track dried up and I went from my trusty Maxxis Swamp Things 2.35’s to my High Rollers and was on it until the open bottom section then things got a bit shady. It was a drift the horse couldn’t handle! That was the end of that one, two weeks later I tore my ACL and MCL ligaments in my knee, I told the medics at the race and they said it was a sprain, I couldn’t even bend it, I went to do my qualifying and it dislocated on a jump. That was bad times, I was back in work on the Monday and had a weekend off my bike, it would be almost two years later ‘till it was actually diagnosed with the injury.

No not in my eyes, I would honestly call Champery an easy track now compared to what it was in ’07. I would say that 90% of it was natural, rooty and mega loose, but it was awesome, don’t get me wrong I still love the place and have it as one of my all time favourites, but they were so different. You had to be there to appreciate it, people were getting carted off left right and centre in body bags.

2008 Playbiker Iron Horse team. A short sharp season of World Cups, life on the road.

Yeah ‘08 was a great year in terms of experience, but not so great for results. I rode the whole season with a broken wrist and also my hanging knee. You can’t go into a season carrying any injuries, no matter how tough or determined you are, it just doesn’t happen. Life with the team was awesome, I would go back tomorrow, living in Pila with a track like that’s on your doorstep isn’t going to do your riding or training any harm and then we had the team…Nathan Rankin, Mike Skinner, Lorenzo Slowding etc…all good guys. It was a blast.

2009 was a bad year, my contract was up with Playbiker and I had spent a lot of time with Ben in Italy and we became good friends. He suggested we team up for 2009, it seemed good to me, he had a good set–up, good bikes. It was all there. Sadly my injuries were beginning to catch up on me big time at this point and to be honest my heart wasn’t in it. Ben loves it on the road and it works for him, but I’m more of a home bird so I wasn’t enjoying life in the trailer ha ha. I remember going to Vallnord World Cup and it was freezing, the trailer was only running 5mm plastic walls so she wasn’t the most insulated, so you can imagine I got pretty cold at night. I had a piss in a bottle one night – I was locked in the trailer, no escape – and there was an iceberg in it when a woke up! Luckily I got an extension lead and photographer Victor Lucas had a little fan heater, you couldn’t get me out of there then!

After Vallnord I got a lift home with the Burgtec boys, Fort William was coming up and it’s a special race I suppose, so you want to put in a strong ride. I went up there and it didn’t even feel like a World Cup, I had a mechanical in qualifying, it was the final nail in the coffin for me, so that was it I went home. I had an appointment with a knee specialist the next day. When one door closes another one opens, that saying was pretty true that week as I was booked in for my surgery in two months time.

Ha ha that was ’09. Llangollen debut! The track was mean that year, the best Llangollen I’ve ever ridden, Brendan (Fairclough) rocked up to this one, I knew he was going to be the man to beat that weekend. I felt real good on the course, it was exactly what I love to ride, but unfortunately it was one of those weekends where it just doesn’t go your way. I had two full–on crashes and one of those my knee dislocated, if only I had ridden at 90% it would of been a walk in the park. At last years champs they had mixed the track up with the woods and open section, my first goal was to qualify first, so after doing that I was ready for finals. I thought ‘if I want to be National champ this is where I want to do it’. It was just a shame that there was a fair few big guns missing. If you win it you want to beat the best. I felt real good being last man down and all that but Mr 110 got the better of me, I stayed on but just pushed too hard in sections I should have just ridden smooth. Talk about learning the hard way. Third was still OK, but after qualifying first I felt I had let myself down. But I smoked the speed trap and didn’t even get that Casio watch, but the £100 prize money was…MEGA!