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Joe Connell's wet winter workout

Joe from the Morvelo Test Team showing us that Junior National Champions don't have off seasons. It's just a better time to practice 'muddin'. But then he is Scottish so he'll be more than used to it. Joe will be one of the test pilots for our new MTB Trail Jerseys coming out in Spring 2013.

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We have a National Champ!

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Massive congratulations to Morvélo Test Team rider Joe for storming to a win at the DH National Champs!

With Katy Winton taking 2nd in the Scottish DH champs (to go with her 2nd in the National XC Champs and 2nd in the Scottish Road Champs!) it's safe to say our friends north of the border know how to ride bikes - fast!

Here's Joe's report from the hot seat

2012 British National Champs – Moelfre

At the last couple of races I’ve had a bit of bad luck which has meant that I’ve not been able to show how I’ve really been riding, so coming into this Moelfre, I put in some good preparation to ensure I was in the best possible position to win at the weekend and to show people how I was really riding.

On Friday afternoon, my Mum and little Sister drove down to Wales for the 2012 British Champs. The journey was a bit eventful, the back tyre on the camper van blew out on the motorway so we had to wait an hour to get help from the AA before getting back on the road to Moelfre! When we finally arrived it was pretty late so we grabbed some grub before getting some well -earned sleep.  

On Saturday morning I got up at 7.00 am to go and walk the track, the sun was already up and it looked set to be a great day. The track had a few new changes that had been made by the BDS which looked pretty cool. The track was pretty dusty which was bonus after riding wet tracks for the last couple of weeks up in Scotland. After walking the track I got kitted up in my POC gear and headed up the dusty Welsh hillside for my first run. I cruised down, sending jumps, sliding about in the dust and just generally having a load of fun riding my bike. Throughout the day I just built up my speed until I was happy with everything. After I stopped practice I got my bike cleaned and prepped for race day, a good clean, bolt check and fresh Intense tyres and my bike was ready for Sunday’s racing.

On Sunday morning I got at 8 am, filled with excitement to go and smash out a couple of practice runs before racing in the afternoon. After two solid runs on the now very windy Moelfre track I got some food and then headed up for seeding. The wind was pretty dodgy and as I came into the third turn of the track, I got caught by a gust of wind, which sent me over the top of a berm which lost me a bit of time but I got back on it and pinned the rest of the track. I crossed the line with a 2.33 which put me in third for qualifying. After my run I was confident that I could take a few seconds off in my race run.

Three hours later and I was sat on my turbo-trainer warming-up for my run at the top of the hill. I was sure of what I needed to do and after a good warm-up I headed to the start with my Zerode. Before I knew it, I was sprinting out of the gate, speed tucking and then shifting down a gear before the crucial turn that I had messed up in my qauli run, I nailed that bit and that pretty- much set the tone to how the run went from there.  I hit all my lines, and pinned it pretty much everywhere except for a few sections where it was necessary to back it down a notch in order to carry good momentum and not stall or make a mistake. Coming into the last three jumps near the end of the track, I could hear the commentator saying that I was up at the split so I knew I had to keep it smooth for the last 30 seconds. I squashed the first two and the on the third one I actually nose- cased it and nearly lost it but I held it and then gave it everything to the end. I crossed the line and went into the lead, I knew there was still two riders left to come down the hill so I hadn’t won yet. Both riders came through, but slower than me, I took the win by 1.77 seconds with a 2.31. I was so happy to have just won the National Champs after crashing metres from the line at last year’s Champs, it made a good weekend of riding in Wales, into an absolutely awesome weekend in Wales! Next stop, The Val Di Sere World Cup!

I just want to say thanks to all my sponsors and family for their never ending support and help! Big shout out to Stephen, Paul and all the guys at Prestige Cycles, Rob at Zerode Bikes, Morris and Jake at 2pure, POC kit, Crank Brothers Pedals, all the guys at MORVELO clothing for keeping me hooked up with awesome t-shirts and casual wear, Intense tyres for giving the grip that I need to win, Pedros for keeping my clean and shiny, Cliffbar for keeping me fuelled,  RRP Products for keeping the mud off me and SRAM for their awesome forks, brakes and components!
JC

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Catching Up with Joe

 

Morvélo Test Team DH ripper Joe Connell has been a busy boy recently. Here's what he's been up to:

 

SDA Rd.2 - Glencoe - May 2012

On Friday afternoon I headed up to Glencoe for the 2nd round of the SDA series. After setting up, I walked up the hill to check out the track. I was surprised with how good the track looked, usually after a winter of rain and snow the track is pretty nailed but it looked as though some hard graft had been put in to fix some bits. With the little changes that had been made to the track, the weekend looked set be pretty fun! After walking the track, it was time for some dinner and a good night’s sleep.  

On Saturday morning I got up, got myself sorted and then headed up on the chairlift to do some practice runs. The track was running well, it was dry, rolling fast and plus the sun was out on form!  I felt good on the track, I had worked on some good lines for the race and there were no midges!  

On Sunday I got up early and did two runs in practice before getting myself ready to race. My first race run didn't go too well. I came back to the van and thought about a few things that I could do to improve on my time. A couple of hours later and it was time to head up for my second race run. In my run I did the things that I wanted to do and I ended up taking quite a bit of time off my first run. In the end I got 2nd in the juniors and 4th overall which I was pretty happy with as I have always crashed or had mechanicals at Glencoe in the past, I guess not having a rear mech helps! 

 

IXS European Series - Leogang, Austria - May 2012

On the Monday after the Glencoe SDA, Me, Ronan Taylor, Gaz Neale and Emma Neale packed up the camper van with all of our bikes and kit and headed across to Europe. The journey to Leogang in Austria wasn't too bad mainly because I could just chill out in the back of the camper whilst Gaz drove the whole time! When we arrived in Leogang on Wednesday night we just hit the hay as we had been travelling for most of the day.   

On Thursday morning we got set up and built our bikes. In the afternoon I walked the track, it looked like it was going to a sick weekend of riding and racing, there were some open turns at the top, Flat out wood sections and some jumps on the pedaling sections that are good for a few whips in practice and flat landing in race runs!   

The format of the race was pretty relaxed as practice didn't start until 2pm on Friday. The track was so much fun to ride in practice and it was also pretty easy to remember so there was no rush to do loads of runs. After practice we just chilled in the evening sun, we finished off the day with some of prime pork stir fry that Emma kindly cooked up for us.  

On Saturday I headed up the hill to get in some more practice before qualifying in the afternoon. Half-way through practice I had a bit of a digger which knocked the wind out of me pretty bad and grazed my arm up, after this crash I decided to stop early for practice as I was a bit shaken up. After I got some good lunch inside me I still had a five hour wait until my quail run so I decided to go and hit up the A-line style track that Leogang has, I was following Ronan down and just having a sick time insiding the turns and sending the jumps, It felt good to break up the long wait with something that was fun and not going to tire me out for quails. Eventually quails came around and it was time to head up the hill for my run. I wanted to use my qualifying run as a gage of where I was at and no more. I came down with 3.42 which put me in 49th in Elite, my run was pretty solid but I made a few mistakes that I knew that I could fix for the finals.  

On Sunday I had plenty of time in practice to check out some stuff on track and get it dialed in before my race run. Mid-afternoon and it was time to race, I had a pretty solid run and managed to take five seconds off of my qualifying time which put me in a solid 42nd overall and 3rd in the juniors. Overall the weekend was a whole load of fun and it was great for some preparation before the WC Val di Sole! 

 

UCI World Cup Val di Sole

On Wednesday night we arrived at Val di Sole after having spent a few days riding in Schladming, following the IXS in Leogang. Gaz managed to get the campervan into a prime spot for us to stay for the weekend, about as close to the finish as we could possibly get. 

On Thursday I got sorted and headed up the gondola for a track walk. On the way up on the gondola I could already see the newly taped sections for the race coming out into the open under the lift. The track had had a few changes made to it over the winter, now some of the rough rocky sections had been taken out and replaced by some fresh loamy turns and off camber sections. The track had a few newer sections but most of it remained just as rough and flat out as in previous years. 

Friday practice started off pretty early, I headed up for my first run to find that the track was just as rough as usual, even thought it was the start of practice. The new turns were super soft and easy to blow out, but still fun to ride. As per usual, the many rocks that litter the track were hidden under an ever changing layer of dust which meant that line choice was just as much about getting a line that would last rather than just finding the ‘fastest’ line. I was getting on well with the track and I had a few good lines that I felt smooth on.

When qualifying came around on Saturday afternoon, Val Di Sole was living up to its name as the Sun was beating down! In my run I set off out of the gate and sprinted towards the start of the first rough section, 20 seconds in and I was coming in to a right turn on the first new section of track, my front starting going and before I could even start to unclip I had hit the deck. I got back up and got going again, when I went down I must have eat some dust literally as the whole way down after my mouth was like an old ashtray, horrible! I got to the bottom and looked around at my time, I hadn’t made the cut for qualifying which I was pretty bummed out about. I headed back to the camper got cleaned up and came back to watch the rest of qualifying, it was good to see fellow Scotsman, Fraser Mcglone get a solid 49th which secured his place in the finals. After qualifying I just chilled out and got my stuff sorted. In the evening there was some pretty wild 4X racing going off so that made for some good watching!

Although the weekend was cut short, I still gained some very valuable experience and it was good to be back at the world cups for the first time this year. Thanks to Gaz for all of the driving and keeping my bike running smooth the whole time. JC

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BDS Rd.2 Fort William

Fort William BDS Rd.2 – Race Report – Joe Connell
The Weekend started with emails and Facebook notifications warning of bad weather for the weekend at the Fort Bill BDS. Me and my mate Gaz drove up on Friday afternoon and the weather was looking pretty nice! I got in a pretty good track walk- the track looked great, fast and rough as per usual, so I couldn’t wait to get onto the track on Saturday morning.
Saturday practice started off well, the weather was surprisingly nice and it was definitely hard to believe that Sunday was forecasted to be terrible! Saturdays practice was my first time taking the Zerode G-1 on a proper rough track, I’ve always had a rough ride on Fort Bill in the past but this time I just felt comfortable and relaxed, combined with the bike feeling sick, practice was just a whole load of fun.  The rearward axel path really came into its own on the super rough parts of the track and just seemed to smooth everything out.   On the top loose turns, the Intense ‘Edge’ Tire was hooking up sick which gave me great confidence to get my lean on!

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Everyone’s suspicions of the race run taking place on the Saturday afternoon instead of on Sunday were confirmed by the race organisers at lunch time on Saturday. Due to the race run being on Saturday rather than on Sunday, it was important to be efficient in practice and to not do too many runs to conserve some energy for the afternoons race run.

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After a late lunch and some Clif Bar electrolyte drink, I headed up for my race run. At this point the weather was starting to come in, the wind was picking up and it was starting to rain so I knew there would be plenty of grip on track for my race run. Despite the track being wet, I had my RRP mud guard on so I decided not to run any tear-offs for my run. Straight out of the start gate, a few corners in and I nearly lost it all, I was so close clipping a massive rock on the inside of a turn! After that close-call, I started to get into the run; I was just having fun and letting the bike do its thing underneath me. As I came into the lower section of the track where it’s important to carry good speed I felt that being able to change gear without pedalling helped me out a lot for setting up for up and coming sections. I came over the line with a 5.07, which put me in 1st in the junior category and 18th in elite. Overall I had a great days riding on the Zerode at Fort William! Thanks to Prestige cycles for their support during the week and to all my sponsors, Si and all the BDS crew, and Gaz and my Dad for their race support! JC

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SDA Rd.1 Innerleithen

On Friday I walked the track for the first Scottish Series race of the year. The organisers did a really good job with taping out the track, they decided to use the gold run, a flat out track with some pretty sick sections, there was were some cool turns, and some good breaking bumps which always make it a bit more fun for riding!

I woke up on Saturday morning to the rain on my window, it had been raining quite a lot in the night so I got out the RRP and headed up for practice. The track was quite muddy and slick but it was still running really fast which was good. I did a couple of runs in the morning and then some in the afternoon after the track had roughed up a bit.

The track was quite long with a lot of turns to remember but luckily I’ve ridden at Innerleithen quite a bit, so memorising the track wasn’t an issue! On Saturday night it rained even more but throughout the day on Sunday the rain held off so the track started to dry out but the mud got thicker and the track got a little slower.

In my first race run I had a pretty smooth run apart from smashing my knee off of my stem right before the pedally section at the bottom!After the first runs I was sitting in 2ND with a time of 3.03. My second race run was pretty smooth with just one mistake in the middle section, and I ended up getting the exact same time so I finished in 2nd Place which was a good solid start to the 2012 Scottish series!

JC

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BDS Rd.1 Combe Sydenham

BDS Rd.1- Combe Sydenham

On Thursday morning we left from my house to drive down to the first race of the year in the southwest of England. We finally arrived there in the evening, the weather was beautiful but there were no other racers to be seen! We parked up for the night, Dad made us some dinner and then we headed to bed after a long days travelling.

On Friday the other riders and teams started to show up and the pits started to take shape. I was lucky enough to do a bit of filming and interviewing for ITV West Country with Al Bond and Ronan Taylor which was a good laugh and a good experience.

Then right after we finished filming the interviews the rain started and I headed back to the camper for some cover! In the evening when the race stopped for a bit I headed up the hill to walk the track. The track looked like a lot of fun to ride despite there not being too many technical sections and I was looking forward to getting on my Zerode and getting my lines dialled in on Saturday.

Saturdays practice was pretty sweet, there were quite a few slick sections of the track so I threw my Intense Spike tires on and it was all good. The new jumps in the middle section added a bit more fun to practice, it was cool to have some more jumps on track than normal!

On Sunday the track began to dry up and I went back to dry tires for the race to get a bit more speed on the flatter sections of the track. My fresh new POC kit also arrived so I was stoked to bust out the new kit! Qualifying came around and I had pretty smooth run and came in 2nd which was pretty good as I knew where I could make up some time for finals in the afternoon.

In my finals the bike was working great but I made a couple of mistakes that cost me as ended up in 4th just 1.5 seconds off of winning! It was a good trip down to the first race of the year and my first race with my new bike and team! JC Here is the section of the ITV Westcountry which I featured in! - http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2012-04-13/mountain-bike-racers-head-to-exmoor/

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Joe Connell - Innerleithen Enduro Race.

So on Saturday I was chilling out while a whole load of keen riders were practicing the 3 courses for the first round of the Alpine Winter series Rd.1- XC Multi Stage Enduro. I hadn't planned on racing the event but on Saturday my mate Gavin Black who was racing, came by my house in Innerleithen after the practice day of the event and told me how rad the tracks were. So on Saturday night, after hearing how good the tracks were, I decided to race it!

on Sunday morning I rocked up and entered on the race, I was pretty excited to ride some blown out ruts blind on an xc bike! The event was a three special stage format, unfortunatly for me there was more climbing than expected in the stages but I bit the bullet and slammed the seat down for all of them, it just meant I had to stand up and sprint the fire road/ flat uphill sections. luckily enough for me there was some pretty tech downhill sections that were pretty rough and rutted,which suited me down to the ground. It was a lot of fun to ride some natural sections that were so blown out and loose! 

Joe

I ended up taking the Junior win with a time of 24min31sec.(all 3 descent times added together). The event was good and it was cool to work on riding longer descents that were pretty tech as well.

Shout out for Innerleithen Mtb Racing and all of the Marshals for making the event happen!

Until next time!

JC

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First Race, Here I Come. -

I have just been picked up by Morvelo for this year, pretty excited to be working with such a rad clothing brand! So here I am, my first blog post for Morvelo.

At the end of last season I took a break from training and ever since I have had more motivation, a better attitude and a better outlook on training and riding. Recently I have been putting in the time with my training, all of this great preperation is helping to put me in a good position to win a lot of races this year. As well as Morvelo, I have also signed with Prestige Cycles who will be helping me out with a Zerode G-1 race bike. So for this year I have a fresh bike to race on, a fresh new approach to training and I will be kitted out in the freshest casual wear out there! Check back soon for a full list of sponsors for 2012 and more news on what i'm upto.

Heres to 2012!

JC

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