Mike Jenner, manager and mechanic of the Moda-Bikemagic team will be looking after Magura equipment on a trio of top riders’ bikes at the Olympics

“I only got the call from Magura yesterday,” says Mike on the line from Moda-Bikemagic team HQ in Derbyshire. “They had realised that SRAM, Specialized and Shimano were coming to support their riders so they asked me if I’d look after the Magura-sponsored riders too.”

That means Mike will be responsible for the forks and brakes of two of the biggest names in mountain biking, defending Olympic champion Sabine Spitz and top French woman Julie Bresset plus her countryman Stephane Tempier.

Is he excited? “Just a little!” he says, laughing. “It’s also good recognition. Magura has seen what a good job we do at the races and it helps that I already know the riders.”

Mike hands up a water bottle

It’s a very specific role. Mike will be looking after the Magura gear on the trio’s bikes up until the race starts. Then he gets to relax, albeit with a bit of nervousness that everything he’s fettled lasts the distance.

“Those three are getting some new trick bits from Magura,” Mike says, “like a prototype 650B fork for Spitz and an enhanced version of the MT8 brake.

“Magura wants me to make sure it’s all working before the race then their usual mechanics will take over.

“I’ll do everything I can before the race and then I get to watch it!”

Speaking of that proto Magura 650B fork, Mike says that 650B wheels, roughly in between 26-inch and 29-inch in size, really look like the coming thing in cross-country racing.

“Look at the rock garden at Val d’Isere last weekend. 29ers cruised it, 26ers bogged down but Nino Schurter on 650B also flew through it. That made people take notice.”

For a team of four women like Moda-Bikemagic, the intermediate size also makes sense.

Mike says: “People are finding that 29 is just too big. You end up with inverted stems on small bikes and the handling can get twitchy. 650B fills the gap and works really well for World Cup courses.”

The Olympic cross-country mountain bike races take place at 12:30 Saturday August 11 for the women’s race and 13:00 Sunday August 12 for the men’s. The venue for both is Hadleigh Country Park, Essex.

Mike looking after the Moda-Bikemagic team before a race.

“The course looks tough! There is lots of long climbing to start the lap. This is then followed by technical descending that requires focus and strength.

The difficult aspect to the course is that the climbs are so aggressive, that it is hard to prepare mentally and physically for the downhill sections. Nevertheless, it’s a great course, different from the first three World Cup tracks in both the physical and technical aspects.

The venue is awesome! The start/finish stretch is right in the middle of La Bresse and you can look up at the hillside and see almost the whole course – this is going to be great for spectators!

I am very excited and curious to see where the cross-country eliminator will be held. Rumour has it that is might be through town, but we will have to wait and see. After last weekend I am feeling good about the Friday night race.

The cross-country is being held on Sunday and the weather is calling for rain. This will make the track a completely different race and I predict the lines will change dramatically. As I was pre-riding I was scouting my dry condition lines as well and the lines I would take if it is wet. We shall see!

France is very beautiful and the town and people are awesome. I’m getting excited to rock the Moda Solo Ti 26er this weekend!”

From what I’ve heard (which, if I’m honest, isn’t a great deal) the course at Nova Mesto is pretty tough: steep, but not as technical as Houffalize. Regardless of the course, however, and with the whole World Cup situation still pretty new to me, all I plan to do is embrace the experience, race hard and see what I can do.

Racing the eliminator on Friday night was great fun last time and hopefully I will qualify again! It’s exhilarating, fast and furious racing and definitely gets you excited for the cross-country the next day.

On Saturday I’m aiming to place in the top 75 per cent of the junior girls, which is better than I did in Belgium but hopefully not too unrealistic. I’m prepared to give it everything I’ve got so we shall see…

Having got one World Cup under my belt, and a good result at the nationals in Dalby, I’m ready and raring to go. Maybe this time riding with the best mountain bikers in the world won’t be such a shock to the system!

Unfortunately, the Sprint Eliminator event was cancelled for the evening as result of lack of interest and weather, so after Mike had done some serious bike cleaning and replacing of brake pads we packed up and headed to the hotel.

The Dalby course was very challenging. A great deal of climbing in combination with two major technical sections as well as some fun bridges and rocky sections. The start loop added a taste of cyclo-cross as we navigated a very muddy grass field. I can definitely see why this course was run in the World Cup series in previous years!

Sunday was a tough race for me. I was struggling to find my rhythm. Sometimes you can feel the rhythm of a course and move with the bike and the singletrack… but apparently I was listening to the wrong song track! I didn’t feel too bad on the long climbing sections but I was struggling on the fast singletrack. I kept plugging along and making my way through, trying to make up time where I was able.

I continued to fight the track throughout. I won’t bore you with the gory details, I will just share the following (quite embarrassing) tale which sort of sums up the day for me. I had descended the rock garden coming away from Medusa’s Drop and might have been going a little too fast (trying to make up for my slowness) on the rutted muddy singletrack leading into the start of the climbing. Carelessly, I caught my front wheel in one of the deep mud ruts and I found myself doing a very non-graceful face plant into the grass.

“Grass?!” I thought. Well, a sort of prickly grass, but grass nonetheless! After impact I was thinking, “geez what luck! Grass! I landed in grass! And you know what, maybe no-one even saw me crash, no problem!”

It was about 15 seconds after I had this thought and was back on my bike riding when I realised that the left side of my body was burning, but more specifically my entire face. My face plant landed in a patch of stinging nettles… nettles?! Really? Not cool. I survived the rest of the race but definitely have had better days.

As soon as I came across the line I came face to face with the person who would be my UCI chaperone for the next few hours. I had been ‘awarded’ the random anti-doping selection. I used my, ‘look how far back I was, I’m definitely not doping!’ line, and I got a laugh but not out of my selection.

As I was sitting in the UCI tent downing bottles of water, feeling the warmth of the stinging nettles radiating from my face and watching my knee swell, I had a chance to reflect. Maybe I’m crazy but I am so glad I got to race, what an awesome opportunity! Times like that teach you how to keep racing even when you are having an off day; it teaches you how to ride in the rain (or hail!) and muddy conditions; it teaches you how to ride when your fork decides to become rigid; it teaches you how to race with a face that is burning because of nettles (though I hope not to need that one again). So next time you can look back and think I’ve done this before, I got this.

This is one of the many reasons I am so happy that the Moda-Bikemagic Racing Team has given me the opportunity to race!

Imogen made her first (of what will soon be many!) national podiums in the junior category, placing third. Ruth is getting into the UCI points, placing 15th. My goal was to finally crack the top 10 but ended up in 12th.

All in all another awesome weekend with the team! Many thanks to the entire Buick family, who are so kind, and Mike, Ruth and all the Moda-Bikemagic Racing Team sponsors!

I love Dalby; it’s a great course and with plenty of climbing so it really suits my strengths. I achieved my first national win in the expert category at Dalby in 2011 so I knew I wanted to have another good race here in 2012 – but I knew it would be tough as this is my first year in the elite field.

With a start list of 28 riders, it was going to be a tough race so I decided to drive up nice and early to give myself plenty of time to practice the course and be happy with my line choices. I arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and went straight out for two practice laps (in the pouring rain!) and it was immediately evident how different Dalby is when the conditions are bad, so I took extra time practicing the technical sections.

Then I had a chilled out evening and an early night in my (rather chilly!) tent. I woke up to yet more rain on Saturday and knew that this weekend was going to be a wash out, so we just had to make the most of it and do our best. Saturday featured possibly the heaviest hail storm I’ve seen in a long time, and lots of very muddy, angry looking people as they returned from their practice loops.

After a meal at a local pub where the portion sizes were gigantic, we had another early night at our cosy B&B (much warmer than a tent!) ready for the mudfest the next morning.

We arrived at the course bright and early on Sunday and thankfully it wasn’t raining. I had a better warm up than at round one and got to the start line feeling ready. The start was fast, frantic and a little manic with riders trying to stay on their bikes while negotiating the very muddy and slippy start loop. I didn’t get the best start, and came out of the start loop in around 20th place, which wasn’t as good as I’d wanted.

After fighting hard for the first couple of laps I passed a few riders and got into 17th, and then into 16th as Mel Spath had to pull out due to technical issues. At this point I got the bit between my teeth because that 15th place and ultimately my first UCI point was within reach. My legs were feeling strong and with a concerted effort I managed to drop a couple of riders I’d been battling with and pull out a healthy gap. Passing Sally Gabriel at the end of my third lap put me into 15th and I knew all I needed to do was keep going at that pace for one more lap.

My last lap was interesting as I had gone through my brake pads, both front and back, due to the conditions, so I had to take a few downhill sections a little faster than I’d have liked, purely because I couldn’t stop! However, I finished strong, and in 15th place, claiming my first ever UCI point. I am very proud and hope that there will be plenty more to come.

Thanks to Mike [Jenner], our team manager, for all his time spent in the rain bottling for us, and for spending hours cleaning our poor Moda Solos after they’d battled through those conditions!

This weekend was always going to be exciting, and it definitely did not disappoint. I was eager to arrive early so we left home at 8am for the relatively short 3 hour journey to Sherwood.

Arriving at the arena we parked the motorhome up behind the easy-ups and jumped out to say hello to Team Manager Mike and to meet Erica, our American rider, for the first time. The kettle was on, I was given a massive bag of kit, and it was going to be a good weekend, despite the fog that seemed to have decided to join us.

After many introductions, chats, Erica getting used to Anna and I, and as yet without the arrival of Ruth, Erica and I headed out for a practice lap. Admittedly we spent most of chatting, getting to know each other, and slipping about due to the new shorts and saddles combination!

The XC Eliminator was our entertainment for the evening with Erica flying the Moda-BikeMagic colours and doing an admirable job against the boys.

Race day

Sunday morning and I was strangely more excited than nervous for once. A lot of muesli was consumed, bottles were made and before I’d even thought about it, Magic Mike had my bike sorted and ready to go! After a pretty (in my opinion) professional looking warm up I headed to the start, which, conveniently, was just outside the tent.

Very pleased with the idea of only having to do 2 laps, I got off to a good start and settled down behind Alice Barnes and Beth Crumpton. The first part of my lap was pretty uneventful until I decided that I needed to have a little lie down in a gorse bush (I only knew it was gorse when I got home and had to extract a million little thorns from my leg).

After that I got back into my rhythm and tried to carry on where I left off: loving the tight singletrack, thoroughly enjoying my new bicycle and hurting. A lap to go and I was 4th behind Alice, Beth and Becky Preece. This is how things stayed for the duration as I tried to kill myself for another 25 minutes. Becky was insight but stayed ahead as I finished, happy with the race and trying to show off my new kit as much as possible. High fives all round while we waited to see Erica and Ruth cross the line in 11th and 18th place respectively.

It wasn’t even lunch time and us girls were finished for the day. All in all a top weekend and I cannot wait to spend more time with Ruth and Erica. I’m guessing the drive to Houffalize for the RockyRoads.net UCI World Cup in 3 weeks will see to that.

Imogen Buick

As the first race of the year and my first race in the Elite Women’s category, the weeks leading up to this race were quite apprehensive.  Although I was really looking forward to blowing the cobwebs away after a winter of training hard and I couldn’t wait to be riding my new Moda Solo race bike fast and taking in the atmosphere of a mountain bike race.

My legs were feeling good in the week leading up to the race, so I felt happy with my preparations prior to the event. I arrived at Sherwood after a 2.5hr drive on Saturday morning, a little later than planned due to delays with getting fuel before setting off.  As soon as I arrived Mike was on the case with tweaking my bike so that it was race prepped and handed me a bag of kit to try on for size.

I then did two practice laps of the course all kitted out in the Moda-Bikemagic race team colours, which certainly got a few looks!

I was happy with the course, so all that was left was to cheer Erica on in the XCE eliminator race.  Sadly not enough women entered to make having a separate women’s category viable, otherwise myself and Imogen would certainly have joined in the fun, perhaps next time…

Then we all headed off home to have food and a good night’s sleep ready for our race bright and early in the morning (with the clocks going forwards this made the morning feel even earlier when my alarm went off).

After warming up and a bit of pre-race panic before I knew it they were calling up the Elite women.  I took my place on the start line and felt weirdly calm.  Starting in a field of 23 women was a new experience for me and one I need to get used to, but I soon found my place and caught a few women by the end of the first lap.

The second, third and fourth laps went on without issue really, apart from a few un-lady like dismounts, I was in 18^th place, just seconds behind Sally Gabriel in 17^th, but every time I caught her she’d sprint off and I didn’t quite manage to catch her by the end of the race.  We started to reign in 15^th and 16^th place also as they were in sight by the end of the race so its encouraging to know we weren’t that far behind.

Overall, a great race, not a great result but the experience was far more valuable.  The bike and kit were perfect for the whole race; I’m completely converted to the comfort of my skin suit!!

I’m really looking forward to the next one…

The team, formed of Kate Potter (AUS), Erica Zaveta (USA), Ruth Owen-Evans (GBR) and Imogen Buick (GBR), will be racing the RockyRoads.net UCI MTB World Cup Series in both the Cross Country (XCO) and Cross Country Eliminator (XCE) categories.

They’ll also participate in the British Cycling Mountain Bike Cross Country Series and National Championships,  Portugal Cups, Swiss Cups, German Bundesliga Races and USA National Championships. That’s one packed schedule of racing, we’re glad we’re not racing!

The team

It’s a team packed with talent and depth of experience. Kate is an extremely experienced rider who has achieved a lot in her career and has set some high goals for the next 3 seasons which the Team will try & help her achieve.

Erica has decided to travel across the Pond to Europe to gain experience of XC racing in Europe.  Erica wants to help Moda-BikeMagic achieve their goals for 2012 & also put her name amongst the contenders for the British series crown.

Ruth has made the move to Elite for 2012.  Ruth is extremely keen to try her hand racing in Europe and  seeing what she can bring to the mix.

Imogen is a first year Junior.  She has her eyes set on the World Cup Series and using this experience to race at a higher level when she returns to domestic competition.

The bikes

The Team will be using Moda’s Solo titanium frames.  Mounted to this will be Magura Durin forks and Magura’s MT8 brakes.  Shimano will be providing the XTR running gear.  American Classic’s reliable tubeless wheelset will use Geax rubber to provide grip and speed.  Riders will be perched on Selle Italia saddles as they put the KCNC finishing kit through its paces.  Chris King provide race-tested headsets and bottom brackets.

On the nutrition front, both Your Sports Fuel & Nuun will help the riders to reach & sustain their limits.

I-Optix have provided Adidas eyewear for both on & off the bike.  Meanwhile Champion Systems have provided the fantastic-looking kit that will be worn during all of the campaigns.

Moda-BikeMagic Racing Team are also lucky to have secured the services of Bikemagic.com as the media sponsor.  The Team will have their own page on the Bikemagic.com website and this will have news, features, videos and blogs on how the Team are progressing throughout the season.

Moda-BikeMagic Racing Team will have a stand at all of the races, so feel free to come over & say hello.  It will be great to meet you.

You can follow the team on Twitter: @modabikemagic and at www.modabikemagicracing.com