Chris Dawson was frustrated, and stunned, when his ride at Internacionales Chelva XCO in Spain came to a sudden halt due to a crash. He was among a small group vying for 7th near the finish. However, while one of the new wheels he was trying out simply disintegrated, ruining his day, he was looking on the bright side.
He explained how the crash happened - wiping him out on a descending section with a lefthander - saying he had put aside his SILT wheels today, in favour of trying out a lighter set with carbon spokes. And when the new lighter front wheel collapsed, he was down and out with a serious jolt.
Dawson said he had enjoyed a period of training in Spain of late, and was now being coached by former international road rider Ronan McLaughlin. He felt today's race "was probably my best performance ever on a mountain bike" until the crash wiped him out.
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"I switched coach at the tail end of last year, with Ronan coaching me now. And I think I just needed a fresh start, a new change. I've gone self-employed, left my full-time job, so I have a bit more flexibility for training. I probably have a bit less stress, I suppose."
He described the crash, on the final lap of seven, as “a pretty crazy one, a fairly surreal experience". He was sitting 11th at the time, but was in a group fighting for 7th.
"I felt like I was flying in the race, sitting around 10th position, never really too far from the front. I didn't have the pace to stay with those front five or six riders, but definitely I was in there fighting. But that crash...
"About halfway through the lap there's a fairly fast descent into a left-hander. I honestly don't know what happened. I hit the same line as every single lap, it just felt normal. But then it felt like I was in slow motion - just seeing the wheel collapse and crumble. And I was on the floor before I knew it. I was in disbelief.
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"I was really gutted. But at the same time, on reflection now, I've come away relatively unscathed; a few scratches and bruises likely tomorrow. But I've no major injuries, whereas I should have really been in hospital. I crashed at 40-50k, straight into the ground. It just crumbled and I was on the floor."
He said the new wheels he was using today were "slightly lighter" and had carbon spokes, which he has vowed to stay away from after his encounter today.
"I had been running Berd spokes last year, the kind of polymer rope spokes, on my SILT wheels. And they worked out really well. So I'll likely go back to using that set-up because they were very light. And there's far less risk of a catastrophic failure like that.
"I didn't go back and get the rim, so I don't really know where the point of failure was... If it was the spokes, if it was the rim, what it was. It was mental.
"But I'm just happy to be walking, fit, healthy. And there are so many positives to take from the race. It was the best performance I've ever had, (against) some of the best riders in the world. I was feeling really good."
Dawson's race - UCI HC category - was won by Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon XC Racing), the former UCI XCC World Cup overall winner, in a very close finish.
He just held off France’s Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) – former U23 world champion and multiple UCI World Cup round winner last year. South Africa’s Luke Moir (Mondraker Factory Racing XC) claimed 3rd, just three seconds back.
