Reading: part 2

Downhill racer

Anna Jones tells of her move from skiing to downhill mountain biking and her rapid rise up the ranks to her current position as one of the top five downhill racers in the country.

At the age of seven I had learnt to ski and by fourteen I was competing internationally.

When I was eighteen a close friend was injured in a ski race, and as a result, I gave up competitive skiing. To fill the gap that skiing  had left I decided to swap two planks of wood for  two wheels with big tyres.

    My first race was a cross-country race in 1995. It wasn’t an amazing success. 9 __________  After entering a few more cross-country races, a local bike shop gave me a downhill bike to try. I  entered a downhill race, fell off, but did reasonably well in the end, so I switched to downhill racing.

   I think my skiing helped a lot as I was able to transfer several skills such as cornering and weight-balance to mountain biking. This year I’m riding for a famous British team and there are races almost every weekend from March through to September. 10__________  In fact, there’s quite a  lot of putting up tents in muddy fields.

   Last season I was selected to represent Great  Britain at both the European and World Championships. Both events were completely  different from the UK race scene. 11__________  I was totally in awe, racing with the riders I had  been following in magazines. The atmosphere  was electric and I finished about mid-pack.

       Mountain biking is a great sport to be in. People ask me if downhill racing is really scary. I say,  ‘Yes it is, and I love it.’ Every time I race I scare  myself silly and then say, ‘Yeah let’s do it again.’

      When you’re riding well, you are right on the  edge, as close as you can be to being out of  control. 12 __________ However, you quickly learn  how to do it so as not to injure yourself. And it’s  part of the learning process as you have to push yourself and try new skills to improve.

Initially, downhill racing wasn’t taken seriously as a  mountain-biking discipline. 13 __________ But things are changing and riders are now realising that  they need to train just as hard for downhill racing as they would do for cross-country.

    The races are run over ground which is generally closer to vertical than horizontal, with jumps, drop-offs, holes, corners and nasty rocks and  trees to test your nerves as well as technical skill. At the end of a run, which is between two  and three minutes in this country your legs hurt so much they burn. 14 __________  But in a race,you’re so excited that you switch off to the pain until you’ve finished.  

    A lot of people think that you need to spend thousands of pounds to give downhill mountain biking a go.

15 __________ A reasonable beginner’s downhill bike will cost you around £400 and the basic equipment, of a cycle helmet, cycle shorts  and gloves, around £150. Later on you may  want to upgrade your bike and get a full-face  crash helmet, since riders are now achieving speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour.

A. I’ve fallen off more times than I care to remember.

B. I usually have to stop during practice  sessions.

C. The courses were twice as long and the crowds were twice as big.

D. I’m not strong enough in my arms, so I’ve been doing a lot of upper-body training

this year.

E. The attitude was: how much skill do you need to sit on a saddle and point a bike

in the same direction for a few minutes?

F.I finished last, but it didn’t matter as I really enjoyed it.

G.Nothing could be further from the truth.

H. It’s not all stardom and glamour, though.