Grey Mare- January 28th 2007

Wow, I actually had the luxury of going to a race that was only about 10 miles from where I live, didn’t have to get up so early for this one!
It had raining quite a bit recently so this was going to be a damp/wet event and with a trails tyre (only allowed) on the back again, it was going to be interesting as this was a track that went through quite a bit of forest.

It was a murky and overcast sort of day as the race started, I for once actually got a good start as we went straight into the woods through some tight sections in amongst the trees.
On the first lap I got stuck on little rooty step, a guy on a gasser who was also stuck on it help me drag the bike up, so I returned the compliment, and we both carried on our merry way.
A tricky little tree rooted climb had almost everyone struggling apart from the experienced riders about halfway round the course, this was after a right handed turn so you had get some momentum to get up it, which wasn’t easy in the slippery conditions. A lot of marshals were there helping us to the top, after a couple of laps though, it seemed to get a whole lot better and everyone was ‘cleaning’ it with no problem.
A nice track with plenty of opportunity to open the bike up along the fire roads, and a very nasty little downhill that the guy from Thor motorcycles was standing at, helping everyone at the bottom that had come off (I went over the bars there on my 4th lap).

I thought I was doing ok today and felt quite good, until I was on my last lap, all of a sudden my energy levels seem to drop rapidly and I began having silly little ‘offs’ and stalling the bike in the tight sections. With a couple miles left to the finish I managed to plant the bike in a pile of logs that had been cut, could I pull it out? Could I hell!
I tried and tried, bike by bike went past as I was frantically trying to pull the thing free, then a guy on a KX stopped and helped me. (I thought I was going to be left there until it got dark, until they sent the search party out!). Got going again and made my way back to finish.

Quite a testing race, picked the bike up a lot of times today and wrenched my left elbow in the process, still, I enjoyed it.

Finishing position: 3/14
Bike status: ok
Injuries: Tennis elbow