Hustyns, right on my doorstep! Just 5 minutes up the road, I often go running there, so knew the area quite well.
I walked parts of the course on the Tuesday and cycled round it on a mountain bike with my mate on the Thursday (knackering that was), so I could get an idea what I’d be faced with.
Due to the hot weather the previous week, the course was bone dry, I thought that was a shame as I’d like it to have been wet and slippery, never mind, you can’t have it all!
This was a time card event, which made a nice refreshing change to the constant ‘hare and hounds’ races that seem to be the norm.
There seemed to be a nice atmosphere about the place when I arrived, I duly then done the necessary and worked out my times for my laps.
Looking at the rider list for the event I could see that there was a decent champ and expert entry, so I’d better have my wits about me and be ready to move out of their way because these guys are on tight times.
When I raced at Grey Mare back in January, I remember a guy passing me on the last lap in the same class as me, he beat me by one place, and low and behold that same guy (steve jose) had the same start time as me today.
Whilst waiting for our allotted time, I went over and had a chat with him, nice chap, and yes, he did remember passing me.
The clocked ticked over to 10.34 and off we went straight up into the woods.
Lots of tight sections, lots of stumps, lovely trails, nice hills and 1 or 2 fast bits with sweeping bends, it was really nice riding round, especially with the sun glistening through the trees. I think the course was about 8 or so miles long.
Made my first time check ok and went off on my 2nd lap which included a special test.
I did ok on that then went back in to the pits with time to spare.
Onto the 3rd lap and back round to the special test again, this time I got caught by a few champ riders (I know when Denz is coming up because he always shouts my name, to get out of his bloody way!) so I had to slow a bit and let them pass.
Onto to the last lap then, Halfway round I saw Steve (Jose) who had stalled in front of me on a tricky little downhill, I asked if he was ok, he was, so off I went.
Minutes later I pulled over to let a faster rider get by and promptly parked the bike into some bushes (well it was off camber!) and got stuck!
Steve then caught me up and asked me if I was alright, he leant his bike up against a tree and came back to help.
With plenty of time to get a finish we both travelled back in tandem.
A nice event, but I still would have liked it to have rained, now that would have made things interesting!
Finishing position: 2/12
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none
I walked parts of the course on the Tuesday and cycled round it on a mountain bike with my mate on the Thursday (knackering that was), so I could get an idea what I’d be faced with.
Due to the hot weather the previous week, the course was bone dry, I thought that was a shame as I’d like it to have been wet and slippery, never mind, you can’t have it all!
This was a time card event, which made a nice refreshing change to the constant ‘hare and hounds’ races that seem to be the norm.
There seemed to be a nice atmosphere about the place when I arrived, I duly then done the necessary and worked out my times for my laps.
Looking at the rider list for the event I could see that there was a decent champ and expert entry, so I’d better have my wits about me and be ready to move out of their way because these guys are on tight times.
When I raced at Grey Mare back in January, I remember a guy passing me on the last lap in the same class as me, he beat me by one place, and low and behold that same guy (steve jose) had the same start time as me today.
Whilst waiting for our allotted time, I went over and had a chat with him, nice chap, and yes, he did remember passing me.
The clocked ticked over to 10.34 and off we went straight up into the woods.
Lots of tight sections, lots of stumps, lovely trails, nice hills and 1 or 2 fast bits with sweeping bends, it was really nice riding round, especially with the sun glistening through the trees. I think the course was about 8 or so miles long.
Made my first time check ok and went off on my 2nd lap which included a special test.
I did ok on that then went back in to the pits with time to spare.
Onto the 3rd lap and back round to the special test again, this time I got caught by a few champ riders (I know when Denz is coming up because he always shouts my name, to get out of his bloody way!) so I had to slow a bit and let them pass.
Onto to the last lap then, Halfway round I saw Steve (Jose) who had stalled in front of me on a tricky little downhill, I asked if he was ok, he was, so off I went.
Minutes later I pulled over to let a faster rider get by and promptly parked the bike into some bushes (well it was off camber!) and got stuck!
Steve then caught me up and asked me if I was alright, he leant his bike up against a tree and came back to help.
With plenty of time to get a finish we both travelled back in tandem.
A nice event, but I still would have liked it to have rained, now that would have made things interesting!
Finishing position: 2/12
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none
