Bloody hell, can’t believe it, 2 races in a row in the same county where I live.
Just as well, didn’t go to bed till 2am due to gigging!
Absolutely gorgeous weather (if you like sunbathing) but flaming well hot if you’re gonna ride round an enduro course for 3 hours.
Hydration was going to be especially important on this one and due to my days of being a runner I made sure I drank plenty before hand. A litre and half of water and another litre of energy drink, and I had another litre and half in the camelback, I got through the lot, 4 litres in total, never felt thirsty once and didn’t ‘cramp’ up at all.
As usual, all the bikes were gleaming spotlessly in the bright sunshine just before the start. For once, we had a big pit area that wasn’t on a slope, nice!
Done all the necessary, lined up, and waited for the flag to drop.
Off we went then, I made a good start going into the first corner in 2nd but got passed by a couple of riders on the 1st lap, I took a mental note of their numbers, i didn’t see them again, so that meant for the first time I actually didn’t get lapped by another sportsman (that pleased me).
Quite a long course this one, maybe 7 or so miles in length. I reckon maybe 90% of it was woods with only 1 small fire road where you could open it up a bit.
There were a couple of nice climbs that were well ‘rooted’ (interesting if wet), some logs to clamber over, a very tight narrow downhill ‘whoop’ section that shook your shoulders like a jack hammer, and generally lots of flowing trials up and down through the woods. Particularly enjoyable with the sun streaming through.
Due to the dry hot weather didn’t have many problems today with grip and only had a couple of little offs (not like last week), one was which on a ‘rooty’ hill, there were no marshals on this one, so I shouted to some bloke spectating to come down and hold the bike while I kicked her to get going again (cheers for that mate).
Pitted after about 1 hour and 40mins, only to find that the jelly babies Marie was shoving down my gullet while I refuelled, had turned into a lovely gooey substance similar to that of the remains of a Chinese curry that had been left on the side overnight! They’d melted in my toolbox because of the heat.
As the race wore on I felt stronger and managed to get another lap in with 7 mins to go and went on to finish. I think the temperature was about 22-23 degrees when I got back to the van.
I thought it was a good course and a well run event.
Just one last thing, I think I was on my penultimate lap when all the bikes were redirected round an injured rider, it looked pretty bad as I went passed, the guy was lying on the floor with a medical team there with what looked like a drip attached to him, no one likes to see that and it just goes to show how dangerous racing can be, no matter what class of rider you are (I think it was an expert). Best wishes to him.
Finishing position: 5/26
Bike status: new chain+sprocket
Injuries: none
Just as well, didn’t go to bed till 2am due to gigging!
Absolutely gorgeous weather (if you like sunbathing) but flaming well hot if you’re gonna ride round an enduro course for 3 hours.
Hydration was going to be especially important on this one and due to my days of being a runner I made sure I drank plenty before hand. A litre and half of water and another litre of energy drink, and I had another litre and half in the camelback, I got through the lot, 4 litres in total, never felt thirsty once and didn’t ‘cramp’ up at all.
As usual, all the bikes were gleaming spotlessly in the bright sunshine just before the start. For once, we had a big pit area that wasn’t on a slope, nice!
Done all the necessary, lined up, and waited for the flag to drop.
Off we went then, I made a good start going into the first corner in 2nd but got passed by a couple of riders on the 1st lap, I took a mental note of their numbers, i didn’t see them again, so that meant for the first time I actually didn’t get lapped by another sportsman (that pleased me).
Quite a long course this one, maybe 7 or so miles in length. I reckon maybe 90% of it was woods with only 1 small fire road where you could open it up a bit.
There were a couple of nice climbs that were well ‘rooted’ (interesting if wet), some logs to clamber over, a very tight narrow downhill ‘whoop’ section that shook your shoulders like a jack hammer, and generally lots of flowing trials up and down through the woods. Particularly enjoyable with the sun streaming through.
Due to the dry hot weather didn’t have many problems today with grip and only had a couple of little offs (not like last week), one was which on a ‘rooty’ hill, there were no marshals on this one, so I shouted to some bloke spectating to come down and hold the bike while I kicked her to get going again (cheers for that mate).
Pitted after about 1 hour and 40mins, only to find that the jelly babies Marie was shoving down my gullet while I refuelled, had turned into a lovely gooey substance similar to that of the remains of a Chinese curry that had been left on the side overnight! They’d melted in my toolbox because of the heat.
As the race wore on I felt stronger and managed to get another lap in with 7 mins to go and went on to finish. I think the temperature was about 22-23 degrees when I got back to the van.
I thought it was a good course and a well run event.
Just one last thing, I think I was on my penultimate lap when all the bikes were redirected round an injured rider, it looked pretty bad as I went passed, the guy was lying on the floor with a medical team there with what looked like a drip attached to him, no one likes to see that and it just goes to show how dangerous racing can be, no matter what class of rider you are (I think it was an expert). Best wishes to him.
Finishing position: 5/26
Bike status: new chain+sprocket
Injuries: none
