Midlands XC Round 3 - Hanchurch

I'd been thinking that a full-on XC race the week before the Transalps could be a bit fool-hardy, particularly on a technical course like Hanchurch, but its just too good a race to miss.

It was also great to see another member of the Infinity Cycles Team there too, a rare sight outside of the North East! Good to see you Ray.

Steve's previous placings earned him a front row start leaving me to fight it out with the rest for the 4th row.

The course was a bit different to last years, still the same brutal sprint up a fire road but instead of continuing up the hill it was a tight left had turn onto singletrack. It was quite muddy in places but I thought the Rocket Rons should be ok.

The start went well, getting to the turn in good shape and made a good few places on the brakes up the outside... A favourite tactic harking back to my motorbike racing days.

The first lap is always so frenetic it takes a while to calm down and concentrate on staying smooth. Opting for the "safer" B-line lost a bit of time, and a couple of places but probably the best decision as I found later that Steve went clear over the bars on the 1st lap!

Things were just fine until the start of the 3rd lap when my legs seemed to decide they'd had enough... Even a gel didn't really bring them back much. I could hear I was getting reeled-in and soon he was chewing on my back wheel. I had enough to gap him a bit up hill only to lose it on the downhill. He made his move half way round the last lap, gambling on a cyclocross style jump-off and leap a log, neatly just beating me through.

The gap opened quickly and he had about 200yds on me at the top of the bombhole and the closing section of the lap, but he was slowing and slowing enough to convince me that now was the time to bury it! It worked, legs came back on-line and I sprinted past to rescue 13th place (turbo trainer magic!).

Disappointingly out of the top 10 but happy to be in one piece. Steve had crashed a 2nd time overtaking one of the younger riders and had damaged his rear disc... There's going to be some frantic spannering in that household tomorrow so its ready to travel on Wednesday!

Team Zipvit/Lichfield CCC news... and last minute panics!

Great news... Zipvit Sport have agreed to support us for The Transalps (You might have noticed the subtle change with the website!).

Many thanks to Ben and all at Zipvit Sport for your support, we'll do our best to get a great result for you guys!

There are plenty of last minute changes and panics happening... our kit has been a bit delayed in Italy, hopefully be here on Monday (sweating a bit about that one!)...

We have both been running Schwalbe Rocket Rons this season and whilst I really like them we have both been struggling with punctures despite running tubeless, and losing loads of hard-won time sat at the side of the track faffing about trying to fix things. So in a last minute change of tack we've gone for Continental X Kings, sacrificing a bit of weight for a hopefully a more robust tyre.

The bikes are in bits and we've got the 3rd Round of the Midlands XC tomorrow at Hanchurch...

Better go and get busy! :-)

Mayhem...

Its all getting a bit last minute.com but we are almost ready to hit the road to the Alps this coming Wednesday.
Its been a dramatic few weeks. I turned-up at Mayhem to ride in the Veterans Team for Cycleshack to find that the rest of the team couldn't turn-up till much later, or couldn't turn up at all. A very quick reshuffle of the teams and Matt Williams joined me and between us held it together till 7pm when Matt Barratt arrived at that point we were still in 3rd place. I was so relieved to hand over to Matt B and then Ian Wright so I could get some food and a rest.
Ian is struggling with an injury so he was a limited resource that we had to use sparingly and strategically (not that its slowing him down much). By the wee small hours we had moved up to 2nd place and the battle for 1st truly began.
At 4am we were 3mins behind, but a dreadful lap from me followed by a change-over cock-up dropped us to 15mins.
At 8am I went out for the 8th and last time and put-in my 2nd fastest lap of the race at 1hr 1min, but then the real boys went for it with Matt B and Ian putting in two stunning sub-54min laps.
Matt Williams was last man out, this was his 8th lap also and he utterly buried himself with a 54min lap. I'm sure I detected murderous look in his eye when I announced that we'd won, with 10mins to spare, fortunately he could barely stand at that point!
A great result and a real kick in the pants for me finding that I was the slowest man on the team... Not used to that these days! Just going to have to get quicker then.

Its "The Final Count Down"

Here we are then... 4 weeks to go until the Transalps so I thought I'd better resurrect the Blog!

I've been rather remiss with this this year but rather busy times at work along with finding, buying and moving house, training etc etc etc have all left me with barely enough time to sleep...

The other news so far is a change of bikes, and many thanks to chaps at Infinity Cycles for sourcing one of the first 2011 Cube AMS HPC SL's. What a stunning bike, in Matt Black and 21.5lbs out of the box (a bit lighter now) with full 2011 XTR, its my Euro-fighter (!), should be great for the Transalps and will be perfect for Kielder later in the year.

The Stable has been further strengthened with the arrival of this little beauty...

Anyway, now I've got this going again will keep it updated with our progress as the Transalps looms!!!

Better go and pack for Team effort at a muddy Mayhem this weekend... 

Kielder 100 - 2010 Grand Finale

One Lap, One Rider, One Adventure, One Hundred Miles

The main question in my mind was had I recovered from the efforts of Sleepless? It is hard to get your head around the potential that 4 weeks is not enough for your body to repair itself after such a huge effort. I mean, if it took nearly 3 weeks for the skin to re-grow on my backside, so what sort of state was the rest of me in?

With almost two-and-a-half weeks completely away from any bicycle, I was becoming anxious that Kielder was rapidly approaching and at somepoint I’d have to do something.

It was summer holiday time for Lizzie and I, a full two weeks off work and our only plan was the trip to Kielder right in the middle of our holiday. Fretting (as I do) about a lack of preparation I decided to ride Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and then do nothing for the rest of the week. By Tuesday, I was feeling quite good and seemed to be going reasonably strongly, surprising myself by “worrying” Pinkie’s back wheel up the hills on our Tues night ride… noting that Rhys’s front wheel was never far out of the corner of my eye!!!

Kielder is a tiny wee village in the middle of the forest in Northumberland…Banjo-Country… No mobile phone signal out here!

The village is dominated by a castle that makes a stunning venue for what is sure to be one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world. As the title says, its one lap and one hundred miles. It was first run last year, and in weather that could best be described as “Scottish”, I finished in an uninspiring 12hrs 15mins and It was at last years event where I met Rich Holland and Shonah, Rich beat me by an hour!

The race quickly gained a reputation for “taking no prisoners”, with check points to reach within a certain time and the potential for plenty of weather, the list of entries had more than doubled from last years 200, to an entry list of 750 with 537 people actually taking the start line this year.

This is a serious undertaking, you have to be self-sufficient. There is a list of compulsory kit you must have, a space blanket, waterproof, spare inner tubes, spare brake pads, a whistle, tool kit etc. The little bag that I usually strap under my saddle decided it had had enough as the zip broke. So rather than buying another I decided I’d save weight by taping two spare tubes to the bike and chopped the space blanket in half (more weight saved) so it fitted neatly under my saddle.

A good group of us had gathered for this race and it had become fairly obvious over the last few weeks that there was a large target painted on my back for this one…

Rhys was the obvious challenge, and this would be the first time this year that we would compete head-to-head. 

Rich Munro, riding singlespeed was looking for a scalp, I know better than to write-off “PostieRich” especially when he’s  singlespeed. 

Mark, just back from completing Lands End to John O’Groats, should be feeling strong. 

Rich Holland, my Infinity Cycles Team mate, always competitive and 17 years my junior, had he recovered from his Solo effort at Sleepless quicker than me? 

Paul Bailey, our “ranked rider”, finished 10^th last year, shouldn’t see him for dust!

It was a cold and misty dawn and joining the growing crowds on the start at 6:10am I was really pleased to have Lizzie there to take my fleece just before we rolled-out behind the marshal’s van at 6:30.

This had been a real struggle. I didn’t know whether it was just pre-race apprehension or if I was feeling a bit jaded after such a busy season, but I had really struggled to summon-up some enthusiasm for this race. As the Marshall’s van pulled-off and the race was let loose, it just didn’t kick-in like it normally does.

Rich Holland caught-up with me after 10 miles and we stuck together until he stopped at the first water point to re-fill his bottle. 10 miles later and Rhys had caught-up. I wasn’t chatting much, in fact I felt dreadful. My back had started aching in the first hour and was getting worse, the only thing that was shedding a bit of light in this dark place that I was in, was that it was beginning to look like a sub-ten hour finish could be possible.

The midges weren’t doing much for my mood either!  Seemingly a penance for not shaving my legs, but you’d ride through a cloud of them and they’d all jump on-board for a good feast, meanwhile there’s nothing you can do about it other than add it to the growing list of things that just have to be suffered!

I was thinking about the top professional riders, and how they look when they are suffering…. Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, they’ve all got this poker face that barely hints of the pain they’re in. Andy Schleck has this fixed grin, the only indication that he might be trying is the occasional bit of dribble on his chin! Me… well… have a flick back to the “Dawn of the Dead” photo from Sleepless… you could never tell I was suffering could you? Maybe it’s the permanent stream of snot dribbling down my top-lip that gives it away!

Having something to look forward to is always worth having, the organisers had arranged a bag drop at each of the feed stations.  My halfway bag had some fudge and a peanut butter and jam sandwich, it also had a couple of the strongest over-the-counter pain killers that I could lay my hands on, it was these I was most looking forward to!

Having already decided to take my time at the half way feed station to eat some food and stretch my back out, about half way through my sandwich I noticed Rhys quietly slinking off.  It did cross my mind that I really should not give him the slightest hint of opportunity, but I didn’t want to panic.  It was better to finish doing what I was doing, after all I had 50 miles to make-up a couple of minutes difference.

Feeling a bit more renewed after the stop I set-off to chase down Rhys, the next 15 miles were to prove decisive! A fast descent became rocky and the track, made up of loose rocks about the size of Crown Green Bowls.  I was going as fast as I could. Speed is a good thing on ground like this until, that is, the rocks get the better of light and flimsy tyres and superlight super thin tubes! With a sharp hiss my back tyre was flat! Cursing my bad luck I set about swapping tubes as fast as I could, of course when you’ve taped the new tube to the bike what do you do with the old one? Err… something that’s not very environmentally friendly (I still feel bad about it now). Rich Holland, closely followed by Rich Munro went past, Munro taking the opportunity to loudly advocate the benefits of tubeless tyres!

All was not lost, anything can happen.  I just have to get my head down and push hard. Average speed had dropped to 10.0mph and the chances of a sub-ten hour finish were seeping away. It wasn’t long before I caught and past Munro and Holland, but a short while later the unthinkable happened… Hiss… The air went blue!… there was no catching Rhys now and by the time I’d fixed it Munro and Holland had past again. Rich Holland had asked if there was anything I needed as he went past… good team mate!

By now the red mist had fully descended, average speed had dropped to 9.9mph, Rhys might be gone, but I hadn’t given up hope of beating 10 hours.

A piper welcomed us at the Newcastleton feed station. A good few locals had turned-out to spectate and cheer us on our way.  There was hot food and baking and all sorts of lovely treats, but not for me.  A brief pit stop to get some proper pressure in my back tyre, some chain lube and away… re-passing Munro and Holland as they enjoyed the food stop.

A fast descent had brought my average back to 10.0mph, it was possible I could do this, but it would be tight. After a lap of the 7Stanes trail at Newcastleton, your on the way home.  I remembered well the 10 mile section to the last feed station from last year. What difference a year makes!  Last year at this point I had to get off and give myself a proper talking too, this year I’m cranking the Big Ring at 15mph… average clicked up 10.1mph.  I was feeling better at 75 miles than I had for the whole of the first 50!

A quick bottle refill and re-stock of Jelly Babies, grab a few jaffa cakes and away, just as Rich Holland arrived, he’s still nipping at my heels!

A long and fast descent and the average clicked-up again to 10.2… I was in with a chance now, it would all hinge on how far over the 100 miles the course was.

As the computer clicked-up 99 miles, I rounded a bend to find the 5 miles to go board… the swines!!! But now on full throttle I discarded all the remaining fluid from my bottles to save a bit of weight.  A couple of girls marshalling said something about another mile uphill then down hill all the way to the end… yeah right, maybe the way they came up here in the van!  For us it was more torture on the rough-as-hell Kielder singletrack.  I confess I am rapidly coming round to thinking that a full suspension rig is going to be the way to go next year!

Finally I got onto the wheel of the guy that had been dangling in front of me for the last hour, we were into the final sections of singletrack before the finish. Struggling to find a way past him, until a few meters of wider track give me an opportunity to sprint past.  I fully expected him to be after me but he dropped back, finally rounding the last bend, through the narrow gate with Lizzie, Shonah and Paul all shouting and cheering.  Just a short sprint for the finish and I cross the line in 10hrs 12min 10Secs.

Rhys had finished in 10:01:37, without my two punctures that would have been a good battle!

Rich Holland came in 10:20:08, 55 mins faster than last year. 

Rich Munro 10:27:11 a superb ride singlespeed. 

Mark Williams 11:11:28 obviously still worn-out from Land End to John O’Groats and 

Paul Bailey was forced to pull-out early in the race.

Of the 537 competitors that started, 103 abandoned and a further 81 were eliminated for not reaching the check point in the allotted time. 350 finished the race with me 65^th overall and 11^th in the Veterans Category. This years time was 2hrs 3mins faster than last year… I think you could say a reasonable improvement!

As it has turned-out that was this year’s finale, it’s been a busy year that I’ve really enjoyed… A big thanks to everyone who has helped and supported throughout the year and to all of you who have kept reading the Blog. 

Many thanks also to Mark at LEDgend Lights and Dave at Infinity Cycles for all your support and assistance.

I also have to say a very big and very special thank you to my long-suffering Lizzie for looking after me so well, feeding me (constantly), staying-up all night, washing all the muddy kit, and doing all the unglamorous stuff that has kept me going… you’re an angel!!!

So then… 2011, more of the same? Hope so!!!

Cheers

JB

Garmin Data Click Here

Pics by Joolze Dymond - Thanks Joolze your a gem!

Sleepless in the Saddle

12 months ago, sprawled on the sofa the day after my first ever 24 hour solo race, incapable of moving, yet incredulously plotting my return in 2010. This one race has been the focus of everything that I’ve done in the past year, which has flown by. So it came as a bit of a shock to find myself back at Catton Park (near Burton upon Trent), setting-up camp, pits etc and the focus of a whole year about to hit me.

Rich Holland had encountered a moment of madness too and had also entered as a Solo, with Lizzie and Shonah able to share pit duties was great news for us. It was also a huge benefit to have so many of my riding buddies there who were also there racing in various team combinations, so any mechanical issues could be dealt with.

A good result in a race like this starts with an organised pit strategy to minimise any time spent standing still. This means that you need someone there all the time (even if they have had a glass or two!), with food, drink and spare bike ready to go at any time and the girls did a great job sorting all the food Rich and I would need over the next 24 hours. We had also managed to bag an outstanding spot for our pit about 200 meters from the end of the lap.

Andy waves at the camera

The start of this race is a bit different, leaving your bike behind the start line, you have to run a loop that’s about half a mile, pick-up your bike wherever you’ve left it, then you’re off.

I had promised Mark during the dark winter months that I would be riding this one for LEDgend Lights and I wasn’t messing about, it had to be a front and centre for me on the start line and this meant that I needed to be there early , in fact I was the first to claim a spot for my bike… as the commentator pointed-out to everyone else that was there!

Front row for Rich and I... No Messin'

2pm, the horn goes and its time to run… With so many people starting this race its really important to avoid the log-jam that inevitably happens at the first bit of singletrack, you could easily lose 15 minutes and that’s 2 free rests! I’m not a bad runner, but I’m not great either its not something I’ve ever really done much of and the pace was quick, still I got back to the startline in good order and Lizzie was there holding out my bike for me to grab.

Go Go Go!!!!!

The first 7.5 mile lap went well, a sensible pace, no hold-ups or dramas, a brief pause by our pit for a fresh bottle, re-stock jelly babies and an energy bar in my pocket and its time to find a pace that’s going to work for a long time!

The only way to approach a race like this is to break it down into psychologically manageable chunks…

Phase 1, 2pm - 8pm. – Let the game commence

This was the non-stop phase, bottle swaps and food re-stocks all done on the move.

6:30pm bike swap

By 5pm I was 11^th and had started getting twinges of cramp in my Quads, my knees were aching and I couldn’t understand why, I was drinking plenty and had only been riding a few hours. We needed to have lights-on at 8, so a quick bike and helmet swap at 6:30 gave Lizzie time to fit lights to the bike and helmet. The moment I swapped bikes it was obvious that the seat position had changed on the other bike (hence the cramps)… Two laps later I swapped back to assurances that the seat height was fine but it looked a bit tilted back, the boys lept into action and fixed it whilst I did another lap on the Maxlight… and they had all laughed at my seat height notes on the white-board before the start!

That's a LEDgend Light on my head!!! :)

Phase 2, 8pm – 11:00pm. – Evening Shift

11pm and 10th Overall

Despite moving up to 10^th overall, things were not going well, I felt dreadfully sick and lethargic. I started drinking water instead of energy drinks and that did help ease the queasiness but was conscious that my pace was continuing to drop and I just couldn’t put my finger on what was causing the problem. It dawned on me that I hadn’t had a proper meal since my second breakfast at 10am, although I’d been snacking pretty constantly it just wasn’t enough, so it was a relief to place an order for some hot food at the end of the next lap.

A pasta pot and coffee has never tasted so good, helped in no short measure when Sascha and Anna decided to give my legs a rub… this is an image that will remain in my head for a long time to come! 

Feeling no pain

My lower back was absolutely killing me, and had been since the first lap, I don’t normally bother with painkillers much, preferring to just get-on with it but Sascha insisted that I take two of her magic green capsules, she’s a nurse so resistance was futile!

Phase 3, 11pm – 2am. – The Night Shift

Paul, Rich and Anna enjoying themselves

I’d moved up another spot to 9^th,and with a fresh set of batteries fitted while I was eating and feeling lots better for a stop that was less than 10 minutes, it was time to get on with the first half of the night shift. I enjoy night riding, and it was a pleasant evening. By the time I’d finished that lap, Sascha’s magic green capsules had kicked-in and all the current aches and pains all-but disappeared and my lap times had settled back around the 50 minute mark.

Phase 4, 2am – 6am. - The Graveyard shift

Rich "enjoying" a 2:30am food stop

Probably the hardest shift to deal with as your body thinks that it really should be sleeping and not hammering round an XC course, not that I felt sleepy, but it’s the sort of period that just needs a bit of grit, determination and sheer belligerence to keep going. By 5am the darkness was starting to lift and an early morning mist had settled in the frost hollows. The birds were starting to sing, it was so peaceful, its amazing how your spirit is revived as the weight of night is lifted with the sunrise. The course is noticeably quiet during these hours as the slightly more sensible get off their bikes for a kip… I came into the pits at 6am for breakfast and the news that I’d moved up to 6^th.

Phase 5, 6am – 10am – A lovely morning

As the sun started to show above the horizon, I had another problem, the bacon and egg butty that I had been craving for hours wasn’t going down well. My mouth was so dry and I wasn’t producing any saliva so it was almost impossible to swallow anything, even taking a mouthful of coffee didn’t help. I felt fine but knowing how important it was to keep the calories coming in I was worried that this could be a race ending problem if I didn’t find a way of managing it.

Never struggled to eat a bacon butty before!

I had been riding for almost 18 hours and the only mechanical issue I’d had was my seat, then a twang from the back announced that I’d broken a spoke. These weight weeny wheels are starting to become unreliable (note for Kielder). A wheel swap at the end of the lap, and a few mouthfuls of food and straight back out.

Final Phase, 10am – 2pm – Cracking & Paranoid

I had been going quite well during the morning, moving up another spot to 5^th. The sun was gathering some strength and it was going to be a hot day. In the most part that was fine whilst most of the circuit was in the trees or had a bit of speed, but there were a couple of exposed climbs and that’s where the heat gets you,  I needed to keep drinking.

The strategy machine had kicked into action, it was becoming important to know if I could catch 4^th or perhaps more importantly could 6^th catch me?

With under 3 hours to go and I was starting to crack, badly. Knowing that 6^th was a full lap behind and 4^th, a full lap ahead (more of that in a minute!) meant that it would be impossible to move up a place and as long as I kept going 5^th was reasonably safe. But the paranoia monster was in my head… knowing that the information was at least a lap old and because there were only riders names on the board and no numbers I had no idea who I needed to be looking for. 

"Dawn of the Dead"

The last couple of laps chatting to other soloists, the common question would be “How many laps you done mate?” my cagey and paranoid response would be “not sure, how many have you done?” this generally received an answer of 12 to 15, it was slightly embarrassing to admit that this was my 26^th or 27^th .

The team assured me that we were fine, I just needed to do a last lap and there was no point in trying to get across the finish line before 24 hours to do another lap, just finish after 24 hours had ticked-out. The rule is that if you cross the line before 24 hours is up, then you have to do another lap. This makes the last hour a difficult place to be with teams spanking round as fast as possible to beat the clock and get another one in, and those of us trying to make this one our last, I just rode it like I had been doing and opted for a spot of judicious lurking to time my arrival exactly at 24 hours.

"Lurking"

Crossing the finish line 10 seconds after the 24 hours had elapsed was an indescribable feeling, I was utterly spent.

27 Laps, 202.5 miles, 17000 Calories!!!

Rich Holland decided against lurking and carried on for a final 24^th lap… the nutter, finishing 11th.

So I took 1^st place in the Veterans category (by 3 clear laps) and the results sheets have me in 5^th place overall. Now I think this is wrong, 4^th place had completed 28 laps but did not cross the line after 24 hours and therefore in my view, did not finish the race. Poor chap was carted-off to hospital with dehydration! Surely that means I was 4^th?

Either way I’m happy, and what a great result for Rich in his first 24 hour solo.

I’ve got to say a huge thanks to everyone for all the help and support along the way, all the shouts of encouragement from all the boys on the other teams and all the people in the pits helping to keep Shonah and Lizzie awake and sane!

I also promised to give Felicia a mention, I had booked-in with her for a Sports Massage on Monday afternoon and she made me feel like a new man! If your near Handsacre and you need to sort out wrecked muscles I would highly recommend an hour's massage there. Give her a ring on 07523 089895.

So then… I guess next year starts here!!!???

Click here for 1st 12 hours of data from my Garmin

Midlands XC - Round 3 - Unstone, Derbyshire

“The Good, The Bad and the Downright Ugly”

There are two distinct sides to the people in my life these days, there are those who, if you’ll pardon the expression, “take-the-p**s” out of my lycra-wearing habits. Then there are those that are similarly amused because I don’t shave my legs!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m quite comfortable with my lycra-clad caveman look… but I have been seriously contemplating reaching for the razor over the last couple of weeks, when you’re in injury management mode, hairy legs are fairly useless for massaging-in Ibuprofen gel or massage in general for that matter.

The last few weeks of ice, ibuprofen and much reduced riding, has meant that I haven’t been doing much (if any!) high intensity stuff, so I always knew I was going to suffer for it at the Midlands XC, and this was the last round I could attend and my last chance of getting a few more points on the board.

Just to help prove that Mountain Biking is becoming the new Golf… this round was held at a golf club and was organised in conjunction with the guys from OneFgear, and what an outstanding job. A delightful location, and a course that has to be one of the best XC Courses I’ve ridden yet. I had wanted to go to the OneFgear Singlespeed race on the Saturday, but I just couldn’t risk damaging my knee any more, not this close to Sleepless, and they would have forced me to drink beer, which always ends badly!

PostieRich and Martin in "his-and-hers" matching outfits!

It was a short but action packed lap of 3.5 miles starting with a long climb up the edge of the fairway then through the hedge and keep going up. A burst of twisty singletrack followed by a fast descent between the trees with some ditches and ramps to catch you out. A difficult and steep climb then led to a fabulous bit of downhill the A-line, steep and technical, but perfectly rideable and an easier option B, (no idea what that was like!) both culminating in a “Wall-of-Death” like berm which, I’m told rode beautifully, A hard turn left and back up the hill initially on some very slippery rocks then onto better but very steep ground, rideable, but only just. Another great bit of downhill and a fast flatish half-mile sprint back to the start… repeat 4 times.

The Race Commissaire was concerned that the start was a bit narrow for the hoard of baying “Old Gits” and stated his intention to have an orderly rolling start… yeah right! Apparently, after calling us forward, he would start the race with his “Big Horn” just after we turned the first bend, but only if we were in an orderly pack. So he called us forward and the baying hoard, as predicted, charged (in an orderly manner of course) toward the first bend, turned the corner and commenced the sprint up the first hill… I didn’t hear the Big Horn!

I got to the top of the hill in about 5^th or 6^th place right on Stevie’s back wheel, but I couldn’t live with the fierce pace and they soon eased away. Into the first section of singletrack, I caught a root badly and was on the ground before I knew it… the guy behind me nearly rode over the top of me. I’d done a good job in blocking the track so it didn’t cost me any places.

That bit of downhill through the trees nearly caught me out.  Whilst it was fine in practice, hitting it at race-pace was bit different.  I thought I’d just lift the front a touch before I hit the logs, but got it totally wrong. Launching it off the ramp, it landed front wheel first and rolled on the pivot point. Looking vertically down at the front axle, I had enough time to think that this could well the end of my season! Miraculously, instead of continuing over the top, the back wheel came down… luck boy!

From the point that we hit the slippery hill, I just started going backwards. At this same point on the second lap, a voice from behind shouted “JB, what you doing back here? You’d better get a move-on Munro’s not far behind!” Apparently at this I shot-off like a frightened deer. It was enough to hold them off for lap 3, but again, at the same point on lap 4… the voice of Munro boomed out from behind “Booookaan… I can see you!!!”, the boys were storming, and to make matters worse they were both Singlespeed (only one gear). Now I confess I might have decided at that I’d rather die than concede another place, and it did indeed feel like I was about to expire but held-on to finish 19^th with Martin and PostieRich line astern in 20^th and 21^st respectively. Postie’s secret training is paying off… as I said right back at the start of this year… you should never write-off The Postie!!!

The good news in all of this is that my knee held-up ok and whilst it needs to stay in intensive care this week, I’m a bit more hopeful for this weekend. I’m strugging to believe we are here already, a year of preparation is over and it’s the big race on Saturday. Have I prepared well? Am I ready?... No idea, tell you next week when I eventually get out of bed!

Race Stats/Data - Click here.

Photos courtesy of Rob Scothern