I have not ridden my bike since Wales because of a sore throat/cold so I had no great expectations going into Sunday’s Southern XC Championships. The thought of racing had kept me going all week long but when I was struggling to speak on Sunday morning I did question whether it was wise. After a couple of Strepsils and a gentle reccy lap I was starting to feel a bit better but how my legs would react after a week of 0 exercise was still a mystery.
After weeks of miserable rain we were gifted a couple of days of sun which did wonders for the course to the point that it was dry and dusty for almost the whole lap. Thank God for that is all I can say because this could have been a full on bog slog if things had gone the other way. Much of the course is loamy soil with exposed roots which have a habit of becoming unridable very quickly. The course was very similar to previous years with a slightly reworked, and less to my liking, start and a new near-vertical drop-in by the lakes.
