South West series - Forest of Dean

It seems to me that this blog is getting quite repetitive. I went to a race. it pissed it down for a week/3 days/ 5 hours before hand and made an otherwise acceptable course a nightmare. I ended up with mud/grit in every orifice and my white kit may never be white again. I would love to stop regurgitating this kind or race report, but unfortunately, all of the above are true. The venue was different but just about everything seemed the same. This time around it was the Forest of Dean playing host to the Fully Susses South West Series race. Most of the top riders in the category had taken the long journey up to Kirroughtree in West Scotland for round 4 of the British National XC series but I didn't fancy 6 hours driving each way for a 2 hour race (which would probably still turn out with an identical race report to that above) where I would almost certainly get my ass handed to me. since I am no longer harbouring hopes of promotion to elite this year I decided to take the inconsiderably more humane 1 hour drive to the FoD instead.

Race Reports x2 - Hopton and Codham

Hopton in the sun, what a lovely sweaty place to be!

The first part of this blog is a little late as it is now over a week since the 3rd round of the national XC series at Hopton Castle in Shropshire. The fact that I am lumping my 2 most recent races together works out quite well though as it emphasises the massive change in conditions between the two. Only 7 days separated these 2 races and yet the temperature difference was about 20 degrees. This, along with a not inconsiderable volume of rain meant these two races could not have been more different. No prizes for guessing which one I enjoyed more!