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.

Brake pads not looking too healthy after 2 hours of grit therapy

I arrived, signed on and headed out for a practice lap in what I thought was plenty of time to get back, remove warm clothes and sort out my bottles in the feed station but nearly half an hour later I was stopped by a marshal who kindly pointed out the time (9.50 with my race starting at 10) and the fact that I was still only 2/3rds of the way round the course. I rushed back to the car and hastily grabbed a couple of Maxim gels (starting to get a taste for the super sweet strawberry flavour) and a few bottles. As I got to the start line the Elite/Expert race was just about to start. I had time to chuck my bottles in the vague direction of the feed zone and ask how many laps we were to do before the gun went. As we headed up the first climb I had to check we were definitely supposed to be doing 5 laps. Bearing in mind I hadn't even managed 1 in 30 mins and the fact that the course was only going to get slower as the rain continued to fall, this was going to be a bloody long race! I tried to put this to the back of my mind and concentrate on the race. Chris Pedder ir rapidly becoming my arch rival in races and so it was again that going until half way round the first lap we were pretty much wheel to wheel. That is until he made an error on a slippery descent and I managed to get away from him. For the rest of the race I had Karl Norfolk (PedalOn) for company. With 2 laps down the organisers had wisely decided to cut the number of laps everyone was doing so I now had 2 left. All of a sudden my outlook on the race improved and suddenly the nagging feeling of not expecting to finish was gone. I was still with Karl but on the first long climb I managed to get a bit of a gap while also reeling in Harry Smith (Certini). This lap was very tricky because the rain had stopped and the mud was starting to solidify and and get even more sticky. I decided it was quicker to run one section about half way around the course but my decision was vindicated when I glanced back to see Karl doing the same. 'Fortunately', going onto the final lap the rain returned and the course got more ridable again. The last lap felt good and I was working my way through the backmarkers of other races but was definitely glad to finish. I am pretty happy with my performance overall and especially my bike handling which felt much improved compared with recent races. I am also happy to report that despite the copious amounts of mud and grit, I stayed chain suck free. Unfortunately my brake pads didn't fare so well and i was left with only metal back plates to brake with on the front which is less than ideal!

See, it was sunny at some point!

I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing in Devon playing a bit of golf and BBQing in the unexpected sun. Overall a pretty good weekend and glad I hadn't gone to Scotland! It sounds like it was pretty wet and muddy there too by all accounts!

My next race is the Rampage series opener near Checkendon but don't expect anything other than the usual formula because it looks like the rain is coming once again! Wonderful!