In the week following my win at the Rampage Series opener we actually had some pretty nice weather so I forced myself to commute by bike to make the most of it, and managed to fit in some lovely sprint intervals too. Never fun but hopefully they make a difference come race day. Sunday was the final round of the Southern XC series at Frith Hill and with a weather forecast that could go either way I was trying to be positive and hoping for a dry race. This venue is traditionally used by Gorrick in the pre-season races so on arrival I was struggling to get myself in the competitive mind set. The fairly torrential rain shower just as I was driving down the entrance road didn't help my motivation either.
Once on the start line it was obvious this was not just a Gorrick with a number of the promotion hopefuls filling out the front row. From the start I felt really strong, making up a number of places before the first singletrack section and I was still managing to hold on to the coat tails of the leaders after a few minutes. Paul Brenan then burst my bubble. Since I have had the better of Paul for the majority of the season I was more than a little surprised to see him coming past me at this point and was determined he was not going to get away from me. One of the leaders had a crash on the exit of a bomb hole causing a small hold up which was the last I would see of the top 3. On the climb up towards the arena a couple of guys slipped by me and although I couldn't keep up with Chris Peddar I managed to get on the wheel of Ryan Keynes and ahead of Paul. For the next 3 laps I had a close battle with Ryan while Paul yo-yoed off the back of us. The course was drying out nicely meaning you could hit the descents harder and faster with each passing lap. It was a nice change to the 'gently does-it' aproach I have had to adopt for the majority of the summer. On the final lap I pushed hard on a couple of short climbs which was enough to distance Ryan slightly and I crossed the finish line with about a 30 second advantage in 7th.
On reflection the race was a bit of an odd one. I felt good and my lap times were consistent but considering I put 6 minutes into Ryan last weekend I feel like I should have done better. As is the way with this season, I don't have to wait long to try to put it right again. Next weekend is the 2nd Rampage race so I will be aiming for another win there. Unfortunately my planned foray into road racing will have to wait as I was not quick enough to snap up one of the 75 places in the Oakley Village Road Race on Saturday.
Once on the start line it was obvious this was not just a Gorrick with a number of the promotion hopefuls filling out the front row. From the start I felt really strong, making up a number of places before the first singletrack section and I was still managing to hold on to the coat tails of the leaders after a few minutes. Paul Brenan then burst my bubble. Since I have had the better of Paul for the majority of the season I was more than a little surprised to see him coming past me at this point and was determined he was not going to get away from me. One of the leaders had a crash on the exit of a bomb hole causing a small hold up which was the last I would see of the top 3. On the climb up towards the arena a couple of guys slipped by me and although I couldn't keep up with Chris Peddar I managed to get on the wheel of Ryan Keynes and ahead of Paul. For the next 3 laps I had a close battle with Ryan while Paul yo-yoed off the back of us. The course was drying out nicely meaning you could hit the descents harder and faster with each passing lap. It was a nice change to the 'gently does-it' aproach I have had to adopt for the majority of the summer. On the final lap I pushed hard on a couple of short climbs which was enough to distance Ryan slightly and I crossed the finish line with about a 30 second advantage in 7th. 
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