mtbgregg

   I think its fair to say yesterday was a bit of a mess for me. Those who attended will know that weather for Sunday's race was particularly rubbish and the course quickly developed from a fast rolling untechnical trail to a slippery slog with many roots catching people out.    By Race 3 on Sunday the rain had reduced however the ground had deteriorated fast. This meant that after a fast start the battle of attrition between mother nature and the bikes was deeply underway. The gritty slush had caused my brakes to fail by the end of lap 1 which left me to fight for places in the single track and then put the power down on the straights to try and reduce losses.    Inevitably this caused me to have a few slips but it took a dredged out corner to bring me off. Fortunately everything was where it should have been apart from a cut on my knee. As I had a look to assess damage it was clear this wasn't just a graze, you could see bone! After 20 seconds or so it started to bleed bu

   This weekend's race was a bit of a mess although looking back it probably wasn't as bad as it could have been. Race day began with waking up at 7:00 in the Penrith Travel Lodge to a sore throat which wasn't brilliantly motivating.    The course at Whinlatter could only be described as an epic. Structured from the start of hellishly steep climbs which twisted up the hillside for around 170 vertical metres which were followed by a sketchy but fast descent back to the finish, I knew this would be tough.    The race began at 11:30 giving the sun enough time to really crank up the temperature. A fast start from my fellow junior riders meant that the sharp end of the field split quickly. I decided to hold back after summiting the first lap's climb as I wasn't sure my current form (thinking about my throat) would allow me to continue at such a blistering pace for 6 laps. The next 4 laps were paced but still fast with myself focusing on catching the next rider. Ultima

   Today's race went relatively well considering that a couple of days ago I had said I didn't feel like racing due to a bit of a bug. The first lap was a bit manic as the start line was saturated with fast Elite and Junior racers hidden in a sea of slower enthusiast riders. It didn't take long to separate out however and soon I was chasing the lead group. Unfortunately I dropped a chain about halfway round and this left me to catch up to a small bunch of Juniors. Going into Lap 2 I had caught up and even managed to put some time back in, I now had to bridge back to the next rider. By Lap 3 I had caught him, although the pace now fell as the hills turned to steep slogs in the rain, this didn't stop us from pushing on. Going into Lap 4 and after a bit of running I had created a small gap to the next rider. This left me to just hold this gap to the finish line. Photo courtesy of Ffyona Booker