British Cycling Mountainbike Series - Round 1, Sherwood Pines

   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 but thankfully a couple of spectators helped me out by taking my bike and getting a medic. Soon I was whisked off to the first aid tent where I was told I'd have to go to hospital for stitches.
   A fair bit of scrubbing and jabbing followed and it was as clean as it was going to get, after 12 stitches I was sent on my way. The only real pain at the moment is bruising but I can walk so it's not too bad! I should be back to normal in 2 weeks.

   Thanks to everyone who helped me get sorted yesterday, you made the process a lot more comfortable however my thoughts are with the other casualties of the race.

   I've left photos lower down this post so if you don't want to see, don't scroll down!

Quick bandage to stop the bleeding!



Before.

After.