[Closed] 2016 XC racing thread.

Cool....just rereading thread, think i was near you asking ADSH how the race went afterwards.Was you in London Phoenix top?

Yep that was me. I have to admit I can't remember seeing your bike and therefore your- apologies! Next week maybe.

I've just realised I've 3 races next week - Beastway Wednesday and Saturday, and MSG Sunday. Tough week!

Kryton - nice to meet you. Sorry if I was not exactly gushing - eyes burning from sweat and plain knackered.

Was a good get back into it for me - was a bit crap, lacked fitness and hugely unskilled. Rolled my rear off the rim on lap 2 and got a bit wild thereafter but last lap was good and I survived a crazy off the line manoeuvre by a rider that could have been nasty.

Bianchiboy - rigid specialized?

Hi Kryton
Yep next time,i think i will remember you 😛

Doing both Beastway races,not sure about MSG at Carver barracks,might do final ESES at Potash instead on the Tuesday after.

Yes adsh,that was me.....we spoke on grid too.Glad you enjoyed,next week too?

I did Beastway last week and hopefully next week. It was my first race in a few years but I wasn't quite last. Chain snapped in the bottom corner so ended up running almost half a lap. I think it was fun.

Yes adsh,that was me.....we spoke on grid too.Glad you enjoyed,next week too?

'Enjoyed' 😕

Planning on next week - might even break out the race bike! #noexcuses. Also may have to start harder and manage my slide down the field as passing is hard!

Although I will be in the middle of a training block.... #excuses

Despite a low turnout albeit with the better riders, I managed a 9th today with manflu on a semi dry course at Beastway. It was arm warmers cool but the rain stayed away.

Big day on Saturday for the Beastway season finale, with entertainment, BBQ and beer tent surrounding a full Reg A XCO race. Followed my Reg A XCO at MSG for me Sunday!

Good job,how was the bike?

15th for and 3rd Grand vet but as you say reduced numbers but didn't get lapped which is always good news!

Looking forward to Beastway finale on Sat

Nice one - and good to meet you.

Apart from user error where I pressed the wrong thing to go up that grassy slope at the start (sram vs lifelong shimano user) and went down two gears instead of up, it was excellent. I was nervous as three years ago my Ti hard tail beat me up around there and I hoped I hadn't made a mistaken purchase, but whilst it obviously wasn't full suss, it was comfy, very spritely up hills / out of corners and as I'd hoped the "new school" 29er geometry is makes the bike so much more manouverable than the Anthem, it really was a pretty awesome experience borne out by my result despite manflu - I'll be keeping it!

I think compared to the Anthem - also repeated in Internet FS vs HT for racing reviews - the FS does "suck" some watts out of you on acceleration, and it's HA doesn't inspire you to carry race speed around sharp turns. I will be keeping it though for longer - and therefore slower - events and social.

I'm feeling pretty fresh this morning also considering the illness!

Whilst I'm very glad it all worked out well for you I would have preferred a tail of woe that we could all have contributed to. Can I suggest you re-examine your performance last night and come up with some issues we can feel superior about?

Ok, there was a sharp right turn over a log roll and - as discussed with NJEE lately - as we all seem to have coordination issues turning slowly and sharply either left or right depending on whether we are left or right handed, I couldn't ride over it and turn at the same time without the feeling of impending doom as I looked at the nettlebed on the side of the trail.

100% inadequacy on my part losing me 10 secs per lap. Oh and I had one too many clicks on my Reba compression which I fixed mid race by turning the dial, and had no where to blow my streaming nose 'cept all over the trail.

Any good?

I think I may have to take over your mantle as this shows a disturbing level of satisfaction and confidence.

🙂

I can't remember whether it was Dirtyrider or MrBlobby who said "a carbon hard tail will be faster than your Anthem for XCO"

They were right. I know you can't buy speed but I've sadly calculated my Beastway results against other riders and on average across the series and last night I was 4 minutes faster on average vs my peers across the whole race - with Manflu. Only the bike and the Manflu were different to my normal prep process.

the rest as they say is up to me (and my new coach who will no doubt be beasting me in prep for next season later in the year :lol:)

Ah the highs and lows. Came off the start in 2nd place, dropped to 5th by the 3rd lap, then both wheels puncture. Fixed the rear with Co2 (tubeless) and pumped up the front as it seems slow. 1/2 lap later both were flat again - dnf, my only one this year, and had I finished I would have been in the top 10 of a Regional B.

Balls.

Unlucky...was one of those days,at least you missed the drenching?

It was so slippery,lost the front end numerous times but finished and definitely earned the pint at the finish.

See debating about MSG tomorrow...maybe bump into you there.

I can't remember whether it was Dirtyrider or MrBlobby who said "a carbon hard tail will be faster than your Anthem for XCO"

what did you buy?

A Vitus Rapide Carbon 29 1x11 with a BC discount brining it to £1377 from CRC, now upgraded with my AC wheels & KCNC/Mr Zoom bits leaving it approx 22lb. Its rapid but also very comfortable even more than I expected.

Mud Sweat and gears today - got stuck on the start but a massive crash in front of me which I navigated around (I hope everyone is ok, met one bloke who had stitches on site after being sliced by a rotor) but due to the cold I've had al week gradually ran out of steam. Finished 28th of 38 which is not great on a track I like (Carver Barracks).

A good day out for the kids as well though with jnr (7yo) come 16 of 32 in the U9 after two hours of coaching. His second race this weekend also and he's really enjoyed it.

Midlands XC Round 5 at some random place in Shropshire.

Shit. Both the course and me.

950tss in the last 7 days, -37tsb and week 1 of 2 week training camp prior to Big Dog has me wimping out of 3hrs tomorrow. I'd barely be able to manage Z2 and Saturdays long ride would suffer in quality. Feels like wiping out....

Last of the Welsh series in Aber. tomorrow, anyone else doing it? Pre-entries very low so hoping there's still an OK turn-out and its not an off-road time trial. Sort of wish I was doing the midlands round instead. New venue though so that will be fun, plus it's not actually raining at the moment, think the only dry race I've had this year has been at Dalby. Seem to have fixed my stomach bug but as SteveB predicted my legs feel like straw sticks.

Crashed twice hard on Wednesday and dressings have only come off today. No FNSS yeaterday or Midlands tomorrow, damn.

Right leg looks a real sticky mess 🙁

Fantastic course at Aber. Today for the last of the Welsh. Real shame there was a small turnout with only a handful in my race. Came last, got caught in back markers from the previous cat. then crashed on my first lap and it was a time trial for the other 4 laps, still really enjoyed it, nice mix of steep climbing, technical singletrack and fast descents 😀

Just got to heal up before the last BMBS at Cannock now. What's it like there? Looks like well drained and pretty hard packed? Ralph's over rons?

Bad luck.

If it's dry it's fast and scrabbly, never had any issues with Ralphs there. If it's wet, it's like snap based grinding paste and can be pretty slippy.

The natural stone is pretty slick, but the rest is grippy.

Are there any XC races/series in or around west yorkshire (within an hours drive of Halifax). Had a look on British Cycling events list but couldn't find anything. It'll be my first go at XC racing, so not bothered how big or small the race is.
Ta

Just like the Northwest, there's bugger all here bar a few mid week races in the summer.

steve_b77 - Member
Bad luck.

To be honest I didn't really push it, had a really sh!t week and not just because I had the sh!ts, important day today (thankfully resolving sh!t week) so didn't want to damage myself/ be a walking zombie. Been a funny season, not been motivated on race days after getting sketched out on a few technical sections, been riding to be safe rather than make places. Roll on cx season when I can forget fear and batter myself into a lactic mess 😆

If it's dry it's fast and scrabbly, never had any issues with Ralphs there. If it's wet, it's like snap based grinding paste and can be pretty slippy.

The natural stone is pretty slick, but the rest is grippy.

Nice one. Does it drain fast? Looks dry for the week after this deluge passes

Are there any XC races/series in or around west yorkshire (within an hours drive of Halifax).

Nutcracker series? It was on a good course at Catterick yesterday (google says 1hr 20min from Halifax). Last one is at Dales MTB Centre in 2 weeks but that is a bit more of a wiggly drive. They've done others at Sheffield and Richmond which would be near-ish. We've done all of their races as long day-trips from Lancashire without too much pain, made harder with someone always in first and last race of the day....

Midweek Madness was at Lee Quarry a couple of weeks ago - sort of opposite end of Calderdale.

BMBS sport cat at Cannock yesterday for me, my last xc race of the season. Great course, though the heat was pretty sapping and the lack of long climbs didn't really suit me. Very enjoyable to ride and had some close racing for some of it. Ended up getting lapped and finishing a lap down which was a bit gutting, especially as I hadn't realised I'd been lapped so was pacing myself and then got overtaken right at the end of the lap and didn't chase hard enough. Felt like my fitness was there but technically not good enough to maintain the gaps I was getting on the climbs/power sections. On the plus side, after a poor start (ploughed into a stump in the start straight) according to roots and rain I made 2 places on the second lap despite a small off, and made two places on the third as well.

Overall, not been the season I'd have liked results wise, while I've felt fit, mentally I've been struggling with being over cautious. Am just too aware at the moment that I now have a bit more responsibility (1st child on the way) plus a lot to sort out in the house and that a bad crash just isn't an option. Feel slightly disillusioned that the effort I put in to training never paid off with a reasonable result. On a positive, really enjoyed doing all the bristish series, all the courses have been excellent in different ways, shame about the rain for Fforest fields but been a great variety of venues.

Good to see 'Everyone' yesterday too.

Are there any XC races/series in or around west yorkshire

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/151761/Middleton-Park-Bike-Hub-MTB-Event

XC racing in Leeds next week. Which brings me to my post - I've just entered. Never done a "regular" XC race before. No idea what course is like. Got a heavy-ish but nice 29er hardtail to rude. Any tips? Basically, ride till I think I'm gonna vomit?

Damn, hard course at Cannock today at Nationals. The course was super fun, but the heat lead me to be cramping hard on Lap 3 enough to need to get off and massage my legs. Got lapped unfortunately and finished 34th, but I had a great time and had a lot of fun.

For anyone spectating - I was the guy dancing to Greased Lightening as I crossed the line on lap 2!

Urgh that was a hard race. Guy crashed in front of me at the first corner so I was pretty much last right from the go. Spent about a lap and a half trying to get near someone to race until I decided to go for an aggressive sit down in the bushes. Not recommended. Came dead last (unless you include DNFs), hey ho that's racing I suppose.

Was good chatting with Ferrals again.

Annoyingly the worst injury I got all weekend was from walking back from the van to grab gels for schmiken in the race, managed to sprain it pretty badly so I've now got a really nice fat ankle.

Damn, hard course at Cannock today at Nationals. The course was super fun, but the heat lead me to be cramping hard on Lap 3 enough to need to get off and massage my legs. Got lapped unfortunately and finished 34th, but I had a great time and had a lot of fun.

Very much my experience too, course was great, how they managed to make a course that felt like you were descending the entire lap is beyond me, probably due to the super steep ramps. I really struggled with that last narrow singletrack descent, just couldn't carry speed.

Never did clear the climb after the first a-line, primarily due to traffic. Still made places with my cx experiance of run-ups.

Unlucky everyone. I'm cutting my bars down, narrow trees and wide bars equals crashes for me!

Evening all,

Just a quick well done to all who raced at Cannock yesterday, was there as part of the BC team and I have to say considering the course was tough, hot and hard to overtake on I thought the behaviour of riders was very good.

having been on duty at Dalby and Cannock I have to say we have some strong talent coming through the ranks, both venues threw up some great racing through each category.

Hopefully I can come back next year and do some more.

Nice pic from the last round of the Welsh XC series at Aberwystrth a couple of weeks back:
[IMG] [/IMG]

Was sadly a poorly attended round as course was brilliant, well worth giving it a crack if anyone is relitively close next year. And for the points chasers small fields mean higher chance of points! 😉

Be great to see bigger fields in the welsh events as the courses are all really fun.

Just a quick note of thanks to all of you who joined us at the SouthernXC this year. We saw loads of new names which is great and people seemed to really enjoy the new venues, even if they will take a little while to bed in.

The series is all wrapped up now and we're busy planning for 2017 so as soon as I can I'll let you all know the dates!

Have a great cross season...

Cheers Adam - great series! We missed the last one but enjoyed the rest. Spot on.

Adam - great series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even all the pain stuff that goes with riding xc fast. Looking forwad to 2017, the veterans category and getting Luna racing.

Anyone with insider info have any idea when next years national series gets announced? I'm sure last year they announced it in July. Going to have a hectic year next year, and while knowing when they are won't actually change what i can do.. curiousity makes me want to know! Hoping Pembrey round 1 again!

An interesting day today at Mud Sweat & Gears penultimate round. After suffering badly in Torq 6h I didn't expect to go well, but actually felt better than I expected with such limited riding and an all-inclusive holiday in August.

Start was OK then got barged into the tape (apology was given later) in a racing incident on the 10% grassy climb which started the lap. Naturally then, I started pretty much at the back and had to wait/work my way around a few people. The ground was hard to very slightly soft so I'd made a good choice changing to Rons yesterday. What I thought was a fairly flat course revealed itself at race pace to be quite hard work with 455m of draggy climbing in 90 mins.

Ended up racing the blokes around me in my overall league table position and beat them so thats a positive, but we had a right ding dong once I'd caught them for 1/2 the race - swapping places, finding each others strengths and weakness and swapping again, it was excellent racing summed up by an all round shake of hands as I took one 1/2 way around the 5th lap and the other on the sprint to the finish.

Disappointed I didn't get the 6th lap in though, I just seemed to have lost a lot of fitness and pace and was lapped by the leader on the last lap, but we are where we are etc, due to not much riding in August I suspect.

Great stuff, and back in the groove with one to go to finish.

Sounds like a good race! My xc season is long gone, but been scoping a potential course to organise a race next year. Pretty flat and need to work out a longer route but excited by this venue, kind of gorricky, loamy bits, lots of roots, one cracking technical descent with lots of rooty steps and off cambers
[IMG] [/IMG]

Good grief. 33 of 44 my worst result. Wtf is going on...

Looks nice Ferrals. Are you designing the course?

As much as we can, working with what's there then need to discuss with land owner about new trails. Will need to build a bit I think

Major aim of 2016 achieved - podium at TIYS. 100hrs (25%)of training down on 2015 due to house move/injury/illness but a lot of lessons/racecraft picked up in the preceding 2 years was a big help. Did take a huge amount of willpower not to pack in from 7hrs on despite pacing very carefully.

No desire to do anything long again this season so plan is to do some XC before base. This is going to be interesting as all my training has been geared to 6hrs plus. People I beat over 6hrs nearly lap me at XC.....

Anybody doing Shouldham 6hr Enduro tomorrow?
Really looking forward to it this year just a shame it's rained all day today.

I did last year. It was a good course, did it on my fatty 😆

Sadly not riding tomorrow. It's still very wet where I am (about 20miles away) 🙁

I remember you on the fatty, looked hard going.
It's meant to be dry in the morning, it does dry out quick other than the far bottom loamy section

I got a dressing down yesterday, mainly caused by my explanation of 3 months "dry" during my base/build to Christmas. "For gods sake man, your not a pro, you have a job two kids and ride 6hrs a week, just ride/race your bike and enjoy it, and have a beer Ffs".

🙁

They have a point. Three months dry is no bad thing health wise, but despite cx season starting for me next weekend I still have a hang-over today (admittedly I wouldn't if I was planning a hard training session today). It's easy to get caught up in 'training' but I'm trying to go by the approach of train as hard as I can but not at the expense of fun.

Indeed. Maybe I've gone a bit too far - I can get my week turbo sessions in, a Sunday ride and have a couple of beers Friday to break the monotony.

Related to the CX as training thread, I just want to be better bur maybe have to except my place on life's rungs of the ladder and not get silly about it.

Xc rampage today at Checkendon. Its my 8 year olds debut race. Just loading him up with porridge and raisins!
Sadly due to crashing I'm not even sure I can get in the car let alone race after him.

Well that didn't go to plan at all. We turned up and signed on etc. Then sent the boy out on a warm up lap to work out the course. Only after a few mins realising he'd gone off on the adult course which was 3 miles or so, oops.
Mrs Weeksy was beside herself with worry, but the boy made it back OK eventually. With 9 minutes to spare before his age race.

Lined up on the grid at the front and flew off the line, slotted into 2nd place.. Up the first hill and holding his own, went for an overtake but the kid was moving out and my lad touched his wheel, no problem, they disappeared into the woods, so a waiting game then. Eventually the leader came through, I was shocked it wasn't my lad. Then the next 10 came through, uh oh. Eventually my boy came out, sobbing. Oh dear. He'd binned it on a technical feature and hurt himself. Result DNF.
Sadly, or happily he was still in 2nd place when he crashed, so obviously was running a decent pace.

Massive thanks to Crosshair who took him back out on the course so he could practice the feature he crashed on and gave him some pointers for next time.

He's a bit scuffed and bruised but in decent spirits.

but in decent spirits.

Which is the main thing - I'm sure next time he'll be a bit more savvy

Good on him for keeping positive. Lots to learn in xc. I'm sure his next race will go well given his pace.

My lot were 4th in girls u9 and 6th in boys u11. Notably they were disappointed to find the massive hammock had been removed.

Good on him for keeping positive

+1

At least his Dad didn't enter him in the incorrect age group yesterday, denying him the podium he would have got if he'd raced in it. What an idiot that bloke is...

Well Shouldham Enduro all done, we got 3rd place in Male pairs, my first podium so over the moon.
Course wasn't overly technical but physically it was very tough, slippy mud and loads roots to keep you on your toes.

Also at Checkendon. No punch off the line and some astonishingly bad bike handling under pressure. I did however enjoy myself a lot!

I am so bad at XC I may concentrate on it next season. How can I be so bad at a shorter version of what I do ok at?

It's different under pressure / at HR max. As you've seen by my 6h effort I went the opposite.

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My lad on the end on the right as looking at pic

It's different under pressure / at HR max

Ain'the that right! Passed someone on lap 3. Got more tired, he gained, the more I heard him gain, the more ragged my riding. All he had to do was wait for me to fall off.

2017 national dates announced
[url= https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/20160919-mountain-bike-British-Cycling-names-venues-and-dates-for-2017-British-Cycling-MTB-Cross-Country-Series--national-championships-and-marathon-championships-0 ]BC website[/url]

Hope to make at least two or three

Can anyone join in at the back? Not sure what the qualification is.

Anyone can enter open, you need a proper race license for the ability/open cats. Then its just gridded on series standing.

I really enjoyed all the nationals this year - although mainly because the fields are so small in Wales its nice to have more to race against.

Ok. I have a full license, so I just enter open and join he back if the grid (I won't be racing the series). Might do a couple then.

Last race of the "season" for me in Sunday, currently sitting 26th Eastern league and should maintain that or go up 1 or two if I have a good race. That's 7 places better than last year, lack of chest infections etc no doubt have helped.

Due to my shoulder issues limiting the amount of time I can ride its XCO only for the next 12 months, at least it's a focused training plan this year. And Battle on the beach of course.

Has anyone gone for the "Do you know what I won't contest the starting sprint on purpose" strategy?

The reason I'm wondering is my weekend training ride was 1.6kmph faster, 16w more powerful yet 1 HR zone lower that the race 2 weeks before. Obviously it didn't have a 0-HRmax start...

I'm guessing your training ride didnt have other riders impeding your progress when ou got to the bits you were good at though?

Also I think my HR is higher than it should be for percieved effort when racing due to the adrenaline of competition. I used my Hr to guage effort and pace myself on Sunday and was left thinking I could have gone a lot arder.

Also I find that whatever position I'm in by half way round the first lap is more or less my position at the end. Not being held up is too crucial in xc. I am rubbish at starting but I've only once not tried to go all out (Dalby this year when I was convinced there would be a big crash going over the roller out of the arena).

2017 national dates announced

Wasing should be good for the Nationals, it's a pretty good course there usually.
It'd be nice to race there twice next year if the Southern XC lot are holding a round there as well.

Dalby this year when I was convinced there would be a big crash going over the roller out of the arena

To be fair there was a crash over that roller just in front of me!

I'm hoping that by the start of next season I'll have bought myself a new race bike, very tempted by the Orbea Oiz. Any other suggestions for full suss race bikes would be appreciated! (although avoid things like an Anthem, I just find them a bit boring)

Has anyone gone for the "Do you know what I won't contest the starting sprint on purpose" strategy?

The reason I'm wondering is my weekend training ride was 1.6kmph faster, 16w more powerful yet 1 HR zone lower that the race 2 weeks before. Obviously it didn't have a 0-HRmax start...

As ferrals said, can't compare HR between a training/competition ride - thats why a 30min test is used for FTP/LTHR rather than 60min - adrenaline allows you to go a little harder during a race.

As to pacing, ask yourself if you are a strong descender or not.
If you are, then you need to get the strong start in to get ahead of any mincers that may hold you up. If not, then nothing really to lose by a more even pacing strategy.

I'm hoping that by the start of next season I'll have bought myself a new race bike ...

Depends on how much you want to spend! I'm a massive Scott fan so would struggle to see past that.

XC's taking a back seat for me next year, its looking like there won't be a regional series by me and impending fatherhood means i wont have training or travel time so I'm just going to do a couple of the Nationals and ride my bike for fun - which will make a change as this year every ride has had a training goal. And to be fair I'll probably not do any worse than I've done this year with structured training and 10 races 😳

I'm very average at everything, except when in confident mood I have a good start/finish sprint over 100m. But after the start I'm fading off the top 20 pdq.

I know I'm red lining at the start, I just wondered if I calmed it a bit I'd be faster over the course of the race. I guess the time to try that is in the C races over winter.

Depends on how much you want to spend!

The Orbea I've looked at is £4k so with a reasonable (~20%) deposit I can get that on finance for a pretty comfortable amount/month.

My only complaint about the Spark is that I've got 2 mates that have got one (one 650b, one 29er) so I don't want to look like I'm just copying them!

Shallow I know...

But do they have the 2017 version? if not you aren't copying you are out-doing!!

Haha that's not a bad shout, I've not really looked at how much the 2017 models are though.

BMC Fourstroke????

Dalby's a good example. At the Nutcracker I was off the line in the top 3 and then deliberately drifted back to about 10th as I assumed that those in front would be waaaay ahead of me by the end and I had no need to impede them and those who wern't should have tried harder. Nice relaxing ride through the singletrack in a queue to get the heart rate back down and I don't feel it affected my race. Not being fit enough did that for me.
If I'd tried to stay in the top 3 it would have blown me to bits and I'd have felt bad about possibly obstructing the front runners unnecessarily. If I could have ridden for a Top 10 myself I'd have gone for it.

Phew. I'm glad thats over. The final Mud, Sweat and Gears Eastern round today was a Langdon hills - the clue being in the name. As soon as I rode the practise lap I knew this would be a bogey round for me - a 3.5 mile consisting of climb after climb after climb, ending the lap with - guess what - a bigger climb! Ok there was some pretty sweet single track going down between the climbs but is seems to be over in a flash. So, not being strong at hills was to be a disadvantage.

The start was a grassy ramp to flat, around a bend and up a - you guessed it - steep climb, around another corner and up another climb, then into an A line descent with some pretty tasty steps to jump off. I didn't get my desired starting position as I was ordered by a Comm to start on the "outside" and I want to be inside, then again I messed up by failing to clip in properly, "sprinting" the first ramp up off the start as a single leg drill, before getting onto the flat and clipped in for a second bite at the cherry and made some places.

Then, its was suffering until then end, with the final climb of the final lap pretty much at walking pace with 34/40 only at my disposal - I was glad to see the chequered flag TBH. I did have a dice with my peers of league table position - one suffered more than me and I beat him by the end of the penultimate lap, the other pulled away on the climbs. My final placing not flattered by a low turn out 30th of 35.

Good to see Gaz resplendent in purple Oakley Jawbreakers 🙂

Anyway., its been a fantastic mostly-dry series, just need better legs for next year. I'm off to blow the dust of my bike, which as I discovered when I got home the rear wheel wasn't tightened up, thank god for through-axles.

Good to see Gaz resplendent in purple Oakley Jawbreakers

Not purple...black and orange but with Prizm Trail lenses

I crashed hard on the practice lap yesterday (front brake issue after mistakingly using bike spray rather than brake cleaner for a split second). Hit the tree on the A line descent hard enough to snap by front brake lever clean off...

Anyway, I still made the start line and was having possibly my best race of the season, well inside the top 10 until the Elite leader came past and I thought I was on my last lap. I pushed hard thinking I was done only to be told I still had 1 to go...it broke me and I was almost a minute slower on the last lap with some horrible cramp on the two biggest climbs (I also missed a gel and 2 bottles too so that didnt help).

Lost 3 places on that 6th lap to finish 12th

At the start of the year I decided to try and do a race every month. I thought I'd be improving by the end of the year, but it seems to have gone down hill a bit, or I've lost my way or something. It started with the Brighton Big Dog in August, I only managed just under four hours solo before bailing out. In September, I managed to get online entry to the Langdon Hills race mentioned above with only 5 minutes before entry closed. Didn't prepare everything until the morning which meant I didn't have enough time to get through the delays through Dartford Tunnel, so missed that one. Entered online for the 1st Gorrick Autumn series race today, but again, didn't really prepare much (other than putting forks back from service back on bike). Spent most of yesterday evening obsessing over some bit of computer code/script meant I didn't start looking at how to get there until about 1:30am. Went to bed at 1:45am, but partner's heavy breathing, too much bedding, and active brain ensured sleep wasn't going to happen until it was too late. Didn't fancy a 220 mile round trip with 1.5 hour race on 3 hours sleep so another £24 down the drain due to piss poor preperation 🙁

Just curious how Langdon Hills compare with Hadleigh? Haven't raced at either, but have ridden Hadleigh a couple of times (and quite like it).

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My XC training plan (rest, ride a bit of XC and do the odd interval) has paid off though I should perhaps say that only one rider didn't podium in my class.