BMBS Rd4

BMBS Round 4 and a return to Crow Hill a venue I raced at around a month ago as part of the Southern xc series. Thankfully the race on saturday was soooo much better. The weather of course helped with temperatures hitting the high twenties and not a cloud in the sky summer had truly arrived in the new forest. This helped the course as it became faster and 'flowed' better than before. The roots were still there but the 90mm of travel from my Koncept cushioned me from the worst and gave great traction. Gridded on the second row I made a good start and slipped into 6th going into the first singletrack, this was quickly 5th as Darryl Upton lost it on some nasty roots allowing me to nip past. I managed to maintain contact just off the back of the leading group (2nd-4th) as Martin Delves did his now trademark disappearing act at the front of the race! Passing some of the junior riders on the 3rd lap the elastic which I seemed to be hanging from finally snapped and I was dropped by the group. I now had to get my head down and try and pace myself without going into the red too much, this is obviously the only reason I didn't jump on Liam Killeen's wheel as he passed me on his way to the Elite race win! I was feeling ok with the legs only starting to tighten up on the last lap and I could finally relax up the last grass climb as no one was close enough to catch me. 5th only 3min 52 sec off the winner is by far my best result of the year and I still feel improvements can be made so watch this space. Once again a few thanks, Ian for the training plan, Richard Wood for the pics and Nat for support, patience and feeding me!

Next up is the national champs in Scotland where I have been promised a 'proper' course by Steve! Lets hope going that far north I survive and live to tell the tale.......