Monday 27 July 2015

24-12

Having never done a 24 hour event or a five man team we came in to the event not knowing how it was going to go. The race was dry at the start but having not done a lap of the track my first lap was solid but not over rapid as the main climb came early in the lap, not aware this was the only big climb i saved some energy for later on in the loop. Some three hours later we were back out and pushed on a bit harder and took some more time off the lap but some slower riders cut my speed on the dh and tech sections. Come night time and i was starting to get in the mood for racing, With more skill needed and a run with less traffic i started to put in some quicker times and i was still feeling fresh. My second nigh ride and the rain was coming down but the lap was still quick and the team was all doing great stuff every lap. I got the call to say i would be needed to do the last lap, This time it was like a river out on the trail and we pushed on to make sure we held down second spot.  3 bottles of eye wash later it was time to head home, The Rocky Mountain/ Greenover team had put in a great ride and going 24 hours with no sleep was not as bad as i thought it would be and the racing not as hard as 12 hours solo. Big thanks to Rocky mountain Bicycles UK  for the support and making the trails so fun on the Thunderbolt. Also big props to the rest of the team ( Grant,JC,Bovey,Mudge) we smashed it.

Saturday 18 July 2015

Beach Breaker fat bike race

 This was my first ever ride on a fat bike and i was keen to see how the Blizzard would go. Thanks to sponsor Rocky Mountain for bringing me a bike to the race i was able to give the first ever Beach Breaker event a crack. The track was rolling and rainy conditions made the race fun but hard.
We got a good start and hit the first single track section in the front group, But passing was hard going and i waited a bit longer than i should on some parts and near the end of lap 1 i had fellow Rocky rider Mudgey for company, I tore up the next tech section and got a gap of about 15 seconds and after that i paced my race and was happy to keep the gap, We rolled in 3rd overall and 1st vet. Great event and my first ever fat bike race done and with a win to add to 2 top 10 crit road races, first home in a 100+ mile sportive, 4th in bikefest 12 hour solo and 7th in the pro/am off camber xc series its been a fun year. Next up 24-12 next weekend in a team of 4 for rocky mountain.