Poor form but good course.
This race formed the second leg of the British National Points Series. Thanks to John Veness(Evans Cycles) who took me under his wing and organised everything for me... from accomodation to food and transport, it really helps having such great support in a foreign race environment. Thanks BRU !
Unfortunately, I only managed to pull an 18th position overall. I am not too dispondent at this result as my lead up to the race was far from ideal - London always seems to cause my training to take a dip and focus on social life takes an upward turn ... thanks to Willo, Rake, Purbrick and all the other Londoners, No regrets - its all good ! Anyway, i was suffering from a bit of a cold at the start so didn't have big expectations for a top result at the event.
The course was pretty tough with 2 major climbs per lap (far more than any of our SA national XC events- roughly twice the altitude gain of the Sabi National). The singletrac sections were very tight and reasonably technical with a few jumps and rooted offcamber sections weaving their way down the Welsh forests. Thankfully the course was dry or there would have been even more spills and pile ups.
My race started off pretty slowly, starting at the back of the pack i managed to work up into about 30th position after the 1st lap. The second and third laps started getting the better of me but I regained my rhythm and finished the race in good spirits managing to move steadily up the field especially in the last 2 laps. Here is a link to the official results for those interested...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2005/may05/premier05_2
Please send me your constructive crits so that i can develop an appropriate writing style to suit the folk that actually read this blog!
Cheers,
Roan
