hanging...

What a great week. The sun finally decided to make an appearance and I managed another solid week of training again.

Tuesday I tagged along with the local chain gang. There’s some pretty strong riders around Cardiff so as usual the pace was pretty fast. I turned into a perfect pace for me to be at my threshold for the whole ride and 1h30 later I was suitably tired.

On Wednesday I met up with Rob and Dave and finally collected my new team bike. This year I’m riding the MKIII. Hopefully it will be a little more grateful then the Azure when I hammer downhill on the limit!

Thursday I decided to race. One of the local clubs promotes a series at llandow motor racing circuit. The track its self is not particularly interesting but it provided a good workout. There were 2 races a 3 /4 cat race followed by a handicapped E1/2/3/4 race.

The first race was interesting to say the least. The only ‘technical’ feature of the circuit is a chicane just after the finish line. Unfortunately it appears that roadies can’t corner so there was a lot of bad line choices and a crash on the very first corner. Things didn’t get any better after than. The next lap there was a massive crash on the dead straight, slightly uphill finishing straight!!! Work that one out. Fortunately I saw it coming and grabbed a hand full of brake before I ran into the carnage. My mate was knocked unconscious for a while, his bike wrecked and another guy hurt his wrist. So we all got a telling off from the commissar and restarted. I decided to avoid crashed and sat on the back for the rest of the race. I suffered like a dog though. The repeated sprint out of corners and to close gaps took their toll and I was hanging by the end.

So then I did the second race. After a few laps the scratch group had caught us and the race soon lined out. I hung on at the back counting down the laps. Eventually there was a gap and in the line and I didn’t have the legs to sprint across it, so I sat up and cruised to the finish. A good solid 2h workout though, most of it with my nose on the stem and bum on the front of my saddle! Enduro races seem easy after crits though.

Sunday I took the new horse for a spin around Cwm carn. Its surprising how well it climbs for a big bike, possibly even better than my azure. As expected it goes down fast!

Now I’m resting up for Bristol 12 on Saturday. Hopefully the last 2 weeks efforts will pay off. I finally finish university this week as well. As of 10am Thursday I will be free…