It's been a couple of days since I've come back from North Yorkshire, yet I'm still finding soggy socks in the bottom of kit bags, grit in my ears and bits of bike that are seized up needing some TLC. I'd been told Dalby Forest was a bike eater of a course and from now on I will relay that message to anyone who asks!
Saturday practice brought us some bright and beautiful blue sky, at least, that's what we woke up to at our lodge a few miles from the race venue. Half way through our first practice lap, the clouds rolled in and gave us a massive, Welsh style beating with hail like marbles and rain that went straight through our 'waterproofs'. We ploughed on to complete a second practice lap avoiding the A-lines and playing it safe on the B-lines!
Race day Sunday greeted us with overcast greyness but no rain. A quick drive up to the forest revelled no falling watery stuff, but a thoroughly soggy course! I stayed in the van for as long as possible and did a really short but fast warm up on the road, keeping my bike away from the abrasive dirt, again, playing it safe! As the Ladies had been on the race course earlier in the day, the arena area was pretty messy and the rest of the circuit was wet and muddy but not boggy - it's that standard trail centre hard pack and considering the number of wheels that had rolled through by the time I got there, stood up well to our abuse!
Keeping it safe during the race with only the one spill was what I think did it for me. I'm really happy with my 4th spot in Sport and this race has really hammered home some pointers for me to work on. The longer than normal total race time probably worked in my favour and I really got to make up some time by nailing the sketchy bits and putting some power down where traction would allow! That near podium finish has also boosted me to within the top 10 in the Sport rankings, meaning that promotion to Expert next year is a bit closer!
Kinda hard to keep my ramblings brief this week but I had such an awesome weekend of immersion into racing bikes (my favourite thing) and getting disgustingly muddy (my second favourite thing), I had to go on a bit! Before I sign off I'll say a big thank you to the CCW crew for their company and guidance and another thank you to my supporters Bike Shed Wales and Priority Express Couriers.
YEAH SIMON! 4th place is the best place! I got 4th last year in sport and this year in Expert! IT was one testing course, good effort! I remember seeing you now but forgot to pop over and say hello! Keep up the good work, shall see you at the next round no doubt!
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