Inspired

I made a last minute visit to London to see the ladies Olympic XC MTB at the weekend. I pretty much spent all of Saturday with my jaw hanging down near my knees somewhere, overwhelmed by the incredible volume of bodies going to see a mountain bike race, the atmosphere, the scale of the event.... I'm still buzzing from the experience, an experience that I'll probably not ever get the chance to have again, certainly not in the UK.

Since coming back to reality, I've watched both the guys and girls races on the (fantastic) BBC online player thingy and although the TV coverage was awesome, the cameras simply do not do that course justice! The only flat part of the 5km loop was the start finish straight. Everything else was gnarl.

At the total opposite end of the mountain bike racing spectrum, there's little me. I've been hooning it thanks to my boss having a week and a bit in the sun, allowing me some time off the road and in the office. Time away from my 'normal' day job gives me the opportunity to really concentrate on specific training tasks, by the looks of it, George reckon'd I needed to go and ride my bike fast, which is exactly what I have been doing! This culminated in a monster of a ride on Monday that I was lucky to make it home from without passing out. It's the sort of training I really love and tells you exactly what needs work.

It's a little bit smaller than the Olympic MTB race but this weekend is the final round of the Back On Track Bash. I'm leading the series in the Sport category and hope to come away with a win this weekend! It's back to Tracy Moseley territory for the super tight and twisty woody course, as used in Rd1. I'll be there with one of the Priority Express Courier vans and as ever, I'm extremely grateful for their ongoing support!

After this weekend it won't be long until the Welsh XC Champs then cyclo cross begins. CX this year will be intersected by some enduro events like Margam Madness, Oktoberfest and maybe a SPAM race.

All exciting stuff!

Si.

Olympic mobile pics below - so close to the action. Rio you have a big task to match this.

Annie!!

Emily Batty.  Superfly rider. Broken collar bone before she started. Hard as nails. 

Julie Bresset got the win.