Gorrick Brass Monkeys Rd.3

I raced the last round of the Merida Brass Monkeys on the 22nd of January. Another nice sunny day with a strong wind met us at Aldershot. Having read that the course was in good condition I had fitted my fast rolling summer tyre, adamant they'd be ok.

Having ballsed up round 2, I wasn't seeded, therefore started in the crowd. the start was fine, moved through the crowd, making sure I didn't try too hard as I knew it was a long race! the course was great, almost totally dry and very fast in places, the hills suited me as they were long which I like.

The race progressed well, I was making ground and despite not knowing my position I felt strong and maintained a steady pace. On the last lap I knew if I pushed on I could manage a 7th lap, which would have put put me in the running for a podium, unfortunately 1/4 through the lap I punctured, panicking a little I inflated the tyre, rode off and it went down again, one more can of co2 and it sealed. I took off keen to make up the time I had lost, I rolled in 5minutes after the cut off, with my last lap being 5minutes slower than the others, would have been tight but felt strong so could have managed a 7th lap.

Finished 6th overall, happy to be feeling stronger and pacing myself well. No set plans of my next races, but might have a go at some spring xc races!

The big target is 12 hours Exposure, the national and european 12hr championship race which is on April 8th, scarily soon! must remember how to ride a bike for 12 hours!!!

Christmas, Base and Jay Bars

So another year survived, I had a productive bike riding christmas, getting out on a few nearly 50milers, exploring a few areas near me that i had overlooked in the past. Having a GPS has helped me ride to areas i'd normally have got lost trying to find, but i still try and avoid loosing the course line, i it doesn't have a map, so can't explore too much, i found this to my peril at swinley forest where i tried riding a route i'd found online. bloody hard on a 1 x 1" screen!

I'm trying to ride lots of base miles so i've entered a challenge on Endomondo from a forum i use quite a lot, it shows just how much some people ride!

I've been experimenting with odd shaped handlebars, whilst racing at Kielder 100miles single speed legend Dan Treby flew past me on a climb still sitting in the saddle, he uses the same strange bars so thought i'd try them. They make getting up really steep climbs easier as your body is positioned better, and i can get up climbs seated easier as you can use your upper body more. They work well on technical single track as you get more leverage. So far i like them, shape they weigh 0.4kg =/

Hopefully in the next few weeks I will get my official introduction from my sponsors and support then work out where i'm racing this year!

Someone sent me a cool suuuuper wide angle photo from a race, looks like i'm a small boy riding my dads bike, but i like it =)

thanks for stopping by

Chris