Rapha Festive 500

I'm fairly new to Strava, I had been against the idea for silly reasons, but in actual fact it provides useful data and lets you have a look at what other people get upto, especially in races.

Over the Festive period, 24th-31st of December to be exact Rapha & Strava host the Festive 500, basically ride 500km in 8 days, or 38.5miles everyday, simple.

I started half heartedly on xmas eve with an incredibly wet XC ride ride in the Quantocks in Somerset. Damn! only 3hours of riding, 21miles.

I'd never ridden on xmas day, so whilst my family were at church I went out for a road ride, felt rough and couldn't stay out too long, 22miles, bugger!

Boxing day, after xmas day cycling chat with friends the challenge was on, festive road club ride, 50miles, still behind schedule.

Thursday, day out with the family at Longleat safari park, fun times ice skating, get home lights on, go out for a road ride, 28miles, windy and tired.

Friday, better weather and I had no plans, rode the opening section of a local sportive, very windy again but no rain, 57miles, getting there.

Saturday, torrential rain and flooding, no matter, miles to ride, unfortunately I broke my front mech and got soaked, losing interest now, 23miles done, 108 to go.

Sunday, I'd worked out what miles I needed and planned to get up early and ride before my road club ride, woke up to rain and gales, went back to bed. Got up and rode 62miles with the club, felt good despite the wind, got home and had lunch, checked the weather for monday and it looked awful, decision made, stocked up on food and headed back out, 46 miles needed, 47.8miles achieved, 110.5miles in a day, after a long week. 502.5km complete with a day to spare!

So 2012 is over, it has been a good year, I'm a UK and European champion which is pretty  cool, i've learnt a lot but still have much more to learn!

Gorrick Brass Monkey's rd.2

It feels only a short time ago that it was a cold round 1 of the 2012 Brass Monkey's 4hr Xc Enduro Champs, 3 short weeks later it was round 2. The venue was Deepcut Barracks in Surrey, a venue I know well after racing there twice last year.

After meet and greets with my fellow racers it was time to line up for the start. A wide starting line with a 200m sprint to a sharp right turn then into the woods, ever since crashing at the Gorrick 100 fast starts have not gone well, I hit the woods inside the top 30, but knowing the course I knew I could make up places quickly. 

The first lap went well, the course was tough,with few places to recover it was going to be a tough race,the single track sections were fun, and generally in a good condition for the time of year. I settled into the race and rode the second lap by myself. By the end of the second lap I had caught and passed a  few riders. 

The 2hour race started, but luckily due to the longer lap times they had started far enough in front to spread them out, which caused less bottlenecks and effort to pass slower riders. The third, forth and fifth laps were great racing, duelling with "Mr Consistent" Richard Penning for overall race position,  it proved to me that maybe gears will be good for my future racing!

On the last lap I passed through the pits without stopping, keeping my head down I pushed on hoping to catch a few other racers, to my surprise I managed to catch and pass Simon Lingard. After this I was glad to see the finish!

Another good race from the Gorrick crew and i'm really happy with a 6th place, the new gym sessions are making a big difference, and i'm looking forward to the xmas break and the final round.