I decided to leave the SS at home and stuck a Ron and Ralph on my geared bike.
The tyres held well although towards the end the course was getting pretty churned and something a bit more substantial would have been useful. The cassette and rear mech suffered from the clag during lap 2, although it was raining hard enough that the clag washed off my drivetrain again after half a lap and all was well again.
Since D2D I've not been able to train as much as I'd have liked so am happy with 33rd of 194 would be nice to edge a little higher for rnd 2 though
Well done to those who made it onto the podium, quite a feat in those conditions!
Round 2
WS2 - a.k.a "Eeh it were a bit chilly..."
On the journey there the car showed a temperature high of 0.5C, on the way home it was showing 4C, it's fair to say it was a bit nippy...
Lap1: Set off down the same long fire-road they'd used for D2D only to find LOADS of people already by the side of the track fixing punctures! You occasionally see the odd 1 or 2 who've had a mechanical straight off the line but there were tens of people already fettling away! I got off to a pretty good start, the ground was frozen and rolling well, it couldn't have been much more different to WS1.
Lap2: I headed into the 2nd bend (end of the lumpy singletrack after the main fireroad) only to hear marshalls shouting to be careful as it was icey. I'd not had a problem there on lap 1 so foolishly carried on as normal and ended up on my arse... At the end of lap 2 I realised I might be able to squeeze in a 5th lap if I carried on as I was!
Lap 3: A few more minor moments on the ice but nothing serious until the very end of the lap... As I rounded the final corner onto the start/finish straight I was right on someone's back wheel. I saw a chance to get a move on and take a few places but didn't bank on the bloke in front spotting some mates on the sidelines and slamming on the brakes so he could stop for a chat!!! I went straight into the back of him, flew over the bars and decided to stay on the ground for a while. Once I realised I was still in one piece I got up, uttered a few choice words and cracked on (Thanks to Mrs Tesla for capturing the moment for me...).
Lap 4: The crash must have given me an adrenaline boost as I flew the next couple of miles but as I approached the single-track near Mayday meadow I hit another patch of ice and had yet another lay down! Despite the lost time I managed to get back to the start/finish line with a couple of mins to spare and headed out for a 5th lap!
Lap 5: I'd planned to just plod round and get back in one piece but I was still feeling strong so ended up just going for it. On the start finish straight I saw someone quite a way ahead and managed to just pip him over the line
I really enjoyed the course, especially after the last round's mud-fest.
Final result showed as 19th which I was very pleased with but when the Timelaps site was updated I was bumped up to 18th! Also it looks like there's been a timing error for one of the people above me so I might even get 17th! So with any luck I'll be gridded for the next round! I've never been gridded before
Very well done to Lewis for a 1st place in only his 2nd senior race!
Was good to see the other TROG/GRT/HMFers out there, thanks for making sure I was OK after my crash!
Round 3
After a training-slog through the snow on Weds I
was fully prepared for the ground to be draggy and for the bike to be
sliding everywhere. As it was, Saturday night's rain had removed nearly
every flake of snow! The opening gravelly fireroad was the only place
with some slushy ice still standing!
So obviously all the melted snow and rain had turned the whole course into a sloppy mud-fest... Erm, no, actually It hadn't... In fact it was mostly running really well! The whoopy section that runs alongside the road was hideous with all the dips filled with mud/water and there was a 10ft-long, hub-deep puddle that spanned the width of a fire-road but other than that it was surprisingly solid!
We followed the quad-bike off the line as the first section of fireroad and the first corner were still a bit dicey. I've not been gridded before so I'm used to setting off and overtaking a fair few people in the opening dash, this was a bit different... I managed not to lose too many places before the first section of singletrack and it was nice to find no real queuing once in there.
I'd stupidly forgotten to have a pre-race trundle to warm up and it took pretty much the whole 1st lap for me to warm up. In fact I was heading down "The Plumb Buster" at the start of lap 2 when I finally started to notice my legs feeling stronger!
After rnd2, this time was reasonably uneventful, I managed to stay on my bike for the whole race so no comedy OTB incidents to report
My drivetrain succumbed to chain-suck quite a bit, some gears were
fine and some would skip like mad - obviously the fine ones were never
the ones I wanted 
The whoopy section by the road got worse as the race went on but other than that the course was holding up brilliantly given the amount of water that has been over it. My Nic and Ron tyre combo worked well, but 2 Rons or a Ron and Ralph would probably have coped.
I had another over-the-line battle but I lost out this time. I'd passed the bloke out of the final bit of single-track and held him off on the long head-windy fireroad but he passed me about 50ft from the end of the lap and I couldn't reel him back in.
I finished 20th, which I'm very pleased with, so all being well I'll be gridded again for the final round.
Was good to see some other cracking results from HMF and GRT. Didn't spot Jeff there this time, shame about your wheel!
Round 4So obviously all the melted snow and rain had turned the whole course into a sloppy mud-fest... Erm, no, actually It hadn't... In fact it was mostly running really well! The whoopy section that runs alongside the road was hideous with all the dips filled with mud/water and there was a 10ft-long, hub-deep puddle that spanned the width of a fire-road but other than that it was surprisingly solid!
We followed the quad-bike off the line as the first section of fireroad and the first corner were still a bit dicey. I've not been gridded before so I'm used to setting off and overtaking a fair few people in the opening dash, this was a bit different... I managed not to lose too many places before the first section of singletrack and it was nice to find no real queuing once in there.
I'd stupidly forgotten to have a pre-race trundle to warm up and it took pretty much the whole 1st lap for me to warm up. In fact I was heading down "The Plumb Buster" at the start of lap 2 when I finally started to notice my legs feeling stronger!
After rnd2, this time was reasonably uneventful, I managed to stay on my bike for the whole race so no comedy OTB incidents to report
My drivetrain succumbed to chain-suck quite a bit, some gears were
fine and some would skip like mad - obviously the fine ones were never
the ones I wanted The whoopy section by the road got worse as the race went on but other than that the course was holding up brilliantly given the amount of water that has been over it. My Nic and Ron tyre combo worked well, but 2 Rons or a Ron and Ralph would probably have coped.
I had another over-the-line battle but I lost out this time. I'd passed the bloke out of the final bit of single-track and held him off on the long head-windy fireroad but he passed me about 50ft from the end of the lap and I couldn't reel him back in.
I finished 20th, which I'm very pleased with, so all being well I'll be gridded again for the final round.
Was good to see some other cracking results from HMF and GRT. Didn't spot Jeff there this time, shame about your wheel!
It was another bloomin cold morning but the forest was bone dry and rolling very fast - I think I only saw one puddle on the course!
I'd been a bit daft in the days leading up to the race (out boozing on Fri night and eating stodgy grub on Sat night) so wasn't feeling overly athletic on Sunday am. Following a warm-up spin along the opening fire-road and first few single-track sections I felt a little better, but Saturday's tea was still sitting heavily on my stomach.
As with last time, we followed the quad-bike off the start line and the riders seemed more closely packed in than usual, but being gridded again helped me get a pretty good start off the line.
The course was a cracker, with a few pits (Tom's, Howe's and Flint), it ran down the MX trail (my favorite), through Rusty Bucket (my least favourite) and back up the Double Shocker (good for making up a few positions).
I managed to stay on the bike again apart from one minor incident at the start of lap 2; as I climbed out of Tom's Pit the rider in front of me toppled off his bike and landed on my front wheel, pinning it down. I lost a few places as people passed us while I waited for him to get back up.
I had a running battle with an Iceni Velo rider throughout the race (he was one of the people who passed me on the pit exit). We swapped places several times throughout the race and I found keeping with/ahead of him a good motivator. On the 4th lap I'd got a reasonable lead over him on the climb after the MX trail and had managed to enter the Rusty Bucket section with a couple of riders between us however I was worried he would still be able to take me on lap 5.
All was going well in Rusty Bucket until I got stuck behind 2 slower riders and just couldn't get past them. I find that section to be too twisty with too many hidden stumps and slippery tree roots to comfortably overtake, I'd chance it with a single rider, but 2 riders is too risky for me.
I must have lost a good 30secs stuck behind them and as I reached the Double Shocker Mr Iceni Velo had made up the lost ground. I had a good run up the Double Shocker and managed to keep him behind me which was just as well because as I reached the start/finish line Paul put out the "2hr Race Finished" sign so I couldn't do a 5th lap after all.
After two top 20 finishes I was a little disappointed to drop down to 26th (of 134), but at the start of the series I'd've been overjoyed to finish there so can't complain too much
The GRT riders got some more excellent results with Lewis, Ady and Wingnut making it on to the series podiums and the team took 5 of the top 10 places in the 4hr Vet Male category! Also Paddy got another podium (and I assume series win) in the 2hr Junior Male cat for HMF.
Apologies to Jeff, I didn't recognise you at first when you called me over and I'd just realised I was running out of time for a pre-ride so didn't stop to chat.
I'm just waiting for the series rankings to be updated on the TMTBR site now, I was 9th at the end of Rnd3, but there's some people with only 2, very high, results who were just behind me (it's the best of 3) so I'm not sure where it'll leave me - hopefully I'll still be within the top 20.
Thanks to the cheerleaders (Kim, Jojo, Blondie)
End of Series
I ended up 15th in the Series Standings!
