The course had a grassy climb to begin with, followed by a rooty section of single-track with a drop-off, then a short gentle climb followed by another section of single-track (my favourite bit). There was then a long, gentle but seemingly unending climb followed by a long fast fire-road descent with a sketchy gravelly 90degree bend into a field. I found the next climb to be the toughest of the course and after the first 2 laps I was making full use of small chain-ring and big cassette-ring here! There was then a nice, fast, flat section to recover on, with another flowing section of single-track at the end of it. Finally there was another fire-road with a short steep climb taking us back to the start.
My first lap went well, but I struggled on my second (repeatedly getting stuck behind the same single-track dawdler who would speed up every time I passed him on a fire-road, then slow down again in the single-track
).
On my 3rd I settled into a nice rhythm and managed some fairly
consistent times over my 6 laps. The dawdler passed me again on the 4th
lap but I managed to catch him and leave him on the 5th never to be
seen again 
Many thanks to the cheerleaders for their unending support, it really does help to push you on
I've posted a brief write up in the News section and included the team photo taken by Phil Roll on D2D and MSG @ Hylands Park!
I came 24th of ??
