48 minutes of racing goodness

Did my first race of 2011 last Thursday evening, the 2nd round of the Edinburgh 48 series organised by ERC. It went like this:

Cut up flyers for Crosslove on living room floor, run a little late leaving Peebles.

Catch up with Greig, Marty and Chris D at sign on, admire the new VCM kit, very awesome; sign on; talk tyres, squeeze tyres, pop a gel; admire the relaxed-ness of it all.

Nip out for a quick pre lap, wash out on a dusty drop-in out of the trees, manage to bang my left hip* nicely and scuff up both shoulders. Eh? Receive some well deserved heckles from Edinburgh Uni mtbers behind. Say helloo to Chris M.

Adrenaline nicely spiked arrive (un)fashionably just in time for the start; Bang! Go! Miss my pedal, miss it again and again. Oh well. Settle in mid pack. Move up a little, mojo lost for the descents. Can't blame the file treads.

Several laps fly by, enjoying this a lot. Course has real rhythm and flow. Sit in behind young Calum McGowan (U14!) up the grass climb, remember that feeling of going slightly into the red to hold the wheel. Briefly ask 'do I really enjoy the pain that comes with racing?'.

Next few laps get smoother all round, catch up with Greig, sit on for a few laps then nip ahead.

Briefly spot Dougie Shearer coming back up ahead in 3rd, but then he's away on a last-few-laps charge. Cross the line after 54mins. 4th spot. Very chuffed for first race. Greig takes 5th, Chris in 14th tantalisingly just ahead of Marty in 15th, looking resplendent on his bright orange s/s crosser.

Receive new kit from our DS. Head home. Drop crumbs in the car. Happy!

New kit!

Really looking forward to the final race in the series on Thursday 2nd June. Can highly recommend it for a laid back, fun race on a great course that works well for both cross bikes and mtbs.

andy

p.s. apologies for the terrible grammar, punctuation etc.

*graze still too sore to sleep on my left side.. hey ho.