I had planned on posting an entry with the this title last week after a not so good race at the Southern XC but luckily I held off as it seems even more adapt now! At the Southern, my legs didn’t want to go after the trashing they had had the week prior and all I could do was slip backwards through the race. I was left confused as to how my form could dip so much after feeling great racing at Sherwood. Having a race like that knocks you back, leaving me concerned as to whether I had done too much (having raced every weekend since Severn Bridge RR) or whether I was even up to it anymore. The trouble then, was deciding whether to race the first of the new Circus of Dirt series with two possible outcomes: dig myself a deeper hole or give me a boost of confidence and speed which I need going into Dalby next weekend. 

After a lot of indecision and still questioning my legs every ride, I choose to make the trip down to Bodmin. Not wanting to go to Dalby with any doubts in my mind and having Expert rider Liam from the club to take with me, helped pushed me out the door. 

The course was great (even if you discount my biased win mindset!); a good mix of singletrack and climbing. The singletrack was hard to get right but my concentrating on riding smooth seems to be paying off and I felt confident and fast. I pulled away from the start and lead the race to the end. With the heat I was ensuring I downed a bottled a lap, something I’ve struggled to do before but the CNP energy drink does seem to go down particularly well; none of the bloating, sickly, sweetness I’ve thought was the norm. 

So moral levels are back up and I’m now looking forward to really applying myself at round 2 of the National Series this weekend in Dalby Forest. It is going to be as high level as Sherwood by the looks of things, possibly higher due to the potential World Cup scouting. Tough but great to see the British series flourishing.

John.

(photo from Rob Barker’s Sherwood flickr)