Mud Sweat and Gears Round One Tunstal Forest – 17th March 2013
Today was my first competitive race of the season, I competed in the Mud, Sweat and Gears Eastern regional round one.
I came into this race not in top form after suffering a fall, which left me unable to put in any training in the last couple of weeks.
The course was nine miles in length and the female sport category had to do three laps. The course weaved its way through the forest, and was made up of singletrack paths and wide open cart tracks. The technical element of this course was not in the riding as such but in maintaining speed as there was several opportunities to over take. In terms of technical riding there was one bomb hole that tested my ability to stay upright in the mud, luckily I succeed this on all three laps giving me an advantage against people taking the much longer ‘chicken’ route. Overall the course was good and tested my speed and endurance, something which I will be working on ready for the next round.
I completed the race in 1 hour 22 minutes, with my first lap being the fastest, completed in 26 minutes. I came second overall in my category which I am very pleased with as going into the race I was not sure I would even be able to complete it, yet alone end up with a podium finish. All in all a great day.
In reflection I think if I had been in top form today I could of knocked five minuets off my time.
