Riders
Pete Crawforth
Andy Douglas
2 hour trailquest
round 7/7
What a cracking ride to finish the winter series!
Andy finally got his win of the winter series and the weather has got us in the mood for a summer of racing and riding.
The race had a little twist at the start when they issued us two maps of the same area one 1:50000 map which had points to the north of the start and a 1:25000 which covered the south. I spent an extra minute before setting off and marked the most northern points off the ‘south’ map onto the ‘north’ map. With this little bit of foresight I thought I was going to be in for a good ride and set off with confidence, since the check points where much more closely packed than normal I decided to pick a route which consisted of lots of in and out sections to collect the check points. This was obviously on the organisers minds when they were setting up the course since most of the ‘in and outs’ involved a lot of climbing/descending. The climbs themselves weren’t ever too bad but after 2 hours they definitely starting to sting. Repeating Andy’s style from a previous race I decided to ride straight past one of the points, only to realise to a good 1 Km up the road so was unable to turn back. Finishing on time with only a minute or two to spare always gives you another sence of achievement though looking back after covering 33Km compared to Andy who rode 34 Km and managed to clear it, definitely shows that my route choice wasn’t particularly efficient. ah well
race finished, driven home, showered and at the pub for lunch by 1 o’clock and able to get some sun bathing in. Quality weekend.
cheers Dark and White for another memorable race!
