Tuesday was to be the last ride before round 2 of the Whyte/Thetford winter series at FR10 on the Brandon side of the forest, and boy what a ride!. After staying dry most of the day the rain crept slowly in, after about 1 hour it's full potential was realised, it came thrashing down, although down is probably the wrong word, it battered me from the side due to the brisk winds making the rain truly horizontal. I had set out for a shortish ride but the work out seemed much tougher as the wind was literally blowing me to a stop as it screamed through the air applying pressure to anything in it's way. What stood out most from the ride though was just how creepy everything feels when the wind is howling and the rain hammering. I ride regularly alone in the dark, on trails I know well, with easy outs if things turn nasty. But with the horror movie weather and some of my ride taking me to the most haunted village in Essex I found myself having some properly strange thoughts. It felt like the impending danger of a mad axe man or crazy beast attacking me was just around the next berm. Still, clearly neither of these things came to fruition as I'm sitting here writing this.
All in all it was a good ride and I'm feeling good about Sunday but on the down side it appears after giving my bike a thorough once over I'll be racing with - deep breath......... A BB which is on it's last legs, rubbing brakes due to sticky pistons (replacements still not arrived!) a slightly bent rear mech, a bent mech hanger and a snapped spoke, unless I just happen to have one the right length kicking about in the shed. But the gears shift so I'll try not to let it bother me too much, if I make it through this round I'll have plenty of time for tinkering afterwards.
Good luck and happy racing.
