Saturday morning, opening my eyes slowly I'm instantly reminded that the night before had been a mischievous one, the brandy and junk food was sitting on my chest, none the less commitments had been made and I had to head over to the other side of town on the pusher to meet Richard and Toby for a trip over to Thetford. Out the back gate, legs feel good, weathers not too bad, I'm ok..... 3 mins later I'm sweating profusely and feeling like Friday night wants to escape back out of my body. Luckily it didn't. By the time we reached Thetford I was feeling better and after some fettling with Toby's rear brake we were off. The red route was hit fast and it felt good the whole trail was open and short of a puncture for Toby we buzzed round at a fair pace. It's worth mentioning that Rich has just treated himself to a lovely cube elite super hpc pro and my word! When I slung my leg over it, it felt FAST! It's been a long time since I've rode an out and out xc bike but this felt instantly fast and planted. Hmm wonder if I can find a couple of grand down the back of the sofa? After this we took a swoop round some un-marked single track to the bottom of the Black route then up the other side where we proceeded to have a razz on the beast and the two runs next to it. The main Beast run was as fun as always quick, fairly technical and swoopy, the other two were less technical but swoopy and uber fast. The last run saw Rich pull some sort of arse in the air jump with his back wheel trying to overtake his head and landing front wheel first whilst I was right on his back wheel, impressively his Lightweight Carbon bike didn't seem too bothered and the only concerning noise was the one that came from Rich's mouth! This gave me the giggles right down to the bottom.
The hangover part 2.
Monday morning saw me get up with an even worse hang over than Saturday, but I had made some strong boasts at the party I attended on Sunday night that I would be up early and would be riding roughly 20 miles, I woke to wind and gales with a dry mouth, headache and an overwhelming feeling I should defiantly stay in bed. But from deep within I found the will to drag myself out and try to enjoy the ride. After all the dry trails we had been enjoying lately, riding this soggy, windy ride was a drag, after 18 hungover miles I cut it a little short and went home. With the bank holiday weekend out the way I'm looking forward to getting back to sober riding in preparation for the rest of Mud Sweat and Gears. Just a shame I'll be missing the next round due to a stag do and another hangover.
