Definitely surprised and also very happy! That is how I would summarise my solid top 10 result at Sundays first round of the Brass Monkeys winter series.
My excuses were ready before I lined up.
- I had a cold. A horrible bunged up, phlegmy sort of bug. Which was making my breathing rather crackly and laboured.
- I was also hobbling around with a limp after tearing both calves playing badminton for the first time in 20 years.
I was there to make up the numbers and perhaps bag a few series points. My plan being to ride 20 miles and see how I was feeling. My motivation was lifted by a real belter of a course around Minley and the glorious sunshine. I spun around the first lap, not really in race mode at all, just enjoying riding my bike around the silky singletrack.
Towards the end of the first lap I got the first indication things were going better than I'd thought. Ahead I spotted Elise. At last winters Brass Monkeys the two of us had been inseparable! It seemed we'd ridden every mile locked together by some invisible rope. As the favourite in the ladies race she'd started near the front of the grid and I hadn't expected to see her again. Crossing the line the commentator barked over the tannoy that I was in 8th place. A position I'd have been pleased with if in ragingly good health.
I slipped to 11th on the next circuit, but I was encouraged and decided to make an effort and see how long I could keep it going. I passed Elise and worked my way back through the pack of 3 riders who had passed me.
I stretched a gap of perhaps around a minute and then I felt the wheels completely come off. I redlined, suddenly totally low on energy, with absolutely nothing seemingly left in the tank. My legs were really hurting too. I was about half way through the race and everything told me to put an end to my suffering and return to my original plan of stopping at the end of the lap.
But that competitive side of me wouldn't let me quit! I decided to go back to how I had ridden the first lap. Not hammering the pedals, spinning the gears up the hills and not really pushing my breaking body too hard. It had worked at the start and to my surprise it worked now. The last two laps were mentally some of the toughest times I've had on a bike for a long, long time. Everything was telling me to stop and I couldn't see how I wasn't getting swamped by the riders behind, as I crawled around at what felt like a glacial pace.
I calculated I had an hour of riding left and broke it down into 5min bites. Each minute of painful climbing meant I earned the chance to enjoy the singletrack on the other side. By some miracle I eventually dragged myself up the final climb and nobody had caught me.
I've been doing less hours on the bike than the previous 15 years. I wasn't feeling well and physically I am a bit broken at the minute. Somehow though, I still managed to book end my 2025 with two 8th place finishes! At the Brass Monkeys in January and again yesterday on the last day of November. I've no idea how I did it other than pure determination!
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