Brass Monkeys - Round 3

I never sleep well before a race anyway, but I was woken early on Sunday by the sound of rain tapping on the window. It was still dark outside as I started my breakfast while the rest of the family slept. Cracking open the kitchen blind, the first glimmers of dawn ushered in a day as soggy as my Cornflakes.

The hours drive to Deepcut was through a wall of spray and the rain was still falling as I parked the car and trudged to the registration cabin. It finally stopped as I tied on my number board and headed off for a a pre-race warm-up. I tried to dodge the puddles as I stretched my legs, but still got a splattered face and a stripe up my back heading down the hill to the start line. 

For the final round the top 10 were gridded and I felt a small moment of pride when my name was called. As I stepped forward it also gave me an opportunity to see who my opposition was in the race for an overall ranking in the series. 

The race started with a long climb up a wide fireroad. I seemed to be dragging a lead weight as I watched the competitors I had just clocked on the start line swarm away up the hill, meanwhile I was swamped by the main field coming through from behind. I would have gone with the leaders pace if I could, but my heart rate was rising and only minutes into the race I told myself not to panic. The prizes aren't given out at the top of the first climb. 

I'd dressed for rain and was quickly perspiring heavily inside my waterproof layers. The sun was even trying to come out. First trip past the pits I dumped a gillet, undid my jersey and even tried to roll up my sleeves.

Conditions were best described as slimey on the first few laps. There was a lot of slithering and sliding and taking of alternative lines, in the hunt for grip. The passage of hundreds of tyres, as the race progressed, began to push the surface mud aside and a dry line (or often rut) began to appear around much of the course. In these areas it was grippy and fast. However, there were still some boggy bits that refused to dry out. One climb in particular was a real battle ground. It was muddy and slippery, so you had to really fight for any traction or purchase with the rear wheel. I saw lots of people walking to running, but I did manage to haul myself up each lap, even if it wasn't very pretty or much quicker than taking to foot!

The whole race I kept thinking we were one brief shower away from a total mud fest, but the rain held off. My lap times were about 30min so I quickly figured I would be racing 7 laps. As it happened I had paced myself well. I passed most of those runaways at the start, that had gone off like scalded cats, putting several minutes into several of them by the end of lap 5. I was uncomfortably comfortable, still pacing myself through the penultimate lap, to make sure I had enough fuel in the tank to get me home. Before the last lap began I polished off a final banana, gulped a gel and then I turned up the beans. 

To be honest I was more worried about being caught from behind, but there was also the chance I might catch somebody. And I did! With about 10minutes racing left I passed a rider at the base of one of the final inclines. I reeled him in easily and was sure now I was ahead I would ride away, but like a gun shot cramp hit my right thigh. It isn't easy to ride around cramp, you need to stretch it out. I tried to hide the fact I was crippled and managed to limp along the next section of singletrack. But there were a couple of small kickers before the last blast to the line and they did for me. I had to stop and walk up both before rolling across the line in 3hrs 44minutes. Turns out the other rider wasn't in my age category anyway! 

A 7th place finish on the day secured 6th position overall in the Brass Monkeys Series. I've been 5th a couple of times previously, but I am now one of the elder statesmen in the Veterans category so very pleased with my results over the 3 rounds. 

I drove home in torrential rain very grateful to the weather gods for granting us clemency between 10am and 2pm!