Two weeks ago was the first race in the Manchester Midweek MTB Madness series. A 6 race series which I thought would be ideal summer racing as they use relative similar courses to the ones we use for cross. I was taking a punt using the cross bike as they're billed as MTB races, get too tech on rocky descents and it could be a case of breaking me and the bike in half.
So, on a beautiful evening I put my money where my mouth was, signed on and put a practice half lap in.
Turns out any fear I had of having to emulate Peaty was unfounded and apart from a small section that had to be run due to the gradient and running out of gears, the course was a pleasure - I'd go as far to say I enjoyed it more than the course used for cross, even the short section of steps you had to drop at the end of the lap.
Race wise I achieved everything I set out. 1 hour of consistent heart rate at the top end of my range and pushing my descending speed.
Finish position was 26/43. I wasn't too concerned about this really as I'm aiming for good hour long efforts...
...and it doesn't help when you start 10 from back.
