Fair play to the Southern XC team, the course, location and weather is all looking good for the big day tomorrow! A practice lap reveals that the descents are scary fast, the climbs are a good test and there's a whole range of trail surfaces packed into the dry and dusty 7km lap.
Also, the Ashdown Forest is a beautiful location for the race, with the South Downs visible in the distance - kinda wish I'd entered one of the Saturday support races now so I could go and visit the seaside tomorrow! Instead, me and Niall will be lining up with the Elites for 6 laps of fun in the last race of the day, probably mentally and physically worn out from cheering Phil on in the preceeding 5 lap Masters race!
As in the national series this year, the addition of some top endurance riders (Ian Leitch and Mike Cotty to name but a few) will be a proverbial cat amongst the XC pigeons, it's gonna be cool to watch and see who comes out on top...