Lessons from a first season racing in Europe

Travel.

It's not always cheaper to drive, even to relatively nearby races.  BA often have flights for £40 each way to Europe if you book early enough.  Booking a car along with a BA flight is extremely cheap.  It can be as little as £19 extra for 4 days car hire, it really is very cheap and always less than booking separately.  Often BA Club Europe is cheaper than economy once you've added in £30 each way for a bike bag as you can take two bags in the hold up to 32kg - very handy when two of you are travelling and you need extra baggage.  Plus you get a free lunch at the airport and nice food (and endless free champagne) on the plane.  EVOC bike bags are amazing.  Really easy to use, easy to store and once you get the knack you can get a bike in or out and built in 15 mins.

Races.

The continent has a very laissez-faire attitude to the marking of course hazards.  A little sign saying "caution" pinned to a tree could mean anything from a little jump to a huge rocky chute, to a narrow path along a ravine, to a rooty technical descent that would challenge a lot at a British national!  This makes enduros very interesting as I don't get to preride the course, only having arrived the day before.  It's quite funny really once you get used to it - I can imagine Kelvin going round hammering up a multitude of down arrows everywhere.  Some of the sections just wouldn't even be considered for UK racing, such is the abject terror the Sherwood Pines log hop used to cause.  Snakeskin Schwalbes are a must and don't even think about Thunder Burts in the Alps... Lesson learn there!  I wasn't expecting a 10hr race with 7000m of climbing to have descents which were quite so mental right up to the end and 40mph+ fire road sections...

The strength in depth of the Europeans is remarkable; so much more so than at UK races.  Doing a longer event and it not just being Ben, Tim and me at the front is really fun!  The fields are enormous and the standard very high.  It makes racing so much more fun even if you don't do as well as you would at home.

Tim introduced me to the idea of "Euro Bombing".  The Europeans have a unique way of hammering down a fire road, not worrying about the inevitable car, cow or tractor round the corner.  I'm a bit too aware of my own mortality to fully engage with this strategy...

The towns the races goes through come out and cheer you on.  It's awesome.  I remember an old man getting right in my face up a grovelling climb in the Alps saying "courage" just as I was starting to absolutely die...  Tim managed to get offered Coke and Pernod by a family having a picnic; lovely.  The overall atmosphere created when a race takes over an entire town for the weekend is incredible and not something we get to experience in Britain.

The feed stations are amazing.  Fresh cheese, ham, saussicon, crackers, cake plus the usual energy fare.  Almost always staffed by outrageously happy locals, they are an absolute pleasure and you get made to feel like a pro as someone grabs your bottle off your bike and refills t for you.

Foreign hotels can be fabulous.  We stayed in one near Houffalize, booked as it was cheap, which turned out to be next to the Lupulus brewery and with a restaurant in the Michelin guide.  Yum.  Worth having a hunt around on Tripadvisor and so much nicer than a Travelodge and a Beefeater.

Finally... Remember to ride on the right.  This is easier said than done when you are absolutely ruined and you drop onto a short tarmac stretch, prompting the marshalls to get quite agitated for your safety.

I've really enjoyed seeing bits of the world I wouldn't have done otherwise; it's why I'm doing a few more this year.  It'd be great to see a few more Brits out there!

GB