Review of the year - 2104

I began the year finishing off the Brass Monkeys series racing my fatbike.  I lead for 2hrs but then racing a 28lb bike with 4" tyres took its toll after a few hours and I ended up second, which was enough to win the series overall.  Looking back, I've finished 1st or 2nd overall in all the years the Brass Monkeys have been going - since that truly horrendous first ever race at Aldershot back in 2009...  The season proper got underway with a trip to Wales to race at Battle on the Beach at Pembrey.  I'd skipped the first Southern XC race to do something a bit different.  I raced my fatbike to 6th overall and 1st in class to win a really cool trophy made from a WW2 shell and even got on the TV.  Next up was the first National in a boring field in Essex - sometimes I really do wonder why I bother.  Yawn.  Still, it was a fun weekend away with the usual gang and nice to catch up with everyone again.  The following weekend was forecast to be beautiful on the Saturday and fairly grim on the Sunday, and so I did my usual 100 mile, 8hr MTB ride on the Saturday and pitched up on the Sunday not expecting a lot.  Turns out riding all day the day before a race is perfect preparation; I felt amazing and finished 4th.  The next southern wasn't so lucky with the weather and I grovelled round a miserable 2hrs to finish 4th again.

The next 2 weekends were always going to be a bit crazy - Cornwall followed by Scotland.  The National in Cornwall was going really well, I felt great and was loving the fun, fast course.  Disaster struck on my last lap when I got a flat in the puddle of doom and had to run the final 2/3 lap, dropping lots of places.  The same thing happened in Scotland, where at the National Marathon Champs I managed to get 3 flats in 60 miles and was seriously fed up by the end.  A fun ride round Glentress on the Sunday with Big Al made it better though :)  The plan at the moment is to ride my fatbike at this race next year to avoid punctures!

My first of two double header weekends was in here somewhere - the very soggy Erlestoke 6hr solo on my fatbike followed the next day by Charlie TBM's Dorset Gravel Dash 100 mile navigation race/ride/thing.  Having won Erlestoke more through pigheadedness that anything else (I showed up and refused to quit), I was a bit tired for the Gravel race the following day, especially as my satnav had taken me to a car park rather than Chris' house in Poole.  Technology malfunctions continued on the Sunday at the Gravel Dash as my Garmin couldn't cope with following a route and so I attached myself to Paul and had a good ride round 90 of the 100 miles with him on fairly soggy, but rideable, trails.  I planned to ride away from him at the end of the route where I had previously been studying maps - there was a fairly long climb up past Old Harry Rocks at the end.  I did feel slightly guilty for doing this after sitting on his wheel (well, his Garmin) for 7hrs but that's racing I suppose.

At the last minute, as it was another gloriously hot weekend, I decided to enter the Margam Madness 8hr solo race round Margam's newly build trails and some classic old stuff we don't get to race on any more as the National XC laps are so woefully short.  The Madness lap was absolutely brilliant and I loved every one of my 11.  Brutally hilly (13,000ft of climbing in 70 miles) and quite demanding in places when racing for that long, it really upped the standard of endurance courses in the UK.  I won by a lap and a bit in the end.

The Southern Champs always had a lot of promise for me, being on my local trails 5 mins up the road and on a course declared by builder Isaac as the best ever.  It certainly was a fun lap, and after other riders crashed or got punctures I surprisingly found myself in the lead with Pybus and Jody.  Predictably enough, Pybus fell off and left Jody and I to fight it out up the final hill for the win.  Jody had the measure of me but I was still ecstatic to finish 2nd at a major XC event.  After this race, I had a little trip to Champagne with Nick and proceeded to eat and drink far too much.  I decided the best remedy would be the Summer Monkey 6hr solo race the day after we got back.  I felt surprisingly fresh and was leading by about 5 mins when I got yet another flat.  Having repaired it I was 2 mins down on Tim and this is how it remained for the next 4hrs - remarkably we matched lap times with each other even though we could never see one another.  Frustrating to lose but a fun event nonetheless.  The following weekend I was in Bristol racing mens pairs with Scott at Bikefest, unfortunately the picture fairy stuck again and I got 3 in one lap.  Completely fed up, we packed up and went home as I decided I'd rather save myself for another race the following weekend - the National at Margam.  I was there on a field trip with the kids and managed to squeeze in the race - unfortunately I felt dreadful and hated the lap.  After riding there at Madness earlier in the year I had high hopes, but sadly the silly short laps meant we missed all the fun bits and rode at 2mph though rhododendron bushes.  Being rather lanky, I didn't really fit through the trails.  Still, I rolled round and finished.

A highlight of the year was Mountain Mayhem; for once we were blessed with amazing weather, bone dry and fast trails and a really competitive race against Pivot, that we ended up losing by 90 seconds over 24hrs.  Truly insanely close after that long and one that will stay in the memory for a long time.  Plus we met Princess Anne again.  Next up were the Nat Champs at Hopton.  I have really enjoyed racing there in previous years, but was skeptical after I'd heard the laps were again being cut short.  A real shame as the full 25 mins lap there is awesome.  After having practiced on my spare bike due to the weather being a tad thundery, I decided to retire my ti Ala Carte and transfer the bits over to this frame.  It made an instant difference riding a bike which is designed for the size of wheels fitted to it and also with modern bolt-through axles and a tapered steerer tube. I felt good in the race, did my bit encouraging Isaac as he overtook me and got a decent result, so another fun weekend away with the gang.  From Hopton it was off to Barbados for 2 weeks to meet Nicky as her sports tour had just finished out there.  After my holiday, I got back and started preparing for the Brighton Big Dog 6hr solo.  This was the event I'd most wanted to win all year, but with the usual suspects (Ben, Ian and Tim) also entered I knew it was going to be a close race.  The lap was back to its previous best and linked up a lot of fast, fun trails in a hard and hilly lap.  I started badly, not feeling great and eventually stopped and fiddled with my bike setup a bit.  This, along with some energy gels and Haribo, seemed to do the trick and I closed the gap to Ben and Ian from 8mins to only 2mins on the final lap.  I passed Ian for 2nd place on the final descent as he mended a flat, a real shame for him after riding strongly all race, but after my puncture issues this year I felt I deserved a bit of luck for a change!  The day after Big Dog was the National in Cannock, so doing the logical thing I drove from Brighton to Bimingham, raced my fatbike riding the course blind and met my 2 goals of don't get lapped and don't finish last.  I think I also made a lot of people smile.

To wind down the season I had the Torq 12:12 in a 3 man team with Nick and Phil, which we won, followed by D2D in a mens pair with Paddy, which we also won although this was a true race-long battle against Tom and Andy - great to ride with such a skilful and quick rider as Paddy - he certainly has a lot of potential in endurance racing as he's still only doing his A levels...  Hopefully he'll stick at it and not get distracted by lager, girls or, worse, road racing.  I've just won the first two 4hr Brass Monkeys of the 2014-15 season and so that's a great way to close out what has been an amazing year.  I finally logged 10,000+ miles on my Garmin and have done some incredible events.  As I move onto Pivot for 2015 I can only hope the list below is as long at the end of next season!

1st Brass Monkey 4hr 2013-14 series overall

1st Battle on the Beach - fatbike

1st Erlestoke 6hr solo

1st  Dorset Gravel Dash 100

1st D2D mens' pairs

1st Torq 12:12 3 man team

1st Margam Madness 8hr solo

2nd Southern Champs Elite men

2nd 4 man team Mountain Mayhem

2nd Southern XC Elite series overall

2nd Summer Monkey 6hr solo

2nd Brighton Big Dog 6hr solo

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