MTB Race Nights

And the award for the tightest, twistiest singletrack at an XC race (yep, even beating the Focus Hocus Pocus at OSMM) this year goes to... (drum roll please) MTB Race Nights Round 3 at Cotgrave Country Park! Riser bars or flat bars & bar ends, what's the lesser of two evils?

Anyway, when 90 minutes before the start you realise you're in the wrong city and should have paid more attention to the announcer on the train than the newspaper you've been reading (who said travelling by train to races is easier than driving?). And when 10 minutes before the start you still haven't found the venue, clipping a few trees on the first lap doesn't matter. It's finally stopped raining and I'm getting my Friday racing fix!

A big thankyou then to the organisers Sherwood CC for letting me sign on 5 minutes before the start! This format of racing is really at the mercy of the weather so rider numbers were unsurprisingly lower than expected, but those of us foolish or addicted enough to make the trip were treated to a well organised, marked, marshalled and fun race for our eight quid. The compact lap gave you several opportunities to watch top local cyclocrossers Ben Eedy (South Pennine RC) and Chris Metcalfe (Matlock CC) disappear up the road as they floated over the sticky mud and carved through the slippy mud (on their mtb's mind) as the rest of us on our summer tyres (I wasn't the only one was I?) careered around out of control at the back.

The locations for this series allowed all the Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire riders who can't get to the FNSS in time a chance for a blast round, so fingers crossed it'll be back next year because it's definitely worth checking out.

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