Thefford Winter Series 2012/13

Had a great race yesteday (4hour race 9th), really well organised. My first Thetford race, been doing the merida series, so the course was less challenging in technicality, but the wind and long drags made up for that, brutal is the word that springs to mind. about lap 4/5 the course got really sticky/mess but then cleared out for the last few and pace picked up again.

Nice to meet a load of guys from the Pheonix london club, a few of us venturing up from the city

Bring on round 4!!

As for tyres, defo going for something faster on the rear for next time, see if I can bump my placing up a little.

Round 3 was my first ever MTB race, I entered the Fun cat, and i can tell ya, it was far from fun! A hard slog for 2 laps, through thick mud and long winding up hills. Know i know why i never go "that side of the forest!".
This sundays round 4 by comparison was faster and much more enjoyable. Bomb pits proved no issue for me as done them so many times on my rides on the red routes. Only reason i hit 52mins on 22nd lap was a puncture on the flint pit that put me far behind.
Deff a series i'll enter again next season!

Really? I didn't think it was that bad. I have a HT too and just rode the bumps best i could. It didn't feel as if i was being thrown around too much, and coming out of some of the drops (flint pit etc) i was flying up the other sides! I only had real issues on the long straights, for some reason i never have enough umph to get any speed on these!

As for Rnd 3, i just slid in the mud so much, no grip on rear wheel, that this really did exhaust me. I almost collapsed off the bike after 2 laps and it took me days to recover.

The senior classes are the toughest, licked the first 4 laps on Sunday, got cold on my fifth and could get warmed again so quit at 3 hours after a 50 minute lap, still hoping to keep my top twenty placing hopefully.

While I don't arrive at the start till about 5-10mins before the start (because I'm warming up) I don't barge to the front, just slot in a gap. Over a 2 hour ditance and more ove for 4hours grid position (apart for the top 6-7 riders) makes almost no difference you'll make your way through the field pretty quick.

4th Round was good fun, some sections of the course were so fast! and others so painful, I preferred it to Rnd3 mainly becuase that inclined slog in to the wind on Rnd3 was Sole destroying. Another 9th Place finish in 4hour senior. Looking forward to 2013-14 I'll do the full series this time round.