Well it's a Peugot Partner actually and I didn't exactly cyclo-cross the universe so much as cough up half a lung and withdraw after two and a half laps. Still, what a ride! The course at Stanmer Park near Brighton was really enjoyable - having been off a bike for so long, reaquainting myself with mud and corners while astride a bike with a very non-MTB standover height was interesting. As soon as I remembered not to use my brakes and approach each corner in the manner of a BMX bandit, things got better.
But eight weeks off the bike has taken its toll and I was cataclysmically unfit, despite the knee (touchwood) holding up and a nice new NS Bikes stem on Jake making him kinder on the back (and a lot stiffer, grrr). It's a nice project now though, slowly increasing the mileage back up to the start and then some. Going to race down in Penshurst on Sunday to keep things ticking over. And at least the storm had abated long enough to drink tea without being swept away. Well done to Phil and the boys at Morvelo who proved that skin suits are really quite special and make you go fast. Er ...
Bikes rock. I am super stoked to be back in the game. Even if I am last.
p.s. I would like to point out that EVERYONE was pushing their bikes up that incline in the photo, not just me. Fact.
