Felt Colbornes Team

Saturday the 15th saw the coming together of the Big Dog’s of Cycling. Magnus Backstead,  Yanto Barker and the Big Dog Himself….Me! For the Brighton Big Dog Mountain bike race.

Pairing up with the local Caravan expert of the Cycling world, Paul Hopkins of BMV Leisure….plug… We competed in the 6hr Pair. The course was excellent, great climbing, amazing single track and dry! With an MTB Jumble from Retro bike, cakes and propercoffee the event was a true mountain bike festival with a great atmosphere.

The Race! Paul started and came through in 2ndplace not far down off 1st. We pushed on with one lap on, one lap off for the duration, taking the lead on lap two and building on it. We finished 1st and just missed out on clocking up another lap come the finish….a great day out. We cleaned up, packed up and got some chicken from the Barbecue before the prize presentation. A great effort for the ceremony, podium girls, goodie bags and sparkly stuff, you had to make the most of it! Also over the course of the day, I picked up the prize for thr fastest lap and received a very nice model sterling engine which has kept the office amused this week and the kettle on permanent tea duty! 

So, rosette in hand, I am now the official “Big Dog” of Brighton….. Life’s complete.

Will deffinatly return next year: http://www.brightonbigdog.com/

With the speed in which times seems to tick of late, it feels like I’ve been racing and living at 100mph… Where do I start!

The 27th of June, a sunny Saturday morning, in a peaceful part of the new forest, bliss… Then the gun went! Round four of the national Mountain bike series was a go…. Seven laps of the fast, dry course entertained. With a total of 5 SIS smart gels my rocket fueled performance stunned even me! Pushing to the line and finishing 6th, a great result! UCI points and cash to boot!

It’s all about preparation…apparently! The Toucham House Grand Prix road race on the 2ndof August was on the back of an already long weekend of training….in vino consumption! Justin, John, Lee and myself traveled down to Canterbury looking to contend for the £1000 1st place prize. With a pot like that though, so had most of the other “Big Guns” of the UK scene. The Race was punchy from the start, with a great rolling course wand only two little climbs, the laps felt as if the course had more negative flat that up. Perfect! We had some guys in all the breaks, while I sat comfortable in the bunch trying to shake the hang over and eating most of my energy products, well, Haribo. Into the last 20 miles I started to feel fruity and made my way to the front of the pack, just in time to make it into a break, the break! working hard we opened some healthy time into the pack, with the help of the remain (Just Justin, the others felt tired and pulled out!) felt boys covering, the break held! Coming to the line my legs broken, cramp was due any moment, turning left into the finishing climb it struck me down. I pulled myself up over the climb to the finish holding 11th…out of an eleven man break….nice. Then off to Starbucks!