Round 2 of the Scottish XC MTB series took me all the way south to Dalbeattie, just outside of Dumfries. The pre-ride on Saturday showed some good weather and a cracking technical course with some running sections so things were looking good. Bill Ross from Rockhard Racing had supported me at the feed zone last round, albeit with burger in hand at one point, so as this bunch of friendly paisley lads were offering to do the same this round, I offered to race in a Rockhard top for the race. This time round, "The Fish" stood for near on 2hrs at the feed zone for me, giving great encouragement on every lap. Cheers again guys!
Race day arrived and the weather looked promising. After a good nights sleep at the nearby Cowans farm guest house, I was good to go. A fairly brisk start saw me sitting in the 2nd leading bunch at the top of the first Climb. Andrew Barlow and Paul Newham had shot on up ahead, but I had them in sight so thought i'd stay put and see how things developed. Within another lap, Newham had dropped off and joined me, so we worked together into the headwind along the long fireroad sections to try and close down Barlow. A few shouts from spectators said 2mins to Barlow, and I was well within my limits so on lap 4 I decided to put the hammer down and see if I could close things down. I soon dropped Newham who seemed to be fading, and was closing on Barlow but it wasn't quite enough, so settled for 2nd, finishing nice and strong. A great race, and a great result this early in the season!
And now... bedtime. I'm still trying to recover from the antics at the weekend... more of that later ;-)
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