BLACK

Just been sent some pictures of the Transportugal race i did this year so seems a good time to write a little look back post... and tonight for once i have little work for my Msc.

Don't want to cover every stage more just look at the stand out moments that still seem fresh 4 months on...

Suppose the first place to start was the lead up to the race... i had been doing alot of road racing and was really hooked on it, i had entered the Transportugal on the night of the entry opening back in october 2006 and really hadn't been doing alot of mountain biking during the spring. I was in 2 minds whether to go or not.
In the end i decided what harm could it do.. at worst i would get some decent mileage in and a sun tan and come back to my road racing faster.

Arriving in Portugal i was met by Louize... the reason really i was there as i had found out about the TP through a mutual friend.. she was the liason for the foreign riders and really did her job well that week making sure in a land of carnivores that this little vegetarian had something to eat every night.
It was that first day that i met another Brit entrant.... I new i would be joined by Al Wilson and Matthew Barton as we had already been in contact with each other.. however Paul West was a new edition to the British contingent and proved to be a source of much comedy during the week ( i will write nice things about you now Paul but in 12 months when i'm in the Australian Desert and your to blame and times aren't good.. then my tune may change)...

The first day a proper was spent travelling far north to the start... that night we all assembled our bikes... It was reassuring to look round the room to see most peoples forks cost more than my bike..

Busa National Hill climb race..

Never raced a hill climb before.. looked pretty straight forward and compared to a long mtb endurance race must be a walk in the park.. its only a mile or so long for goodness sake..

How wrong was i....

Race wasn't till 1pm so decided to stick the road bike in the car and the mtb on the bike rack and go ride some trails in the morning... Chatsworth and Rowsley routes were really close.. Rowsley would have been pushing it for time and energy so Chatsworth route was chosen.

13 miles round with 3 decent climbs to raise the heart rate... out on the Trek for first time since D2D race as at Uni i only have my singlepeed mtb and fixie for road... Trek is so fast!!! just love riding it... 1 hour 14min round.. just taking it nice and steady..

Got to Hill climb venue.. Curbar Lane... 11th off from a field of 150 riders... bike out of car, donned second lot of riding kit and took a spin up the hill... its steep... and long.. in lowest gear and still pedals feel stiff.. this is gonna hurt.. ALOT!!

Time passed till start with a quick nap in the car then stretch and few sprints up and down the road.. few minutes to go now so take up position in line on start... starters being watched by fellow non riding students on one side and riders warming up on turbo trainers on the other.. my minute man is in bermuda shorts and riding a mtb...
5 seconds.... GO

Nice big slip of rear wheel straight of the start... rain hasn't dried and hill is slippy.. so now i can't stand up as there is no grip and when i'm sitting i'm lifing the front wheel..i develop an ugly hybrid riding style and grind my way up the hill...
After 200m i could see my minute man... a few guys at side of road shout some encouragement " go on you've nearly caught him".. at this point i decided that if i didn't catch him then my bike would be disposed of and we would never speak of bike riding again..

Never ever worked that hard... i could taste blood and heart rate had ventured into unknown territory...

Crossing the line i couldn't control my breathing.. what a workout..

Coast down the hill watching the tortured souls grinding their way up... posted a time of 7.11 mins... off the pace by a minute or so.

Think this chapter of my cycle racing life is best forgotten... maybe will try another hill climb one day... but not soon... oh for a nice 4 hour mtb enduro...

At the age of 27 i decided that i wanted to ride again.. it'd been a good 10 years since i last put tread to trail... i had just quit smoking and wasn't the build of your average racer...

It was agreed between my self and my now fiancee that a 'budget' bike was all that was allowed to see if i stuck at it.... Halfords + £250 = one average mountain bike.

I rode as much as i could, at weekends with a great group of guys from Mtb Britain forum... first few rides were par for the course.. pain and suffering a plenty and generally being crap. I rode more and more and eventually the bike exceeded its useful life...

Luckily this coincided with my desire to try my hand at racing... i had raced when i rode bikes in my teens, never really set the world alight but did enjoy the race within a race you would usually have with riders of equal ability...

The new bike was more up market hardtail.. delivered the week before my first race.. BHF chainbreaker 4 hour endurance... a field of about 80 riders saw a 10th place finish.. followed a few weeks later by Dusk till dawn 2006 12 hour race and a 22nd place...

Over the winter much training was done...

This year led to some road racing gaining my 3rd cat license, a great trip to race Transportugal stage race... 1000km in 8 days... after a crappy start managed 14th place, and many other races.. some good.. some really bad.

Up to the present... just 3 weeks ago i raced Dusk till Dawn a year on.. 3rd place in the solo category ( missing 2nd by 11 seconds)..

At the age of 29 i have returned to University to study an Msc... with a mortgage and bills all monies are spoken for... the plan was to hang up the race bikes for a year and pick up again after graduation but after having a couple of good results at the end of my season i just can't bring myself to sit back and let the racing world pass me by..

So the creation of the shoestring racing... this isn't a club or a team more a way of getting the job done.... just trying my hardest to get racing.. selling old to buy new, great friends and a supportive fiancee are allowing a start to be made.

This is a highlighted history of my riding which i may or may not ellaborate on further.. so many great people to thank so little time...

I will try and update as much as allows... training as always is being done and racing proper starts 11th November.. Thetford winter series beckons..

My son is a good kid.







He is respectful, funny, athletic, artistic, and an overall nice guy. He has come a long way. He started out on a very long and arduous road of hardship and handicap early in life. Y'see.....he is MY son. It isn't easy being dealt a hand like that in life. Most folks would give up when finding out they have the genetic background of me, but not my son. He has kept on and perseveered through unsurmounting odds to become a pretty swell guy despite the DNA code he inherited from me.







What's the point of my ramblings? Well, I'm proud of him.....that, and because he got to play in his first football game ever this past weekend. Despite his best efforts, that genetic makeup found a way to







2 carries for 7 yards



......1 fight started



.........2 blown assignments



.................2 penalties for 25 yards....



Roll that beautiful bean footage.......



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1814646840311322779



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2692170406818524666



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5212631805031780679



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7415212230438708661



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If you would like to donate to my son's cause, please feel free to use paypal or just send wads of cash directly to me.