National XC - Hopton Castle

Will, Ian and myself arrived early and bleary eyed at our chaffeurs house for the long drive to Hopton in Shropshire. Many thanks to Steve for driving nearly four hours each way either side of his race.

As we approached the fluttering flags and rows of camper vans, a huge menacing wooded hill loomed against the blue sky. From the line the course headed straight up this savagely steep climb, that had all the riders scrabbling for their lowest gears! It was a leg burning effort of about 10 -12 minutes with a couple of false flats that didn't really provide much respite. After the climb was a great section that resembled a welsh trail centre, as it undulated along the contours of the hillside. Then came the reward for all that climbing, a sometimes scarily steep, sweeping descent with stutter bumps in the precipitous braking zones leading into the bermed corners. It was a memorable course in every way - not all of them pleasant!

Will was first off, unfortunately due to delays with the previous races he wasn't able to complete an entire warm-up lap and when his chain snapped before the top of the climb his cycling was done for the day. Standing nervously by the start waiting for him the three of us started to fear the worst as we saw rider after rider coming through coated in dirt and blood after taking a fall on the descent to the finish.

Myself, Steve and Ian were all gridded for the final races of the day. Even on the first lap the climb was agonising and it felt as though I rode most of the race in my bottom gear! My single 32 tooth chainring only just allowing me to crawl upwards. I drank and gulped gels to prevent cramping which would have surely ended my race.

From his lowly grid spot Steve put in a stella effort to finish 6th. Ian was 23rd in the Grand Vets while I was 29th in Masters.

On the way home we raided the services M&S shop, sharing out Scones, Pain au Chocolate and Hot Cross Buns the rest of the way home. Sorry about the crumbs Steve!