Come forth…. So I did, twice…. 4th in the Departmental VTT Champs, and 4th in the Regional VTT Champs. 4th is bad innit?

4th in the Departmentals at St Gence in the poring rain just eight seconds behind 3rd and 30 seconds behind 2nd. Wasn’t with the gridded riders so had to come from a long way back. It was all going so well, I was with the two other podium riders, then a lapped crashed right in front of me. I lost ground, was making it up, but ran out of time. In the meantime my old mate Jean Claude Sansonnet was minutes clear to take the win.

4th in the Regionals on a fantastic bone dry circuit in the Monts de Blond. Again, I wasn’t gridded. We were racing with the over 40s. They had red numbers, us over 50s had black numbers. On the second of three laps someone told me I was in third place. I could see a black number not far behind me. I rode very hard to try and open the gap on him. Bear in mind, I can see his number, but he can’t see mine. It worked, and by the top of the circuit I was out of sight. Out for the final lap. About a third of the way around I see Jean Claude coming back down the circuit, he’s abandoned the race. More of this later. So now I’m thinking I’m in second place. There’s lots of supporters around, and nobody is telling me any different. At the top of the circuit I’m still clear. All I have to do is ride the descent without puncturing. Carla tells me I’ve done a great ride, and I’m 4th!!! again. Which is pretty bad, but actually I wasn’t that much off the pace (4 mins).

In the meantime, my old mate Jean Claude is on his way to hospital. He has 6 broken ribs, and the medics are worried about his breathing! Flippin’ ‘eck JC!!!! I wish you Bon Courage and a speedy recovery.

I hope all is going well for you. Fully Christmassed up, stuffed and looking forward to the Queen’s message….as is tradition….and, as is tradition I went for my usual Christmas Day ride. Just a couple of hours to build up an appetite. Carla came with me for the first hour. I did the second hour on my own. Cold, but sunny, with a biting North wind. I stayed on the trails close to home chosing the hardest going to keep warm. The ground was frozen, but not solid, more crusty, which was interesting/sketchy/fun. I rode Big Bird. She was great. So comfy.

It was a really nice ride. Just what I wanted. Hardly saw a soul about…..and all those geese at the farm by Troupen… all gone!!! Bon apetite! Bon Noël! Merry Christmas! 😉

No gig this weekend so we got up early and went to the VTT Rando at Nieul. I opted for the 40 kms loop. Carla did the 30 kms. We were away at 08:45, a beautiful morning though a bit windy. Anyways, now the cyclo-cross season has started a lot of the young racers were missing. I found myself right up near the front with a gang on veterans including the current departmental champions for road and VTT!

After about 5 kms a group of three began to pull away. I went after them. Don’t forget, I’m riding my Spesh Epic, what an awesome bike. I’m gaining on the three, probably about 30 metres behind them. There’s a sharp right over a small footbridge, into a chemin. The three have disappeared! Just as I’m thinking they can’t have suddenly gone much quicker I hear them off to the left. They’ve missed the turn. I give it all I’ve got in an attempt to get out of sight. 😉

I’m absolutely flying along, feeling the good pain. I’m making the most of my bike, railing over the rough ground, carving the turns like a man possesed. At the end of a long straight I take a quick look back. No one there! I push on, hard.

The trails are bone dry, and very fast. I’m sliding in some of the corners and using the edge of the trail as a berm to get me around. At the last moment I spot a mud hole. I’m going too fast to miss it. I look straight over it, and pedal as hard as I can. It’s deeper than I thought it might be, and slippy to. It shoots me to one side. I bang my knee hard on the handlebars. I come through in one piece, still upright, still on the bike. I have to ease up while I wait for the pain in my knee to subside. I change down and spin an easy grear.

A few minutes pass, and I’m picking up speed again. A rider arrives, he comes past, he’s riding hard, I chase after him. It feels like he’s trying to drop me. Some few kms later he pulls over and stops. I dunno why. He seemed to be going OK.

Back on my own again, and pushing hard. A marshall tells me there’s 10k left. Those last 10 kms were real roller-coaster stuff. Awesome trails, a real blast. 40 kms banged out in 1hr 49mins. Thanks to all at Cyclo Club Nieul for a great morning’s riding.

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When I go on training rides with my friend Cyril he insists that we sprint for village signs (panneau). He always beats me, he always rubs it in, calls me his “Papi” (grandad!). But yesterday was different! Oh yes. Yesterday was very different. Ha ha ha!!!!

Hey, did I tell ya ’bout when I go on training rides with Cyril??!!! 😉