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.