UK world cup

So I raced the Dalby forest world cup yesterday. It was the first world cup of the year, so everybody is keen to test their form.

I had great preperation, with lots of time on the course during the week. We have been staying with the Myers in Guisborough, and having a great time learning lots about the UK from them.

Race day dawned with a light rain shower, enough to make Catherine worried but the track didn't actually get wet. Catherine had a great race - she started on the 2nd last row and finished 42 out of 90 or so. Kika had a slow start but moved back up through the field for 6th, so I guess she has good legs too.

My race was a bit crazy. I was on the 8th row or so, and there were another 8 rows of guys packed in behind me. When the gun went there was a crash in the first 50m, I avoided that, and then we hammered at 50km/hr on the flat to a 90deg corner, there was another crash there and I just avoided running over the guy's head with my chainrings, then back up to speed, 90deg left, avoid another crash, and then stand in line to get into the singletrack. All in all it was actually a pretty good start as I avoided the crashes and was just a bit ahead of where you really had to stop and wait.

From there I had a decent first 2 laps with a bit of waiting here and there. By the 3rd lap I was ready to crank it up and actually race, but it was super frustrating because the only places to really pass were on the flats and 2 uphills, and on the flats I just got out gunned by some of the euros - then we would ride the descents slower than I wanted to - and they would sprint up the next climb and I just didn't have the legs to sprint on every open section (like driving a car behind a Saskatchewaner, everytime you get to a passing section it is 140km/hr, and when you are twisting through the mtns it is 60km/hr - ARRRGGGHHH!!) Anyway, I found it hard to race my best, or the fastest way to get around the course. By the end of the 6th lap I was quite tired and faded a bit. I ended up finishing 101st out of 160, so not what I was hoping for but decent none the less.

We are heading to Belgium tomorrow for Houffalize WC next weekend.