NPS # 3 - North Pole – Sun 25th May 2008

Ok, not quite the north pole, but way up near Larne in Antrim (still only 2:40 away, great new roads). Any, Hazo and I set out on sat, 5 hours of shopping in Ikea and I was knackerd, not ideal race prep.

Race day came, sunny, dry, but a little windy. Held on an old quarry, the course was actually quite good, flatish, nice drops and kicker climbs, lots of ST too. Very bumpy though, and I brought the vertex and not the element, bad choice. However, the venue was grim, crap start/finish area, cars parked 500 mtrs away, and no atmosphere…..not good enough for NPS imo.

The start was v fast, Luis Ferguson was flying, his first MTB race this year as he was concentrating on the road. His almost complety slick tyres were a ppor choice, and I’m sure this contributed to his race ending shunt on the 2^nd lap. Anyway, I was 3^rd after 3 laps, 50 secs back on Peter and Ryan, a long way back on such a fast course. I stuck at it, got better legs, and eventually caught them with 1 /12 laps to go. Starting the last lap we were all together, howver, Ryan attacked and I didn’t have it, I kinda sat up then, rolled in 3^rd, good enough to hold onto 1^st in the league.

Next up is Djouce on 15^th June, cant wait, hope its dry……..

Off we go!