General Update

Firstly Merry christmas everyone, i hope your all enjoying the christmas spirit and have got all your presents ready to give to your loved ones.

Ive been very Lazy with the updates lately as ive been very busy with work, christmas and riding. I have done both rounds of the Merida Brass Monkeys since my last post and ive finished 3rd at both rounds. Round 1 was held at a chilly and wet Caesars camp in Aldershot, 3 of us got away in a lead group me, George Budd (Salsa Bikes) and Jason Boutell (Ultimate fitness). The course was based around an 7.5 mile hilly undulating course, with everthing rideable apart from 1 steep banking that we had to dismount on and run. We continued to ride as a group with the odd attacks being thrown in for good measure. Starting the 3rd lap we came up behind a rider and i was following George. The guy moved over for george but thought he was on his own and cut back across and this caused me to crash. After this my gears started to play up and my rear mech hanger was bent and i had to stop to try and bend it back into place but it didnt really do much. I continued to ride and thought about giving up as the leaders were quite a long way up the climb and i knew it would be near on impossible to get back onto the leaders but i managed to catch Jason 1/2 through the 3rd lap and George right by the end of the lap.I could only use up unti gear 7 on my cassette so the steeper climbs were hard work. I continued to ride hard and got past Geroge just before the finish and thought id Won the race but there was another 10minutes left before the 2 hour mark. I opted not to go out for a 4th lap becuase my lower back was really playing up and i dropped my banana during the 3rd lap so i hadnt eaten anything for nearly 2hrs and my lack of gears just topped it off. I was still happy with my result as i was riding with some very quick guys.

Results are avaliable via the link - http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=225Ceasar`sCamp25/11/2012#2 Hr Male

Photos Avaliable from Joolze Dymond - http://joolzedymond.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1317&ingals=1&q=2710#image=182465

Round 2 was held last weekend at Windmill/Porridepot Hill in Deepcut and i was really excited as i love the course there its got some really nice flowing singletrack and some cruel climbs to get the legs burning. The 2hour race got underway at 12noon with a fast start with George leading me and Jason Boutell out with both of us taking turns at the front. During the 2nd lap Jason decided to put in a real hard surge putting me and George on the back foot, we kept it together and managed to get back on after Jason had a bit of bad luck getting caught behind a race marshall on a motorbike. After this we prietty much stayed with each other until the end, obviously with a few attacks inbetween put in for good measure. During the last 3 miles of the final lap me and George got a good gap on Jason but this didnt pay off as we both started playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. This gave Jason a chance to get back on to us and it came down to the sprint with me in 2nd place following George into the last corner with Jason on my wheel. I knew i had to keep a tight line to hold of Jason off but this obviously wasnt tight enough and he managed to squeeze through using his years of Motorcross to his advantage. So George took the Win again with Jason 2nd (again) and me in 3rd (again). Only 2 seconds down this race where as at Round 1 i was a lap down which wasnt one of my better races.

Results via the link - http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=227WindmilllHill16/12/2012#2 Hr Male

Pictures avaliable from Joolze Dymond via this link - http://joolzedymond.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1319&ingals=1&q=2383#image=183164

Now that Christmas is over with a few good Bike related goodies the training will start properly again tomorrow, a quick 2.7mile run this morning just to mix things up a bit as my road bike was locked up at work which i couldnt access which was annoying as the weather wasnt too bad. Road ride tomorrow after work if the weather isint too bad.

Next Year is going to be a big year for me with a new Sponsor on board in the form of AW CYCLES in Reading/Caversham which is great news. With companies like Whyte Bikes and High 5 Nutrition on board i know next season is going to be a successful year for me and the Team. My team bike should be arriving in the next few weeks hopefully ready for the 3rd and final round of the Merida Brass Monkeys Series at Tunnel Hill. Next year will be my 1st year competing in the National Xc Series aswell as the Southern Xc, Gorricks and many other events. For the National Series i will be riding the Expert category which will also be the same in the Southern Xc series and the Gorricks.

Thanks For reading Isaac