Today saw the 3rd and Final round of the Brass Monkeys Series at Tunnel Hill. Training up to the race has been steady and decent with work not quite as intense as it has been previously. Last Sunday i went over to Tunnel Hill to check out the trails with Matt Craner, Lewis King, Lee King and Rob Jackson. As expected the trails were wet but not saturated which was good and hoped for some dry weather during the week but this wasn't to be. I ended up racing on Matt Craners Titanium burls custom frame which was designed with exactly the same geometry as his S works Stumpy. I raced Matts burls as my Planet X was crashed earlier in year and weakend and must have finally cracked on the ride last week.
Onto the race, we arrived at a freezing cold Tunnel Hill and this made my wardrobe issues even worse and i could decide what to wear but eventually got my clothes on and got on the bike. No warm up straight onto the line before being gridded. I didnt get the best of starts sitting in around top 15 on the first straight and moving up to top 8 on the 2nd fireroad. I continued to press on and got past Sam Stean (reigning U18 National champion on the 1st climb) sitting in Lewis Kings wheel. I stayed behind Lewis until the first opportunity to pass and from here on it was a 3 Horse Race once again! Me, George and Jason!. Shortly after this is found out i had saddle issues with the saddle moving up and down with every little bit of pressure. Jason began to set a fast pace which was being made even harder with my saddle issues. During lap 2 me and Jason got a gap on George but i had to stop to borrow someones allen keys to tighten up my seatpost which gave George time to get back to me. I followed George through a small section before going on the hunt for Jason which was very hard work but i managed to get back on with around a lap and a half to go. Me and Jason were locked on for the majority of the race with both of us attacking each other where we could. I tried twice and made a very small but significant gap but could see he was closing in so sat up and with around 1/2 a mile to go Jason made an attack which was too much for me to go with, i could barely hold onto the bars let alone chase him down. So i just rode it out to the finish coming in 30seconds down but nearly 2 minutes ahead of George in 3rd. A very good ride by Jason today taking today's win and also the Overall Win as George and Jason were joint on points and they take whoever finished higher at the most recent/final round which was Jason.
Results Avaliable Via the Link - http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=228TunnelHillMytchett13/01/2013#2%20Hr%20Male
Photos may be Avaliable later in the week. Not sure if there was a photographer today.
After cracking my Planet X im now left with a bit of a dilemma whether to get a new 29er frame to build up or just wait for my Whyte from Aw Cycles and just tick my legs over on the road bike.
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