This evening’s race was Hallocross, whizzing around in the dark around the grounds of Craigmillar Castle. The course was great – and not muddy! A high-speed grassy descent after the line, then a long steady slog to return to almost exactly the same spot. A loong grassy straight lead into a forest section – sweeping side to side, up and down. The lap ended with a fast downhill on gravely path .. and then a corresponding climb back up. All very flow-y and rideable.
Riding in the dark was great. I had one torch which was pipe clamp’d
I lost count of how many laps I did – I think probably six – and didn’t bother with my HRM (cos it was dark).
Over the last couple of days, I’d completely stripped down my bike to get all the mud out of it. I also switched to a new rear wheel which I’d built a while ago. Unfortunately, whilst I’d trued it, I hadn’t put enough tension on the spokes and on the ride to work some loosened off. So I had to nip home mid-afternoon to do a sub-15 minute wheel change .. moving tyre/tube, cassette and brake disc across between wheels. Fortunately, my bike worked fine during the race. There’s a moral there somewhere …