A savage race here in Croatia over continuously rough ground and 180m climbing per lap. For the guys that equated to nearly 1300m in an hour and a half! Brutal.Ours was a five lap race and was well attended by a handful of the best xco riders in the world from Czech Rep, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland as well as local talent.
There were mechanicals all over the place as people tried to pin it on the greasy, rocky singletrack to make up time. My Cannondale UK and Scotland team mate Dave Henderson rode a blinder from 50 to 22nd before puncturing on the final lap and not finishing.
I rode a steady race and with Dave’s mechanical in the back of my mind, stuck tonnes of pressure in my Schwalbe tyres. This meant I felt like I was riding a pogo stick for an hour and a half but at least I escaped what many did not and finished the race.
To make the most of the flight, we are riding a 60km marathon tomorrow. It seemed like a good idea at the time…