My first race of the year was a 3 hour NYMBO trail quest, which started at Sutton Bank Gliding club. The first of the league, and the first on my brand new Giant Anthem X Advanced SL1 race bike (very exciting!). I was a little apprehensive as I normally do these races with a partner. I've only done a handful on my own. After a whole lot of faffing and a lemon muffin & cup of tea from the gliding club cafe I was ready for departure. I set off with two blokes I know from CliftonCC, one was my partner last year. We disagreed at the very first control and he went off to get one that I thought would be more suited to my return leg. I was just behind the other one for a while but we must of gone our separate ways early on as I didn't see him after the first three controls.
I had been a little cold whilst waiting around so was wearing winter boots, tights, gilet and arms. After about 5 mins of racing I was boiling hot! I got my arms off OK and undid the gilet but wasn't about to stop and take off my tights so I rolled them up above my knee and did the rest of the race looking very stylish indeed!
I did my usual calculating and plotting en route (on the road sections anyway) and was happy with the route I selected for the first two hours. There was an obvious loop but some of the control ordering required rather too much brain power. I went down the bank (a pleasure on the new bike), collected a load of points then along and back up again. The third hour I was less sure about. I spotted a lucrative loop which was hilly and had a long section of 'invisible' bridleway. But I went for the safe option which was longer but much flatter and mostly road. I wasn't sure if I'd make it around the other loop in time and didn't want to risk losing everything by being very late back. I was a little worried as the Giant suspension doesn't fully lock out like the Scotts, but I got no bobbing at all as I climbed on the road so was very impressed with the design. My choice of route (and super racy bike!) got me back just 1 min 20 late and gave me 413 points, which I believe is my highest score ever!
I ate marshmallows on the way around as I lost my Dextrose (later found it on my driveway) and I just needed sugar. I felt reasonably strong all day but could still tell I was tired from my training in Gran Canaria last week. The last 30 mins I had to shout at myself a lot to get pedalling! I had tried spin on Wednesday and gave up after 10 mins as I just couldn't, so I was pretty pleased with my improvement from Wed - Sat!
There were over 100 riders in total and I came 1st out of the girls and 8th overall so very pleased indeed with my first race of the year! Might of set the bar a bit high for the rest of the year though...
