Not A Good Day!

I’m more than a little bit fed-up as I write! I rode the 49k Akkedis MTB Challenge on Saturday and apparently won. Only, I know I didn’t! I spoke to the organiser at the finish line as I was really hacked off about the route markers (or lack of) in certain places. There were a few points in the race where it would have been very easy to go wrong if you weren’t paying attention (which is obviously what happened to me). Some of the markers were in obscure places which forced you to slow down and have a really good look around to make sure you were still on the right road. Somewhere around 10k’s from the finish line I somehow got lost and failed to see any markers. After a trog up to the cell phone mast (I’d remembered the announcer at the start telling us about this) and no sight of any other riders or route markers I found my way back down where I met up with a rider in the shorter race. We rode into the finish together, where I learnt I’d ‘won’.

What’s really annoying me is that I had planned to use this as a test to see where I’m at as I’m feeling very strong at the moment. Anyway, I was on for a top 6 finish as I was only a minute or so behind the leaders. As we left the start line the pack quickly split into two groups. The front group had about 6 riders in it and I sat just behind them. Just before the 10k mark I dropped one of the guys in the front pack and later on dropped another (can’t remember the distance). I hit 40k’s in 2:14 and at no point in the race was I passed by anyone else, so all was going really well up to the point of getting lost.

All I can do here is apologise to the guys who came in 2nd, 3rd & 4th as they should have been 1st, 2nd & 3rd. Hopefully the organisers will realise they’ve screwed up and sort this mess out.

I had to bail out of this race last year due to a ripped tire, but a few of my friends complained it was poorly marked out last year and it certainly doesn’t seem to have improved. Interestingly the starting field was smaller than last year and I for one won’t be back next year.

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