3 Weekends, 3 Countries

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June has arrived and every weekend is now filled with racing!

The month began with the third round of the Dragon XC series, held at the classic venue of Margam Park in South Wales. You may not need a passport to cross the border from England, but hey, all the signs are bi-lingual and they have their own parliament! With the big guns saving their legs for the following days National Marathon Champs, the racing promised to be open and so it proved, with me taking the win in the sport men category - my first individual win for the team! Who says 29ers are slow uphill?

In the blink of an eye a week had passed and the Superfly was packed up in it’s flight bag for a trip to Stockholm, Sweden and the second round of their national enduro series. I remember reading reports from SSWC06 which raved about the slickrock trails in the area and the 65km Lidaloopdidn’t disappoint, with me taking second place in the open category on the best singletrack I’ve ridden this year. If you can offset your carbon emissions from having to fly, then it’s definitely worth a visit - a beautiful city, stunning countryside, awesome trails and great weather. No wonder we weren’t too bothered when we missed our flight back!

Once back in the UK, there was barely enough time to wash kit and clean the thick layer of dust from my bike before loading up the car for the journey up to the Lake District and the 3rd round of the National Points Series. With 29er crew member Phil away on his stag do in Vegas it was down to me to fly the flag in the XC. The course was a mix of tough fireroad climbs and rocky singletrack descents. It was pinch-puncture city and I was glad of my Bontrager tubeless tyres - thank you Keith for removing the need for 29er inner tubes in 2008! Despite blowing on the last lap I hung on for 8th place in sport men- my highest position at an NPS and great motivation to do some proper training before the next round…