Confirmation and Crossmarks

It's been a good week in an MTB sense. First of all, my Dusk 'Til Dawn/SITS team mate Andrew and I were out in Swinley Forest on Sunday, and although forecast rain didn't arrive, it was still a little stickier than I thought but I didn't need the TrailRakers. We got some good riding in, managed to find the fun corkscrew section which I had raced down a couple of years ago from Crowthorne and then forgot about, and also some excellently fast bermed singletrack. I'm looking forward to getting back there again for some more training, ideally with my other team mate Roger in tow.

Judging by Sunday's performance, Andrew's winter training has produced some impressive straight line speed, but he was struggling a little technically until he remembered his tyre pressures were really high, let some air out, and was then much happier. While we were out, we heard a PA system nearby, and I remembered that there was a Gorrick race taking place, so we went along to offer some support to the likes of Alex Paton and George Budd. It was good to see some familiar faces, but the event seemed really quiet by the usual Gorrick standards, although it was late in the day and perhaps many riders were at the BUSA Championships instead.

Mountain Mayhem entry confirmations were released in midweek and happily "A Midsummer Night's Team" and I made it into the Sport Men race. It will be our first trip to Mountain Mayhem, and Ian's first race since about 1993, but I can't wait. Some of the teams joining us in Sport looks familiar from Sleepless In The Saddle 2007, such as the Black Riders Of Mordor. The Open Men category seems to contain some potentially very fast teams, now that Elite and Expert Men can only ride in Expert Mixed or Open Men for 2008. Some of the Expert Mixed teams look intriguing too, such as SiS/Trek and Rivette, making another trip across from Denmark after finishing 2nd in Expert Men in 2007, but bringing a number of teams this year. I wonder if Ian Bibby will be riding for SiS, and who their female rider(s) will be? Amy Hunt would seem a good bet, since SiS/Trek is her old team, but we'll have to wait and see.....

Finally, my Maxxis Crossmarks arrived today, and although I haven't fitted them yet, I have had the weighing scales out. Maxxis claim a 530g weight for my 2.1", 120tpi 62a eXCeption series tyre, but my pair came in at a mere 484g and 486g. Either my scales are wrong, Maxxis are wrong, or Maxxis' website is a little conservative, but I'm happy at being able to save weight while gaining grip and pinch puncture protection :) I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend!