MTB racing without a map!

Last Sunday I did my second ever pure mtb race in the Midlands XC series at Birch Hall near Dronfield. The first mtb race I did last November was not a great success as we arrived a bit late, didn't recce it and I ended up a bit out of my depth for the first lap and then trying to build my way back up after that!
This time I was determined to get there in time for a warm up lap....and I did...just! My friend Helen was having door issues as her front door had eaten her key and refused to lock so we left a bit later than planned and without Helen or the new On-One Whippet which she was meant to be riding!
The Thursday before this we had been up to Stanage Plantation to take some photos of the new Pissei kit that Planet X are selling and have a ride around on the Whippet - it certainly lived up to its name! Very responsive and good fun!
At 10:20 I set off on a warm up lap of the 5.5km course, back on my massi. The first section was wide and uphill on grass, then came a bit of track before we hit the single track! There were a few rollers then some steep downhill with a berm that I wussed out of (taking the B route), then a good climb on slippy wet stone where it was faster (well for me anyway) and less effort to jump off and run! At the top it was back onto track before the final (and most fun in my opinion) bit of single track with lots and lots of rollers and steep drop offs! It was then race for the finish on tracks!
This all took just under half an hour - cutting it a little fine for the 11am start....
All the women set off together and the pace was fast from the start. I started on the back row but was quickly up into the leading group. I lost a bit on the first proper bit of climb, legs were still feeling the lakes running of last weekend slightly!
I settled into the race a bit better after the climb and was trying to hunt down the riders ahead. I was a bit unnerved by the fast overtaking by people riding faster than me in other catagories, but just had to trust they knew what they were doing! More unnerving was me overtaking (but I didn't crash so its all ok)!
After the first half of the first lap I didn't overtake any women or be overtaken by any women. I finished the first lap in just under 26mins. The second lap was harder work and I was about 1.5mins slower, overall taking just over 52mins for the 11km race. This was enough for 3rd in the Sport Catagory and 5th overall which I was very happy with :-)!
It was a lot of fun if not a little painful! The new shorter stem on my massi helped a lot with handling around the single track and the Pissei kit was very comfortable! It also survived my one crash into a thorn bush! Think that will be packed for the Terrex!

Today I saw Kim the physio about my ankle still hurting when running downhill, turns out the ankle is ok, probably some bone a bit bruised still and that is what is hurting. She loosened off my hip and bum that had tightened up a lot through compensation, so some stretching and time for bruising to go away and it should be fine by the Terrex!