A Long Good Saturday

A few months back the the 69er Collective made a trip to the first round of the G2 Revolver series. A good time was had by all. I don’t think there was any way I was going to miss the second round, especially as our friend Ian was designing the course in Brighton.

In the week leading up to the event the forecast was for torrential rain. Matt, an ex-pat Brightonian told me “the course will be fun in the dry”, the lack of information telling me exactly what I didn't want to know. I packed the Mud Xs, left the Dry Xs at home and generally prepared for trench warfare...

Friday night Gooner and Anne joined us and we all crammed ourselves in to Mel’s little car. The drive down was a boring one but thankfully we made it there with just enough time for some Thai food and a few beers.

We woke Saturday morning to a pleasant surprise- bright sunshine. We headed over to the race site and got set up. I kitted up and lined up for the first lap. I had a solid start, out climbing most of the field and settled in to my rhythm a solid 3rd place overall. Unfortunately I missed a marker and didn't realise I was of course until I got to a road. As I pushed back up the hill I stopped Phil The Horse and a few others who made the same mistake. We rode the rest of the lap together, gradually picking of the riders who had slipped past. Goon headed out for his lap and I retired to the shade, in an attempt to protect my pasty skin. It was really noticeable that this race had a very chilled atmosphere and everyone was friendly- the banter in the handover area was top notch. Every lap I had a dilemma- I didn't want to go out and miss the chat but the course was too fun to not ride…

Ah, the course… As expected it was very good. Fast and twisty with a very high percentage of singletrack. Two climbs were tricky, but I managed one clean lap, which was nice. As the race went on the amount of dust grew, and in places it was hard to slow down in to corners, cue much sideways action. All fun. Come 8 hours I didn't want to stop riding, but there was beer to be drunk, so what do you do. Now’s the time for chat!

In the end Phil and Oli Pepper took the Male pairs category, on single speeds naturally. We managed 4th- a few minutes down. Party boy and his girlfriend took the mixed.

To round off the day pretty much all the racers re-convened in a pub in town. Fisher had put money behind the bar and it was good to see that serious racers cant resist a free bar either. Saturday blended in to Sunday but the chat continued. All in: A Long Good Saturday was just that. I'll be back next year.