#nickturner

After the disaster that was the deluged Fort William I was excited to be back out on the bike again as I haven't been riding lately with my little 'un taking up all the 'daddy-time'.  First and foremost I need to do a big shout-out to Paul '#DoASkid' Stoddart for the lifts there and back, you ROCK fella!

The 'Champs this year were at Llangollen where the venue suits me to a T with its super steep terrain, however despite it being dry I was feeling hesitant as it may not have been the best choice to get back into the swing of things!  With that said my FTW beast of a machine failed to disappoint being perfectly at home here on the Welsh hillside handling like a dream. My Hayes brakes and Michelin tyres were all working superbly in the dusty conditions and where other people were having issues they didn't make me #DoASkid once!  (See what I did there, see?! ....I'll get my coat!).

Due to the extremely dry conditions the track was changing with every run, this was by no means a complaint as I was having tons of fun. Think I bust out about seven runs on Saturday becoming more confident with each one.

Mother Nature strikes back..... I was woken up over night to the sound of heavy rain coming down and my heart dropped at the thought of re-learning the track again.  It wasn't so bad in the morning, the track was back to being bone dry however some lines had been completely blown out.  I planned to take some new routes in my seeding run, it was risky but there was little else I could do.

My seeding run went alright, I was consistent and smooth but backed off on the new lines that I was trying out through lack of practising them earlier. I finished mid-pack and knew that there were some seconds to grab on my race run in the tank.

My race run could not have gone better; I hit everything with a little more gas and where I felt myself drifting the bike's handling saved my ass, Frank Wadelton, you are a genius!

I came over the line finishing in15th which I was overjoyed with considering the severe lack of riding time this year. My fitness has come on in leaps and bounds thanks to CrossFit Jacana in Durham.  I also want to the say a big "Thank You" to Lee and the team's sponsors for their support with putting an awesome ride together.

See y'all on the next hill punks!