Gridded on the front I got a great start and headed out in second behind Roy Wyle Smith (eliteVelo) but soon found I was being held back a little so jumped on the front. This lasted for most of the first lap before Dexter Hurlock (Mondraker Racing UK) got passed me. I tried to hold his wheel but was in danger of going too far into the red so decided to let him go and ride my own race.
I began to pull away from the following group and was riding at a good tempo until disaster - heading into the wooded section I flatted the front tyre on some glass buried in the wood chipped section...sh1t!....and as I had only just past the pits I was forced to carry/drag/try and ride/run around half the lap to the second pit entry before I could swap bikes :(
Of course, by the time I eventually got to the pits and got going on the spare bike I had quickly slipped back down the leader board and I was now riding my MTB which was way slower in the slick conditions.... it's amazing how much mud and grass it collected as the race progressed (compaired to the cross bike), it must of nearly doubled in weight by the end making each lap progressively harder.
I tried to regain composure, dug deep and fought hard to regain as many places as I could as made my way up through the field of tired and flagging riders. A pretty frustrating race really...the MTB was shod with fast rolling dry tyres so it felt like I was riding on balloons with no grip whatsoever.
In the end it was damage limitation but I still managed to take second spot on the Seniors podium with Dexter Hurlock (Mondraker Racing UK) taking the well deserved win and Matt Noble (Plymouth CX) taking third.
So not a bad result considering :)