Rounding up 2009

So another year of my blog and another year of riding  Lots has happened again.  The main thing I guess is starting working again.  It has varied over the year how much work I have had but October I was definetly working full-time hours.  This was always going to affect my riding, but since I have been riding to and from where I have been working I've still been getting the miles in.  I also went Bivvying the first time and have had some crazy adventures since then, with my last bivvying adventure being in the snow just before Christmas.

Racing wise I raced exclusively on my singlespeed, completing transwales not just singlespeed but fully rigid as well.  I had two good races at Mayhem and SITS as part of teams, even winning at Mayhem against some srong teams.  The highlight race was Kielder 100, the hardest race I have done and the one race I wasn't sure I would physically be able to finish during it.  It's the first race I entered for 2010 and one I am going to target and definetly try to go faster and improve how I feel during the race. 

I also got a cyclo-cross bike this year and had planned on riding most of the NW races, this didn't happen.  I think I underestimated how long it would take to recover from kielder and going from that to 1 hour long races was hard.  I had some time out for racing and then was working a lot of sundays.  But I have enjoyed the races I have done!  I still need to get better at the format, I am rubbish at the getting on and off my bike and really should try and do a little bit of training!  I also completed the big one, the three peaks.  I sturggled to just get up the first hill with my bike and my lack of ability meant that I was never working that hard during the race.  It's a race that will never suit me, but one I need to definetly try again!

Overall it has been a great year, the memories the adventures are fantastic.  Now I hope I can build on it and hope to have some great adventures in 2010.