Perfect racing conditions?

Snow shovel – check! Wellies – check! Winter tyres – check! Down jacket and gillet – check!  This is not the standard pack list for a race day.

Wednesday was supposed to be the first day of spring, but I wouldn’t have guessed it, as my hands froze numb whilst prepping the camper for this weekend’s trip to the Lakes to race Whinlatter. Despite some wintery flurries, for those of you racing at Sherwood Pines this weekend, there’s no snow settling in Nottingham at the moment, but the forecast is not looking good.

It’s the first time the van’s going to be used in properly cold conditions, and though it’s going to be cosy, having the body heat of four AQR racers sleeping in it on Saturday night may just help it to warm up quicker. 

Standard racing equipment

As Martin, Matt Rach & I head northward to Whinlatter, Ruth and Emma travel up to Sherwood Pines for the first round of the XC National series: it’s a big weekend of racing for the AQR team and Twitter is buzzing about it.

For Rach and Ruth it won't be the first snowy race of the year – as they got some unexpected snow racing in at the Andalucia bike race in February, but for the rest of us there is likely to be some first-race-of-the-season-nerves. But that’s what all the over winter training has been about, preparing for the coming season. Personally, after a delayed start to my training prep I can’t wait just to don the race jersey, get out and race the Soda on some great trails.

Looking at the forecast, possibly the biggest challenge of the weekend is actually getting to the start line. We don’t want a re-run of Ruth’s truly epic 6-hour snow bound journey in Feb to get to the AQR skills day….

Come back for race reports after the weekend and don't forget you can keep up with Rach and Martin on their blogs.

Hopefully you'll make it to wherever you're planning to ride this weekend

Ant