Winter series round 4, Thetford

Fantastic sunny day and dry flowing single track, what more could you ask for.

Alec, Jon and me headed up to Thetford on Sunday for the fourth race in the Winter Series. The course was great - mostly single track with no really difficult technical sections - and although you couldn't say we really managed to compete, we did have a brilliant day out.

It was fast and furious to begin, but the atmosphere was great with riders happily chatting away to each other. It started with a hectic 0.5 mile of fireroad which suddenly dived into forest for the majority of the next 5 miles, popping out onto a real slog of a climb. A quick, bumpy descent and then up another fireroad climb into the start / finish arena. Somewhere between 6 and 7 miles a lap.

We all had quite a few stories to tell after the ride. My favourite incident was when some junior caught up with me. He was probably 15 or so with a nice carbon XC bike. I heard someone shout out to him to 'get it on a bit'. He shouted back that his legs weren't working and then suddenly as he was passing me, jumped off his bike and threw it in some bush in what can only be described as a true teenage hissy fit.

Some pictures of us on the forum.