Rollapaluza Muddy Hell & Rapha Supercross Ally Pally

In retrospect, perhaps Howling Jimmy Jefferson the Spirit of Jazz and leading exponent of Voodoo Scat was a little too far to the left of the field, especially as the fancy dress prize went to Mr Blobby (fair play though).

I got a front row gridding but slipped my pedal when the gun went. Some big fella bumped me as he passed and then the next thing I know, someone else has slammed me from behind and we're all going down. When I finally got up, my bars and saddle were twisted, my STI's bashed round and the valve torn from my front tyre.

I got on Boom's bike and rode the rest of the race simply for the photo opportunities. A downside of putting digital chips on the bike is that it doesn't account for bike changes, so that's it, no result, not even a mention.

 

Hauled our sorry asses up to Ally Pally on Sunday for the grand-finale of the Rapha Supercross. Took the coconut shy, which has been one of the most unexpected successes ever -I swear, if it all goes down the pan I'm taking it on the road!

Again, it was roastingly hot. Almost everyone who had raced the night before had had a terrible night's sleep and all felt hungover. ViCiOUS VELO were the guest team in the Elite race and I knew exactly how my race was going to pan-out as soon as I looked at the course. A purgatorial grind all the way up to the summit, topped with a flight of stairs then wind your way back down and go again. All time would be won or lost on this climb. As we waited for our team intro from Anthony McCrossnan, Andy turned to the rest of us and said "How the f%&# did we end up doing this??"

In the end, Andy's 4th place from the night before started to take its' toll and thugh he rode back up to me after rolling his tub, he dropped off the pace a bit as Birdy and I had a last lap tustle. I think then, we probably occupied the last 4 spots in the race....pleased with that! That said, Kev did really well and finished ahead of all of us.

Pic by Mark Phillips