Brandon Bash

2nd May i planned another MTB workout wth Glenn Stanford over at Brandon with a full on timed lap of the round 4 winter series lap, Tim Bonnett and Shane Ashby also came along for abit of a team get together, resplendent in our new team kit, we left the car park together, Glenn and Shane tore off like it was the start of a cross race, with an untried slick tyre on the front i was dropped along with Tim, once warmed up and with them easing up we caught up, the beasting continued until i became more confident in the grip my furious fred's were actually giving me, for tester Tim the multitude of corners and twisting singletrack was too much and he took a wrong turn and was lost in the forest for the rest of the morning (without his Garmin he might still be there). Having taken abit of a beating off Glenn and Shane we handicapped the timed lap, i started first with Shane starting 30secs behind me and Glenn a further 30 seconds back, i hammered the fireroad to the first singletrack section and from there it was a case of trying to avoid making major mistakes and trying to remember the route - not so easy when your eyeballs out and all the marking tape and arrows aren't there like race days, i was slightly held up by a rider in baggy shorts also out for a bash, and had one minor moment where i tried to take a turn which wasn't there. Shane was holding me at 30 seconds and on the limit through the singletrack until he was caught by the flying Stanford, shane then went over the limit and crashed. Nearing the end of the lap i caught sight of another rider in our team kit chasing me in the woods, unsure if it was Shane or Glenn i kept the hammer down determinned not to be caught, one last effort up the plumb buster and sprint to the finish i was amazed to clock 27.30 for the lap (6.26 faster than my best lap when i was unfit for febuary's race), it turned out Glenn was the figure behind me clocking a blistering 26.50 whilst Shane limped back a few minutes later, we returned to the car park where after a few minutes Tim found his way out of the woods. compare race laps from thetford winter series 4 : http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EventReport.aspx?eventID=50FireRoad622/02/2009