A blowy morning with 3 up (Fraser and Phil) in the car and two bikes on the roof saw us pootling up the M1 to Sheffield for the penultimate round of the Dark and White Winter series. My car looked quite good with a carbon stumpy and ti Cotic soul strapped to my cheapy halfords rack 🙂
The event was based next to that Sheffield legend that is Eccy Woods on the south side of the city. One thing was for sure the only way out was up and lots of it!
Getting the map at the start I felt I should be able to get all but possibly one control so started out strongly 
in a anticlockwise clearing the controls as I went. I had a couple minor issues finding a couple of them so will definitely be finding a way of carrying the descriptions so I can read them on the bike in future.
It became obvious very quickly once the first major climb was out of the way that there were going to be some very strong headwinds to contend with, although I’m not sure which route offered the best shelter from them. After the Rivelin loop I suddenly was faced with 6km of riding against the wind which grew stronger and stronger. Steve Heading (legend) overtook me and slowly pulled away. At this point I started to struggle and was starting to lose time to people I would normaly expect to be much faster than.
The carry down Stanage Edge was scary, with the bike practically being blown from me as I struggled down the rocks with it over my shoulder. Back on the bike I again just seemed to get slower and slower. I necked my gels earlier than I intended but it didn’t seem to do much good. Turning for home, now with the wind behind me, I seemed to make better progress but it was obvious to me that I was just exhausted so decided to ride in early rather than make myself any worse.
Looking back at the past few weeks and talking to Adrian (coach) I think I have been burning the candle at both ends (and probably along its entire length) for too long. Work has been very hard, with lots of extra hours, training, family and with two races to organise, well……… its obvious looking back.
So better race preparation needed and a lots more sleep ! Another well planned event from Dark and White though, which I really enjoyed.
Full results here……