Legions of riders gathered at Caesar’s Camp on the 25th November for the 1st round of the Merida Brass Monkeys enduro series. Winter had certainly arrived and most of the 500 riders huddled at the start were sporting over shoes and ear muffs. The Caesar’s Camp course uses tank and military tracks to really make the most of the undulating countryside near Aldershot. There were several long withering climbs, the gradient increasing horribly towards the top. The energy sapping mud constantly tugging at the tyres throughout the lap.
I was cautious on the first lap, aware that there
was a long way to go I didn’t want to burn any bridges this early in the day. On
the second lap I pushed a little harder and passed a few riders until I was
challenging the 10 ten.
The hills were loaded toward the beginning of the
lap. So once over the final climb the reward was a flat out series of swooping
bomb holes back to the pit area. Third time through and suddenly the rear rim
was banging against the rocks and roots, all the air had ‘burped’ from my tyre.
I rattled back to start with riders streaming past. Back in the pit I
re-inflated the tyre and re-joined but I had lost 10 minutes.
I hauled myself over the hills three more times,
finishing 22nd and the last rider to complete 6 laps. I’ll hope for
better luck in three weeks at round 2!
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