Morning Post

Been away for the weekend. It didn’t go according to plan, somethings just don’t work out and you have to take the rough with the smooth every now and then. So with all the goings on, I didn’t make this years Thetford Enduro, which from a financial point of view might be a good thing after last seasons destruction-of-kit-fest. Jed rode in style:

From: Jed
Subject: Totally Wasted

Did the enduro race at Thetford today. 4 hard 8 mile laps in 2:22 and came in approx 21st. Managed to catch then pass a friend (Phil – who I meet on the way to work) when he fell. He promptly passed me when my calf cramped up as I ran over a log and fell over. I certainly gave it everything I had and am now paying the price but at least I know that I didn’t give it 100% so feel good in myself.

Italy has lost a cycling hero at a young age. Corty eloquently somes up his view of the pirate below, but there’s more over at cyclingnews.

From: Corty
Subject: RIP

Marco Pantani.

Yes he was a junkie. Sure, he may have had big ears (don’t mention elephants
though, he wouldn’t have liked that). But that little Pirate could climb like a
ferret and will be missed in both the tour and rehab clinics in equal measure.
Arrivederci.

The BUSA Mountain Bike XC races are coming up. Now I’m not a team member of the Uni team so if I understand things correctly, it’s not open to me. Maybe I should organise myself as it’ll be my last chance to ride for MURT. Laura has the info:

From: Laura
Subject: Student Champs

Are you going? Bringewood, Ludlow, Shropshire. March 27-29th.

Campsite – Limited space – toilets – and tanked water. Also floodlights for the evening’s entertainment – Sheff’s Ramp and whatever else appears!

Enter NOW – closing date for entries is 20th March after that it will cost u a few beers!

There’s more on the official BUSA website.

Finally, this is the latest on the Revolution series, up at the Velodrome here in Manchester. The Sprinters Race looks likely to be the most popular event of the series. This is from British Cycling:

3 OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS TO RACE AT REVOLUTION 3

The foreign challengers are now confirmed for Revolution 3 (on Saturday Feb 28th Manchester Velodrome at 7pm) with a trio of French stars taking the trip across the water to take on our British boys. Reigning Olympic Team Sprint Champions Arnaud Tournant and Florian Rousseau will be joining forces with French prodigy Gregory Bauge making for a clash of the titans in the team sprint competition.

Tournant’s track record speaks for itself with multiple World titles in the Kilo and Sprint and the world record in the Kilo (an amazing sub one-minute ride at altitude). Rousseau’s credentials are equally as impressive with the Olympic Keirin Champion title to his name on top of the Team Sprint title. The final member of the French squad, Gregory Bauge is more of an unknown quantity but certainly won’t be their Achilles Heel. At 19 Bauge already has two Junior World Track titles to his name and is strongly tipped by the French Cycling Federation to be the next Tournant.

So the scene is set for a showdown between the French and British Sprint squads with the British eager to test the water ahead of the Olympics, “We need to try and take a look at as many different options throughout this season as possible in racing opportunities so I think we’ll be using ‘Revolution 3’ as an opportunity to test the team sprint against the French” commented British Sprint Coach Iain Dyer.

And now off to work…