What a race!
I must have been spending too much time on the road lately, as my bike-handling skills were rusty, to say the least. While Beastway isn't super-technical it does punish you for mistakes, and each overcooked cornering manoeuvre had me busting my lungs to accelerate back up to the guy I was chasing and avoid being overtaken by the rider behind, who had taken a better line.
Overtaking is very, very difficult and if you do go for a pass, you'd better be sure you can make it stick. Twice I came unstuck while attempting to pass and I'm still nursing the scars. An over-the-bars excursion into the bramble left me looking like I'd been in a fight with the family cat, and an argument with a protruding branch left an impressive battlescar across my chest, not to mention a destroyed race jersey.
All in all though, a great event and there were smiles all round at the finish. It's such a pity this superb venue will soon be lost forever.