# 9 actually
Carnage! Joel rode into a bush and almost into the canal overtaking someone, bending his brake lever. Wal tore a massive hole in his jersey coming off. He also snapped his sunglasses and teared his saddle, but that was before the race even started. I was leading until the second lap, when I came off in a grassy turn. Had way too much air in my tires and not much grip. Came off again soon after, and for the rest of the race was paranoid about crashing again. Managed to overtake back some people who had passed me, but came third I think. Lost my computer on the course (found it afterwards) and snapped a bit off my brakes. Behind me in the sprint to the finish line there was another crash when two guys locked bars. We all had various degrees of "off-road rash" afterwards. The heat was tough too and I ran out of drink well before the end.
[url=http://www.sportingchampions.org.uk/champions_profile.php?champion_id=39]Jenny Copnall[/url], fresh from winning the National title once again at the weekend, and who did her first ever race at Beastway, was there and I thought she was going to race with the Masters men as she usually does - was wondering if I could keep up with her. But she was "guest starter" for the men's race, and rode with the women at a later start time, after presenting John with a signed race jersey.
Was annoyed with myself for overinflating my tires (like Huw the heat didn't help I think), but "sh*t happens" as says the hilarious [url=http://adamcraig.net]Adam Craig[/url] (US pro). At least we were on our bikes and having fun.