It was an unexpectedly long day yesterday.
It started at 5am, when I got up and after quick shower, I headed to North London to pick up two other guys who were to accompany me on the long and boring drive to Plymouth. The dawn was beautiful and the scents signalled that spring is here for sure.
It took bit more than 5 hours door to door, but the traffic was light, so it was as painless as it gets. Upon arrival to Plymouth, I dropped the two lads in the city center as they weren`t too keen on the see in person the Soggy Bottom race.
It was a bit tricky to find the race center, but finally I managed to get there. The pee, fuel and breakfast stops during the drive resulted that I missed the morning races and I didn`t have to wait much upon arrival for the second race. Riders from different age groups and leves were competing at the race that started 12:30.
The venue itself is a shooting range where they shoot at those artifical clay thingies. This resulted in huge amounts of broken clay refuse all around, in annoyingly wild colours.
Right after the start, there was a quite hefty climb so it seemed to be a good point to start.
After the big climb, I followed the course onwards which led to me a not too technical, but rather fast downhill section.
I had left my [Gorillapod](http://www.joby.com/products/gorillapod/findmygpod/?make=Canon&model=EOS+30D) in the car, so I had to ask for some help to hold the remote flash for me.
Most of the riders reached quite impressive speeds, the mostly dry track didn`t cause much trouble.
There was a quite tricky park by the end of the course: the riders had to pedal through a shallow but cold creek – which they duly did with much joy. I remember, back in the days, when I was riding , I always dreaded such crossings, though I used to be in dread of lot of things, not just crossing water.
The final lap found the riders quite exhausted, but I reckon, the beautiful weather was at least a bit of a consolation.
The next generation is already in the pipeline.
Even though I felt absoluteley beaten when I got home around midnight, but still, it was a great day: I`ve spent some time with friends, the weather was magnificent, I`ve met [Joolze](http://www.joolzedymond.com/joolzeD/Home.html) and I`ve seen my first ever British mountain bike race.
