A trip to York for Easter last weekend coincided with the first Nutcracker race, a new mountain bike series in the North of England, so I made the most of a good opportunity for some hard training. I turned up expecting a bit of a local event, so was surprised to be lining up alongside Australian international rider Kate Potter as well British university champion and WXC teammate Jessie Roberts at the start of the elite race.
It was another flat course, not exactly what I wanted after last week, but maybe at least a chance to redeem myself slightly. We set off with the elite and expert men so the pace was fast enough. Kate took off in front of me and I set about following. Heavy rain the few days beforehand had made the course super muddy, there was a lot of nice singletrack twisting through woodland, but it had all turned into a big gloopy sticky mess. I wasn’t complaining too much though, all those winters of wet, muddy riding in Wicklow and the North York Moors stood me in good stead and I was able to gain time on the messy bits. I felt good and managed to keep within a few seconds of Kate for the first lap, she was quick on flat fireroads, but I was able to catch up on the singletrack. 
I wanted to use the race as a bit of tactical practice too, go hard on the first lap, and then get some consistent laps leaving enough energy for a hard last lap. Kate upped the pace a bit on the second lap and I had to let her go, I knew I couldn’t maintain it for two hours and I was more interested in having a consistent run. My legs were feeling good though, full of energy compared to last week, and despite the lack of hills I was really enjoying myself. I concentrated on pushing hard and riding smoothly to escape one of the expert guys who was following close behind. My Moda rode really well despite tripling in weight by the end due to all the mud I’d gathered along the way. Into the last lap I had to dig deep to go as fast as I could, but I was having fun which made things much easier.
I finished in second, four minutes or so down, but it was the performance I was interested in rather than the result. After Sherwood I was beginning to seriously doubt myself and wondered what I’d been playing at all winter so it was a massive relief to feel strong and get my race buzz back, especially after a pretty hard week of training. 
It was great to be able to race in Yorkshire, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be around for the rest of the series, but I’d highly recommend it. Thanks very much to my parents chauffer service (lack of driving lessons at 17 was never my choice and is coming back to haunt you!), Eóin my technical coach and chief feed-zone supporter, and WXC. Tomorrow I’ll be ignoring the fact that my dissertation is due next week and racing the first round of the Irish NPS series, looking forward to it!