Sat 1st January 2011

Well, not a very good example today. Unexpectedly, I got absolutely hammered yesterday evening and found myself feeling shocking this morning. After a couple of hours fitting some sealed brake cables to the spare bike, and several cups of coffee with various pharmaceutical products I felt sort of human again. This afternoon I ventured out and did a brisk ride with a few big gear bits just to get everything working again.
I sort of don't feel myself about tomorrow, I think riding at Thornes Park in the terrible frozen conditions has put me back in terms of confidence. As I sit here, I'm saying stupid stuff to myself.....things that have no place in a bike racers brain. Things like........"I'll just ride round" and "It's just a case of getting the points". I really hope tomorrow's race isn't over tricky and I can come away with my head up. The stupid thing is that at Thornes Park, I didn't even crash.....I just truly scared the living shit out of myself when my front wheel unexpectedly washed out at roughly 25mph on a rock hard frozen surface. It's not the fact that the bike slid that freaked me, it was the unexpected shock of it, the bike slides all the time on certain parts of any course , tha's cross, but when it happens going in a straight line on a flat grass surface (and piling it on the pedals) it came as a big shock. First big moment on spangly wheels didn 't make it any better either.

So bikes are ready, kit is packed and all I need to do is to relax tomorrow.