BUCS race day, Sat 21st March

I'm not really sure if I slept for more than an hour last night. Every time I closed my eyes I woke up shivering or with my tent mate lying on top of me. Camping on a hill will never be a good idea.

Once I got out the tent I soon warmed up and got my riding gear together and headed out for some more practice runs with the guys from Bournemouth university. Before setting off I let some air out my tyres and immediately had more grip.

My first race run wasn't till six past two so I got to watch some other guy's runs before suiting up. I thought that my first run went really well. I went flat out through the top section and nailed the corner I'd crashed on the previous day.

My front wheel did slip off on one corner but I lifted it back on and got on with the rest of my run, sprinting to the finish line.

On my second run I managed to stay on the track but I slipped a pedal sprinting at the start, and I had to dab my foot halfway down the track. I knew I hadn't done as well but was still pretty confident with my first run.

I found out my time later in the evening and was not impressed: 1.56.12.

I could make up lots of shitty excuses as to why my time was so bad but the bottom line is I rode badly. Twice. Overall I finished 176th out of nearly 300 which is no where near the top 100 result I was aiming for.

After embarrassing myself in the downhill I withdrew my entry for the four-cross race. Instead of racing I brought a takeaway, grabbed some cans of Strongbow and watched the 100 metre sprint that was the 'floodlit four-cross'.