Czech MBO 5 days - Day 4

Sunday, 8 July 2007

Today's middle distance race was billed as a suburban forest, which meant lots of tracks and paths.  With 28 check points in 15 km it was always going to be intense.  And word from the organisers was that it was quite bumpy with lots of roots. 

As it turned out the course was about 22 km.  This didn't stop Jaroslav Rygl flying around in 63 minutes.

It was an interesting style of course-setting and one which I've been told will be used for the WOC middle distance race.  There wasn't much route choice.  Generally just left or right.  The difficulty came in maintaining speed and always knowing where the next check point was.  A bit like a sprint really.  Of course, go the wrong way and lose 15 seconds and you've lost places.  The first 30 or so riders fell within 6 minutes of the winner.  Or one rider every 12 seconds.  Now that's motivation to ride cleanly!

For me today was a welcome change.  I finally rode relatively cleanly.  I'd determined to attack the course and make no mistakes.  Apart from a couple of hiccups at the start that plan worked well and I thankfully never saw any of the French team riders who started just after me.  Phew!  And as usual the Czechs managed to come up with an interesting obstacle on the course.  This one a tunnel under a road.

Tomorrow is the final day of the race and is a chasing start.  I'm not sure how many riders are around me but it should be fast and furious.  And the sun has finally come out so the forest and camp is delightful!