Devon ups and downs

Well, I'm letting dad have the pleasure of driving this time, as I thought it's about time I let you know what I have been up to since my last update a few weeks ago.

 

Last weekend in Devon was always going to be interesting, being the first big event of the year and giving me the chance to see how people have improved over the winter. 

 

I was left with mixed feelings after finishing eighth – good because I was lying a comfortable third after the first lap behind 

Dibs and Pune (Michael Brown) and very disappointed due to a bad last two laps, which moved me from third to eighth. 

 

I know many of you will have experienced this type of thing and the drive home in the van is very long and quiet.

 

However, it's time to move on, analyse what I did wrong and stop dwelling on it, as it serves no purpose but just makes things feel worse. 

 

On the positive side, it shows I am capable but consistency is very important.

 

We had the long drive back from Barcelona to Ipswich, which luckily was all smooth although it looked like if we had been a couple of days earlier we would have had problems, with piles of snow either side of the road towering over the van... 

 

I suppose that would be softer than a concrete wall though!

 

The following week I stayed close to home sorting bits and pieces and dropping in to local practice areas such as The Trials Park at Corton, just to see how different things look and feel after spending two months in Spain. 

 

As there was a local trial at the weekend too I went to give a hand setting up.

 

It gave me chance to catch up with all the Ipswich club members, who are always very supportive and always manage to put in a few tough sections in their trials to make sure I drop some marks. 

 

Unfortunately, though, it was a similar story to most of the country when we woke up the next day, with too much snow for the trial to be run.

 

I got some fantastic news from Beta-UK during the week, as my new factory Betas had just arrived.

 

I collected them and was hoping to test them but it was a familiar story again as everywhere was covered in snow.

 

So I just brought them home and had to run them in and test them down here, where all the snow had gone and – because of the cold – everywhere had become very dry. 

 

I got to feel all the changes they have made to the new factory model and could really tell there has been a lot of development going on.

 

Since then there have been no more trials as the bad weather remains in the north.

 

So I have just been putting some time in and getting fully used to the new bike before the British Championship and continuing to work on the fitness levels I built in Spain.