Hoping for second time luckier after last year’s mechanicals, the Selkirk Merida is an event I’ve really been looking forward to, with lots of effort going into making sure my knee didn’t play up.

It was wet, for the second year running, but I had enjoyed the conditions last year, so this year was going to be no different. This time I’d prepared a spare front wheel with a knobbly tyre on it, hopefully avoiding whatever issue it was that caused me to puncture last year.

I lined up with the few others on the line with about 20 minutes to go. We were informed that we were facing the wrong way, and turning round meant there was about 800 riders in front of us. I followed quick-thinking Hamish Creber who dived into the carpark and along the back of the wall, climbing over a fence to be on the front again.

The road start was an easy 4 miles as expected, just drafting behind the pace-van until the fireroad. As soon as we left the road I jumped round to the top 10 riders, and a gap was quickly made on those behind. From there on it was just all about staying on the bike, and keeping fed and hydrated.

Over the top of Minch Moor I was still feeling good, but on reaching the bottom again, I discovered I was stuck in the big ring. I knew I wasn’t as strong as last year when this happened, so I stopped and botched it into the middle ring.

Next up was an over-the-bars stack at the bottom of the really muddy descent where the 50k riders join, it took me a while to get it back together, and I felt I was struggling on the huge fireroad climb. At the top I munched a packet of crisps and a banana, and set off feeling a lot better to tackle the last section.

Just like last year I felt the finish was a bit easy, a few little climbs followed by a huge descent with nothing to really drain the last of the power from your leg. Despite this I was glad to be finished.

Stats

2007: 8th, 4h 32m, ~30m on leader.

2008: 9th, 4h 43m, ~30m on leader.

From comparing the difference in riding between the two years, I feel pretty happy with the result. My knee also gave me no bother, so hopefully some solid training between now and the end of the season should see some other pleasing results. Roll on Penrith!