....racing days ahead!

first some news....
top of the bill, tamsin jones completed the dakar on her very first attempt! an awesome achievement, see the brief write up here. it is an inspiration in these dark, cold and wet days, well done tamsin! hopefully have a chance to pick your brains and may be even ride out with you at some point soon ; )

jago has launched his blog outlining his dakar plans and all going well i will be joining him in malaga on 19th-20th for some off-road training with patsy quick, (another Dakar vet!) who has an off-road school in east sussex and malaga, desert rose adventure riding academy.

and finally, my physio, sam wilde reckons i can race in march! yes, my first race since the fateful crash is booked in for 21st march, wehey!!! i've completed all the paperwork; amca membership, cec membership and race application, it's over a month away but i can' wait, i'm very excited = ))

dakar preparation....
moving steadily forward...training regime growing now that i can use my arm properly. still have a rubber strap to work the shoulder muscles, but also lifting dumbbells as well as press ups; may not seem like a lot, but when i have had so little movement and so little strength, it's a big step ; )

continuing my cycling to work everyday, no huge shakes, but still 30 mins more a day than not. in the gym 3 nights a week now and walking and running at the weekends. i am carrying about 25kg of cotswold stone in an old bergen when walking in the wolds and covering about 12 or so miles, while ascending over a 2000 feet in the process. chobe eats up the miles and probably covers another 6 miles by the time you add up all the wanderings and hunting!

speaking of hunting, chobe caught her first rabbit at the weekend and i have to say i felt very sad about it. whilst i like watching her give chase, i didn't want her to actually catch the bloody thing! rabbits are easy hunting really.... soon after she spotted a hare too, that was a sight, 10m behind and yelping, covering over 800m before finally giving up and heading back. boy, can she cover the ground, an incredible sight....but relieved she did not catch it!!

back to business...i'm returning to dubai with work in early march and will see if i can plan a day or two riding some dunes! found the dubai motocross club so will start here i suppose....all great prep for my race. and then, assuming i make it through the race, i will be heading straight out to utah for a holiday...

...i'm going to head to the rockies to freeride..... ski off-piste steeps, jab through the trees and huck powder bumps, awesome!!

race schedule
if any of you fancy a day out, please feel free to pop down (or up and watch), it's a sight to behold and we race in some really beautiful locations....always great to have some support too!

Round 1 Worcester Sunday 21st March 2010

Round 2 Shuckburgh Hall Sunday 16th May 2010

Round 3 Long Compton Sunday 20th June 2010

Round 4 Owthorpe Sunday 11th July 2010

Round 5 Selattyn Sunday 1st August 2010

Round 6 Llansilin Sunday 15th August 2010

Round 7 Monmouth Sunday 12th September 2010

Round 8 Wymeswold Sunday 3rd October 2010