Alphonce is Midi-Pyrenees Champion!!!

Alphonce wins Championship

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Yesterday was the Midi-Pyrenees MTB championship. I was sadly not selected for the Tour Du Lot et Garonne, so I went up to watch Alphonce race, I took my MTB that I hadn't touched in way over a year, and did the race myself.

AB (Alphonce) has been training for this championship for 6 months. Early last week he pulled a Sim, and messed up his back. He had it put back by the doctor etc... but when I spoke to him Sat evening he wasn't in high spirits. But come the day he was feeling a little bit better, and once the race had started and the blood was flowing his back muscles loosened up and relieved that pain a bit.

AB was 3rd on the starting grid, I was way back in 30th. The start was blisteringly fast, and mainly on the road. 3 guys got a good gap on the road section, I fought my way through the field and started to bridge up to the 3 (where AB was setting the pace) but I didn't quite make it up to them before we hit some downhill, rocky singletrack. I'm fairly fit at the moment, so my legs felt OK on this race, but my technical skills have pretty much totally disappeared. I was sitting in 5th place when I passed AB standing on the side of the track. His spare tube had fallen and got stuck in his chain (what are the odds). He dealt with that and came back stronger than ever, passing me and working his way back up to 1st place all within the first lap. So by the end of the day AB won by a tire's width in the sprint finish with one other guy (they did the whole race together and "off the front") and now has a nice Regional Championship jersey he gets to wear for 1 year, he also assured himself a selection for the National Championships in mid May.

Congratulations AB!!! You da man!

As for me I plodded on, finished top 10 somewhere I think, then came home and went out for a little road spin. Not a bad training day overall. I enjoyed the MTB race, but was frustrated with my riding. I need to ride the MTB more than once a year if I want to enjoy myself more. :-) But above all I was happy to see AB get a well deserved and hard worked for win. I'm happy I was there to see it, but in a way I wish I hadn't raced so that I could have watched him and taken photos of what will always remain a big day for him.

Next up: National Championships!