Brutal Bute

Great day on the wee isle today.

I popped out to the early sign-on for the cross race that was taking place in the early evening, and took the time to take a ride up Serpentine Hill, with all of its switchback awesomeness. After signing on I figured why not ride back over, the other side of the hill being a straighter, steeper prospect. 660ft of climbing in only 4 miles. Sheesh.

The majority of the morning was spent at Mount Stuart, arriving just 15 minutes before a tour was due to start, and we were the only people there. So a little personal hour and a half tour around the house was utterly brilliant.

This was followed by a spin in the car around the island, which granted doesn't take too long, and then onto the main reason for the weekend, the cross race itself.

Definitely getting a bit faster, and a bit fitter, and loved the neutralised roll-out from the town centre to the course, behind a police car. Big field, and it felt great.

Dinner in the evening proved problematic, with the island busy with all sorts of cycling, so in the end it was a chipper in front of the telly. Given I still had a couple of beers I'd taken from home, this was no hardship.