Oli Pepper

It's not quite how I planned. It's been over 5 months since my last race and I've been looking forward to this weekends Muc Off 8 for some time. No matter how hard you try you just can't recreate that racing pain/joy on any other ride. Nothing pushes you quite so far or as hard but that why we all love it but the mind forgets. Not the fun, that always stays, but the leg burn and lung ache and that's what makes me nervous.

From the comfort of the chair as I write this I think it'll all be a breeze as I try and stifle that knowledge that it'll be anything but. Adding fuel to the fire is an office move and a cold, or man flu :-) The office move has meant I've had to catch up with work rather than ride, the cold means I can't ride properly anyway, the new Maxlight KM810 build has yet to be ridden after much faffing with tubeless tyres (I'm sticking with what I know and going back to old skool tubes and tyres!) so I haven't gone into a race feeling more under prepared or apprehensive for quite some time. Excited yes. First proper group outing for The Kinesis Morvelo Project (that makes it sound like a trip to Alton Towers), new bike, new course, new event, looks like the sun will be out . . .

I'm an eternal optimist though so these fitness setbacks have made me focus on the other side of what makes racing so fun. It's not just about riding, It's about catching up with friends after a winter away, laughing, joking, encouragement, heckling, meeting new people and basically having the best excuse in the world to go out an mess about in the countryside on a Sunday in Spring.

It'll be easier that Paris Roubaix that's for sure.