Despite me vowing never to have a hectic autumn in 2010 like I did last year, I appear to be about to start a period of almost solid racing. 4 big races in 5 weeks, in fact. Thankfully (I keep telling myself), the longest 2 are in weeks 4 and 5 so I guess I’ve got it all the right way around 😉

First is the Montane Kielder 100 this weekend. A 100 mile mountain bike race in a nicely remote part of the world, complete with a large number of participants and a very strong field of ‘competitors’. I’ve been looking forward to this for some time now and I’ve got a realistic goal to aim for. Which will mean that I probably won’t allow myself to check out much of the scenery. It’s been nice packing for a race without having to worry about 24 hours’ worth of food, helpers and spare bikes and wheels….

A little while later is the 3 Peaks Cyclocross. My third time. First time I wasn’t very good. Last time I wasn’t much better. I’m not expecting to set the world alight this time either…but this really is a ‘special’ race and deserves to be in my plans every year. It’ll hurt as much as it always does and I’ll ask myself ‘WHY??’ more times in this race than in any other, but I feel privileged to be on the start list for a third time. I’m trying to ignore the fact that I’ve done a woeful amount of specific 3 Peaks training this time (walking up near-vertical slopes in other words) although I did push a pram up Snowdon the other week.

The week after that and it’s Dusk Till Dawn – my favourite event of last year when me and Simon raced in the pairs. This time I’m racing solo for the 12 hours. Cool. Such a great course, although it remains to be seen if I will have as much fun as last year, given I’ll need to ride at a more sensible soloist pace. Or I could just blat round as fast as possible and see if I can survive to the end

And….the week after that I’ll be at Relentless 24, a 24 hour race at Fort William* No idea what to expect at this one but I know I might need more lights and more clothes than I normally take to a 24 hour race. Hopefully it will be a suitably awesome end to the 2010 race season and great training for that other big scary Scottish race in January that will kick off the 2011 season…

*subject to me not being completely shattered by ‘blatting’ round Thetford the week before…