Today was Rd3 of the Nutcracker XC Series @ Aske Estate, just outside Richmond. As normal the wind was blowing a near gale and red hot / sunny. Woke up early with little sleep due to the heat and constant pain in my gum/jaw area where i had my dental surgery but was ready. We rallyed up early and got a practice lap in, christ it was a hard course, the most technical i have done @ Aske but nothing i could not ride. Problem was i havent done much riding over the last few months and need to shed some weight which showed on the killer climbs. Practice lap done, signed on and ready to go. Angus was off first @ 10am in the Youth Cat doing 2 laps and i was entered in the Fun cat doing 2 laps. Got a good start and was about 12th place at the top of the first climb and clawed a few places back on the top field before the first technical descent but diaster, my bars had come loose and that was end of play for me. I did the descent and pushed it back to the carpark as i didnt have any allen keys on me & the marshall didnt have any either. Then i thought nip them up and jump back on. By the time i had done this i was well and truly in last place but started to work my way back through the back markers and cmpleted lap one. I then went onto complete my second lap again overtaking a few stragglers and completed the race. Not to worry its all part of the fun and pain! Angus said he also enjoyed the course/race and had a few battles with other riders during the laps. Sorry no photos from the races as the other half of the MBE crew was competing at the Raby Castle running race. As you can see there was some slop @ Aske but the woods were powder dry and soft going.
Hope Fatsno / Surly Rabbit Hole 26+" wheel set - update. Well i have used them for several rides now inc the race @ Aske and have no problems to report. They spin upto speed well, still plenty of grip on the tyre profile, slightly more squirm on high speed cornering but overall a fantastic wheel build by Mark from Westbrook Cycles. One thing i did notice when swapping over the rotors / fitting the wheels that i had to re aline the front caliper to the max inward position and still needed to move it in alitte further for perfect pad/rotor clearance. So to solve this problem i had to order some
Hope Rotor Spacers i wasnt sure if i needed the 2mm or 1mm so got both just in case. I fitted the 1mm one first and re adjusted the caliper and perfect clearance. The 2mm one would have also been ok but i have kept it for my spare parts bin. Not sure why hope havent got this right as the rear one went on no probs and only required a very small amount of adjustment.
I have checked the weight of complete bike now with the new wheelset - 24lbs dead, not bad
Well back to sunshine and 20 degress again today but still a stiff cooling breeze in places. I took the Dale Super Six Hi Mod back out for a spin today around the country lanes / hills of Co Durham. The views from Tow Law were clear after yesterdays mist and you could see all the wind turbines for miles. I forgot to take my camera so only took a couple of pics when i was finished my ride. Today i had the head wind on the way out so cruised back in with a tail wind and topped 40mph max speed. I did a few more miles / ft climbed today as the forecast is heavy rain and winds all day tomorrow. If it dries up on Friday i might drag out my Dale Super X Hi Mod after i dust it down! or if the lines are still wet/muddy I will take the Eastway ST1.0 to keep clean. 
