Summer’s coming and as the weather ramps up so do the races – over the past couple of weeks I’ve been right up to Scotland for a sneak peek at the World Championship race course (and some rather tough training over the mountains there!), over to Wales to take part in the inaugural Parys Mountain MTB race (which was going well until I managed to puncture both tyres on a rock, dropping me down to 3^rd place at the finish) and then on to the Manchester Riviera to take part in the 1^st round of the ever popular “Midweek Madness” race series (and the less said about how I did in that race the better!)

I had just enough time to wipe the mud off my bike before travelling up to the Lakes with Angela for her 1^st open water swim of the year – 1.5km in Coniston – which she raced in a new PB, coming 2^nd in her category, just 3 seconds back from 1^st place! With more races on the horizon the chance to take a few more podiums is looming…