I attended my first VTT (MTB) race last weekend in Grenoble. It was a pretty low key affair and tailored for families. My seven year old son entered his first downhill, xc and trials race and finished a respectable 5th out of about 30 kids in his age group.

I a long with a friend enterd the 2 hour relay XC race. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the short course about 10 mins per lap the 3 short sharp climbs (nothing like we are used to in Alpe d’Huez) and the 20 or so cyclo cross bikes !

The event took place next to the cycling clubs velodrome so each lap involved a quick sprint on the velodrome before handing over to your coleague to do a lap. It was hard going with short recovery times with lung busting short climbs. The great thing though about french events is there is always loads of food to eat.

For the record I believe we were 27th out of quite a few more ?!