Report by Isaac Pucci
Photos by Vermont Images

A wet and windy Sunday at the end of January saw the fourth and final round of Gorrick’s Brass Monkeys Series. It also saw the team debut its new 2014 Champion Systems team kit.

The 2013/2014 Brass Monkey Series is the first year that the series has had four rounds opposed to three in previous years. The latest race was held at Tunnel Hill in Mytchett, which I’d been looking forward to for a long time as it’s my local training ground and I know the trails well. The weather leading up to the race wasn’t the best but after a sneaky preview on Friday I thought I had my tyres sorted. However, Saturday evening after coming home from a day at work the heavens opened for a short but intense spell. Even so I was confident enough to race with a Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.25 front tyre and one of the new Schwalbe Thunderburt 2.1 tyres on the rear.

As usual I raced the 2hr 18-39 category as this is the closest category to an Elite race. The race went well and I immediately got a good gap over the rest of the field and was alone half way through the first lap. I rode a decent race with good legs and wasn’t pressured by anyone to take any silly risks.

I had a bit of a problem on the third and final lap with around 10 minutes of the course left to go as I heard a hissing noise coming from my front wheel. Luckily I had my CO2 inflator with a 25-gram gas cartridge, which gassed the tyre back up to a ride-able pressure. I nursed it back to the arena and was still unsure if anyone else would come through the finish line under the two hours and go for a fourth lap. I rode to the top of the first hill to “lurk” as they say to see if anyone else had got through under the two hour mark. I waited a good few minutes but nobody came through so the race was mine! An awesome way to finish my second race for the new team with another win.