will not miss
Cleaning my bike in the dark, every weekend for 17 weekends

Getting my bike out of the shed the following weekend to find, there are still smeary marks and bits of dirt I missed.

Digging twigs, stones and clumps of sand from the seal of the washing machine

Training on a turbo in pitch black

Car Tetris

Jet washing my shoes, daily rotating the newspaper stuffing and pray they will be dry by the next weekend

Getting up a 7am on Saturday/Sunday and missing a re-run of Frasier by driving to a cyclocross race

Going on the M1



ViCiOUS pint-sized cheerleaders and 'Paul' the mud dumpling

Shredding off road on skinny tyres, feeling out of control and trying to go faster

Winning cyclocross races

Followed by awkward podium presentations

Signing people's autographs

Having a slightly bruised shoulder on Monday mornings

Running on muddy paths around Tooting Common as the sun comes up

Hanging out with ViCiOUS velo at races, making jokes, having ideas showers, smashing into bushes, yelling at them from the sidelines 

Trying to race in the cyclocross motherland 

The peculiar smell of damp mud

Finding a secret line on a section of course to go faster than everyone else

When people in the crowd call your name and cheer with as much energy as they can muster

Riding on the turbo and getting to that point where your muscles feel so tired they they fizz then feel white hot, sort of cold but that makes you try to go faster

CX returned earlier that usual this year thanks to Sean, a local race organiser (and lad that who used to be in the same Primary school class as me).

He single handedly set up, ran, organised and promoted a six race series and offered two training days for newer riders.

I rode the final two rounds, finishing 1st in both, of course.
On Monday I took my disposable camera to the last race. I tucked it into my skinsuit pocket and attempted to snap away.

Big thanks to Sean and the summer series volunteers (www.summerseries.co.uk). Best thing I've been too and can only happen when people help for free.

I walked away with 80 euros of bike shop vouchers, 8 apples, 2 nectarines, some Ana Nichoola gloves and some sick pictures.
The girl that attended all the races and won the series overall got some sweet Hope Disc brakes (JEL).