SSEC 2011 was held in Belgium in Maredsous.  We started out at 22:30 on the Thursday before and took the Channel Tunnel at 04:30.  We drove straight to Maredsous and arrived 4 hours later to set up the Singular camp.  A few people were already pitched including Alex and Charlie who had ridden all the way.  Soon after the site filled up and the organisers took some of us on a guided ride around the area.  There was a guided night ride on offer but I was busy fettling with the new Pegasus.

The race started on Saturday at 10:00 and the course took us through some beautiful Belgium singletrack and up bigger climbs than I knew they had in Belgium.  The course even included a tunnel and a river crossing.  It all started well, the first lap I was on a flyer and we all settled into a very quick pace.  The French winner soon put the rest of us in our places with his immense climbing skills and left the rest of us to fight it out for ourselves.

I was coming into the end of the final lap in 7th place but on the last descent I managed to pass 2 people to take 5th.  The winner was a full 10 minutes infront!  Jo (my wife) was guest riding for Singular on her Hummingbird - she took everyone by surprise and finished in a fabulous 4th position out of the ladies (despite falling off twice).  Also in the Singular camp was Jason Billett who rode his Pegasus, unsure of his finishing position but he rode strong.

Thanks to everyone in the Singular camp for all their support at the event - especially Jen and Jackie who were there cheering at every lap.  Thanks to Sam from Singular for making this all possible (the Reynolds rims and the Pegasus frame came together at the last minute and rode fantastically).

This was a good warm up and I am feeling strong for the 24hr Solo Champs this weekend.