A year in review....

Last night saw my last ride of 2011 with a 3hr blast in torrential rain and mud with zoe and Scott from South Wales who I had met at the Bontrager 24/12 in which with Scott's Support Zoe placed an amazing 2nd in the 24hr. Really great to be able to meet up with them on my local trails.

This week Ian and I will be travelling up to Northern Scotland to compete in the Strathpuffer 24hr solo, which will without a doubt be the toughest event we have faced to date. And what an opener to 2012 that will be.

Ian wrote a brief overview of the year recently for our newsletter which covers the years highlights:

Team Cycle Aid have enjoyed an awesome year or racing and riding. As always, the focus has been on endurance mountain biking events, but they have also participated in a wide range of fun events, sportives and other adventures.

The highlight of the year has to be Dean Pointer ranking 16th in the UK & European 24 hour mountain bike championships. This was Dean's first ever 24 hour event, and he just excelled against a really strong field, keep pushing hard throughout the event and felt a great sense of achievement ranking high against Europe's finest. Dean's season continued with 7th in Bontrager TwentyFour12 (12 hours solo), 9th in the Brighton Big Dog, and 6th at the Thetford Summer Enduro. Ian Read's season highlights were a well earned 11th place at the Thetford Summer Enduro, and a hard though 19th at Dusk 'til Dawn (in extremely muddy conditions).

The team participated in many of the regional sportives, including the Suffolk Sunrise, Wiggle's No Excuses Sportive and the main Norwich event, the Norwich 100/50. As they felt the need for the endurance training, they opted to do the Norwich 50, followed by the Norwich 100. On a hot day in June, they managed to get around both events whilst quite a few riders were still struggling with one - they felt suitably pleased with themselves! Next year, they are planning to do the 100, twice.

Next year's season will kick off in January at the Strathpuffer. For some weird reason, Dean and Ian are quite excited at riding for 24 hours in temperatures well below -10, 16 hours of darkness in the highlands of Scotland. After that they will be carrying on the Thetford Winter Series, the Wiggle No Excuses Sportive and the Cheshire Cat in March, back up to Scotland for the UK/European 24 hour championships, the Gorrick 100, more Thetford racing with the Summer Enduro, and unfinished business in Kielder! Look out for the Team jersey events and say hi - they are very talkative chaps!