Matti, Chris and Claire have just had their bikes prepped and are ready for the start of the Sea Otter Classic...

The first round of the British downhill series took place over the weekend at Rheola in South Wales - with several big names in attendance. I was really looking forward to putting my cards on the table and seeing what kind of pace everyone else was at.

This weekend took place in Blausasc the third race of the regional series. For me it was my first race since my injury of last year in Andorra so I was very excited and happy to race. I just got back on the mountainbike one week earlier because of broken collarbone so with only 4 days of training on the dh bike I didin't know what to expect from this race.

Round 4 of the Australian National Series took place this past weekend in Canberra, bringing the series to an end until next year.

Even though the wind was not as much of a factor than it was during the Worlds, the track was running a bit slower.  There had been a lot of rain in the area during the previous couple weeks so there were a lot more ruts and rocks where dirt had washed away. This and the fact that a lot of the lips of jumps were worn down, made it a bit harder and more of an effort to link everything up.  But it was fun. I love the jumps, especially the triple-triple near the end.  When you can get it good, it feels awesome!

I left Gatwick Thursday morning for Porto, Portugal living the dream on easyJet! I watched the bikes get loaded onto the plane so we were all good to go - so we thought...

I was traveling with a few friends, Rob Smith, Tom Deacon and Kyle Farrow; there were also plenty of other riders on the flight.