"My early Euro trip to Portugal is shaping up fairly well so far. The weather out here hasn't been perfect, infact probably worse than the UK, but the tracks are riding pretty sweet.
The first race of the trip was in the North of Portugal in a place called Ribiera de Pena on a fast, rough and fairly pedally track. At just over two minutes it was quite short and became very physical the more the track got ridden, with breaking bumps appearing most of the way down after most of the step downs and jumps.
It was a two race run format with the best run to count. In my 1st run I hit one of the step downs a bit fast with some of the breaking bumps getting the better of me and sending me off the track down a bank. I got back on quickly, but then proceeded to crash once more on a large bridge across the road. I had a few cuts from the cheese grater style bridge, but I cruised down to the finish. My 2nd run went a bit better, far from smooth but enough to take 6th place. It was very tight with four riders being placed within 0.2 of a second. If I'd been 1 second faster I'd have secured 2nd place - so that was taher frustrating!
I've now driven further south in Portugal for a few days of riding in a town called Lousa. Next weekend is the 2nd round of the International Maxxis Cup. A few top riders, such as Gee Atherton, and other top World Class riders will be there - so competition will be harder. But I'm planning for a much smoother run and a top ten finish." 
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