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Ola…
2 am start, a two hour drive to get to Castelo Branco. Everything comes in twos in Portugal, ok maybe not; the drive up was amazing, so much rideable terrain or could be. You would need an Enduro bike to suss things out.
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3.8.06 22:45
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On the hill
Met up with Marc, Ricardo up at Monsanto. The course is about 65/35 Downtown / Downhill, it starts inside the walls of a castle. Spiting you out of the main entrance on to a switch back cobble path, then on and off the roof of some kind of electrical switch room. The drop is straight into a left hander with the run up being very straight, from then on it is a very rocky trail in-between the huge old rocks that litter the hill above the village. Super tight left hander then its all steps and old ladies down to the church. 
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3.8.06 23:03
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That didn’t go so well
 As usual a small mistake equals a major problem, came into a 90 degree set of steps a little too quick. The landing was covered in gravel so the front slid away, I managed to bail and push away from the bike but the steps were about three foot high and with no handrail so my landing wasn’t too soft. Not the granite cobles are soft anyway, must have caught the underside of my elbow on the edge of something as a result now have a rather attractive swollen and bruised right elbow. I sat out my first run in the vain hope that the stiffness in my elbow would clear up and that my grip would improve. I was given a pill by one of the veteran riders who is some kind of doctor to take effect. Not quite sure what the pill was but seemed to help, so I took a quick walk up to the top to suss out my strategy. Sitting in the keep of a castle waiting to race is quite a surreal experience, or perhaps not. It could have been the pain, doctor’s pill and heat combining to make me a little delirious, anyway I only made in down the fast wide spaced steps from the timing to the castle wall before the pain started to kick in and I called it quits. 
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7.8.06 18:07
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Thank you
Marco, Ricardo, Marc, Daniel, ‘the doctor’, the guys who helped get the bike in car, the guy who told be to take it easy and the other riders who I talked to on the way up to the start.. I’ll do a proper Obrigardo soon.
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7.8.06 18:08
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Bike park
Went to take a look to today, now I can drive pretty much unaided. Super twisty road to the top, good job I was fully dosed up! Really nice location, new chair lift, lots of Vodaphone banners. the courses look about race length, the one that edges the lake looks more of a ‘race’ course. All the bases are covered with man made drops, rock slabs / drops and a touch of shore. Looked pretty fast, the other course was more freeride’ish with a fair bit of timber work going’ on. There looks like there could be a lot more room for other interlinking trails. 
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7.8.06 18:11
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Broken!
Went to hospital to have my arm checked out and the X-Ray showed that I have fractured a bone in my forearm. Effectively I've chipped a lump off the end of the bone that forms the elbow joint. I'll have to go back in a week and they’re decide whether I’ll need a cast on my arm.
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11.8.06 18:43
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