Years ago I used to take part in the brilliant sport of pedalcar racing ( http://www.pedalcarracing.info ). However, moving further down south in conjunction with teaching I have been unable to race for 4 years.

I’m in constant contact with my teammates (one of the positives of social media) and they are some of my closest friends even if they live miles away. When I found out round 4 of the British Pedal Car Championship at Blackbushe kart track was on a Saturday before term started back I quickly got in contact to see if there was a seat available. A response came swiftly… Yes, and if not many were willing to step out to allow me in. I felt blessed to have such amazing friends.

The morning of the race I drove with my wife up to the track and nerves started to kick in. I hadn’t raced in years and had left the sport on a high when I was at my fittest. This was going to be a test. Looking at the course I took in the changes, 4 years ago there was a sweeping right hander downhill into a chicane. Now there was a series of 90° turns before heading into the chicane. This was going to be interesting.

Soon familiar faces started to arrive and my nerves were replaced with joy of seeing my friends, some who I haven’t seen in over a year (before surgery). After we got the pit set up and a few laps done to get re-familiarised with the car it was time for the race drivers briefing before the first race.

Today was the sprint races. This meant a day of 5×1 hour races. Pedalcar racing is a team sport. Each team is made up of up to 4 drivers, who take it in turns to race around a circuit (usually a karting track) for a certain amount of time or distance. Over the season we race from 1 hour up to 24 hours. As a team we decided on 20 minute stints as I didn’t know how I would go.

Steve would be starting and I would be in 2nd so I had a 20 minute wait until I got back in the car. Steve’s time in the car came to an end quickly and my time in the car began. It took me a couple of laps to get back into the rhythm, but it wasn’t long before it felt like normal – apart from those 3 new corners, they kept catching me out and making my sides ache.

Since surgery my core has been weak, but I was heavily advised against immediately building up muscle due to the likelihood of a hernia. This meant where the surgeon cut into me, my muscle was still weak. Riding my bike helped increase my fitness and strength whilst not putting my core under stress. Pedalcar racing was putting my core under stress but only in the 3 x 90°corners which I was going into at around 25mph.

After 2 x 20 minute stints my body was starting to feel the stress and after sitting out race 3, I was worried before starting the 4th race.

The race began and I was feeling good. I was following all the moves of the lead cars. Our team’s lead car (#2 driven by Sam) was vying for the lead, so I went to the front of the group to give Sam a steady pace. This was all good for 2 laps, then he got his breath back an launched an attack out of the final chicane. I just let the gap open to ensure the other teams had to chase. They did, but this meant I then needed to chase them. Heading down the hill into the 90° corners that lap I was going the fastest I had all day. Unfortunately, this meant the stress on my core was higher too. Suddenly I was struggling to breathe. I decided to give it another lap, but was still struggling with a pain in my back on any intake of breath. After pitting early and lying on my front I calmed down.

At this point I started to acknowledge my day was over, but was still concerned about the pain in my lower back. However, a new addition to the racing was a massage tent. Kate from ‘Well Trodden Path’ ( http://www.welltroddenpath.co.uk )was charging £7 for a 10 minute sports massage. I went along and was able to have a massage there and then. Kate worked my lower back and slowed my breathing down. After listening to my experience after surgery, she went on to show me some exercises to slowly build up my core strength again without putting it under too much stress – my best man (a personal trainer) has since given me a plan to follow.

I then called it a day on my race. Feeling disappointed I couldn’t do more, but looking back I realise how amazing I did for less than a year after surgery.

If you want to watch a video of the day racing follow the link below to YouTube.