IT was too fast a start to the race he was after that he says cost him a top 10 finish, but Queanbeyan mountain biker Andrew Blair will come away from his first ever Commonwealth Games a happy man nonetheless.
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The cross-country competitor of 20 years made his Commonwealth debut in Glasgow in Tuesday night local time, finishing his race 12th overall with a time of 1:48:16, which was just over 10 minutes behind gold medallist Anton Cooper of New Zealand.
But while he was disappointed in falling short of his top 10 goal, Blair said the atmosphere at the Cathkin Braes mountain bike course was something he would never forget.
"It was a really fun race, a super fun course, and I just enjoyed it," he said.
"The crowd was awesome. It was so loud, and there were sections where it was like a tunnel of noise and there were lots of Australians cheering too which is always good."
Blair blamed himself for starting too fast in the seven lap race, which he said did not give him the energy he needed to put the foot down later on in the race to catch the peleton in the crucial laps.
"It's all really hard to ride fast especially when you start to get a little bit tired, you can't afford to make a mistake because the course will make you pay for it," said Blair.
Unfortunately for him this happened, when he crashed at a creek crossing near the end of the third lap, and he said after that he knew it just was not his day.
"It's a stupid section you wouldn't know was hard, but it was just a moment of a lack of concentration and I ended up on the deck," he said.
"I just de-weighted the front wheel coming out and before I knew it I was on the floor. It wasn't a really hard section I just didn't concentrate...It's always hard to now what the field's going to be like."
At 35 years of age it could have been Blair's final chance at Commonwealth success, but the veteran rider has not ruled out going for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics.