first tracks

It's an immense pleasure being the first rider on trails after a fresh snow fall. The first to leave their mark, the first to attempt a trail without dabbing a foot or having to get off and walk, the first to slip and slide their way through. Controlled and not so controlled slides, feet out in the corners, bike dancing over the ruts, ice and snow beneath you. You defining the ride line that others will naturally follow, any mistakes there for all to see.

After a very slow start today I finally got out for a ride at Glentress around lunchtime. To my surprise, many of the trails had yet to be touched. a cheeky race link, Hit Squad Hill, Pie Run, Magic Mushroom and Falla Brae were all fresh and tyre mark free (well, apart from the underlying frozen tyre ruts from previous days).

Getting out to ride in the snow with the sun shining was an absolute joy. It's amazing to be back on the bike, feeling good and able to train again, with my post viral fatiguey problems hopefully behind me. Roll on 2010!

A very happy new year to y'all.

andy

Need to be less soft.

Merry Crimbo

I hope Santa is good to y'all.

Far Flung Friends - Don Leet

Nice interview/slideshow with honorary VCMer Don Leet of Bend, Oregon from the fine Cyclocross Magazine.

Cyclocross is Spoken Here: Sunnyside Sports in Bend, Oregon

skol n' crossbikes

courtesy of the shamed Mr Muir, yes you Mr Muir!

So, where *did* you learn those moves?

NSFW.

Mull.

So. Mull. Finish work. Throw warm gear in car. Pick up Chipps. Drive into the night, car cranked to metal.

Ferry. Meet the rest of the southern Scottish vcm'ers and head over the sea to Mull.

Drive carefully on the frosty ground to the welcoming and warm embrace of Davie Graham. Break a tooth, eat splendid curry, drink too much beer, fall asleep fetally at 4am. Awake to a pristine day and head to the castle of Glengorm. The course in fine fettle, fast people were fast, slow people were slow and there were lots of snapped derailleurs.

Back, shower, comfort food and out to a ceilidh at Aros hall with some locals and the rest of the crossers. Some partook more than others but the season was seen off in fine style.

Out on sunday for another fine and crispy race. More derailleurs were lost, but the season was done and after the prizes a few faces fell at the prospect of another year to go before we again don the colours for cross.

Thankyou to all the sponsors, the ds (mr duncan) and the rest of the VC Moulin family who have made this a season to remember.

Kielder 100 2010

Hi everyone,

Having stated that 2009 was always going to be a write off when it comes to riding and racing due to a busy year and the birth of my daughter who has DS. I've kicked off my 2010 race campaign this evening with a positive start as I mean to go on attitude, I've gone and entered the K100. Crikey! Think I will start my training on the 2nd of January!!

Good luck to all you lucky buggers on Mull this weekend, I will be there next year you can baleed dat.

Laatste ronde Wereldbeker Koksijde

Laatste ronde Wereldbeker Koksijde

The Sand God's! a must see for all VCM's something we can all look forward to, Surly a wee trip next year

A hard 50mins

photo taking by phunkt.com

A hard 50mins, Looking at the course I just knew before I started that I was gonna have find some kind off new running muscles, even thou my pins were feeling good. After watching Andy Whippet Wardman floating round to 2nd and Nelly to 3rd in the open race.

(nearly losing my voice because of screaming on nelly to get his ass into gear) Then it was me and John,

we started the race with the idea that we would run the first part, which would have worked for me if some

fellow crosser had not jumped on ma heels, making me land both knee's straight into a good 15 inches of mud.

Well yet again it was bad start. So it's a case of breathing out off every hole in your body to get your place back.

Which I managed to do, and nearly got up to a good group. But the old running legs if I had any where nae up to much.

So I settled for where I was, with a stride to come back next year stronger and faster.

Anyway Mull coming up so there is still something to play for boy's and girls.

Yours Miffae de Muir

Stick a fork in my arse, turn me over, I'm done.

After too many weekends of traveling to ride, it felt decadent to just ride from the door. Delayed by faff, route dithering and apathy that a 6-cup pot of espresso couldn't dispel, the pale Winter sky drew me through the door.

With the trails reduced to deepest chod, a road ride would be just the thing to awaken slumbering legs. With brain and iPod set to random I set off with no aim other than to earn my supper and ride a few new B-roads spotted some way off connecting the well-known.

You choose to do hill-reps in the Chilterns by leaving the house for a road ride and today I felt particularly masochistic too. Many of the roads were awash in rain-driven detritus; wood, gravel, road-kill and mud. Fields full of ripe egg-sized flints ready for harvest. Tail-wind, head-wind, tail-wind. Startled deer. Many, many kites. Special dusk light.

The weather held, the follow-my-nose route had a typically saw-tooth profile and the last miles ridden in the dark were spent planning a large risotto in great detail.

Deep bath, supper, fire-piled high. Stick a fork in my arse, turn me over, I'm done.