back and fat

January is well and truly underway and riding seems to have slowed right down for me, the end of season finale of Mull left me somewhat depleted and need of a rest as well as catching up with my family and life outside of cycling (the horror). My sorry mountainbike lay in a very tired looking state untouched since the last kiss of summer, my road bike hung clean likewise. Funny the different regards we have for each bike. Now liberated from the Yeti and cross season, I could start to think about riding for fun once more. First up was getting my SS into a ridable state, that poor bike has had nothing but a hard life but still it keeps coming back for more, a quick sponge down with a bucket of hot and soapy, a blast of GT-85 here and there, add some heavyweight no brainer tyres and away I went. Having been riding solely the cross bike for months it was a pretty cathartic ride back on the Curtis I was over at Laggan and went for a gentlemanly ride around the red trails there. I must admit every time I ride Laggan I remember how much I love the flow and crispness of the trails. It was cold and fairly wet but those guys have done a lot of work to make sure the trails drain well and they do. The ride hurt, having been off the bike pretty much since Mull, I was glad to be running a leisurely 32-18 gearing and cruised my way around without a care in the world. (well for the hour or so I was there) Unfortunately my ankle is still playing up and I am wondering if it is too late to get some specialist attention on it? Other than that the ride was good which was kinda what I needed to blow away the winter break and clear the head for 2009.

A couple of riders up at Strathpuffer this weekend, I don't envy them, it was howling here last night so I can only imagine what it is like up there. Good luck to them all.

Apology, I was late getting the team affiliation payment made so if you have applied for a license you may have got a knock-back, I apologise, they should have the payment by now and I will try and clear it up next week, my head kinda switched off over the festive break.