Bontrager 24/12

Well to be honest ive been waiting for Jez to post his views on what was the most enjoyable event of the year, sunshine,music (jazz singer,24 dj's, live rock band,tour de france on a plasma screen, Geoff Waugh trying to buy my jersey !! )
But Jez now has a proper job working for Trek Uk ( great bunch of lads / lasses ) . And no time?
We both did a few laps in VCM colours, i did 4 laps back to back and yes lap 4 was a little slower i agree, but you dont want fresh legs Jez coming up behind you saying Go Faster Moulin' I had given my best for club / country by then and that was cheeky. I would expect that of the 'Pirate Duncan'. So i went back to the arena to change back in to my chief marshal's jacket to be shouted at from afar 'i want your jersey' from mr Waugh !!
So for the record Jez my lap times were 4o mins , 40 mins, 41 mins, 57 Doh! Wot Was Yours ??
Perhaps next year we take the whole VCM collective and take the silverware home, and Jez brings his now famous coffee machine and Mr Waugh takes the pictures we have a great time at what was a top event.
Jez top man ! you and Duncan together? Dangerous!!! Now off to Endura Sleepless In DA Saddle

after the highs come the lows...

Was pretty chuffed with the race at 10 @ KT. Thought the course was exceptional and for the first few laps I had a silly grin on my face on the descents plus it was ace to catch up with other VCM folk. Felt I pushed myself pretty hard and didn't blow up on any of the laps like in 2007..

Fast forward a week to my first road race of 2008.. East Kilbride Road Race, 55mile - 2/3/4/V/J. O.k it'll be pretty rapid with 3 laps on a lumpy course, so my goal is just to try hang in the bunch (or remnants of) and have a good dig up the final climb.

Unfortunately it didn't work out too well: Managed to stay with the bunch for most of lap 1 only to be shelled oot the back; bit of solo effort; catch a few guys in front; go a bit harder in this group; start feeling a little hungry (not what you want); start of final lap, bigger group from behind come up; been drinking lots and shovelling gels down but legs starting to stiffen..; half way round lap 3....boom! legs stop working and all that remains is to grovel to the finish, tail firmly between my legs.

Pretty dissapointed with this outing, especially being the first in VCM colours on the road. Still, it was a good training session and I can't really expect to be going well against roadie dudes who have been racing since March. Also feeling a bit run down all week from the race at KT with legs that never felt like they'd recovered, probably didn't help. Or maybe it was because I forgot to put my white oversocks on?!

Next up is a MTB TT race at Innerleithen next Tuesday night then the 4th cats support race at the Scottish Road Race Champs on Sat 2nd Aug. Hopefully, i'll be feeling a little perkier for these.

"how many of you are there?"

velo club moulin made quite the impression on 10@kirroughtree last weekend, cumulatively clocking up 600 km (and 13km of climbing!) over the 10 hours. on our parade lap john and i were asked "how many of you are there" and ewan, the laddie solo winner, rolled past at one point and asked what the team and jerseys were all about.

anyhoo, scores on the doors.

winner: jac - lassies solo
winner: anja - mixed pairs (with phil t. horse)
2nd: andy and steve - laddies pairs
safely in the peloton: john and me - laddies solo

course was a real tough guy/gal special - lots of rocky singletrack and no place to recover - even the forest roads were tough going. very glad i stuck some boing up front. not enough chances to boost offa stuff (see 10utb report) for my liking, but entertaining enough.

some highly amusing moments watching folks struggle with the rooty sections and some fantastic suicide overtaking on the singletrack. i was still giggling after witnessing one particular manoeuvre (which had left the protagonist facing the wrong way, on his arse and a good way off track) when i overcooked a fast corner and had to hit the eject button to avoid the great big trailside rock. ach weel, skin heals.

next up? might try to fit in a sportive or two before jetting off to the singlespeed worlds. or i might just go local and roll around in nettles for an hour or two to get myself ready for the poison oak in napa...


photo of popeye by trina

too much work

After what seems months of non stop working on events, the time has come to buy a couple of new steeds.
First was a new hardtail mtb, carbon has been my choice for the last three seasons so why not again? Trek 9.8 hmmm every man and his dog has got one! Specialized stumpy No ! its always red or blk in colour? Giant xtc c1 the spec is a little hash/bash. So what did i go for? Cube elite k24 teamline, looks great, spec fox forks,sram x0/shimano xt, syntace carbon bars/stem seatpost,white saddle hmmm dt swiss wheels.
The second is a wee bit tougher ? The cross bike.
Choice's - Pinarello Carbon ( total porn)
Trek xo (good value)
Lemond (try finding one)
Yeti ( expensive)
Focus/Cube (will do the job)
So far my season has been the tour of ireland what an event that was, and thats it ! Now iam going to make a big effort and wear my VCM kit with a purpose.
Main aims are Wild Wales,Welsh Cx Series,Dusk Till Dawn, Forest Of Dean enduro, Real Ale Wobble ( yep 40 miles offroad, with 1 pint off real ale every 10 miles) november Wales. plus national CX rounds. Grizdale Mountain Bike Challenge.
So training a must from now on, as for work its the Bontrager 24/12 in 2 weeks, then Endura Sleepless InThe Saddle in Aug .

Breaking News!!!

A text just in from Jac down in Kirroughtree.

Andy and Stevo 2nd place Male Pairs.

Jac 1st place solo woman

Anja and Phil 1st place Mixed pair.

Oh happy day, no doubt a full story will be told.

Big Weekend

A big weekend of racing for VCM this one. 

Firstly up North in Glencoe, Mark W and Dougy are racing the Scottish DH champs rocking out the masters category, good luck big guns, keep it clean and smooth.

And down at the 10 around Kirroughtree, we have 3 solo riders, Jac Strachan (wearing her new Scottish Single Speed crown I hope), Marty Steele and John McCallum all capable of respectable finishes. Over in the pairs, Andy W and new boy Stevo are hoping to go one better than last years second place, go whippets go. And even more in the mixed pairs, Anja is partnering with fellow UK single speed champ Phil the Horse and should be in the firm favourite category to get astride that podium. 

GO TEAM GO

The World's Most Efficient Engine

I popped out for a ride today - I thought twice about it when the rain was lashing at my window at 7am, but i repeated the mantra; "It always looks worse from inside...."

So i kitted up and departed.  Bearsden, Drymen, Balmaha, Rowerdennan, The West Highland Way, Inversnaid Hotel, Loch Katrine Forest, Aferfoyle, Strathblane, Home.

I  stopped at Aberfoyle to refuel.  The man behind the counter had too much gold jewelry and very long fingernails.

me:  "How's it going?"

him:  "Good.... Well,  I was good on Friday..."

my internal monologue: oh dear lord ... (cringe!)

him:  "I read the obituary on Friday and i wasn't in it.  So i knew it was a good day on friday."

me: (nervous laugh) "ah." 

my internal monologue: just smile and nod... (i nod.  and smile)

me: "Cheers very much.  I'll be off" (I teeter out as quickly as my road cleats allow)

I bought a bottle of lucozade and packet of rainbow coloured popcorn, which came to the grand total of 99p.

There's not much point to this, but it certainly proves, we are indeed,  very efficient engines. Factory standard, I can travel around about 80miles on less than a pound.  Just magine how far i could go on 99p with a bit more fine tuning...

Oh yeah, and I didn't even eat the popcorn :-)

12 hours

An earlyish start on Saturday morning saw Chris and I frantically pack the last few things and realise that we had no spare brake pads and not enough gels. So, we decided to stop off in Pitlochy on the way up to Golspie to pick up a crate of Grimbergen from Chris D and swing by Escape Route to pick up a few last minute provisions.

The few provisions turned into quite a chunky purchase, but the espresso Kev gave us both balanced it all out.

We eventually arrived in Golspie at around 4pm which meant we had plenty time to put up the tee-pee, have a snooze and fettle with bikes before the rider briefing. (The fettling with bikes saw a bit of Chris' brakes come flying off into the boot of the car never to be seen again. So there was a big thanks and some Grimbergen to Al from Square Wheels for coming to the rescue.)

The race started at Dunrobin Castle (about 2 miles away from the main transition area), so at around 7.15, all those doing the first lap made their way along to what must be one of the most spectacular start lines I've see. Around 50 riders lined up in front of the castle to start the first, longer than usual, lap. We all set off up the main drive of the castle when the starting rifle (yes, rifle, not pistol!) went off and quickly ducked off into some singletrack in the castle grounds. We then swung back around and rode along the track in front of the castle between the castle gardens and the sea. It was very difficult to force myself to keep riding rather than stop and stare at the beautiful view, but keep riding I did.

We then headed along the main street of Golspie to the entertainment of the locals and then off onto the long climb up Ben Bhraggie. Part way up was the fantastic "rent a crowd" who were at Strathpuffer earlier in the year. I swear they are such an enthusiastic and encouraging crowd that I want to hire them to come to every race with me! (Those of you who went to Strathpuffer might remember the crowd who were out on the hill ALL night.)

The climb up to the monument at the top of Ben Bhraggie was pretty tough on a singlespeed, especially with the techy rocky bit at the top, but I was promised by the marshall half way up that it would be worth the view and she wasn't wrong! Almost a 360 panorama of mountains and sea. It was only when my bar of McCowans Highland Toffee was thrust into my hand (as proof that I had done the longer first lap), that my attention was drawn back to the decent ahead of me.

And what a decent! Fast, techy, rocky, pretty sketchy, but ace! After around an hour of climbing, I reckon I was back down the hill to the transition area in around 20 minutes, grinning like a mad woman.

After that, we all settled into the fairly short regular laps (7.5k seemed pretty short, but with one long gradual climb on singletrack and fire road followed by a fairly techy singletrack decent, it was pretty much spot on).

By 11pm it was pretty dark in the woods, so my lights went on then, but out in the open you still didn't really need lights because the sky was so light. (If I could have figured out how to switch my stupid lights off, I'm sure I would have enjoyed the twilight much more.) Then by 3 am, dawn was well on the way and the light flooding over the north sea was lovely. There were several points where I did an entire lap without seeing another rider, so I had perfect peace and quiet to enjoy the view and the birdsong on my own.

Before I knew it, it was 4 am and I was having to figure out how many laps I still had in my legs and how many I could reasonably fit in before 8 am. I was feeling surprisingly okay, not particularly strong, but not the gibbering wreck I expected to be, so I plodded on.

At 7.20, Chris and I went out together for our final lap and very quickly found ourselves in a little pack of singlespeeders steadily plodding around together. We lurked for a few minutes to avoid having to go out for another lap and then rode in to finish just after 8am.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic race. The venue was great, the views were amazing, the spectators were fantastic and I actually felt I had ridden pretty well. Although I still didn't get the red mist (I suspect I never will), I felt that I had worked hard and consistently for the whole 12 hours, so I was pretty pleased with myself.

Given the fact that everyone was pretty sleepy, the prize giving took place pretty promptly at 9.15. Although there were lots of sleepy people, there were a lot of happy faces, so it seemed like it wasn't just me who thought it was a cracking event. The whole thing was made even better for me by being awarded both winning female solo and Scottish Singlespeed Champion! What more could I ask for?

Let's hope the guys decide to run the event again next year, because it was a fantastic event with a great atmosphere. Thanks guys!

For now though, I think I need to rest my legs for a wee bit...well, after I've gone out for a scoot tonight maybe.

It's only 12 hours

Tomorrow morning Chris and I will be heading up north to the Dawn Raid at the Golspie trails. It'll be a couple of firsts for me: my first time riding the Gospie trails and my first solo 12 hour race. I've solo'd a few 10 hour races and been in teams for 24 hour races, so I kind of know what I'm letting myself in for. The difference is that this one is entirely overnight. It's also the first Scottish Singlespeed Champs - a 12 hour singlespeed champs, eek! Apparently "it'll be fine", so I'll give it a bash.

So I've spent this evening sorting out kit and food. I don't really know what the weather will do, so I've got two complete changes of kit as well as some warmer stuff for the middle of the night - oh, and a spare set of everything, just in case (as well as spare shoes).

Food wise - well, you never really know what you'll feel like at 3 in the morning when all you really want to do is go home and leave your bike to the vultures. I'll just buy all the cups of tea I need, so the food provisions are:

2 cheese, onion, mustard and red pepper rolls (for energy, better breathing and slow release energy apparently)
2 cheese scones (buttered)
2 brioche
6 mini sausage rolls
1 packet dried apricots
6 cliff bars
2 caffine shots
2 Honey Stinger gels (stopping off at Escape Route tomorrow to get more)
1 packet cashew nuts
1 bottle mango smoothie
1 bottle banana milkshake
1 packet instant porridge
1 tub custard
1 tub rice pudding
1 tub fruit salad
4 bananas
1 big tub electrolyte
1 small tube Hammer gel mixed with extra honey (for emergencies only)
1 jumbo bar of chocolate
1 jumbo packet jelly babies

The provisions of a small army? We'll see just how much stays in the pink box and comes right back home with me.

more mayhem

this kinda sums it up

Mayhem...

No Pics to show but a few words to share... I had my first Mountain Mayhem experience over the weekend. Kindly invited to join the Santa Cruz/Jungle team by Dickon Hepworth a while back after a chance meeting at Glentress. I rode there on my MTB from Glasgow, to have a quick lap of the red trail because i was gagging so badly for a sweet trail to ride, and i think he thought i may be just mad/keen enough to enjoy a 24hr race.

He was right. 24hrs of casual competition (casual being the operative word). Several good quality beers were enjoyed over by the Trek 69er tent, much good chat was had, and a 3am bedtime ensured a respectably late start for the majority of us on Saturday.

Team Santa Cruz/Jungle made great headway initially then almost dropped the ball by having a rider go out without his timing chip, then called it a night after I pulled a very slippery double lap after midnight.

I soiled my VCM jersey. again. The mud has stained it good and proper. I caught a train back to glasgow, stinking like alcohol after wearing several shot glass-fulls of tequila during botched tequila hand-ups at the bottom of the steep climb (you'd be surprised how many people hate tequila!).

So that was that. Thanks to Dr Jon and Trina for getting me down there, and Phil the Horse for getting me to the station on time (just). Let me know when that speeding ticket arrives in the mail...

Jet lag and new cross bike dreaming

Jet lag works in mysterious ways. I'm convinced. Got back from Oregon Sunday, slept from 9pm to 8am fine Sunday night then last night woke up at 1am and was wide awake until 4am. The birds started singing at 2.45am (a bit early I thought) and the street's resident crow starting piping up from the street lamp outside my window not long after. Bastard.

Still, this gave me time to ponder about a new 'cross bike i'm hoping to acquire. I've got the tyres sorted - bagged some Tufo Flexus tubulars (grey 'uns in 32) from Sunnyside Sports whilst in Oregon. Tufo are the only 'cross tubulars without an inner tube which makes them super resistant to pinch punctures. I rode some Tufo's last season at the Carron Valley CX and survived with frequent bottom outs and no tears. They've a decent all round tread and are pretty light too, not as light as Dugasts but I can't afford those babies.

Don has pretty much convinced me that deep section carbon tubular wheels aren't the way to go for 'cross and I should instead go for superlight-ness and reliability. Mavic Reflex's are his suggestion, so i'm thinking some of these laced to DT 190 hubs 3 cross with aerolite spokes. Light but strong and much cheaper to replace the rims.

Next thing on my mind is the groupset. The bike tart in me would love to get Force Red, but i've heard mixed reports on the reliability of the double tap shifting for 'cross and it's flippin' expensive. Could wait for the improved Rival or Force to come out or do I wait for the new Dura Ace which looks the business, with hidden cable routing at the bars, lighter weight and stealth look? Not sure this will be out in time for the upcoming season. Or maybe Campy Chorus for super reliability and Italian pimpyness?

Any thoughts welcome..

Oregon and bike races

Just about home time for Ros and I - traveling back from Oregon tomorrow (Saturday).  Feeling a little low about this. Still, it's been fab and to wangle a 4 week holiday is pretty cool.   Pic above is Don (in VCM colours!) on a cheeky turn on the North Umpqua trail in S.Oregon, a very tasty trail indeed.  

Been lucky enough to do 2 races whilst visiting Oregon.  The first, the Falls City Firecracker was one of the most fun xc races i've ever done.  4 laps of a pretty savage straight up, straight down course (think Sidlaws but with trees and even steeper climbing!).  A fast start and gap on the rest of the field lasted all of 1 minute and quickly morphed into mid field granny ring scratting.  The Trek Fuel I was borrowing may not have been the most spritely beast up the climbs but on the descents it ripped and helped me gain back some places.  By lap 4 I was really scratting up the climb but kept it going to finish 5th in the expert men.  Chuffed with this for my first mtb race of the year.

The Ashland Super D was possibly even more fun - a 12 mile downhill race with one 5 min climb in the middle.  Don had sorted Maverick for me, perfect for this type of race.  6" at the front, 5" at the rear plus funky adjustable seat height with bar mounted leaver.  A few days of riding before including a couple of rides on a section of the North Umpqua trail had me pretty used to the bike and really enjoying it.   A pre run of the course the evening before showed a healthy mix of flat-out-loose-crash-and-you-die type dirt road and also plenty of woodsy singletrack. 

On race day I was feeling reasonably optimistic.  Maybe not challenging Mark Weir, the Santa Cruz dude for a sub 36mins, but hopeful of a good showing - sub 40min with a clean run and more importantly no crashes (not insured to race mtbs on holiday, tut tut!).  

Unfortunately, I got my race head on, steamed off from the start house completely forgetting about a pretty hefty ditch across the dirt road 400m in.  I'd told myself in practice to slow up and roll through this but with way too much speed and no time to slow down I had to try jump it...   I squeaked over, just (thank fook!), but the landing bounced my chain off and it wrapped around my cranks with the rear mech joining in the fun around the rear cogs.  Bugger. On the fastest part of the course I had to stop and untangle things.  

The chain jumped off and wrapped the cranks solid another two times on my run.  Frustrating indeed.  Together with not being able to use the offending big ring meant I probably lost a good couple of minutes. Funny, my last dh race was in 1994 (Silton Bomber) and my chain and rear mech wrapped themselves up good and proper pretty early into the run on that day..

On reflection I shouldn't have felt so frustrated.  The course was brilliant fun, I didn't crash, didn't damage the bike or me, rode most of the course pretty well and finished 6th in my cat with a 42:19.   Even better was getting to ride with friends on excellent trails and seeing Don and Mike from Sunnyside putting in great rides with Mike posting an awesome sub 40 min time. 

I'd definately recommend this race (www.breakaway-events.net/) if you happen to be in this neck of the woods in June and the Ashland Shakespeare Festival is in full swing at the same time too!   Bonus.  

Fort William and death-by-midgees

I'm sneaking a little time out of work to quickly sum up last weekend's activities. When I first decided to live in Europe, I thought 'great, loads of access to great racing.' That's not quite been the case - Not that there's no racing happening, just that I'm not making the time to partake. So, after losing riding time to working time, and having such a haphazard schedule that training was non existent and riding was often forfeited for sleep, my hopes for entering multiple World Cups melted away as the summer racing season approached.
But, the Fort William WC still beckoned. It's relatively local and i convinced myself it would be a good idea to enter - catch up with the other kiwis who are doing so well and have a bash around one of the more fun XC race tracks.
As race day neared, my trusty Santa Cruz Blur accepted a nice new EA70 flat bar and gleaming carbon bar ends, in an effort to make up for her pilots lack of race-readiness.
Unfortunately, all the carbon accessories in the world were not going to make me go any faster on the day, but they made me feel like i was fitting in a little better.
I left Glasgow the day before the race, arriving one minute shy of the 12pm sign in cut-off (an accident on the road and a forced 1 1/2 hr diversion and shot my carefully timed schedule to pieces). I left sign on with plate number 59 - 2nd to last on the start grid, one place ahead of another NZ rider, Palmerston North based Fiona Macdermid. A snapped chain on my first practice lap had me skooting all the way back to the pits to visit the guys at the Sram tent. A few new split links and a new chain (thanks Graham!) and I was back out on the track, enjoying the unusually dry and dusty conditions.
Race day was similarly dry. So dry, in fact, that when the start gun sounded, the rest of the field seemed to go up in a cloud of dust... and suddenly I was all alone. And i remained alone until the end of the 4th lap when the put-putting of the tail moto behind me confirmed my suspicion that i was about to be lapped out.

So that was that - probably my most lack-lustre performance to date, but it was an experience all the same. I had the pleasure of meeting John Gibson (Kona team photographer) who rescued my CO2 pump from the dirt when it leapt free of my jersey pocket in one of the rock gardens, I got to hang out with the Santa Cruz Syndicate mechanic (Nigel was the NZ team mechanic last year at the Fort William World Champs), and took part in the pant-wetting excitement of the Downhill on Sunday, where Kiwis Justin Leov and Sam Blenkinsop pulled out times that had them in the top 4 riders, just before their names were eclipsed from the leader board by Hill, Rennie, Peat, Atherton and Minaar. But the major memorable thing i took from the weekend are the 67 midgee bites I was unfortunate enough to get on my face while i slept in my tent at the Glen Nevis Campground. Midgees come in clouds, they are officially measured by the ton, and they apparently have an insatiable appetite for me. A full packet of antihistamines and a tube of anaesthetic lotion later, my complexion is almost back to normal. Almost.

training

is something I never really thought about, it was always a case of ride my bike when I wanted as hard as I wanted, not rocket science not brain surgery, just ride. but recently I have started approaching riding and many other aspects of my day to day with a tad more care and conviction. it started when Andy-W (trailfettler) sent me a copy of his training schedule, to say I was somewhat horrified would be a mild understatement, this guy was squeezing in workouts wherever he could but not in a grinding himself into a lactic burnout kinda way, it was thought through and each session with a purpose. could I incorporate aspects of a regime like this into my life? well it appears I can, definitely not in the same league as the young gun but with a little planning and a big helping of commitment I am finding myself hauling myself out of the comfort zone and into a whole new world of pain. just where this will lead to remains to be seen and I will also admit that the recent bout of fine weather has been largely helping me make the choice but I am finding myself looking for windows of opportunity to work at fitness, no bad thing I am hoping, come cross season we will of course see wether it has all been in vain.

the team now stands 12 strong and gathering a bit of momentum and following, largely due to the kit and some sterling performances into the bargain, already mutterings about how we will do it next year are abound and good, VCM - here to stay ,well maybe if we get a multimillionaire investor to bank roll the whole shebang! on the subject of bank rolling a few people have been asking about t-shirts, big Jez is looking into some ethically sourced cotton, so watch this space.

ten under the ben

Photo by Walkers Cycling Club

it was hot. damned hot.

the morning of my first race in velo club moulin colours dawned bright and sunny with no breeze to speak of. the ben was looking especially fine with some sizeable snow patches clinging on into summer. pre-race briefing listened to and the trug of love stocked with the good stuff and dumped in position. time enough for a bit of a futter about, another cup of joe and a last chance to tighten various bolts (to 11).

as we gathered on the start line, it became clear that 10UTB had become A BIG EVENT since the first one back in 2005. there were hunners of riders on the start line. i snake my way in about half way into the bunch (see if you can spot the VCM jersey in the photo up top). the piper plays and we're off on the start loop - a 15 minute mini lap to string out the bunch. lots of crunching of gears, fiddling with lockouts and a couple early punctures. and a big queue at the top of the loose, mildy rocky decent under the the gondola. onto the lap proper and it's more queues at the first river crossing and the first rocky drop. ach weel, stopped me getting into my usual first lap race with someone who'd committed an unspeakable act, like overtaking me without asking, riding in knee pads or tucking their race top into their shorts (shudder). i hand out a spare tube to a poor guy who has punctured about a mile into the first lap. an early deposit into the karma bank.

the lap itself was about 10 miles long - lots of forest road, but a fair bit of built singletrack allowing the chance to boost off rocky features to keep the mind sharp / show off to the rider behind (thanks for that AC) and one cracking hand cut section with shiny roots aplenty. fine on 2:1, with only one singletrack climb that was a longer and longer push as the event wore on.

the initial plan was 3/3/whatever, with the goal of putting in 8 laps. with the loooong start loop/first lap and slightly longer lap times, the first 3 laps took me over four hours to complete. time for a beer and some solid food. this was a mistake. the pasta sat extremely heavily on my stomach (whilst the beer was braw) and the badheadchat started - "what's the point" "stop and you can have burger" "you're a neverbeen Steele". sob!

John ripped past just at the point at which i was starting to listen. i'd been VCMlapped and fairly early too. about ¾ of the way round lap 4 i realise that the thumping headache probably meant that i’d gotten myself a bit dehydrated/overheated, so decided to have a wee sit down in the shade and cool down. peely wally Scotsmen aren’t cut out for such extreme temperatures (c. 22C).

out again for lap 5 and i bump into John, Rob from work and another athlete having a wee sit down in the shade around 2/3rds of the way up the main climb. John’s back had given up and he was heading back to knock it on the head for the day. a gentle ribbing of the coffee morning ladies and i get on with it again. rest of the lap goes nicely, with ample opportunity to do wee jumps when i’m caught in the monster tailback on the fun singletrack descent.

quick stop, cold water over head and a bit of moral support for Rob (although i think it was the fear of being beaten by a singlespeeder that got him going again) and we’re both back out. an uneventful lap, although i noticed two squashed rodents on the singletrack with the timber bridges. oh the ratmanity!

more cooling down and a chat with John and it’s looking like 7 laps for me. i head off and just as i’m passing the rural complex i notice a strange sight in the sky. a shower – and it’s heading straight for us! it chucks it down for the next 10 minutes. instantly go from being dry > soaked. the sweat washes out of my helmet pads and into my eyes. but the eye discomfort is nothing compared to the pain caused by sweat dribbling out of my gloves straight into the weird blisters on my inner wrist. ‘king ouch! knock off the rest of the lap, thanking marshals and first aiders on the way back into sunshine.

feel fairly chipper at the end, so maybe there was another lap in there but not unhappy with performance. 77 miles in 10 hours 5 minutes brings me 29th in senior men, which wasn’t a bad return. bring on kirroughtree!

inputs
8 litres of water (drunk)
1 litre of water (poured over head)
9 energy gels
1 energy bar
1/2 a tub of pasta
1 bag of jelly babies
1/2 pack of beef jerky
1 bottle beer
100g protein-on-the-go (swallowed midges)

outputs
50g pish
staved thumb
cuts and bruises

Portland

I've been in Portland for the last 3 days with my girlfriend on the first bit of a 4 week trip to Oregon.  Portland is ace - been impressed with so many aspects of the place:

(oh no! Bullet points coming up..)

• Off the plane.  Airport nice and relaxed.  Friendly immigration dude.  2 min walk to the 'Max' light rail.  $2 gets you straight into the centre of town, literally.  Runs from here every 15 mins.  Nice artwork on the shelters at all the stops along the way.  Very little vandalism.
• The bus and rail system is comprehensive and you can ride all day using either for $4!  Bargin'.
• Everyone is incredibly polite.  This took a while to get used to.  Doors get opened for you, cars yield at junctions to pedestrians, only heard 1 carhorn beep so far,  bus drivers are super friendly, homeless folk asking for change are polite and courteous.
• Bikes are everywhere.  Bike rails are everywhere.  Bikers seem to get respect from car drivers.  Not many folk where helmets though.  Lots of hip looking young guys and gals on fixies.  Rad.
• Listened to a 1 hr chat on the local community radio about bike lanes and development with my face buried in the bike route map yesterday morning.  Many folk seem really switched on.
• Bike shops.  Not subjected Ros to too many of these! (she gets bike shop fatigue quite quick).  Highlight has been River City Bikes on the east side of the Willamette ("Will - 'mit") river.  I was like a kid in a sweet shop!  
• Coffee.  The coffee at Stumptown is just stunning.  None of the big bucket of hot milk, made by kids who don't really care, rubbish you get too often in the UK.  The level of detail and perfectionism that goes in to making each cup at this place is incredible.  As coffee experiences go, this rivals a good cafe con leche mid bike ride in Mallorca.  
• We're staying at the Ace hotel on SW Stark.  This place is rad.  Sorry to use that word again!  Check out the website.  So many neat little touches and for the basic room it's only $95/night.  
• Trees are everywhere in the city.  Much green-ness and hugging opportunities!

Don and Kathy who are kindly putting us up for the next three weeks in Bend are driving up this morning.  They are going to be here at 8am for brekkie.  Really looking forward to seeing them.  Also can't wait to get out on a bike.  4 days of not riding and i'm starting to get very fidgity!!

Girls own adventure - we made it

Well, after quite some time in the planning, it happened, it's over now and we're home safe and sound.

Last Thursday morning, Emily and I set off on our epic adventure:

08.40 we left Glasgow Central train station. 20.50 arrive at Beinglas Farm (52 miles later), to be told they've stopped serving food. Looks of utter despair got us some fish and chips and an offer to nip to the shop to get us stuff if we needed anything. So, the 12 hours in between included extracting micro ticks collected from wild goats, scaling near vertical cliffs and a phone call to Chris to beg him to come and rescue me because I couldn't do any more (he said no!). 4 hours to cover 7 miles was about the least funny thing to happen to me ever.

Friday, we left Beinglass Farm at 09.33 (not very enthusiastically it has to be said!). Arrived at Kinlochleven at 18.30 (41 miles later). A few lies about how far we'd gone seemed to help Emily, but destroyed me when I realised that we really weren't even half way. Made great time on some sections, but were passed by walkers on Devil's Staircase. Of course, we took no prisoners on the way down the other side (well, except those damned water bars!).

Saturday, we left Kinlochleven at 09.23. Arrived at Fort Augustus around 18.00 (the shop was still open, so it can't have been any later than that). Started the day with over an hour of portage out of Kinlochleven. Passed by every walker on the planet who all gave us loads of sympathy and encouragement then muttered that we were the maddies! We became minor celebrities on the decent as we flew past them, tinging my bell, grinning, then it all stopped when I got a puncture and the spare tube had a broken valve. All the walkers passed us again. Much swearing on my part and much patience on Emily's! We got them back when we flew past them again when everything was fixed. All well until we got to the woods at the top of Glen Nevis when someone put concrete in my tyres and legs. It took a stupid length of time, and a few tantrums from me, before we eventually got into Fort Bill (3 hours to ride 14 miles is just not right!). Then onto the flat of the Great Glen Way and Caledonian Canal, except there seemed to be a force 5 gale blowing against us. Anyway, we eventually got to some sheltered singletrack and all was well. Made it into Fort Augustus in enough time to go to the shop for emergency cake and milkshake before getting the warmest welcome from our B&B lady (who had been bragging about us all day to the other guests apparently because they were just on motor bikes). Got much respect from blokes in pub when we said that, yes, we really had taken bikes up that last bit of Loch Lomondside.

Sunday. Text to Chris telling him that I really can't face my bike - reply "PEDAL". So, set of at 10.15 after picking up lunch (no real places to get provisions on the last stretch and it was a Sunday too). We opted to take the Great Glen Way rather than the Great Glen Cycle Path which appears to be a dull ride which takes you on more detours than are really necessary and no singletrack. So, a steady climb out of Fort Augustus in quite nice pine forests and lovely sunshine, then decending at breakneck spead into Drumnadrochit 3 hours later. Quick picnic lunch, then a push, climb, push, climb for about an hour up to the highest point on the GGW. Blooming freezing despite the sun, so keep going. And going. And going. This is possibly the longest 19 miles in history. Some nice, fast singletrack decents. Onto a wee road which could easily have been in Spain. Keep plodding, then back into gale force winds as Inverness and the north sea appear in the distance.

Arrive to a hero's welcome in Inverness. Buy cakes, milkshake, razors and soap (a bit smelly and hairy by this time). Only enough energy for a single glass of celebratory fizz with tea then sleep.

Plan to meet Chris, Chipps and Marty in Aviemore on monday morning didn't go quite as planned when they wouldn't let us on the train because it was full. Quick, tearful call to Chris prompted a rescue mission. So we got to Aviemore in time for lunch at the Mountain Cafe before going for a train ride on the steam railway, then a pootle back to Aviemore, on the THE CAKE SHOP (mmmmmmmmm) and back by the rutting deers.

Pizza.
Home.
Work today ...booo.

sxc round 3

Well done to John McCallum another top ten in the masters, this time 9th which should keep him tucked in the top 5 overall, hopefully we will get a report through from him soon.

Elsewhere I think the rest of us have been basking in glorious sunshine 

Double Good News

Two really cool things happened to me today.

It was my last day at work for a while - i'm on holiday until 24 June and I found out i'll get some extra money at the end of the month due to being slightly underpaid since the end of 2006!!

Suddenly those Zipp 404's i've been lusting after for 'cross season might actually grace my steed!