Angry Face

I have to admit that my good intentions to get some training in last week and try and get a bit fitter before the race didn't really materialise. We did manage to have a turbo-training party at Lettie's and Richards which I think became quickly rebranded as a sweating competition (Geoff won hands down! ) I largely managed to avoid my time on the turbo-trainer by leading a small pilates session in the kitchen and by the time the neighbour came up to complain there was about 5 minutes left for me to have a shot, which suited me quite nicely!

We made it up the road to Gav's house on Friday night, tandem strapped securely to the roof and bedded down for the night. With some road tyres installed we set off on the Jason McIntryre memorial ride, and after a pretty grizzly start care of the Scottish weather it turned out to be a lovely ride through the highland countryside and a really good warm-up for our race ahead. (also my first experience of wearing the padded cycling shorts,which although I still think look pretty grim, weren't too uncomfortable at all!!)

Lettie and Richard arrived at the croft that afternoon and after a good feed and quite a lot of time spent shooting at aliens on the PlayStation we all bedded down in Gavin's room. Waking up on Sunday morning and looking out the window, the first thing to notice was the snow!!
That wasn't to deter us though, the padded shorts went back on and we set off to Inverroy and although I strongly doubted anyone would actually turn up, I was wrong, the hardened mountain bikers were out in force!!

The race started and after first coordinating getting on the bike, we were off, and away. On the first hill we overtook about half the field and I was feeling pretty strong, our first downhill section and all good so far, then came the tricky part - a gate!! Thinking we could get through it still on the bike, Geoff went ahead, but no such luck, a bit of uncoordinated dismounting and I was off and rolling down the hill in the snow, at least it was a soft landing!!

On again and we were doing well, I was pretty much dead going up what seemed like a never ending hill, but we got there! But then the mud began and it just kept going, mud, mud, mud and a small paddle through a river! My calves muscles were so tight I could hardly walk, and all I wanted was to get back on the bike!!

After the muddy section, the rest of the race went well, the gears weren't working too well with all the mud, so the hills were a bit tricky but we got round to the end and finished a respectable 14th out of 24 cyclists!! I was pretty cold, but I felt elated to have completed my first ever mountain bike race and the cake when we finished has to be some of the best I've ever had, so there are definitely some perks to this mountain bike malarky! Bring on valentines day, our next race is on the 15th of February!

C x

Pictures to follow

A tumultuous beginning

Our first race on the tandem is looming and having managed a total of 3 rides previously (that is if you include cycling down to Richard and Lettie's house, which is a sum total of 700 metres) I'm getting slightly worried!

Geoff and I got the tandem last month as a joint Christmas present to each other and after a lot of "pimping" from Geoff we took it out in the dark, wind and rain on the 13th December for our first adventure! Being almost a complete novice to mountain biking myself even the ride out to the Pentlands was somewhat challenging but the thrill of managing to keep up with the cars on our way out there was exhilarating. By the time we reached the Pentlands I was a little on the soggy side and that was only to get worse. We rode the bike up harbour hill avoiding the giant puddles as we went. On reaching the top of the hill I felt a huge sense of relief as the burning in the thighs was giving way to a deep heavy feeling as the fatigue set in. But this was quickly replaced by a combination of fear and excitement as we rampaged back down the other side of the hill through the heather like a train out of control. If you know heather you'll know that it gathers water like a sponge and by the bottom of the hill the heather had made for what could only be described as some very soggy pants! Having survived the heather and managing to convince Geoff not to take on some single track in the dark, I thought it would be a gentle run home, but the rain got the better of us and on a grassy corner the bike slid out from under us and we both landed in a large heap on the ground, me with a very sore bruised knee.

Having upgraded our tyres (to some big knobbly ones), we took the bike back out, this time with Gavin, Lettie and Ben . Again, another absolutely miserable night we took to the Pentlands. The bike hadn't been changing gears very well and Geoff had done a fair bit of tinkering (I think he called it "sorting the limits"???) but we went on, having almost reached the top of the hill, I could almost feel the end of the slog in sight but one muddy patch too many and it was all over, the bike was broken. The rear mech had got properly mangled up in the back wheel and the only option was to take it off. Geoff shortened the chain and put it back on hoping that we could get back down the hill with a single gear! No such luck, the back wheel almost entirely locked up, so we had to free wheel most of the way back down and get a push along from Gavin and Ben (For their benefit of course!!!) on the flat bits. We made it back almost to civilisation and ditched the bike, having stopped to ask for a taxi number the trouble didn't end, Gavin got threatened by a very angry farmer for shining his bike lights in his eyes, the farmer got out of his car with some real malice and chased him down the road. In the meantime, Lettie and Ben had already legged it on their bikes and Geoff and I were stood wondering what the hell was going on! A jog down the road and a taxi ride back home and we were back in the house, a little bit cold and down-hearted but all in one piece (apart from the bike).

New rear mech, new seat-post, new mudguards, new saddle and some new pressure with our first race coming up, we took the tandem back out this weekend, this time to try and develop some skills and take on some single-track! And take on some single track we did!! Another trip up the pentlands and apart from the wind, ( and ice!!) we had a great ride. We discovered the trench digging skills of the bike trying to cycle uphill in the mud, but amazingly also the joy of winding through the woods downhill. I can't say that the cycling isn't a challenge, I need to get a fair bit fitter and a big bit braver, but getting out on the bike together is great, and so far I might be mad but I think it's great!

Cx