Happy 2010
Well, it’s October already and I still haven’t done a blog post this year ! Better fix that (sorry relatives in New Zealand and ladies in America who actually read this !) so here it is, split into nice categories for you:
Motorbike
Bit of a false start on this one, Santa dropped if off on a Wednesday a couple of weeks before Christmas. Took it around the block, yay, it works. Two feet of snow on Thursday which hung around for about three months. Not the best conditions for a novice. Got going again in spring and now take it to work as many days as I can, and have even been all the way up to East Croachy near Inverness on it, via the long way as I am not allowed on motorways. Finding the limits of the bike now, for example the A9 really is not fun with a top speed of 60 mph. OK 70 but it was downhill with a tailwind. Was toying with the Big Bike Licence soon but my Big Bike Fund was demolished by a Big Mechanic Bill for the van so will need to wait for spring again now and save up some cash.
Racing
Retirement from racing is boring, and I am getting fat. Did two races for the Salsa team this year, Sleepless in the Saddle (which we won with about the same script as last year) and Dusk til Dawn in the solos. I came second, which was a huge surprise as I sacked it after 6 hours with fatal bike failure after slogging through a couple of feet of mud all the way around. Nice set of Exposure lights for a prize – thanks v much ! Was leading when I went out for my last lap, but had to come off the course early as had no brakes (not really an issue in the mud) no rear shifter and a chain that functioned in one gear, about 50% of the time. Decided I had tried hard enough. Turns out almost all the rest of the field collapsed before I did. Might see if I can get some weight off over winter and mebbe do some SXC races next year, depends on the courses they put up, not keen to travel for hours for short race on a boring track.
Innerleithen MTB Racing
A cracking year for the events team. The iXS cup in May was a LOT of work, but a huge victory in both reception and execution and we got some great coverage. See www.ixscupinnerleithen.com I have a few things on my list of what I would do better next year, but sadly we won’t get the chance. BC have allocated the date that we need to run the race to the British Series organisers for their C1 event. Most frustrating, as they lied and said they had a venue lined up when they didn’t, and had the chutzpah to put Innerleithen on the form to the UCI, when we are running an event at that weekend so that’s blatantly non-factual. So now there will be no C1 race in Scotland the week before the World Cup at Fort Bill at this rate, as we have missed out on registering the date with UCI and the British Series organisers can’t secure a venue. Nicely done. But at least we will have no competition for our event at Innerleithen on the last weekend of May 2011, press releases soon.
We are running a winter series, the Proper Mountainbike Series, fine tuning the details and sponsorship now, but will involve most of the mountain biking disciplines, with a couple of new formats in the mix. All will be revealed on www.innerleithenmtbracing.com next week sometime.
The kids mini DH race series this year was totally awesome. We put on 3 races for ages 10-16, push-up no uplift, on short tracks. They loved it ! And we had a great time apart from one incident early on involving a helicopter, but that turned out fine in the end.
Work
It’s a big building in Edinburgh.
Other stuff
Big year for Kieren, went to his wedding in May and then down to visit him and Kate and baby Michael last weekend. Here is a picture of Kieren feeding Michael who is wearing the fleece I bought for him in Peebles.
Not been anywhere interesting this year as both my passports are expired. Working on that ! Enjoying hanging around the Borders, thinking about selling the flat in Edinburgh, but no urgency with anything so might just stay where I am in Peebles until I have to leave. Will need a garage though if I buy a fancy motorbike so that may spur some action !
Motorbike
Bit of a false start on this one, Santa dropped if off on a Wednesday a couple of weeks before Christmas. Took it around the block, yay, it works. Two feet of snow on Thursday which hung around for about three months. Not the best conditions for a novice. Got going again in spring and now take it to work as many days as I can, and have even been all the way up to East Croachy near Inverness on it, via the long way as I am not allowed on motorways. Finding the limits of the bike now, for example the A9 really is not fun with a top speed of 60 mph. OK 70 but it was downhill with a tailwind. Was toying with the Big Bike Licence soon but my Big Bike Fund was demolished by a Big Mechanic Bill for the van so will need to wait for spring again now and save up some cash.
Racing
Retirement from racing is boring, and I am getting fat. Did two races for the Salsa team this year, Sleepless in the Saddle (which we won with about the same script as last year) and Dusk til Dawn in the solos. I came second, which was a huge surprise as I sacked it after 6 hours with fatal bike failure after slogging through a couple of feet of mud all the way around. Nice set of Exposure lights for a prize – thanks v much ! Was leading when I went out for my last lap, but had to come off the course early as had no brakes (not really an issue in the mud) no rear shifter and a chain that functioned in one gear, about 50% of the time. Decided I had tried hard enough. Turns out almost all the rest of the field collapsed before I did. Might see if I can get some weight off over winter and mebbe do some SXC races next year, depends on the courses they put up, not keen to travel for hours for short race on a boring track.
Innerleithen MTB Racing
A cracking year for the events team. The iXS cup in May was a LOT of work, but a huge victory in both reception and execution and we got some great coverage. See www.ixscupinnerleithen.com I have a few things on my list of what I would do better next year, but sadly we won’t get the chance. BC have allocated the date that we need to run the race to the British Series organisers for their C1 event. Most frustrating, as they lied and said they had a venue lined up when they didn’t, and had the chutzpah to put Innerleithen on the form to the UCI, when we are running an event at that weekend so that’s blatantly non-factual. So now there will be no C1 race in Scotland the week before the World Cup at Fort Bill at this rate, as we have missed out on registering the date with UCI and the British Series organisers can’t secure a venue. Nicely done. But at least we will have no competition for our event at Innerleithen on the last weekend of May 2011, press releases soon.
We are running a winter series, the Proper Mountainbike Series, fine tuning the details and sponsorship now, but will involve most of the mountain biking disciplines, with a couple of new formats in the mix. All will be revealed on www.innerleithenmtbracing.com next week sometime.
The kids mini DH race series this year was totally awesome. We put on 3 races for ages 10-16, push-up no uplift, on short tracks. They loved it ! And we had a great time apart from one incident early on involving a helicopter, but that turned out fine in the end.
Work
It’s a big building in Edinburgh.
Other stuff
Big year for Kieren, went to his wedding in May and then down to visit him and Kate and baby Michael last weekend. Here is a picture of Kieren feeding Michael who is wearing the fleece I bought for him in Peebles.
Not been anywhere interesting this year as both my passports are expired. Working on that ! Enjoying hanging around the Borders, thinking about selling the flat in Edinburgh, but no urgency with anything so might just stay where I am in Peebles until I have to leave. Will need a garage though if I buy a fancy motorbike so that may spur some action !
posted by Innerleithen MTB Racing @ 4:57 AM
