Sunday, July 13, 2008

Time, Time, Time.
So I have not had an update for a while but that is not to say I have not been doing anything far from it.
On the Mountain Bike front I was going for the Scottish Mountain Bike Champs on the 22nd of June, the 3 weeks building up to this I was flying and felt I was up for a podium place and getting a medal of some colour. The Champs were at Gleniffer Braes near Glasgow where I have raced before back in the day but it was going to be a different course, the day dawned with bad weather which dampened spirits on the day but I go well in the mud so it does not bother me.

I had changed my tyres the night before as the forecast had said rain and on the practice lap they worked well adding to my confidence, the start was up a tarmac road and when the whistle went I got to the front and battered it only to be passed near the top by about 12/15 riders. I did not panic and by the first descent I got into about 8th then made my way up to 4th to discover two riders had clipped of the front and were away, I then attacked after them and made the junction quite quickly feeling very good. On the technical section I was again feeling great and then felt my back tyre going soft and with it my chance of a medal, I did carry on for the next 3/4 lap with a flat tyre and kept up with the two front runners which shows the form I had.

After climbing off at the feed station I was sickened and my wee girl of 6 was in tears as she has never seen me retire from a race and could not understand why I got a puncture, this is the first time I have punctured a tubeless tyre in a race before and my first puncture in a race since the early nineties.

After this disappointment I was a bit deflated and needed a bit of a break so I took a couple of weeks off to get my self motivated again. I am now feeling good again and have started Grass Track racing last Sunday getting two 2nd places a 4th and a win, this weekend coming I have 4 Highland games in a row which will be a tough week I am sure!