jaymiemart.com: Surpise Race

I got a sniff of this race from 4000 miles away! News travels fast let me tell you! Anyway, I spread it back across the water and hey presto the crew were together at Inners for the weekend. Well, it wasn't quite a s simple as that!! Our bikes and the various bits we need to put em together with are still in transit! So, Fionn set about adapting her Norco 4xxx for herself and her cross country rig, the Norco EXC for me.

We landed at the race site on Friday after an amusing trek up the road. We had two pit stops in the Griffiths Racing Camper, the first, at the Moffat sweetie shop, cheekily hedging our bets on the off chance of a free graze on the sweeties! Not likely!! The second stop was a short one at a cool Waterfall on the way upto Peebles. We made it to the Hub in time to fettle the MRP chain device onto the wee XC rig that I was riding.

Saturday came and practice started at 9.30. We made it onto the hill at about 10.30. The guys behind the sketch were having to try a new uplift system, which worked a treat, it was a little slow tho due to the shortage of buses, but we managed to fit in 4 runs on what turned out to be wickedly fast open course at the top with a semi technical bottom half, a medally of loads of old courses. To be fair, I struggled a little on the first few runs, but once I got used to the bike, I totally got into it and my speed and confidence picked up!

On Saturday night, Greg whisked me up and out to one of the most best kept secrets in Scotland. The Sunflower! Its a wonderful restaurant tucked away in the back streets of Peebles, owned by my mechanic from last season and his wife, the Chef-ess and inspiration behind the place. I swear to god, the food was more than divine, and the service was not a pinch less than first class. Both Greg and I eat out a lot (Greg more so than me) but both of us concurred that that meal was a hard one to top! Lip smacking goodness!

The day wasn't quite over for us at that point! Greg had been working flat out on a wee project to get his van licked into shape to camp out in, and Saturday was its test. The van is pimp supreme; lights, heaters, a funky bed, hooks for helmets/body armour, you name it, and Greg was one step ahead! I had such a cozy night, I missed the first half hour of practice! Greg will tell you its because I'm a lazy sausage! I'll tell you its because the bed was so COZY warm, I got distracted looking at the inside of my eye lids (I ain't no dumb ass, I'll choose a hot bed over a battle with frost bite any day!). Anyway, Herr Ball (Chris Ball...race organiser extraodinaire and general all round nice guy, with a panchant for rural porn) kindly brought us two coffees in bed and a nudge in the direction of the uplift cue. This is a photo of my crash...click here for a larger version!

The race was over before you could say 'Boo to a Goose!'. I surprised myself this weekend. I was up against Helen Gaskell and my teamie Fionn, both of who are top 10 in the world. With Fi and I on small bikes, I knew it wouldn't be easy. Before I went to the Caribbean, I read this book called 'Mind Gym' Its basically a sports psychology book, but it is a great read, it helped me loads this weekend. I had a bit of fire in my guns off the start and just made the most of my rig by pedalling my ass off...Forest Gump style! I screwed up in a few places and had a big stack-face plant as a result of maffing up a tight corner, but got straight back up and kept driving.

I finished 2nd. Gaskell took the lead and Fi came in 3rd after puncturing in the top half of the course. Even on our small bikes, with a crash and a puncture, Griffiths Racing stood high on the podium! Good show!

Greg and his fellow Vibe Teamie, Robo, pulled in a storm too. Robo lost his shoe half way down the course, but mounted back up and crossed the finish with the biggest smile ever! Greg rocked in 17th on his new bike, in his first race as an 'old man master' setting a standard which he will easily smash.