Mullet: n. A small edible sea fish...A.K.A. A dodgy doo, buisness on top...party round the back!

K so.....I used to be obsessed with mullets, lately, my behaviour towards the models of such outrageously hideously dooooo-s has been somewhat modified..things must change! With the discovery of a whole heap of new alternative names, I shall be rekindling my love for the doo we call the mullet; buisness on top, party round the back! A.K.A the ape drape, mud flap, schlong(short-long), kentcky waterfall and the Tennessee tophat!!

Of course, you don't want to hear about mullets. You want to know what I've been doing these past few weeks? Apart from spreading my love for drinking (hydration, not alchol) the season has FINALLY started! It was kicked off at the first round of the SDA at Innerleithen, April 14th/15th! It was nothing less than dusty dry, sun in the sky and fast. The course was a medally of many of the finger licking courses on the hill. I came down in a 4.18 which left me in a respectable 4th. Airing on the side of caution, I found myself dragging my brakes in a few unnecessary sections but finished in a good state and felt fit. I will spruce things up for the first round of the UCI World Cup in Vigo next month! Yeeeeha!

Notables for the race was the weather! The uplift was fab, the turn out was wicked, loads of top riders and the course, well maintained, excellent line variation! Em n Tracy, for letting me crash and giving me a pre season kick up the bottom! Greg for whisking me off my feet and treating my to a good feed in our fav restaurant, the sunflower and looking after a tired me on the way home!! Anja for the 2007 season challenge!

So, last week, I was working at the London Marathon Expo and the Event yesterday! It was mental, 35'000+ runners competing in the heat! We had our work cut out talking to people and advising them on the best possible nutrition/hydration strategy! We all unwound in a cool Caribbean restaurant called Caribbean Scene at the side of the London Docklands....if you are ever there, you simply have to make the effort, the curried goat was mouth watering!

I drove home y'day from London town and met my teamies Fi and Jill at home after theeee longest day ever!! We arranged for our mechanic Lee to come over breifly too pick up some stuff since we were all at a mid way point, so I finally got introduced! Fi and Jill and I ate the biggest brekkie this morn and they hit the road! It was a one in one out trip, Edna is off with them and on her way to Vigo and my new bike Cuthbert landed. Thanks for bringing him over the pond ladies!! You rock! X Another edition to the two wheeled family! Berty (named after my grandpa) is schweet! Small and light and wicked on the trails....just what the Lake district called for!

Just when I thought that all the good things were winding down, there was a knock on the door! The interflora lady landed in with the most amazing bunch of lillies! Greg is full of surprises....a few thousand miles away, working his socks off...and he still manages to make me smile...LOTS!! Thanks honey! X

Watch out for the mullets...and slogan wearing t-shirt wearers...dangerous breed indeed!

X

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny brought me 1 egg! I ate it in a record time of sub 5 mins!! Yum yum, fatty bum bum!!

I've been pretty hectic of late. I spent the last few days of last week in Scotland with Greg, riding road and DH at Innerleithen in prep for next weeks SDA. The tracks were dry and fast and I feel really confident about the race. Let the games begin! The photo above is the sunset over the Silvery Tay, Fife, Scotland. Another fine reason to frequent!
This w.e. I was working down in London town. On Saturday I was at the Oxford/Cambridge boat race. It was wicked, jam packed and a great atmosphere (lots of chinos, deck shoes and Pimms!). I met up with Slim Joey and Frankie afterwards (two of my good surf friends from Aberdeen). We sat around, ate Joeys home made cookies, caught up then went for a mammoth feast in a cool wee Italian in Chelsea. Easter Sunday I worked at a running event in Twickenham and met James Cracknell OBE. He is an Olympic gold medalist rower and an amazing athlete. He rowed across the Atlantic, is one of the main faces of British Rowing and a generally a really nice guy...and to top it off, he cycled to the event on a massive swish carbon Scott (clipped in!) GOOD SKILLS!! Running miles then cycling home seemed effortless for this guy.

Kiss don't kill. J X

Rest in Peace.

Today has been a sad day. I learned of the death of Donald Heritage. Donald was the father of Mark Heritage. As a family, they had a strong involvement in Scottish racing. Mark started at the age of 12, maybe less. He was a child prodigy. With a background in motorbikes, Marks skills transferred to enable him to become one of the fastest young guns in the country. Janet and Donald supported Mark and David whole heartidly in there various biking competitions.

As a team, Donald and Janet worked towards getting the SDA as we know it up and running. Janet his Mum is the most determined lady I have ever met. Janet and Donald took the organisational knowledge form their MX days and applied it to the running standard of the SDA.

The Heritages are amazing. The closest team ever! They travelled week in week out, as the caravan door opened, so did the can of chaos! They are a riot from start to finish! I will never forget taking Mark out to France; I was his guarantor as he was still quite young. We were on strict instructions to ‘look after’ him. The guys took him under their wings and Mark unleashed. In the second week, Janet and Donald joined us. We had a fab week together, loads of big ole family meals out, a pit stop at the final hill climb of the Tour de France and a ‘relocation’ of apartments. I booked an apartment for 10 and folk just came out and crashed. Unfortunately, the landlady wasn’t too happy that her apartment had reached squatting status in less than a week and found is somewhere bigger!

Donald was so supportive of his boys, never missed a race, he was always there in the car park, van running for uplift, the toolbox was always at hand, constant advice and feedback and the jokes and side splitting stories streamed like a tap. I have many fond memories of Donald, mostly, his ability to make everyone around him laugh. He was magic. I wish my Dad was half the man Donald was.

My love and sympathy goes out to Janet, Mark and David.

Donald, you will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace. X