The drive south....

So there I was, busting a grove south on a mammoth 2 week mission. I hit the road in my lil blue truck which was packed to the gunnel's after two days of serious planning for work and play - fail to prepare, prepare to fail rang through my ears about 100 times these last two days - my motive and inspiration to avoid perching on my sitting bags on the sofa and keeping warm!!

I couldn't believe my eyes on the road south out of Scotland - I take this road heaps - it's really fun to drive and it is the quickest way to England from home. It takes you past St Marys Loch which in the multitude of times I have driven, I have only seen calm and uninterrupted by wind or rain twice - today was the second time.

The air down there was SO fresh and wildlife out in force - pheasants, deer, sheep, buzzards, rabbits, fish and Hamish the Haggis :)........it's absolutely stunning and an amazing gateway to guide me back into Scotland in the opposite direction when I head home!

I couldn't resist pulling over and taking some shots to share with you. For a brief period today - I was the tourist you pass dangling desperately off the edge of the road, grappling and stretching for a shred of foliage to hang onto in order to get in to the right pose to get that sought after memory of calm!! Enjoy the pics - and for the record - I'm a rubbish tourist - I don't even have one of those cords to hang round your neck as a retainer in case you drop your camera, but don't worry - I am working on it!!

XX

How do you build up to a back flip?

Well....

I guess some people use trampolines - others go to foam pits - here in Scotland - we use GIANT inflatable air bags!!

Seriously - there is no other way - it's amazing fun - the kicker at first gave me the heeee-bee-geee-beees, but as usual - my old teamie Neil was there and he refused to let me chicken out. I sprinted straight up to it and bam - off the kicker and straigh into the middle of the air bag.

Bring on the summer nights - jumping practice has risen to a whole NEW and exciting level! Thats me in the top shot BTW - with a lot to work on.

X

KMF - Lawless Friday and text book bow waves.

So onwards and down to the Lakes for a gathering of the troops at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival.

The floods were in full force - let me tell ya. As it was my friends maiden voyage of sorts to the Lakes, I wanted to make sure he had a blast - and the best way to do that is to 'LIG' with the Patterdale/Glenridding crew. One phone call later and a doo was on - however, as the floods were so bad - the village was cut off at both ends - there was talk of a tractor lift into the village - but the trophy trucks made an appearance and escorted us in - producing text book style BOW WAVES 6ft off the front of the truck - the water was about 4ft deep - and at a few points started coming in through the doors! Waders ville!

Once on dry ground in the village - Lawless Friday began - they named it this as the floods were so bad, the police couldn't get in or out all weekend! Loot, rootin and tootin - well, not quite (thank goodness)!!

Next up - we ventured down to the Kendal Mountain Film Festival - for a night of real ale (cider in my case) and great banter with a few of my more 'special' friends - Joel, Sam, Ben and Big J.

....and the Guest.

Good times.

J.X

Freestyling on the Tweed.

Yo.

So, it's no big secret that parts of the UK have been exposed to extensive flooding of late. It's been GNARLY - all teh major rivers in the Lake District and here in south east Scotland have been freestyling it of late. I have had some major driving to do to get to and from in the rain which has been quite a challenge with road closurers and what not.

That aside - there has been time for scopage and fun in the puddles - check these pics out - the golf driving range at the cardrona hotel - looking more like a duck pond (right) and the Cardrona Village on the verge of being completely flooded by the Tweed (left)

The DH Uplift car park at Innerleithen under 4 foot of the Tweed - check teh loo roll swinging gayly in the wind completely untouched by the rain! (right) Innerleithen being held captive on the south side by the Tweed (left)

Last but not least - my two friends Emma and Tracy out scoping the damage too - we bumped into eachother at 8am in the morning checking the devestation!

BLA -It's all back to normal now - and I don't think many people were really affected in terms of property - so it's all gravy boats in the hood.

BO. X

What do you see?

Live with intention,

Walk to the edge,

Listen hard

Practice wellness,

Play with abandon,

Choose with no regret,

Appreciate your friends,

Continue to learn,

Do what you love.

LIVE AS IF THIS IS ALL THERE IS.

Autumn Leaves.

Autumn is here - the clocks have gone back and all measures of 'daylight saving' are fading as fast as my semi perma tan!!I have been mostly working hard and catching up with friends - October has been a wee beer fest! Andy B from DirtSchool put it nicely by coining October as the mad month for the MTBers - everyone seems to hit the beer and enjoy some stable home time. It's a nice season and quite humbling. As a student living in the city - I really missed the beauty of seasonal change which I was lucky to experience growing up in the Lakes. Now in the village of Innerleithen - seasonal changes are extreme and beautiful - it feels like home.

So - my birthday has been and gone - I don't feel any older - and had a wonderful time with my beautiful and quite unbelievably crazy friend Nats on a beautiful Scottish Estate - we drank - walked - ate- spent time with the animals (pigs, chickens and dogs) and did a heap of long over due girly stuff - chatting and shopping!!

The house has been busy with friends. A few Mondays ago - we decided we would rent a few golf carts and head out to the country club to smack some balls -after a chat about only playing the back 9 and pushing the carts to their limits - we decided to avoid causing mild irritation and play it safe on the driving range - so there you have it - the birth of a new activity - GOLF DRIVING - in the village - yours for only £3/bucket!!

We unleashed the polo shirts - sun visors and wacky Happy Gilmore swing styles - you would be surprised how far a good old hockey swing will propel the ball! The guys in the golf shop were doubled up watching us all squid around - the actual word they used was 'hurling'!! We set foot for a full on 45 minute side splitting effort! Zak and Big J seemed to come out on top in the performance scales - but since this is my blog - I can write what I like - I am the unrefuted champ - I am a big deal with a golf club and I have my own selection of leather bound books - FACT!

So - a few more unavoidable and quite necessary fun packed weekends are on the adgenda - but alas, eventually the time has come and winter training is WELL under way - there is a funny story behind that - so another day - another blog. For now, I will leave you with the PERFECT ingredients for an indulgent autumn relaxation.

Ciao.

Jay-mambo. X

Guesty and Chris bust out the funky chicken on the East side.

Word.

My two great friends The RANDOM Guesty and Chriso P are currently biking around Tibet and China - they are on a mad old mission - not quite sure where they are right now - or in fact what they are doing, and I am pretty sure they aren't too sure either in an organised array of dissorganisation and maximum randomness - but one thing I do know is that they must have butt sores by now. Chris literally touched base with the real world after a month long trip to Afganistan which another great friend of mine Sam has documented on YOUUUUU are a TUBE. Check it out - 3 of my friends headed out there on a mission to climb some undescovered mountains and work with the locals - thankfully - Sam went too and was able to document their trip for all to see. Needless to say - between Mike and Chris - they have some well rounded worldly experience of expedition and survival - so I am sure their voyage will be completed in style.

I gave Guesty some help before he left to sharpen his expedition nutrition strategy and am glad to see that he has Lucozade Sport bottle in full use.

Check out the Alpine Legends Blog to follow their progress - it's more than inspirational.

While you are at it - keep your eyes peeled for Guestys new business venture - Kitesurfscotland.

That's right - Scotland has now got a few dedicated Kitesurf instructors who are coming together to instruct and spread the word - as the business gets off it's feet - I am sure their programme of offerings will expand. The main men are Guesty and Dave - both are great, fun and enthusiastic guys - there is no doubt you will have a blast alongside learning a really fun new sport. Their website will be up and running soon - when it does, I will let you know. I have done a bit of kite surfing in the red sea in Egypt - I also love land kiting - but one thing is for sure - I will be using more of these guys to fine tune my skills and get hooked on a new sport.

J. xx

Green peas in your poop......WHAT?

Have you ever just randomly dedicated an entire 48 hours to staying indoors and poop to your hearts content?? No, thought not. Well, this weekend, I did JUST that! With winter training and the start of a very focused 8 months looming - I wanted to make sure that my insides were ready - so I ventured into a 'mild cleanse!

I went to the health food shop in search of 'Pysillium hust' a natural laxative - and rich source of fibre - perfect for a natural colon cleanse. On the way home something flew of the windscreen - which later turned out to be a parking ticket - woooops! I forgot to feed the darn machine with money again! I also bought some salt - grapefruit juice and olive oil so I could run a liver and gall bladder cleanse -and off home to solitary pooping confinement I went!

I was fasted for 24 hours so my body would get max benefits! At 4pm that afternoon - the colon cleanse started - within 45 minutes, my living room smelled like a cess pit - in a shake of a lambs tail, I was knee deep in a full scale dumb and dumber re inaction of the diarrhea scene. So with that all going on - I then ventured out into the liver and gall bladder detox - 6pm = consumption of a cup of salt water, same again at 8pm. At 9.45pm - I drank 1/2 a cup of olive oil and 1/2 a cup of grape fruit juice - and then sat back - literally, horizontal for 25 mins.

The next morning, I visited the bathroom to see the most absurd thing in the pan before me - time dark colored blobs in between light green pea shaped blobs, apparently, the dark ones are gall stones and the light green ones - cholesterol. OH MY. The shit trilogy was in full force.

I wouldn't recommend you try this at home - it was a mere experiment for me suggested by a few friends - I did do my own research, but probs best not to mirror my activities. My inquisition got one up on me again. Needless to say, a few days later - I feel light and fluffy again - the images of my insides will eventually disappear, I hope!

So - the next part of the 'shit trilogy' commenced as a discussion with friends at a charity Breast Cancer ball later that weekend - 'cue extreme gross out reactional faces'. Yup - it didn't go down well - to make matters worse - the partner of friend who was disturbed the most went on to bid on what we thought was two cows at the charity auction (in the village of course) - it turned out to be 2 TONNES of cow pat - now they have more poop than they know what to do with! Unlucky!!

Hop skip and cleansed gut jump. BO. X

CYCLODELIC.

I am quite prone to say YES to most things - so when an e-mail came through asking whether I would sit on a panel of experts at the London Cycle show to promote Women in Cycling - the obvious answer was YES. The day was hosted by Cyclodelic - a FAB new company for female cyclists - Cyclodelic. The company is pretty new - run by the amazing Amy Fleuriot who heads up the glamorous and beautiful accessories and stylish clothes for girls who ride.

It was the busiest day at the London Cycle show on the Saturday. I arrived to a hustle and bustle of people who have one thing in common - their love for bikes.

We had 2 slots on the main stage speaking about our experiences in cycling, nutrition, travelling, clothes and training - we also fielded an array of questions from the audience.

On the panel -from left to right - Nicole Cook (Olympic and world champ), Amy Flouriot, Hollie Avil (U23 World Champ), Victoria Pendleton (Olympic and World Champ), Anthony, Lil Me and presenter - Annie Emmerson (Former Triathlon Champ). Rachel Atherton was also on stage - but isn't on the photo!

It was a fab day all round and a great experience to work alongside some of the Worlds best female cyclists. It was amazing to be able to chat to the girls back stage - to find out about their Olympic experiences and their nutrition habits.

BO. X

Dirt Nutrition.

Hey y'all...

If you are into gravity MTB, you will all read DIRT.

Keep your eyes peeled for some cool wee articles on nutrition. I have 5 articles in over the next few issues which should all tie some key nutrition messages together for you all.

I really hope you pick up a few tips which help you fuel better and ride with a bigger and stronger smile on your face.

Happy reading.

J. x

The Scottish Champs.

Glencoe........

What more can I say, this track is HARD. Hrd in the dry and near on impossible in the wet. The weekend of the Champs...we had it all, glorious sunshine, heat and no midges on the saturday and full bown torrential rain on the sabbeth.

Personally, I don't think it is a nice track to ride full stop and certainly not a track I like going against the clock on. But it was the venue for the weekend and the course was the same for every single rider.....there was certainly plenty on track to sperate the men from the boys! Check out these nasty crashes. Pics taken from Ian Linton.com.

I was pretty excited about the Champs none the less, after winning the title for the past few years I wasn't really up for letting it go without a fight. There are some really good up and coming young riders in Scotland at the moment and the SCU have an excellent development programme for them which is just wicked. I only wish I had that when I was younger.

I stopped to see the riders and give them some nutritional products to aid recovery on the Wednesday before the race as they were on a training camp in the village. I spoke to one of the devo girls who said tongue in cheek that at the weekend I was 'going down'. Up until that point, I was fairly nonchalant about the weekend, but she did me a massive favour and fuelled my jets!

Practice on Saturday was top trump, I hit my lines, shook some monkeys off my back from last year and left the track in the afternoon knowing I could do okay.

By Sunday, I have to admit to being a little fearful, the rain morphed the course into a giant swamp which could take anyone out at any moment. The lines had changed and the traction in some areas was almost zero. I stuck with my tyre choice of swamp things and lifted my head up.

My old teamie Neil sorted my head out as usual and said one sentance that got me focused just before I hopped on the chairlift. I knew that as the rain was falling hard our first run would be the run that counted....track conditions were just getting worse.

I did what I had to do......got a steady one in the bag, rode safe with a number of mistakes, it was by no means super fast or smooth, but it got me the win.

2009 Scottish Womens Champ......and the trophy is home to roost for another year. Thanks to all at the SDA for organising a terrific event and getting some extra curricular activities on the go to keep everyone out of trouble after practice!

Job done.

J.x

Village idiots.

Nestled in the tranquil Borders is a wee village called Innerleithen. It's a haven for cycling of all types, touring bikes pass through daily mounted by people persuing their own goals, more often the end to end -lands end to John O'Groats.....yea, they might look funny, talk way too much about routes and nutrition and probably by the time they hit the village they smell like meat pies, but they are doing it and fair play.

On any hill on any day of the week there are people seeking other challenges. Facing the fear of the MTB tracks. It's frikking awesome, there are tracks everywhere and I am never short of someone to hit the trails with, more often than not, there is a challenge in our midst.......here are but a few.......

1. To unleash a whack photo on the camera of a fellow rider (Rider A and Rider B - Identity not disclosed!).

2. To ride the trails dressed in a lycra skin suit and pretend you are actually on the Barbados national squad on a busy day at the trail centre.

3. To pull some wood from the giant jenga stack without it squish squashing down on your heeeeed.

4. To pick up a cereal box with your teeth without letting your limbs touch the ground or face planting on the decking (Teeny and Tracy Brunger).

5. To get to the bottom without getting lost in the mist and calling the mountain rescue (JC and Chris).

6. To win the potato hitting contest, beat your component and not get too carried away that you have a full 3 feet of dangle between your legs (The Guesty, Teeny, Big J and Little J!)

So there you have it, a snippet of village life. Get into it!! X