At home with NEVENEVEN and Big J.

Neven - her name is a palindrome, just like Hannah......but Nevens name is unusual.....and I am big believer in unusal names. I think your name can affect your personality, think about it. Now I am not for one minute saying that Nev is the same back to front......sure she isn't. She is a GOLDEN chick and one of my coolest and bestest friends and we just had a ball for an entire 10 days!I'm not going to bore you with the girls gossip that went down......but I will give a brief round up.....Nev arrived, we talked straight for over 8 hours, slept, talked some more, rode a trail in Innerleithen.......I worked, Nev worked, Jim arrived. We dressed Jim up like a girl and all went for afternoon T at the country manor......we rode another trail.....you get the drift.....onwards to.....

BOOB MOUNTAIN. It gets a separate paragraph and capitals because it is a special mountain with a special tail behind it! It sits high and proud above my village - it's real name is Lee Penn and I have wanted to ride this monster for over a year....from one trail centre (Glentress) to another (Innerleithen) ...it's a good couple of miles with a good few meters of climbs. The time was right, Jim, Nev and myself got fed, watered and hit it...we climbed to the boundary wall on the black run of Glentress and there it was steep, heather covered mountain side.....the only way up and the only way to get up was to carry the bike and hike. It was in the heat of the day in the midst of the UK heatwave......and boy it was long and lingering. Without Nev and Big J, I think either one of us would have turned back at any point, but hence-forth, we spurred on like cows to the slaughter in teh baking heat! Our mids and thoughts and excitement focused on the descent - but there wans't one!! After 5 hours of hiking, there was no release.......aside from the pub....where we went and didn't leave until we got asked too!! A great day made better and more memorable by the quality cider and banter from 2 of the coolest people I know! Yesh!

So......after the tour of the Innerleithen and Glentress trails, more talking than gets done on news 24, many an alfresco meal laced with fine wine, some cross dressing, shopping, tourist adventures, afternoon T's, a few books, some new adventures and a heap of laughter it was time. FORT WILLIAM was calling.X

Filming at the Fort.

Chris Ball from Dirt School is making a new vidoe.....so I headed up to support a friend and got rpoed into a bit of filming!

The guys at the Fort were helly-ing dirt onto the track for the World Cup, so the first few runds down were a little sketch as we spent most of our time dodging the dirt piles - but it was such a great few days riding wise. Chris really opened my mind with line choice and bike handling skills sessions.

I will no doubt post when the video is out.

Ciao bella. X

The ducks nuts, badgers nadgers, mules joules. BALLS OF THE TORROS.

So, Spain....I have raced here, passed through, flown over, but never travelled and experienced the sights, sounds, smells, culture, sangria, paella.......bulls balls and inticacies of this beautiful country.......I was long overdue a taster!!

My travelling partner for the duration was a bit of a let down to be fair, I felt like I was tailing in an unspontaneous workaholic....which in all honesty, I was. But never the less, I tried to get around and see as much as is humanly possible in the duration of the week and enrich both our lives and senses completely.

We landed in Malaga, spent the first night there absorbing the Easter madness in the city before heading to the Picasso museum bright and early on the first day. In the afternoon, we headed due north east to Ronda, an ancient wee town, made famous for it's bull ring and ancient connecting bridges. Man this place was sweet......again, I was desperate to see a bull fight (when in Rome and all that) as it was the start fo the season. I just wanted to hurl myself into everything traditionally Spanish, but my travelling partner prefered to keep his sights firmly in his narrow box....so far dink-um on that score....I settled for a magical tour of the bull ring and let my imagination go wild!

Onwards to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.....a little altitude and two amazing nestlings in the mountains called Pampeniera and Capileira. These little villages were the epitamy of Spanish tranquility, small white houses with tiny terracotta tiling perched on the side of some of the most beautiful basin like surrounds in the world. We unpacked our bikes and hit the trails. I had been told a heap about the trails in Spain and all the whispers were true...this terrain aint like no other, it's red, like the dessert and rocky central. In the heat of the day, I didn't take to happily to the climbs, but some of the descents were wicky wicky wild wild west!! The one thing I will rememebr about these villages are the rugs, the beautiful viubrant rugs that the locals made, if only I had more room in my travel bag!!

So, with the mountains behind us, we headed to Granada. I was so excited to see the actual Sierra Nevada resort, as this was once the host to a World Cup. Unfortunatly, at this point, me and my now certifiably boring travel partner had fallen out, he wasn't dealing too well with being away from work- his distinct lack of spacial awareness had lead him to stoving our hire car into a bollard (at a hefty cost), he had fallen asleep at the dinner table one evening and puked his guts up for the duration of another evening which could be attributed to a weak immune system - probably stemming directly from his lack of eating pretty much everything outwith his key safe foods - to add to that he was transfixed on his blackberry inbetween blinks. How someone can prefer looking at a mobile phone screen instead of enjoying and absorbing vibrant abd beautiful surroundings is completely beyond me. Anyway, it was really starting to wear thin by this point....so I just cruised the resport by myself and boy am I glad I did. It was minus a million degrees and snowing...but it had the air of a cool place about it for sure!

On the second to last day, we hit Seville. We toured the famous bull ring and finally got more than a large whiff of Sangria! About time too.....in the midst of the Easter celebrations, the city was ALIVE! And so was I...totally buzzing from the sun and colour and music. This is a heftily rad city and one which I will revisit for sure WITHOUT my dull travel partner!!

Trek Global Team.

Waugh-head, BB and I landed in sunny Portugal a few Saturday mornings back. Waugh had his camera, B had his marketing hand shake and I was fully loaded with Lucozade Sport and a bunch of presentations notes for the team!

Trains, planes and automobiles are never easy hu! Whilst sat in the departure gate at Edinburgh, I managed to miss my first flight, but thanks to EASY jet, it was EASY to get on the next one, it just came at a slither of notes to the sum of £35, I tried to get it waivered, but the sympathy vote by passed my disorganised wimper....after nearly missing my second flight I/we made it to Porto, Portugal, and were met by a dotty wee Portugese man who took us to our rental car which was about 2 miles from the airport. This was no Hertz kiosk rental, this was a full scale local deal!

Now the rental, probably the highlight of the weekend and a slight bone of contention, it was black, shaped like a box and pretty shit......it made sense for it to temporarily adopt the more than apt nick name of SHITBOX!! It was probably the biggest hunk of junk imaginable and for sure the worst rental I hav ever had....it was functional and we can't take that from it, it got us there, but nearly didn't get us back! No surprises to hear I almost missed ny return flight!!

The team look excellent, all of the guys are happy campers and their year ahead is just as exiting as it was ever going to be when the team was all of an idea back in June! I have no doubt they will reach new levels and bring home the medals.

For everything else there will always be a SHITBOX if you look hard enough! Yowch. X

The winter.....

So, I have been pretty slack on the ole BLOGGING (god that word is so cringe worthy, for some reason it sends shivers down my spine, to me, it epitomises that geeky computer beaver who spends every last person writing their life down for the world to read...but to be fair, who is actually reading about a life on the keyboard???......this blog, an average of 10 people/day, so I can rest assured I'm not wasting my time....)

So, what's been happening this winter......XC rides, mega windy kite flying sessions, some brief encounters with the swimming pool, miles to many moments that have landed slap on my hips..... and TWO DH races! Yea, the wheels of steel got slung into motion!! The Scottish Winter season races were hosted right here in the Innerleithen ghetto, about a nanosecond from my front door! The courses were true, natural, tight, rocky, rooty Inners through and through!!

Wayne from Trek made the journey to support the crew (Mosley, Buckle and lil old me). It is such a luxury having race support at a regional race! Cheers Wayne.

The first race was Buckles FIRST DH race! He was a champ....he had the best time and just went hell for leather all weekend! I think...or at least I hope he has got the bug, he was as pleased as punch...and doesn't' that smile just say it all?!! We had a wee bet running, lets just say, he still has a bit of catching up to do!! ;)

So, that's the racing......the riding has been COLD!! I have been riding out with a great friend, former GB junior world class rider and village idiot EC! EC is just a treat to hang out with, he is just fresh as a daisy and funny as!! Elliot has shown me some of the secret local trails in and around the village. So far, they are all pretty taxing, but a heap of fun, super long climbs followed by super steep, natural and pretty fresh trails, rockie/pumpie and some more on the Inner DH side of the village. Friday rides RULE! If you are in the village on a friday, be sure to see us dipping in and out crazy un marked trails.

That's y'all up to speed......I'll leave you with a pic of EC in the stone circle about 1/4 a mile from my hoooose. Thank goodness it's not the sabbeth...double birdie commin atcha!!

Which moose let the juice loose about this hoooose?! XX

The DIRT on Caffeine!

Most of you will are already avid DIRT readers, for those who arent, there is a cool wee article on caffeine in issue no. 85 which I put together.

Go get it, have a read, have a think, question what your stratergy is, how you can make it better and then give it a whirl in practice, play around with it and make it work for YOU.

Because every second counts....... XX

Giddy up campers. Good news for 09, the love is all around this season. I am still on my TREK which is always a good thing, the best bike in the world, lightest and soon to be proven fastest in the world by the TREK Global riders. The other spot of good news is that I am sticking with FOX

The FOX and TREK families are the coolest families to be part of in MTB. With a hot looking bike that thas been developed with unreal attention detail and and amazing clothes, some excellent race support at selected races, and some amazing clothes, developed for function, and comfort, I know that I will be able to trust my equiptment, what else can a girl DH rider ask for? The rest is up to me!

Watch this space for some funky girls clothes and in the mean time, check out the FOX global site for my rider bio.

Jme. X

Little snow, big snow.

So, I managed to wrap up at work a few days early this year.....it gives me time to chill before settling into my new position/promotion in the New Year.....and what better way to chill than to go on a wee excursion to what could potentially be the coldest corner of the US! Wisconsin.....home of the Harley Davidson, Chicago, Cow farming, Coors Beer, The Great Lakes, a heap of holy cheese.....and last but not least the home of TREK!

B and I got bumped into some comfy seats on the plane and had a luxurious ride out to Chicago where we literally ran the Chicago Airport marathon to catch our bumpy but speedy flight to Milwaulkee where we camped for the night......after an amazing home made curry.We woke up bright and early on Monday morning with an action packed scedule and started off the day the US way, with a Starbucks to warm our bellies before hitting the Harley Davidson museum. To be fair, neither of us care to much for Harleys, but both engaged with the impressive archive compiled within the walls of the museum.There was everything there, the first Harley, Evil Kinevils bike, helmet, a belt driven Harley, push bikes, custom bikes, ladies bikes, war bikes, pizza delivery bieks, dragster bikes, clay bikes used to help with the design.....belts, jackets, studs, over sized bearded enthusiasts, large cups of carbonated drinks, greasy burgers, side cars and complimentary HD pint glasses!! If it had Harley Davidson on it...it was there, well archived, documented and on display! It was GREAT.














We then headed off to the domes, three dome shaped horticultural glass botanical domes. They was a desert oasis and a tropical jungle. Nothing to write home about really, I think the real McCoy is better, once you have been to the egyptian and arizonan desert and the carribbean, most bases are covered, but some of the plants were amazing, and it was so soothing to smell the tropics and step into the warmth for half an hour!











We found our next rest-bite from the cold in the Wisconsin museum of art, which was the coolest museum I think I have ever been in.....the building itself was unreal, shaped like a bird, the wings actually close in and cover the roof.
On the inside, the view (below) through the structure of the building was unreal....it even had heated parking in the basement parking lot!! After a beautiful lunch, we strolled slowly into the main building and burned some calories in the Act React exhibition which was unreal. It was a digital installation exhibition, with 6 pieces that required the interaction of the entire body of the viewer! Basically, you got to interact with different pieces of art and have a giggle while doing it!!













I spent the next few days in Madison, chilling out, checking the museums, Christmas shopping, catching a rotten cold and loosing my mind at the HQ of all bike HQ's TREK! It was wicked, Dylan (senior suspension engineer....advanced concept group) gave up an hour of his morning and gave me a wee guided tour.....we went through the main building, the Sales room, R and D, colours and concepts type section which was all new and spangly, marketing, productions, painting, decals, hole punching, the whole sheeeeeee-BANG....then we got onto the really cool bit.....










The entire collection of Lance Armstrong TDF bikes and Contadors 123 race bikes.....as well as President Bush's 08 frames, complete with the presidential seal! After all these years of racing and time in the bike world, it was so cool to see how a bike goes from the ideas stage right through onto the peg first hand.










We were kind of forced back to Milwaukee a day early....did I tell you how cold it was out there? Well it was three times colder than the average freezer.....on the last night, the weather forecasters forcasted an ice storm! With the fear of being trapped in Madison and missing our flight home....and more importantly, Christmas as we know it.......we de-camped to Milwaukee for the last day and experienced the ice storm from the luxury of a retro art deco hotel in downtown called the METRO....this isn't a photo of the hotel below...just a cool set of stairs, what ever tickles your fancy hu?!!With an in room hot tub......we had no option but to chill out and sit tight and wait to see if our flight was running! Unsurprisingly, the airport in Milwaukee came to a complete stand still after the storm dumped 12'' of snow in a heartbeat. The guys did a stirling job and worked their butts off to get it open by 4pm on the Friday......our flight was 5pm.....we made it out and home YEA! I swear, you could have easily confused the airports in airport in Chicago and Milwaukee for a massive snow blower display comp ground......I have never seen so many snow blowing machines gliding around fanning snow left right and centre! Before we left tho, we managed to have a little fun in the snow and just how an entire city clear 12'' of snow off EVERY road AND footpath in the speed of a sneeze! Have you ever noticed that little flakes of snow make big smow on the ground...and big flakes of snow lie wet and heavy and melt quickly making little snow? Little snow, big snow, big snow, little snow!! Think about it, it's one of my Mums theories!











Seasons greetings and a joyus NOEL to you all! Jme. XX

NEVEN! I love you!! I check my site meter once in a while........and I have a few links from Nev's site to mine...which means there is traffic coming here from Nevs site!! How geeky is that?! Anyway, she's got into a crazy 'tag' fest and it seemed fun, so I thought I would join in. Nev has tagged me into doinga list of 6 things about yourself that people might not know!!

Okay, so here goes.

1. I have a small scare on my forehead from falling off an icy wall when I was little. My Mum told me I shouldn't walk on the wall as it had ice on the top, my stubbornness carried me through and I fell off and bared the scar ever since. What made it worse at the time was that a few days later my Grandparents flew in from the Caribbean and spent their time in the UK with their granddaughter who had stitches SLAP BANG in the middle of my head. I went back out on the wall and made it to the end....It is the ultimate scar of stubbornness!

2. I am the ambassador for the dry hump.

3. My favourite meal is Christmas dinner and this year I get to spend it with my family and my lovely boyfriend B.

4. I have a hammer toe! It's gross and it was made that way by not wanting to give up my roller skates when I was little!! I wore them until they were way too small and they deformed my toe. Hammer time! My beautiful relationship with my skates came to a bitter end after failing my attempt to 'skate down the stairs' at home. It resulted in a wounded me and a few smashed photos, some broken glass and a confiscation of the skates!!

5. I have a grade 5 in the viola and have passed many singing exams. I used to sing in the church choir and at peoples weddings. This is where I first developed my penchant for vino....although I don't suppose drinking a wee under aged dram of communal wine was or is the done thing...esp not in the eyes of the church?!!!

6. I once thought I was TANKGIRL and shaved my hair completely off when I was 16, I also had my lip, tongue and ears pierced. Looking back, I resembled a pin cushion for around 8 months!

So, there you go!
I tag the following people....

1. Fionn
2. Tara
3. JC (Joules Coventry)
4. BB...which forms the perfect excuse to get a blog up and running!
5. Melissa...even though Nev has tagged you, I think you need an extra nudge! X
6. Undecided...I will come back to this.....

K, gotta run, busy day ahead and fun to be had.

Sweet out chickens. XX