Saturday 29 June 2013

10 Under The Ben

I've left this post a bit late to write so instead of a long, waffling rundown of the race I'll post up some photographs to give a little taster of the even.

(Nb: Disregard the Strava 'achievements' as they are not true. I had to add laps 2,3&4 by hand as phone battery ran out so performance data isn't up to date. Also, the time is inaccurate too. It took me much much longer!)

The calm before the storm. Nevis Range before the races.
As always, the event attracted a large number of riders.
A nice, fast, dusty section giving the legs a bit of a rest and releasing the adrenaline.
My facial expression remained much the same throughout the race. Concentration and pain.
Lots of opportunity to swing round into rooty descents.
And a little fast roll before a tight bridge that left less than an inch either side of my bars!
Probably about to be overtaken... again!
Probably my favourite photograph and one of my favourite sections. Keep the speed and be ready for the quick climb over the bank and back to dry land.
The speed is reflected in the grin!
Boardwalk sections kept my concentration. A few moments saw me almost come off the edge due to daydreaming and fatigue towards the end!
Jon said to style it out whenever I saw a photographer. This was all my body would allow me to do!


I placed 62nd out of 93 which I felt was acceptable for a solo rider!

See the results here







Wednesday 26 June 2013

Bike Week 2013

After a week in Nethybridge with Primary 7 children, the prospect of bike week the following week felt a little exhausting when all I really wanted was a rest. Well, nothing keeps the body going like fresh air and two wheels.


Dunnottar Woods skills course and woodland ride.

 


The week began straight away with a skills course and woodland ride around Dunnottar woods. Both days were tragically under subscribed and with the weather being so beautiful during both days, I was a little disappointed. However, my youngest daughter loved it and did really well on the Sunday. It should definitely be done again and I will organise others for the summer holidays with better publicity this time.



Balanceability Sessions at Fishermoss Primary School.

Having secured 10 balancebikes and a great kit of lesson plans and resources with the help of our Travel Plan Officer, we decided to try it out on our Nursery 'guinea pigs'. It went down a storm with children of varying abilities achieving success in our balance bike activities. I haven't permission to publish images of the children doing the activities but you can see the set up below. Great fun!



After-school Off Road Ride

 This was the big one. A ride that has cost me hours of planning, risk assessing, writing and rewriting permission letters and paragraphs of legal jargon but in the end I had half a dozen children signed up and eager to hone their skills on the skills course before heading off on a fun-filled ride along the old coastal route. The Nave route section we rode runs between Portlethen and Newtonhill with a range of different terrain. It was an amazing trip with children finding new confidence, overcoming fears and obstacles. The ride finished with huge smiles from children, parents and helpers and of course ME!




Why just do these things during bike week? No, I don't know either so I plan to run them again soon. Watch this space.













Thursday 6 June 2013

ABZ Mates Race Round 2: 6th June

Scolty                                                                   A very brief lowdown of the Scolty race: The weather was great and everyone was eager on this one. Scolty is a common venue for most local mountain bikers and I felt confident as I'd ridden this race last year. However, my body didn't quite feel up for it. This was reflected in quite a poor time. I won't go into the riders who did not understand the etiquette of letting faster riders pass. And I won't go into the details of how I couldn't follow simple route markers and had to ride a section twice!
It was a great route but very pedally and took a fair amount of effort. As usual, the folks organising the race did a blinding job and everything was safe and good fun. 

Chasing a tail. "Excuse me please sir" just didn't seem to work!

My times felt good but a twisted chain on stage 3 really slowed me down and affected my overall time. Therefore, the wine wasn't mine. Neither was the beer or the cheese and biscuits. However, as a stroke of luck, there was a spare chain. It was used, made up of different chains and may not have even been 9 speed. I still have it in my shed!