POC Scottish Enduro Series Round 6 - Kinlochleven November 2014

Kinlochleven is no stranger to me and I know how changeable and diverse the terrain and weather can be. It’s a hard area to ride, not just due to the ruts, river crossings and muddy bogs amongst drainage ditches and rocks that ricochet even the strongest of riders off course, it’s also an area of mechanical mayhem. Rear mechs can be swallowed up and punctures can envelop at the sight of some of the rocks.  I spent nearly a whole week stressing about tyre choice, knowing that I would need a tyre to ride massive rocks fast but also cut through the slop of Sooks Pipe. There was only one tyre for it – the good old Maxis Minion, and a few days before heading off for my MBL assessment with Jules Fincham I had Dave at Singletrack Bikes fit the tyres himself. Thanks Dave!!

The view of Kinlochleven from the top of Stage one, Gray Mares Tale

In the week leading up to the Dudes of Hazzard Enduro the West of Scotland had had a severe weather warning for high rainfall, but I was pleased to hear from Olga, my hitchhiker buddy, that the weather was looking peachy for the weekend.

The village of Kinlochleven lives in a hidden mine of secret nuggets of mountain biking gold. Stumbling across this over five years ago after living there for nearly three years, raising my daughter and being a mother, I fell back in love with the sport and that is is in no small part what led me to here.  Kinlcohleven was my harsh training ground and tough conditioning for re-entry into the scene. Sharing its spectacular gnar and epicness with some 400 – 500 riders is a real privilege. Not only this, but to see and hear the village busy in the off-season is a real credit to how the industry can boast biking tourism to the remote areas of Scotland.

It is also a real credit to The Dudes of Hazzard and No Fuss Events that they have created this opportunity for Kinlochleven.  This event is possibly one of the most popular Enduro races on this Island and definitely in the Highlands with competitors coming from far and wide.

Some Riders opting for the push on one of the big climbs.

The three stages have been creatively developed over the last three years encompassing some classic local trails. The transitional route included the glorious climb up to Mamore lodge, a 300m ascent up a steep road that I eagerly climbed in order to heat up from the shadow of Garbh Bheinn that Kinlochleven sits in for half the year.

The sun rays on the climb up to Mamore Lodge defrosted our frozen tootsies fairly quickly,

For the last race in the season I had to maintain my focus, wits and composure, especially as I had to win to gain championship status.  Yes I had the advantage of local knowledge but as mentioned, Kinlochleven is a mechanical nightmare catalyst and when it comes to racing – anything can happen.  With this in mind I tried my hardest to stay positive to avoid any chat of negativity, mechanics, the course and conditions, and to find solutions for what could be possible obstacles or barriers to my overall time. 

My first stage on race day was Stage Three, Sooks Pipe and the muddiest of the day, which definitely came with an essential eyewear merit, especially to model the current Enduro trend of mud beards. I set off to a great cheering crowd and almost instantly ended up off course, but managed to bring it together and remember the small defining points of line choices. Just as I was thinking it wasn’t really that bad, the course flattened out but I managed to keep my wheels rolling even with my hubs deep in mud – thank goodness for Sram 1x11!

The black line of Sooks pipe and the Blackwater Dam pipe line

The sight of the pipe line came like light at the end of the tunnel and I was relieved to make it out the slop and onto the pedalling section of the puggy line, but not for long as this ended up becoming quite a lung buster.  I even sat down for the fast straight descent before turning back into the forest – I was loving the 1x11 aiding the pedal spinning on those steep up right banks.

I was so happy to make it down without any major mishaps apart from the inevitable dabbing and carrying a few additional pounds of muddy undercarriage.  I headed straight to the bike wash and then home to get changed before heading to stages one and two.

When I arrived at the start of Stage One, Gray Mares Tale, the whole race was preparing to stand down for two minutes to remember those who had fallen for our freedom. I stood amongst the eager riders with the beautiful and tranquil view of Lochleven and the Pap of Glencoe to remember in silence.

The Sun about to sitting above Garbh Bheinn,but the village sits in shadow. 

This was my favourite stage in practice and a trail that has always crossed the border of delight and dismay. For many people, riding this in practice might have seemed like a perilous challenge that only the daring and gallant could tackle with swift haste, but to be honest there is very little elegance to this stage and the easiest way to ride it is with less braking, keeping the wheels spinning at a rapid pace to limit the arm pump.  It’s a very physically demanding stage, with loose rocks and ruts at the top and a fairly pedally section with steep and tight switchbacks and this is where I knew a mechanical could very well happen.

I definitely wasn’t feeling as smooth as I had been in practice, especially when the sidewalls of my wheels were shaving the banks of the corners, it’s a tough stage to ride clean. I was ecstatic upon clearing the river crossing and steep climb up the riverside cleanly for the first year ever - I love my Pivot and Sram 1 x 11, on top of this I managed to catch up with four riders in front who all let me past without any trouble– thanks guys.

My claim to fame for the day was I also cleared the climb up the log onto the dibbing station! Yas!! I headed back to Casa ala Roz to change my socks and bumped into Buviliscous who had had a nasty tumble on his first stage and had to pull out. I wouldn’t let him tell me where in order to keep myself focused - I was one stage away from the end of the season.

Stage Two, AKA the Kennels, is also a personal favourite. In practice I claimed a massive moment of self-admiration when I eventually rode the drop off. I have been riding this trail for five years and never thought I would build the courage to do it but I did! This weekend was proving to be a ticklist of challenges.

There was quite a bit of water on this trail and the dirty substance had somehow worked its way underneath my eyewear so upon riding the bottom section I was blinking liking a loon. With raging arm pump I remembered to keep a high line on a corner and cycle round the river to the finish with the sound of Buviliscous cheering me on. I was quickly presented with a freshly chilled can of Strongbow to celebrate the end of a fabulous season.

Riding Stage Two, The Kennels
Photo courtesy to David MacMillan

On the way back to the Ice Factor for my results I had an idea of what overall time would keep me in the winning stakes. I reckoned anything around 18mins 30 secs would be fantastic so I was delighted to see I had beaten my own target time and came in at 18mins 28 secs.

With over a minute and a half lead on the second fastest female and awesome junior talent and Fox Hunt Winner, Elena Melton, Rachel Walker from Hope came in second and my good friend and Wheelers rider Emma Holgate came third. Fellow pinner Nicola Fell landed in 5^th along with claiming 3^rd on stage one, well done Nicola! At prize giving I was over the moon to find I had won a year’s sponsorship deal with Adidas eyewear – thanks Adidas what a fantastic prize.

A great result and of course a fantastic round off to claiming a victory on the Scottish Enduro Championships, which I always considered out of my limits.   

Full results for round 6 can be found here.

The Scottish Enduro Series has been a great race series. I have met so many fantastic riders and Enduro acquaintances have now become friends. I have also introduced a few of my own friends to Enduro and outreached my Enduro family, including the fantastic and immensely supportive Buvilicious who has been behind me 100%. I am very thankful to have such a great support network of friends and family to help me.   Another great thanks would be to my sponsors Dare2B, Flare Clothing, and Singletrack bikes – which without their support would I never be able to accomplish the championship.

Scottish Enduro Champion with her Pivot
Photo Courtesy to James Robertson Photography

In reflection, it’s a funny old feeling sitting here in my NEW living room amidst the old mining tenements in the north of the Scottish Borders.  Gazing my eyes over a small gathering of grand trophies that are placed in amongst unpacked boxes, books and bags, it’s hard to deny that I’ve had a spectacular season. I have won races I always considered out my limits. I have stood shocked on podiums, rode stronger and faster than ever before and faintly began to realise my own potential as a rider not unlike Neo in the Matrix coming to comprehend the idea of his uniqueness. But I ain’t saving the world, I’m just riding my bike.

I don’t feel any different maybe the closest resemblance to this self-declaration of achievement or winning is like Charlie Sheen defining his personal outlook as a ‘winner’ on a US talk show.  I still feel like Roz who rides the big heavy Orange Patriot and that’s who I want to be - I still want to have fun riding my bike and winning well. It’s always comforting to reflect proudly of one’s efforts and realise that it paid off. There is nothing wrong with having a grand sense of achievement.    

And one last acknowledgement of what may have been a massive contribution to my development as a rider this season is the experience and ability to develop methods to remember my line choices and ride cleaner.

So for now its time to rest and wait for the snow to come for the off season and I’ll see you guys next year for what I hope will be a spectacular 2015 season.

Podium with Fiona Beattie, 3rd in The Series, Joe Barnes, Senior Male Winner and Rachel Walker 2nd in Senior women.

A well traveled trophy is this one. 

Scottish Enduro Series Round 5 - Innerleithen 18th & 19th October 2014

You don't have to be a gifted clairvoyant to guess that the October round of the POC Enduro Series may be a bit damper than its summer predecessors.

But then again Scotland’s not exactly known for the flocking tourists who take to the beaches in skimpy thongs, with volley ball nets to display their tans and muscles.  On this occasion the riders who had missed out on their foreign biking trips may have forgotten about the sloppy substance we once called mud as up until two weeks prior to this race, mountain biking in Scotland consisted of bone-dry dusty trails thanks to an exceptionally dry and awesome summer. 

A new addition to this round at Innerleithen was the addition of Caberston or ‘The Golfie’.  A steep and windy technical forest with a copious amount of intertwined trails that have left a permanent impression on both my pinkie fingers and altered my cosiness of mountain biking comforts. Caberston had its world debut in this year’s Enduro World Series and since then has seen a good revenue of bikers amongst its slick forest lines.

Checking the forecast a few days in advance and seeing the stormy weather setting in for the weekend, I got myself a spiky Michelin Wildmud for the front and a nice sleek DHR Minion for the rear in an attempt to shed the claggy crud that the week before had turned my Hans Damps into racing slicks.  Thanks to Alpine Bikes at Innerleithen for their last minute help with my tubeless setup!

A grey ray of sunshine at Caberston 

The weather had certainly not deterred the thirst for competition and the event was once again sold out.  The event village/bog had a good depth of brown smearing skid marks up to the sign in tent.  It seemed it would only a matter of time before the local farmers and their tractors would be called to assist stranded vehicles....

On arrival at practice I met up with the buff Buviliscous biking boy along with the usual enduro crew including fellow female pinner Nicola Fel and enduro mud virgin Henderson. There were 4 stages with the first two starting at Caberston and then heading over to Innerleithen for stages 3 & 4, including about 30 km of cycling and a heck of a lot of climbing. 

Carrying the mud to the dry bits at the bottom of stage 4 

We set off with the sun and rain in our eyes and a momentary questioning of why didn’t we bring any sunnies with us, but this only lasted for the length of this thought.   Starting back to front at Inners and the dreaded climb, we then descended with various oooh’s and ahh’s as Stages 3 and 4 were a great dolly mixture of all the old Innerleithen classics: Gold Run, Alistair Lee’s, The Tunnel and many more.  A few funny detours at the bottom section had me in a bit of a navigational giddiness, but it only left me with more to chat about on the way to Caberston.  The rumour was spreading that Stage 1 (Lone Wolf) was unrideable but to me it seemed perfectly fine! Yeah a bit slimey in some sections, but I’ve seen a lot worse (nothing will ever come close to stage 2 at Fort William).  Stage 2, the old downhill track was defined by a passing Ozzy as just like stage one but more 'off camberrie and steepa'  and he wasn’t too wrong as this was the stage I thought about most for the drive home.

Heading home with some mud decor.  

Over night the heavens opened and it was a wild guess if this would improve or worsen the mud fest.  I set off with the rest of the ladies early in the morning it was pretty dreech.  Stage 1 was the talk of the race with many people discussing how difficult and unrideable the mud had made it. So at the start, my optimism wasn’t too high and I was also one of the many riders that fell at the entry shoot. I got straight back on and maintained my uprightness for a while until I realised that my forks had managed to turn themselves off, so at that, I jumped off and ran through most of the horrid bits at the top and then jumped back on finding it so hard to actually find my cleats under all that mud.  Not long after Lewis Buchanan flew past with an impressive speed and flow, I barely managed to have two feet on my pedals for most of the bottom section and fell just as Alasdair MaClennan flew by with a ‘you okay?’ acknowledgement.  It was great to have a visual knowledge of what it should look like to ride that stuff. 

Mud that sticks on thick- I'm still cleaning this stuff up. 

Feeling like I’d made a massive hodgepodge of Stage 1 I was sure I had to make some time back. I headed up to Stage 2 in a mental world of self-counselling and reassurance, telling myself over and over again ‘you can do this’.  This seemed to do the trick as I managed to hang on for dear life, the Ozzy lad wasn’t joking about it being off camber too, this was a sideways sliding race, if you could keep your bike pointing forward you were a winner.

Heading over to Innerleithen, the mud banter was non stop, people talked of how it would feel like concrete in comparison to the squidge of Caberston and mud tyre efficiency was definitely the theme of chat for most. 

Innerleithen was great fun, some folk had even brought pedals to change over from flats to clips in between the two varying locations, an interesting tactic.  I was so happy to complete both stages without falling or having too much feet out drifting action.  The trails were on the muddy side, but nothing as wild as Caberston, so what would normally be considered as wet and slippy felt like the traction of a fly on a sticky bun.

At the event village I collected my time to find I was sitting in top spot with a good lead too! I only had to wait for top ladies, Emma Guy and Tracey Brunger to return, but to my complete and utter surprise I managed to remain on the top spot, with stage one as my fastest stage... which was the surprise of the day!  

Podium banter with Tracey Brunger (2nd)  and  Emma Guy (3rd)

Full results can be found here.

And a fantastic write up  by Trevor Worsey from Enduro Mountain Bike Magazine.

  

A much deserved gratitude to Helen Findlay
the heart and soul of Innerleithin Mountain Biking
She will be well and truly missed.
Thank you Helen!  

Redbull Foxhunt 2014 with Rachel Atherton

The first time I heard of The Female Red Bull Fox Hunt with Rachel Atherton I was filled with a feeling of grand delight in the anticipation that something awesome was going to happen.  The realisation that the event was taking place in Scotland and not only that but very near my roots hometown in the Pentland Hills compounded my excitement.  So its no surprise to myself and anyone who knows me, follows my blog, or racing that I was going to put my heart and soul into it.

At the Start Line  

Putting all that aside i've decided to focus on why I consider this event to have an ever increasing impact of the quality and popularity of mountain biking in the UK.  

So why was this event so fantastic for mountain biking?  Why do I consider it a success?

The first aspect that I never considered about the largest female only mountain biking event in perhaps the world, and definitely on this island we call home is that there would be a large amount of children present.  Not just random children, but the children of female bikers who don’t race or compete that often.  It was not only an incredible and accessible opportunity for the kiddie winks to see their own mother ride, but also to see other women and mothers in a racing environment.  Is it implausible to consider that this may be part of a small stepping-stone to demonstrate to a new generation that active women and athletes are the bees knees.  No matter who they are or what they do they want to be active both for fun and self-fulfillment. They are our mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and grandmothers and these ladies are badass! And hell yeah they all rode their bikes as best they could. Taken this into consideration, surely a new generation of rippers could be on the cards and thus British Cycling could be in for an insane arrival of upcoming talent.   

Riding with my daughter Ski Pea

Secondly with the large amount of children in many instances with their fathers, brothers, mother’s partners or grandparents, it was empowering to see the role reversal of men with child whilst women ride.  Something that reassures me that Gender Equality for both the sexes may not be some words we just pull out of a political agenda hat every now and again to make local services look better.

Another aspect I never considered was that women who were pregnant may turn up to ride the course and participate in practice, joining in with their friends and part of this extraordinary celebration of women on bikes.  This alone gave me an acute sense of pride and belonging that women, despite this potentially limiting factor were more than happy to overcome this to show that the activity is part of their lives.  

On top of this it was great to see my daughter play with my friends children.  We ride and chat about our children a lot but very rarely with our children and partners.  With the inadvertent ex golf course bunker sand pits included, the Red Bull Fox hunt had a great family event feel in the air.

The Push up had our heart rates up. 

Perhaps what put the icing on the cake for empowering female riders and athletes was that Rachel Atherton (and her mother) were hugely supportive and involved.  Rachel talked openly about her own experiences of riding and racing, blending in with the social ease of any other participant, and it was easy to see that she was more than happy to be involved.  

Keeping the speed up out the woods 

I was really impressed to see Rachel and her team support all riders, young and old coaching and assisting them with technical issues and also providing support on the course and hill.  Seeing Rachel’s commitment and natural pleasure to be part of an event involving girls from all backgrounds and abilities-a far cry from the fast paced and competitive lifestyle she is usually engaged in, made me realise that she is a great asset to British and world cycling.

Chasing Elena

It was such a fantastic weekend.  I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many girls, catching up with old faces, racing with my friends from other disciplines, doing yoga and riding an awesome course as fast as I could.

And for me to crash so near to a podium finish was also a good lesson on my mental outlook for racing.

1.     Positive and confident riders take risks,

2.     A committed athlete has a positive reaction to set backs and takes responsibility that risks don’t always work and learns from this.

3.     Holding onto and dwelling on a mistake will only make it harder to race next time.  ‘So Let Go’ think of the positives and thrives on the good times.

4.     After a mild concussion I definitely need to buy a new helmet.

"You only achieve what you believe"

Well done to all the girls, women, mothers, daughters, aunts and grandmothers who took part.

 Thank you to Redbull for putting on a great event and to Rachel Atherton, her Mother and the GT Team for all their fantastic contribution.

A video of my race run: 

Orange Tour De Ben Nevis 20th September 2014

This was my introductory race for my new Team Sponsor, Singletrack Bikes.

As I gathered my supplies before heading onto Fort William High street for registration, I asked a fellow racer to take a picture of me for one last social media input and tagged the Tour De Ben Nevis as the ‘toughest race of the season’.

Sitting here in the warmth of a cosy bed, cradling a lovely cup of tea with entertainment at my fingertips whilst reflecting on a season that is still two months away from finishing I still can’t think of any other race that has pushed me to the mental and physical limits that I endured for the five hours of riding 'the Tour'.

I was no stranger to the endurance battle that the tour lays out for its competitors, and was far from naive to the efforts I was going to have to apply to claim a reasonable standing with such a very high standard of riders in all categories.  I definitely had my work cut out for me.  I had completed the tour two years ago in a time of 7 hours and 6 minutes riding it on my Specialized Myka hard tail.  At this time I had had very little experience of racing never mind endurance racing and it was the first time in my life I hit the emotional and physical 'wall' whilst riding. I was ready to give up and cry at the time and since then I have been hoping to claim victory over the race that nearly broke me.

The route - appropriately named as the grey stuff in the middle is Ben Nevis

This time I had experience, a Pivot, fantastic Dare2B clothing, a higher level of fitness and a greater knowledge of what to pack and what to expect.  As prepared as I was there was still a huge level of uncertainty about what was about to happen.  The tour is different to my usual races as it takes competitors into the wilderness on a circular route for 72km around Ben Nevis.  The distance away from civilisation and the sense of isolation or helplessness if anything were to go wrong  set some unease in my mind; What if I hit the wall once more, but even further away from home?

Queen of the hill title makes Lochaber News

I put all this aside, brushed myself down from the emotionally challenging two days that Scotland had just overcome and decided to find my race face.

At registration I caught up with the usual No Fuss crowd, picked up my dibber and chatted with some Wheeler friends.  As I congratulated Hannah Barnes for her great efforts for the Enduro World Series I found a spectacular character with walking logo's attached to various limbs..

This guy later pulled out a 6 pack of bud half way round the course.  Legend!

Lochaber Pipe Band - Photo Courtesy of No Fuss Photography

At 10am we set off along Fort William high street to the triumphant sound of the Lochaber Pipe Band. We embarked on the first of many steep climbs up Achintore Road along to Lochan Lunn Da Bhra and then onto the West Highland Way to Stage 1 at Kinlochleven.  I don't know if it was the lingering lergie that seemed to be clouding my head that left me feeling antisocial but this race seemed to send me off in an internal world of contemplation. I ran through race tactics and questioned continuously how and when I should pace myself in order to save energy for the special stages.  

Stage 1 descent

I'm fairly familiar with the terrain of the Mamore mountains, but not too familiar with the loose ground that the Indian summer had created.  The ground was pretty skitie!  After Stage 1 we climbed back up the 300m to Mamore Lodge and toward Stage 2, another brutal and punishing climb to Loch Eil, which would see competitors gain another 300m.  I was growling like a fierce VO2 max monster and felt sorry for anyone who crossed my path fearing that the hound of the Baskervilles were on their tale.

Toward Stage 3 I rode alongside a couple of Cross country riders whilst admiring the stunning scenery of Loch Eilde and the Mamores. My mind slipped in and out of waves of thought as I contemplated the popularity of this funny race. 

Beautiful views and blue skies

The Tour de Ben Nevis could very well be the lovechild  of Enduro and Cross Country.  Like its cross country father its takes its competitors into an internal battle between physical and mental endurance, whilst its Enduro mother provides timed stages to compliment.  Both the complete duration of the course and special stages earn you points.  You gain points for every person you beat on each of the stages and the winner, surprisingly, is the person with the most at the finish line.  Understanding what kind of rider you are is imperative for a good result.  Are you an Enduro master who can make up the points on the special stages timed downhills or are you blistering athlete who can whizz round the track faster than anyone else and gain points that way.  Perhaps this slightly different and exciting format is why the tour stands out as a popular race. It attracts a great variety of riders especially the cross country, Enduro and trail riders who see it as a great day out perhaps wanting to set some goals and conquer a massive challenge in a beautiful explorative environment.  

Anyway back to the race!  Approaching the special stage where you had to hike a bike up a hill with some soggy feet I  took a few deep breaths and set off to give all I could.  It was hard to know if the traditional style of running would help or just to opt for the fell running approach of 'big steps very quickly'.  Either way the summit seemed unachievable for quite some time.  Even after the dedication of the fell runners gait to the top of the hill the stage continued. Down some tumbling and technical rocks a few muddy crossings and numerous arduous and harsh climbs, crossing the river toward the bothy and barbecue could not have came any sooner. 

The route went on and on into the hills

Homeward bound and happy to have the hike a bike behind me I still had about 30Km to ride. I headed home as fast as my wee legs could go. I just wanted to get to the final special stage, Blue Crane.  The ride through the forest of Nevis Range lasted forever.  The distinctive and welcoming whistles of the marshalls for the Scottish Downhill Race at Nevis Range was like the sound of a Christmas choir.  Nearly there. 

I have never been so pleased to see Blue Crane but in classic Newman style this is where I managed to deck myself by failing to clip in and losing my feet resulting in me granulating my crotch on my rear wheel for a few metres. I was all over the place but I loved it.   

Stage 4 nearly home.

Back toward Fort William and while dibbing out I was so mentally gone that I nearly had a full blown conversation with a stranger, convinced she was my best friend Louise.

This little dude watched me do yoga.  

For the afternoon I wound down with the classic soup and sandwich, catching up with the Aviemore crew Nash and Ronan and reading over some celeb gossip in Closer Mag. Then some yoga on the Parade  and a fab dinner with my wheeler buddies and sharing stories of the day.  I then set off to prize giving thinking I may have made it to third place I was absolutely gobsmacked to find out that I had won!  

I reckon this was probably the best result I have ever achieved on my bike. Full results can be found here. 

Looking a bit stunned from the result
I'm very small too

With the Senior Male winner
also from Kinlcohleven, Gary MacDoanld

Thanks to the support of Singletrack Bikes and Dare2B 
and my awesome family for helping me with my daughter.

Thanks for another fantastic event No Fuss. 

A well deserved rest in the sunshine followed