Dixie n Wattsy

An early start today. Oli and I were heading to Sherwood Pines for the first mountain bike NPS race of the season. I was wanting to see Vicky, a friend over from America, who was riding elite and Oli was just there racing for fun.

We hadn't really paid much attention to the weather forecast, a slight error! The GPS was sending us into The Peak District.....it was scary going over Chunal with the road just being passable, but drifts at the side. We found one road after another forcing us down onto the Cheshire plain. It was ok until we headed towards Ashbourne, but found that a car was stuck in the middle of the road. Sheesh, a u-turn, forcing us to towards Stoke. It took 4 hours, a time that I could possibly manage on the bike, even on some of the toughest roads in the UK.

I had missed Vicky's race and Oli only had a few minutes to get ready for his. I saw Vicky for all of 15 seconds....her race was a disaster with her pedals getting iced up on the first lap forcing her to retire. The course was quite rideable, especially as they had taken the section with a small drop-off out of it. I wish photography was as easy. I couldn't see my camera screen and the snow was causing havoc with the metering in auto. I do prefer manual but judging exposure was a real problem. Added to that, wearing gloves wasn't ideal.

I bumped into Martin, an old made,who was riding the later masters race. It was good to see him, especially as he was one of my first riding buddies, over 20 years ago! He has also got me addicted to www.retrobikes.co.uk. Gahhh... I so want an old skool clockwork orange now!

The racing was good, especially as it's always fun to watch other people falling off. One guy went flying when he slammed into a hidden tree stump. No damage done, apart from his pride. This is a pic of Dixie and Wattsy, two of the GB mountain bike coaches. They seemed to be in a very serious mood, not being distracted by my clowning or my camera. I had arranged to meet my mucka Monica, but she was lost in the woods somewhere. I'm really proud of her as she's just got a new job as a talent coach on world class, moving up from being a Go-ride coach. She's an absolute grafter, giving up nearly all her holidays to go away on training camps and coaching kids in her free time at Eastlands Velo.Then she spends the rest of the time moaning about how busy she is! Still, no one is perfect.

I got back to the finish just in time for Oli. I bumped into Kenta who had only managed a lap due to not being fully recovered from a chest infection. He was happy though as Grant the frog Ferguson had finished on the podium. Oli got no where near the front of the field but was as happy as the winner, as he had fun.

The drive home was much quicker. However, I was way too sleepy to go to swimming even though I love my Sunday session. Early to bed! Bit of a surprise before sleep though. Someone posted a photo of my 2nd year rugby team in Musselburgh. I've only got Kermit n Fozzie, my muppet cuddly toys from my childhood. No photos or anything..... I thought it didn't matter, but a wee tear in my eye suggested that maybe it did.