Inspiration
Spent Saturday morning cycling with the tri club then headed down to Glentrool in the afternoon with Elspeth, stopping off to run up the Merrick. That's Neil's 'childhood' mountain - quite funny to think that it only took us an hour to get up, these hills feel enormous when you're only wee.
What followed was probably the wettest night I've ever experienced in a tent. The rain came in in floods and I woke up just after midnight soaked to the skin, with a very wet and heavy sleeping bag. I'm not quite sure where the water was getting in (or how Elspeth was still sleeping peacefully) but decided sleeping in the car had to be preferable. I'm just glad Elspeth's car is more waterproof than our own! I found that eating the rest of the flapjack gave me a nice internal golden-syrupy glow to keep me warm without my sleeping bag.
Levels of motivation were pretty low the next morning but after several cups of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and some ginger scone the sun convinced me it was a good idea to be there afterall. We were down at Kirroughtree for the Women on Wheels mtb event. It was a great day and really inspirational, it's just a shame that more people couldn't make it along. We started off with a skills session. I was a bit skeptical about how much you could learn in an hour and a half but I think it made a difference - there was definitely one section where I realised that I'm both looking in the wrong place and braking at the wrong point, which is why I can ride very technical things but just can never do anything fast. Interesting! I also rode a trek uber-expensive xc racer bike. It was so light I could pick it up with one hand and hold it above my head. It seemed to float round corners and I LOVE it but sadly can't spend £3k on a bike!!!
I really like the bike maintenance session and we met some girls who'd never been mountain biking before. It's really nice to see that the event had encouraged them along to try it and by the end of the hour they could fix a puncture and I (hope) I now know how to fix things like broken mech hangers and mangled chains.
We saw some amazing skills at the stunt show, including Danny McAskill jumping (and turning 360' in the air) above a 71year old granny who was lying on the ramp. I hope I'm that cool when I'm 71! 'Granny Maeve' was giving a talk later on about her cycle across Canada to raise money for Macmillan cancer care and celebrate her 70th birthday. It's an amazing story and she's got real determination. Very cool!
What followed was probably the wettest night I've ever experienced in a tent. The rain came in in floods and I woke up just after midnight soaked to the skin, with a very wet and heavy sleeping bag. I'm not quite sure where the water was getting in (or how Elspeth was still sleeping peacefully) but decided sleeping in the car had to be preferable. I'm just glad Elspeth's car is more waterproof than our own! I found that eating the rest of the flapjack gave me a nice internal golden-syrupy glow to keep me warm without my sleeping bag.
Levels of motivation were pretty low the next morning but after several cups of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and some ginger scone the sun convinced me it was a good idea to be there afterall. We were down at Kirroughtree for the Women on Wheels mtb event. It was a great day and really inspirational, it's just a shame that more people couldn't make it along. We started off with a skills session. I was a bit skeptical about how much you could learn in an hour and a half but I think it made a difference - there was definitely one section where I realised that I'm both looking in the wrong place and braking at the wrong point, which is why I can ride very technical things but just can never do anything fast. Interesting! I also rode a trek uber-expensive xc racer bike. It was so light I could pick it up with one hand and hold it above my head. It seemed to float round corners and I LOVE it but sadly can't spend £3k on a bike!!!
I really like the bike maintenance session and we met some girls who'd never been mountain biking before. It's really nice to see that the event had encouraged them along to try it and by the end of the hour they could fix a puncture and I (hope) I now know how to fix things like broken mech hangers and mangled chains.
We saw some amazing skills at the stunt show, including Danny McAskill jumping (and turning 360' in the air) above a 71year old granny who was lying on the ramp. I hope I'm that cool when I'm 71! 'Granny Maeve' was giving a talk later on about her cycle across Canada to raise money for Macmillan cancer care and celebrate her 70th birthday. It's an amazing story and she's got real determination. Very cool!
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