I'm pretty sure last year as I crossed the finish line at 10 under I turned to Kerry and said - job done . . . . I'm happy with that, stoked at the result but I don't know if I will ever do it again. . . . .
The 15th of May 2010, it's 10 Under the Ben and guess what I'm on that start line!
I have one word for the start - carnage! This year a Le mond style start was adopted where what felt like millions of competitors had to sprint, hobble and drag themselves 100m before getting on the bikes. During the whole thing I remember feeling scared, everyone was trying to push you out the way and snap at your heels . . . . . . I couldn't even see the ground I was suppose to be running on. Somehow I survived and for 9 hours 44 minutes and 13 seconds spent a considerable large amount of time riding my bike!
The guys at No Fuss again had done a great job adding new natural sections to the course, but I will never thank them for putting that little steepy climb in there :) ha ha it was killing me by the end but I did manage to make it up 8 out of 8 attempts -BOOM! The weather decided to remind us that we were in fact in Scotland as we experienced showers / heavy rain and even a little sunshine.
I found the event a lot harder this year, but think the weather played a role in that as the ground got wet the natural sections began to mud up and some sections felt like you were riding through toffee, towards the end of the race it did start to dry up though! I managed to get 9 laps in on the day that included a highland cow falling on top of me (well a lass dressed up as a highland cow) and a close encounter with a tree that left a dent in my helmet and a bruise on my head - doh! I won the female solo category by a lap with Hannah Barnes taking 2nd and Dorota Bamkowska taking 3rd. I'm stoke with the whole result as I actually finished 11th out of 184 solo's yee ha! Graeme Short (Glentress Riders) was also out there finishing 4th in the vets - but I didn't actually see him the whole event - just shows you how many folk are attending these days! Dick, Ali and Scott got 3rd in the vet male trios!
A big thanks has to go to Kerry for supporting me as always, couldn't have done it without ya. G for cleaning my bike between laps and getting me in the shape to do the damage in the first place. A big thanks has to go out to the guys at No Fuss for another gid event. Also to all the marshals for all the support and encouragement the whole way round - they were magic! And for all the nutters up at the event from the Borders who gave me good chat even if I was moaning at times :)
I had never seen so much mud on my bike at the end and after a few washes and a visit to The Hub it is back happily in working order.
Aberfoyle this weekend - I'm only gutted the course has had to be changed because of one lady and her dogs - thing we may have just lost one of the best XC race venues in Scotland.
Onwards and upwards
Yee ha
Les
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