"30 in 30" Day 1

Ah the simplicity of singlespeeds!

Didn't get up until midday so half of my 'to do' list had to be scrapped. I was rapidly talking myself out of starting my challenge as well, until I gave myself a kick up the arse, threw on a pair of shorts and t-shirt, grabbed my helmet and shoes and prayed that my Surly 1x1 would work straight off the shelf?

It did. After a small amount of GT85 and some coaxing of the freewheel. It was all still covered in mud from a few months back and slightly seized, but soon loosened up and I was happily spinning down the road.

My first hour clocked up and some very fun exploring in the woods around the golf course - not many miles but a good start. Only 29 more to go...

Sadly the other half of my challenge didn't last long; I went to the pub after work last night and then accidentally poured myself a large glass of red wine this evening. (Normal service is resumed Shelly, I'm feelin fine ;-)

And whilst I am still working on my Kilimanjaro adventure, I've started a flickr account to exhibit my photos. They can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/mountainbikegirl/ Enjoy!

Dusk 'til freezing Dawn

Another excellent course to play on at Thetford with mile upon mile of swooping, twisting singletrack making up the epic 12 mile lap. This was going to be fun. I love riding at Thetford! Ickle Paul started off as usual, I'm surprised nobody slipped and twisted an ankle on the testosterone covered start line seeing as he'd grabbed centre stage along with Ben Dale and Paul Gibbons. Boys will be boys eh?

It was quite a spectacle as the hundreds of lights streamed past underneath the start banner, only to reappear a couple of minutes later a little more spread out and even more impressive.

Fifty minutes later and I was taking my final swig of Sloe Gin Liquer from my Surly hipflask, ready for the handover. I.P didn't look very happy when he came in, oh dear. Still, my first lap was SO much fun. Singlespeeds rule at Thetford and my Surly 1x1 was handling like a dream in the tight trees. During one particularly tight tree lined section Jo Burt and another couple of singlespeeders came up behind me and were whooping, hollering and generally making high pitched squeally sounds. The whole thing reminded me of that scene in Star Wars (oh come on, you know the one with the hover bikes through the giant trees) and I flew through the section at light speed. How much fun!

It was now getting a bit colder but I knew I was still going to sweat a lot in the trees so donned my trusty Endura arm and knee warmers to keep the chill off. They performed brilliantly but sadly it was too late for my knee which I've been having trouble with since soloing at Sleepless in the Saddle. Swiss Schali crept up behind me about half way round - his lights had failed so he was sitting behind me as we ducked and dived through the singletrack. On the fire road I'd spin like mad to keep up with him and then he'd let me go first again. "Hope I didn't hold you up too much?" I asked at the end of the lap. "No no" he replied, "I've been doing 52's so it was nice to have a steady late 50's to recover a bit." Hellfire! I was giving it everything I had to get those late 50's! Back in the handover, I.P didn't look very happy.

My third lap and I decided to give it everything I had again as I was pretty sure it was going to be my last. Traffic was a bit worse on this lap and the pain in my knee was increasing. It was my slowest lap but I was still under the hour. At the handover, I.P didn't look very happy. I told him the good/bad news that I didn't want to carry on and risk further damamge. I.P looked happy and went out for another lap. Turns out he hadn't been feeling very well either and things hadn't fallen into place. So, at 2.30am, after a total of 7 laps, lying in 4th place, we happily retired to the warmth of the Climb On Bikes camp - to drink, eat, sleep and hide under our duvets for the rest of the race. And from the pale, freezing faces we kept seeing diving in and out throughout the night, we'd made a good decision.

Hours later, the freezing fog lifted and it turned into a pleasant morning. A 1st, 3rd and 5th for our boys and girls in various categories and some rather lovely trophies to reward the massive effort everyone had put in to an extremely tough endurance race. Well done everybody! Full team write-up here.

SSWC 07 - leaving town

So the World Champs are over for another year (the real world champs, not that rubbish that's going on in Fort William this weekend). Beer, riding, friends, derbys, crashes, dancing, beer, mickey taking, heckling and endless story telling, perfect. Sat in Cafe Mambo in Aviemore, drinking great coffee with C.G. an American friend I only see once or twice a year, and Ricky/Chris, the random Canadian guy we picked up last night and has decided to hang out with us for a while. We're on first name terms with the baristas and practically have seats with our names on. We have no plans, just a big van full of bikes and stuff. This is what singlespeeding is all about.

Browsing the interent to find all the photos, posts, threads and things being said about the event is proving interesting. The photos tell the best stories, everything else seems a little distorted. It always fascinates me the amount of comments that are made by people that weren't even here! It was legendary, you missed it, get over it.

Adam Craig and Kellie Emmett won with true style, the course was amazing, not that I rode it, there was some world class heckling, lots of beer and I think Billy Spaceman won the ass slapping contest. We went for a walk, skimmed stones in the loch, drank coffee, ate cake and ice cream and laughed, lots! (I think we may have ridden our bikes at some point too, but that was only to get to the cake shop.)

Another plate of nachos and we'll be off to Pitlochry, making sure we stop by the Cairngorm brewery to stock up. We're passing (meaning, dropping by) some distilleries on the way too. I think this mornings vows to not drink any more this week aren't going to last very long, another few minutes maybe...

If you want to see any photos Garrison's, aka Baby Bear, are on flickr. And yes, the in-jokes are going to continue for many years to come. And no, it's unlikely you'll ever get most of them...