"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is time once more for another quick round up of the life of James…
I have recently been feeling the pressures of 4th year mechanical engineering. Yes, most of the time university is a bit of a doss about but the last wee while has been flat out for me. Dissertation, oral exams, regular exams and course works all squeezed into the sunniest spell of weather I have ever seen! With all this extra work, I have been missing out on valuable training time so last weekend I decided to do a cross country race to see how I would compare.
I turned up to the SXC in Aberfoyle on Easter Sunday for the 2nd round of the Scottish series with a sense of nostalgia. I used to do these races at the very same venues way back when I was a youth. I put my name down for the Sport category and handed over a rather large sum of money for what was going to be a very fast paced jolly round the woods. I lined up with my friend Liam Moynihan and my newly acquired friend Danny Megaskills. Both of which were my main competition for the event.
We set off at a good pace and I stuck with the leaders up to the top of the hill. Danny and I found some sweet lines down the technical course to start the next lap in 2nd and 3rd position. The next two laps included a very steep climb which I really struggled on though. This lost me time and I dropped down to finish in 4th place. Overall, it was a great course and I felt quite strong which is encouraging. I even got to try out my amazing new IXS easy up whilst waiting for the race to start.
Photo appears courtesy of Michael Bonney - Orange Mountain Bikes
The big excitement however, was the IXS Macavalanche. Basically, 70 riders got a helicopter to the top of a big bad mountain in Glencoe and raced back down to the bottom. Some extra riders walked up the hill to make a starting grid of over 100. Although slightly unnecessary, the presence of the helicopter made it feel like the coolest race ever. The bikes were positioned on the snow and the riders lined up about 30meters away for the running start. I made a good get away, despite some people cutting the tape, and grabbed my bike to take second place in the race
I followed Fergus Lamb who was just in front of me as he dog-legged it down the snow. He eventually came to a twisted mess and I had to swerve round and start running. Joe Barnes as well as a few others got past me on this section.
The snow stopped and the track made its way down the rocky mountain side which was littered with obstacles. It was at this point where I just managed to catch a glimpse of Liam crashing his face off. This part of the track seemed like a battle for survival. It eventually mellowed out again and started to meander down the hill side. I found myself riding in 3rd place just in front of Ruari Watt. The guy in front of me had a big crash which attracted my attention. It was also very windy and the tape was getting blown about. It was at that moment where my simple mind got confused and I started riding full speed in the wrong direction with Ruari racing alongside me. We soon realised our mistake and had to push back up the hill to rejoin the course. People were pissing past us and the leader, Joe Barnes, was long gone. It was still exciting though because the race was not lost. I battled on and made some good overtakes to claw my way back up to 6th just 15 seconds off 2nd place. Although slightly frustrated, I had a brilliant day out. Thanks to No Fuss and everyone else who made it happen.
Also, here is a nice picture of me sitting down near Stirling."
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