jaymiemart.com

2011-01-17T10:38:00.004Z

Happy New Year one and all. 2011 is going to be big, I can just feel it.The year for me starts with a whole new outlook and goal. I have set up my own company Athleat Nutrition - Performance Nutrition Solutions which will enable me to bring you and sports people like you up to speed with sports nutrition and help you reach your goals.
The messages surrounding nutrition in general can be plentiful and confusing. Athleat Nutrition excels in combining scientific research and the functionality of nutrition in a credible manner, using a passionate experience of nutrition and sport to deliver practical nutrition solutions for you. All of the Athleat Nutrition solutions are based on a 'back to basics' approach which will enable you to build strong foundations on which sports and performance nutrition can be built.

I already have some excellent sports people, athletes and corporate clients to work with, some of who have provided accounts detailing the impact of my work on their performance - check out the Athleat Nutrition packages page and testimonials page of the Athleat Nutrition site and read on.

If you are preparing for an event or competition and would like to learn how to fuel properly, or if you know someone who could do with nutritional support, please drop me a line:

jaymie@athleatnutrition.com
www.athleatnutrition.com
All logos and images are copyright of Athleat Nutrition.

Overshoes and lycra longs ...YUMMMMMMMMY!

2010-11-18T10:07:00.013Z

So, it hit - the snow that is. I woke up last Sunday morning and looked out side to see the snow line closer to home than I was comfortable with. Guesty and Baller came down and

we gathered a few troops for a blast up 'the backs' which are the secret tracks round the

back of some of the mountains in the village. Loads of the trails here are 'way marked' for the masses - quite a lot aren't and will always remain secret for the locals only - this may seem a little clicky, but to be fair, these trails are fresh, they probably won't ever get maintained by the forestry bodies and trail builders, so we don't like to see them get ridden too much.

So got 'dresssed up' top to toe in lycra, overshoes, winter warmers and off we went. Stop

ping briefly by the Leithen Water on the way out of the village to see the salmon jump up the ladder which was pretty cool.

We stayed out for ages, we were all just loving it. Andy - the god of all secret trail knowledge introduced us to a sett off camber slate track which was AWESOME. There is nothing cooler than riding on loose rock and hearing it all slide around under your wheels.

As usual, Baller pushed the limits and got a puncture .... so obviously before we carried on, he fixed it and the boys took it as an excuse to have a 'bro down' with the bust up tube .... QT.

We got so carried away, we rode back up to the top of the mountain as dusk set in so we could descent one of the coolest trails on that ridge - 'Rockie' - it is what is says on the label - bloody rocky! Even though we had lights, visibility was such that the lights wouldn't have done much good, so we used the natural illumination from the snow and threaded the needle down the trail.

The next morning, we were at it again .... Guest Andy and I wrapped up again and hit the other side of the valley up.

It was an amazing morning for it- super frosty, the ground was hard and unforgiving, but it was just so fresh and beautiful.

We climbed up to the snow line at the top of the hill and picked out way through the trails downwards - stopping briefly to drink hot fruit T - damn, we sound like a bunch of hippies, but believe me, in minus 5 degrees Celsius .... anything warm is GOOOOOOOOOD.

Scotland

2010-11-11T23:05:00.010Z

It's Novemeber still, there is still time to 'function outside' before the big freeze ....

A few weekend ago, I spent the weekend with a few friends. It was a FAB weekend, truly civilised, freshly butchered meat and weekend 'fizz' ...... you have to 'deserve' a feast, so to build up an appetite, we hit the fells in Stirlingshire....

We hiked Ben Ledi - 2283ft - which is 17ft short of what we class here in Scotland as a real mountain- or a Munro.

It felt like a 'real mountain' after a few hours of leg burning uphill hiking ......

When we got to the top we messed around doing jump shots, the general concensous was that we made up the extra 17 ft in jumping. So, with that in the mix - I think I can safely say we hit the summit of a 'real mountain' .......

BOOM.

Dirty Thirties

2010-11-11T22:12:00.015Z

So I made it to 30! I was astounded by one of my friends comments on facebook on my birthday - she actually wrote 'You made it, I had money on you never being an old fart'. I guess when my van rolled over this year - I used up another life, but I doubt that I've used my allocation quite yet ...so onwards and upwards - I'll keep walking close to the edge in my 30's and I hope that the adventurers continue to be wild and wonderful.....

So, for my 30th - I was in the US. I set off the week before to Phoenix A.Z. to do a Performance Nutrition course at Athlete Performance - one of the most advanced performance centres for athletes in the US. Plugging in to their matrix was pretty interesting.

I stayed with Buhly and lived it up after work - we pushed the boat out and burned the candle. Buhl was thick into her mid terms and as I was working, the days were busy - but the nights were busier - we caught up with her family and some of our friends out there, we hit the massage place, did a hot yoga class and ate and drank fine wines and grub.

After the course - I hopped onto a plane to see Damion and Neven in Colorado.

I just L.O.V.E Colorado, to me, it's a place I associate with GOOD TIMES.

Damion planned the coolest trip for us and whisked me away. We went out to the Rockies in a stinky big truck. We had 2 sweet Yeti Bikes, a box of beers and a loose plan of action. We soaked up the scenery of the American way of living in the country. We hit up an old mining town - which was just as you'd imagine in the movies - old school and still functioning. We also tried to stay at a natural hot springs hotel - but forgot to book and it was shut when we got there. BOO.

Riding out there was frikkin HARD. I'm pretty fit right now, but the altitude really troubled my breathing, with it being over a mile high, the partial pressure of O2 is reduced which means that there is less 02 available to breath.

For people who are acclimatised to altitude, exercise capacity is not compromised, but for me - to be blunt was like paddling up a river in a flood - I was 'effed'.

Anyway, Damion took me to part of the Colorado trail to ride - we took the truck off road to get the start and off we went, it was beautiful - when I came to terms with my puffing and panting, turned out to be an immensely awesome trail - what more can you say to an amazing trail, an amazing trip, and amazing friends ..... hell yea!

So that's it - I'll leave you with a photo from my new camera of the autumn leaves on the Colorado aspen trees ......

Summer sloggin and bloggin!

2010-11-10T17:15:00.024Z

Ah, the summer - it seems like a country mile a way now. The snow is laying up on the mountain in the village and the autumn leaves are starting to degrade already - the winter is en route and with it, I'm waiting for my ticket to warmth and ticket to sunshine .... the next big step on the horizon, which has been looming. So, the summer - what a laugh. Minimal racing, lots of home time and a house full of people from near and far ....

It's best envisaged from imagery ... so here goes ....

A full action packed week day and weekend agenda of rides in and around the beautiful village I live in - with friends from all over the UK and the US ... this is one of the evening rides - you might recognise some of the village idiots, ski champs and MTB champs in this photo which was taken prior to a descent in which we merged some of the local secret tracks and ended up in a bonza river crossing challenge and evening swim ....

The summer extreme - high safety yoga challenge at Glentress

The Spanish beach side and urban yoga challenge ....

Wrapping my arms around Ireland. The tour of - without the bike. This is a photo of the Giants Causeway ....

The Lakes - a multitude of mountain top tours with some of the UK's best....

My best friends hen doo ..... 'strictly' censored - with random addition of random old wrinkly - not sure how he got into this shot - but in the brief moment, I seemed to have adopted his trilby .... !!

My best friends wedding - a weekend to remember for sure and an honour to be a bridesmaid.

A piped procession which led the bridal party to the stone circle for the actual marriage.2 massive marquees, pink champagne all night, a ceilidh band, a rock band and a DJ. Fireworks, 40 kilos of langustines, a French appetiser tent, an ice cream bar, a bouncy castle, a hog roast, a tee- pee, a collection of some of my oldest homies of all time all in one place, a 120m.p.h ride on the back of a motor bike, 6 pairs of wellies a Vivian Westwood couture dress and tug of war to erect the final stone in the circle ... some crazy Kiwis ... and all in 3 whole days of glorious sunshine, a haze of boozin and rich rich banter ..

A broken back and an emergency RAF airlift operation .....

A photo shoot with the guys from Aka Skidor Mag. The mag itself is a top Swedish Ski mag, but they do a MTB issue in the spring - so keep your eyes peeled for that article in 2011.

A much needed holiday with the ducks. Scotland and Spain got their fair share of

duck lovin and off the hook all night raging .....

MISSION WOW. Jo Guest from Mission WOW and myself organised an action packed weekend of riding in Scotland for a bunch of female riders - who just LOVED the w.e. Check out MISSION WOW and all of Jo's up and coming events in Chamonix and NZ in the coming months. It's a cool concept for women on wheels/waves and in winter .....

So there you have it, a brief and by no means detailed or complete account of an amazing summer. With out AMAZING friends, wicked riding, epic scenery and another great input in to the memory bank, where would we be? ....

WORLD Masters DH MTB Championships - SILVER MEDALIST

2010-10-10T21:16:00.008+01:00

Back in February - when the world seemed dark and the edges of the light seemed out of reach, I asked the question WHAT IF.

WHAT IF

Insignificant upon separation.

Together, if unanswered, these two words can haunt you for an eternity.

Embrace the question with both hands.

Take the leap of faith.

You may fall, you may fly.

You may grow wings on the way down.

It may blow your mind.

What if you do.

What if you don't.

SEND IT

No regrets.

WHAT IF.

I asked myself what if I applied my all, trained hard, focused, challenged myself ever day for 8 months in the gym, on the mountain, inside my head. I had a lot of alignment to do, mentally and physically and I needed some end goals. First stop was the Scottish Champs - I wanted to get a race under my belt to gauge my training and although I took the Masters Womens title, it highlighted just how much work I had to do. Brazil was the main focus, t

he push for the season and the aim; to bring home a medal. I embraced the challenge and came back fulfilled.

Here is the report I wrote for DIRT

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/masters-worlds.html

I couldn't have done it without the amazing support from family and friends.

Damion - first up, for being there, for helping me with bike set up, course analysis, for giving me a tow in over the scary 30ft doubles on course, for looking after me in Brazil and for keeping me sane in the gondola. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-11404035

Here's Damions report: http://www.yeticycles.com/blog/?p=415

To all my amazing friends who rode with me over the months, training is so much fun when you laugh hard, and boy I laughed a lot this summer. You helped me believe, you put me back on my pedals, the place I am happiest ..... you helped me build fitness and strength and for that, I can't thank you enough. You know who you are. Last but not least, for your unconditional support and guidance, for helping me think properly - my family and extended family - Mum, John, Adam, Liz, Dot and Di.

THANK YOU. I rode the bike - you gave me the nudge I needed.

The BIG count down.

2010-02-22T19:30:00.003Z

Hi all,

Racing as we know it - world cups/nationals/SDA's etc will not take the usual form in 2010. There are some exciting and BIG happenings on the horizon which will 'pop' in September and will demand a very different focus...... so watch this space!

This weekend saw Round 2 of the Scottish Winter series kick off in the Village - I didn't race, but I did have a house full - sushi was on the menu, so the local bunch piled round for a feed with the weekends resident racer M-Dawg and the guys from FOX came round later. I went along on Sunday to watch the racing. It was strange being an on looker on my home track - but it was comforting to see that the conditions were terrible for riding anyway, ice packed hard, hard ground with little traction. In a weird way, although I love racing and totally missed the buzz this weekend, I was thankful that I was track side. It's always good to see the action, but one thing that I never like to see is people hurting themselves - and they were bailing left, right and centre on Sunday. Respect to everyone who slammed their balls for the cause and bigger respect to those who didn't and kept it upright.

Happy days to come - the sun is in the sky for longer and new signs of life are EVERYWHERE ;) - all we need now is for things to warm up and we can safely kiss goodbye to another winter and a big HELLOOOOOO to summer and everything it will bring with it!

Embrace life - there is something beautiful around every corner, you just have to be looking in the right direction to see it!

JJ.X

SCHLAAAAAAAADERS 2009 - The lost repo..

2010-01-30T22:59:00.031Z

Racing was well - equivalent to a stinky aging flacid BOTTOM covered in guk........the only real journey you make in life is between your own ears right - and you are damn lucky if you can make this with a little bit of help and a LOT of fun with your friends......the journey was, looking back part of a my RICH tapestry of amazing memories.So, we set off from Fionns after dossing around on 125's at the new Griffiths abode in Llandegla and eating ploughmans in the garden - it was perfectly scorchio. We got Fionns Mum (my surrogate Mum - HG) on the bike - she lasted all of about 20 seconds in 1st gear before literally 'keeling' over - it's all on video and I wee'd - no joke!

After about 20 minutes of our 15 hour drive, I leant full scale out of the window to toss a banana skin.....by poor wee glasses got whipped off my head and then skidded down the motorwar :(. We then passed a Welsh tour company called Y-NOT and decided it would be best to swing round and pick them up (y-not) - there is no way they weren't coming on the voyage - even though I have like 3 other paris of the same model (which I omitted to confess to Fionn) - we did an ABOUT turn and picked up the 80mph busters - and they were still alive...BONZA.

So we trucked on, had an impromtu night in Lille - dossed around the city, ate some cake and picked up Emmeline (the new World MTB Champ) - we hit the road - destination - Austria.

Smooth trucking and before we know it - Neven (one of the 3 duckteers), Hels, Fi, Emmeline, Paul, Reg and I were rolling our sleeves up in the mexican in Schladders and hit the vino - a great excuse to have a chin wag and good ketchup!

The first days practice came and went and I decide that the weekend wasn't for me - well at least from a riding perspective. You have to feel it deep in your bones if you want to do well at DH- there is way too much risk involved to only put half your heart to it and me heart was somewhere else that weekend! Plus, when your friends are all around, often at a race, it's easy not to have the time to spend with them. Some times, friends make make the world go round - not bikes, and this was one of those weekends.

So - as usual - a vague outline -this one time, at band camp - Damion escorted us out to the 'new' night club in town - he rocked up in style - lights out and sweating - was the straight line through town the 'best' line to take???

Nev and I found an entire line of food to make you CLEVER........ it didn't do what it said on the can - but it did have a quirky effect on the locks.....- cue the DH family VONTRAP........

One last party - the grand finale - the end of season lift off....then we hit the road.....

Thats the week wrapped in in visuals and thats 09 wrapped up as far as all things push bike goes. ITS A WRAP MOTHER LICKERS.

Ciao.

J.

Boulder Colorado.

2010-01-06T12:22:00.010Z

After a spotting of sun in the desert - Nev and I hopped onto a flight and headed up to Colorado - destination - Boulder. The photo above is of the flat irons in Boulder - it's one of the most distinctive features which forms the back drop of the town. Buolder is perched at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, so you can imagine the flat irons frame the town in a pretty spectacular fashion. We got into Boulder -had some nice soup - a browse round the mall then headed to the University of Colorado to check up on Nevs 'stem cells'!!

Nev is doing a PhD in stem cell research - she explained it all to me in the basic of basic layman's terms - my deminished of knowledge from genetics and biology classes gone by came back to me in lets say 'drabs' - but I got the jist of her research aims. Simply put, her work may help us all if we nail ourselves - so watch this space - it's pretty frikkin cooooooool!

I have never had Christmas away from home - and I couldn't have wished for a better time. Nev was certainly the hostess with the mostess! We decided before I got there that we would take the best bits of Christmas and throw them together - so we did = including Colemans finest packeted bread sauce mix - Christmas just wouldn't be the same without bread sauce now would it?!

Boulder was a sensory overload for me - a winter abyss for athletes, tourists and locals. The place was a mass of activity - everyone seemed fit and healthy and that was very much the emphasis in the town. There were health food, sports, outdoor and holistic therapy stores everywhere - it seemed like a real eco conscious town too - quite unlike the most of the US - stinky big trucks were out and wee 4x4 scoobee - doos were in - most of which had bike or ski racks on the top.

Nev and I packed the car on Christmas day and headed into the hills - you may know this - but Denver is the mile high city - Boulder it's sister town is also at altitude - hence the reason why there are a lot of athletes living in Boulder - anything to help their bodies form more of that precious o2 carrying haemoglobin - its an amazing place to be for altitude training.

On Christmas day - the wind was so bad - we decided not to ski, but went up to the mountains any way and stumbled up on a cool we shop that served an american style cider! Wicked - we headed home - made Christmas dinner and learned how to knit - RANDOM! Ski day was boxing day - off we went - rented some XC skis and blasted a couple miles down a trail to an massive frozen lake - I couldn't stop smiling - it was just awe inspiring - all around us - there were trails - people were XC/DH skiing and snow shoeing - there were dogs every where and people with the happiest faces - I could so see myself living somewhere like that at some point - not to dissimilar to the trails at home in the summer really.

The last day in Boulder we went to the famous Luciles for brekkie - and it exceeded all of my expectations - YUMMY is it's middle name for SURE! Damion made it up for the feast too which was so cool - I didn't think he would take kindly to the early morning, but he surprised us!!

So - the last few days in Arizona were a blurrrrrrrrr - but I left exhausted which is the sign of a great trip - I have some of the most amazing friends a girl could be blessed with.

I love ya. X

Phoneix

2010-01-06T11:56:00.006Z

Swinging back to Phoenix after an amazingly scenic drive through the desert we pulled in at the Sky harbour airport to pic up my favourite Boulder chick - Nev Duck.

We blasted the three days together - chilled in the hot tub - putting the world to rights - catching up on all the goings on of the past 4 months. Nev tried to exercise Buhls dogs - but Moxi just had way too much energy - so we resorted to turning on the treadmill - I have never seen a dog run on a treadmill quite like it - she was in her element and could easily stay on their all day!!

We ate lush food - drank amazing wine and laughed constantly - Buhl hit the gym - I threw some weights around in Buhls gym - Nev and I did some yoga.

We headed out to the outskirts of the city for a Buhl style - spin - which was a theigh burning push for my more than slightly lesser trained theighs.

Nev fell in love all over again with the Sonoran cactus - the ippitamy of the desert for her - and for me. The native cactus is indiginous to the sonoran desert and can be seen everywhere you look in Arizona - along with the Joshuah tree - which most of you will be familiar with through the U2 album - he joshuah tree. Mark and Nichole from the local bike shop came round for a LUSH dinner with us girls and Uncle Ritchie Buhl - Richie pushed the boat out and made the biggest and by far the yummiest steaks I have ever seen! We all rolled our sleeves up for the dinenr party - I made a white chocolate, raspberry and marscapone cheese cake - Nichole and Mark bought two demi johns of their own and very potent grapefruit and cherry home brew and Nev and Buhl went to wal mart and bought me a classic 'PEOPLE OF WALMART'

Needless to say - as always when we get together - we had a BLAST!

Vegas.

2010-01-06T11:34:00.004Z

What goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas - that's the deal right?I can tell you that we stayes in the MGM - it was pretty cool as far as hotels go - I've never stayed in a hotel that has 2 lions in it, so that was a first for sure!

The City itself was a whole heap of fun. I was surprised at how many wrinkly old hags were still smashing the fruit machines with fags stuck to their lips at 6am......

Good times ;).X

Nevada

2010-01-06T10:45:00.011Z

So - to be fair - the UK is always a little duff in the winter - one dark, cold winter day - my feet started itching uncontrollably - you know what that means? Time to bust a groove and give out some smooth! I headed out to the US to catch up with Top Fuel Buhl and Nev Duck. First stop Phoenix and chez Buhl - a quick catch up - pack/re-pack and we were off to Nevada.

We pulled in a hotel which was about 10 miles from the Hoover Damn and boy were the views stunning- desert rock to the right a crystal clear Lake Mead to the left . We got up the following morning and drove from one end of the hotel carpark to the other maximising laziness and hopped on a helicopter and chopped our way over the hoover damn and lake mead.

Neither Buhl of I had been on a chopper - I was pretty excited - Buhl was fine tuning her rehearsal for a part delivering a baby in a Hollywood movie - she was bricking it - and I could see why - although I tried to convince her it would be safe - deep down, I was a little nervous!!

The Chopper was AWESOME - to be fair - I did feel quite vulnerable - as I was sat at the front and the base of the chopper was glass - so we could get a really good view - but unlike most of my flying experiences to date - it was really loose if you know what I mean - the chopper was pushed around by the wind and thermals - well, that's how it felt! Going over the Hoover damn was amazing - to think so many guys died to build it is incredible - and to think how effective it is - able to power everything in a 300 mile radius - wow - that's hydro power and then some!!

After the chopper ride - we headed over to Boulder City for breakfast - this place was cool too - a small but quite traditional 'typically western' style town with some amazing sculptures - I got some really cool photos of Buhl with some of the statues - but somehow I lost them. BOO.

Breakfast done..............off to Boulder city to RIDE. Team KHS were there in force -the race organisers were super cool and let us do shuttles all day. There was a race on - but we just stayed for pracci on the Saturday. The trails at Bootleg Canyon were again -frikking cool - the loose sedimential rock was surprisingly grippy.

I had never rode anything like that before - it was a mix of sharp jagged rock, sand and dust! Some of the turns were super loose - parts were steep and the off camber rock sections were grippier than I first anticipated! I rode Buhls KHS lucky 7 and it was amazing - super light and really responsive - here Manitou Dorados were just SWEET - I used to have an old pair - but they have certainly ramped these ones up. I had so much fun out there minus my 2 punctures.

Desert sunsets - B.E.A.U-tiful. X

The unmissable opportnity

2010-01-06T01:09:00.002Z

Happy New Year cock sukers!

The drive south....

2009-12-12T21:23:00.011Z

So there I was, busting a grove south on a mammoth 2 week mission. I hit the road in my lil blue truck which was packed to the gunnel's after two days of serious planning for work and play - fail to prepare, prepare to fail rang through my ears about 100 times these last two days - my motive and inspiration to avoid perching on my sitting bags on the sofa and keeping warm!!

I couldn't believe my eyes on the road south out of Scotland - I take this road heaps - it's really fun to drive and it is the quickest way to England from home. It takes you past St Marys Loch which in the multitude of times I have driven, I have only seen calm and uninterrupted by wind or rain twice - today was the second time.

The air down there was SO fresh and wildlife out in force - pheasants, deer, sheep, buzzards, rabbits, fish and Hamish the Haggis :)........it's absolutely stunning and an amazing gateway to guide me back into Scotland in the opposite direction when I head home!

I couldn't resist pulling over and taking some shots to share with you. For a brief period today - I was the tourist you pass dangling desperately off the edge of the road, grappling and stretching for a shred of foliage to hang onto in order to get in to the right pose to get that sought after memory of calm!! Enjoy the pics - and for the record - I'm a rubbish tourist - I don't even have one of those cords to hang round your neck as a retainer in case you drop your camera, but don't worry - I am working on it!!

How do you build up to a back flip?

2009-12-12T21:14:00.003Z

Well....

I guess some people use trampolines - others go to foam pits - here in Scotland - we use GIANT inflatable air bags!!

Seriously - there is no other way - it's amazing fun - the kicker at first gave me the heeee-bee-geee-beees, but as usual - my old teamie Neil was there and he refused to let me chicken out. I sprinted straight up to it and bam - off the kicker and straigh into the middle of the air bag.

Bring on the summer nights - jumping practice has risen to a whole NEW and exciting level! Thats me in the top shot BTW - with a lot to work on.

KMF - Lawless Friday and text book bow waves.

2009-11-26T11:33:00.011Z

So onwards and down to the Lakes for a gathering of the troops at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival.

The floods were in full force - let me tell ya. As it was my friends maiden voyage of sorts to the Lakes, I wanted to make sure he had a blast - and the best way to do that is to 'LIG' with the Patterdale/Glenridding crew. One phone call later and a doo was on - however, as the floods were so bad - the village was cut off at both ends - there was talk of a tractor lift into the village - but the trophy trucks made an appearance and escorted us in - producing text book style BOW WAVES 6ft off the front of the truck - the water was about 4ft deep - and at a few points started coming in through the doors! Waders ville!

Once on dry ground in the village - Lawless Friday began - they named it this as the floods were so bad, the police couldn't get in or out all weekend! Loot, rootin and tootin - well, not quite (thank goodness)!!

Next up - we ventured down to the Kendal Mountain Film Festival - for a night of real ale (cider in my case) and great banter with a few of my more 'special' friends - Joel, Sam, Ben and Big J.

....and the Guest.

Good times.

J.X

Freestyling on the Tweed.

2009-11-26T11:12:00.012Z

Yo.

So, it's no big secret that parts of the UK have been exposed to extensive flooding of late. It's been GNARLY - all teh major rivers in the Lake District and here in south east Scotland have been freestyling it of late. I have had some major driving to do to get to and from in the rain which has been quite a challenge with road closurers and what not.

That aside - there has been time for scopage and fun in the puddles - check these pics out - the golf driving range at the cardrona hotel - looking more like a duck pond (right) and the Cardrona Village on the verge of being completely flooded by the Tweed (left)

The DH Uplift car park at Innerleithen under 4 foot of the Tweed - check teh loo roll swinging gayly in the wind completely untouched by the rain! (right) Innerleithen being held captive on the south side by the Tweed (left)

Last but not least - my two friends Emma and Tracy out scoping the damage too - we bumped into eachother at 8am in the morning checking the devestation!

BLA -It's all back to normal now - and I don't think many people were really affected in terms of property - so it's all gravy boats in the hood.

BO. X

What do you see?

2009-11-04T22:33:00.007Z

Live with intention,

Walk to the edge,

Listen hard

Practice wellness,

Play with abandon,

Choose with no regret,

Appreciate your friends,

Continue to learn,

Do what you love.

LIVE AS IF THIS IS ALL THERE IS.

Autumn Leaves.

2009-11-04T16:41:00.010Z

Autumn is here - the clocks have gone back and all measures of 'daylight saving' are fading as fast as my semi perma tan!!I have been mostly working hard and catching up with friends - October has been a wee beer fest! Andy B from DirtSchool put it nicely by coining October as the mad month for the MTBers - everyone seems to hit the beer and enjoy some stable home time. It's a nice season and quite humbling. As a student living in the city - I really missed the beauty of seasonal change which I was lucky to experience growing up in the Lakes. Now in the village of Innerleithen - seasonal changes are extreme and beautiful - it feels like home.

So - my birthday has been and gone - I don't feel any older - and had a wonderful time with my beautiful and quite unbelievably crazy friend Nats on a beautiful Scottish Estate - we drank - walked - ate- spent time with the animals (pigs, chickens and dogs) and did a heap of long over due girly stuff - chatting and shopping!!

The house has been busy with friends. A few Mondays ago - we decided we would rent a few golf carts and head out to the country club to smack some balls -after a chat about only playing the back 9 and pushing the carts to their limits - we decided to avoid causing mild irritation and play it safe on the driving range - so there you have it - the birth of a new activity - GOLF DRIVING - in the village - yours for only £3/bucket!!

We unleashed the polo shirts - sun visors and wacky Happy Gilmore swing styles - you would be surprised how far a good old hockey swing will propel the ball! The guys in the golf shop were doubled up watching us all squid around - the actual word they used was 'hurling'!! We set foot for a full on 45 minute side splitting effort! Zak and Big J seemed to come out on top in the performance scales - but since this is my blog - I can write what I like - I am the unrefuted champ - I am a big deal with a golf club and I have my own selection of leather bound books - FACT!

So - a few more unavoidable and quite necessary fun packed weekends are on the adgenda - but alas, eventually the time has come and winter training is WELL under way - there is a funny story behind that - so another day - another blog. For now, I will leave you with the PERFECT ingredients for an indulgent autumn relaxation.

Ciao.

Jay-mambo. X

Guesty and Chris bust out the funky chicken on the East side.

2009-11-03T23:12:00.008Z

Word.

My two great friends The RANDOM Guesty and Chriso P are currently biking around Tibet and China - they are on a mad old mission - not quite sure where they are right now - or in fact what they are doing, and I am pretty sure they aren't too sure either in an organised array of dissorganisation and maximum randomness - but one thing I do know is that they must have butt sores by now. Chris literally touched base with the real world after a month long trip to Afganistan which another great friend of mine Sam has documented on YOUUUUU are a TUBE. Check it out - 3 of my friends headed out there on a mission to climb some undescovered mountains and work with the locals - thankfully - Sam went too and was able to document their trip for all to see. Needless to say - between Mike and Chris - they have some well rounded worldly experience of expedition and survival - so I am sure their voyage will be completed in style.

I gave Guesty some help before he left to sharpen his expedition nutrition strategy and am glad to see that he has Lucozade Sport bottle in full use.

Check out the Alpine Legends Blog to follow their progress - it's more than inspirational.

While you are at it - keep your eyes peeled for Guestys new business venture - Kitesurfscotland.

That's right - Scotland has now got a few dedicated Kitesurf instructors who are coming together to instruct and spread the word - as the business gets off it's feet - I am sure their programme of offerings will expand. The main men are Guesty and Dave - both are great, fun and enthusiastic guys - there is no doubt you will have a blast alongside learning a really fun new sport. Their website will be up and running soon - when it does, I will let you know. I have done a bit of kite surfing in the red sea in Egypt - I also love land kiting - but one thing is for sure - I will be using more of these guys to fine tune my skills and get hooked on a new sport.

J. xx

Green peas in your poop......WHAT?

2009-11-02T22:10:00.005Z

Have you ever just randomly dedicated an entire 48 hours to staying indoors and poop to your hearts content?? No, thought not. Well, this weekend, I did JUST that! With winter training and the start of a very focused 8 months looming - I wanted to make sure that my insides were ready - so I ventured into a 'mild cleanse!

I went to the health food shop in search of 'Pysillium hust' a natural laxative - and rich source of fibre - perfect for a natural colon cleanse. On the way home something flew of the windscreen - which later turned out to be a parking ticket - woooops! I forgot to feed the darn machine with money again! I also bought some salt - grapefruit juice and olive oil so I could run a liver and gall bladder cleanse -and off home to solitary pooping confinement I went!

I was fasted for 24 hours so my body would get max benefits! At 4pm that afternoon - the colon cleanse started - within 45 minutes, my living room smelled like a cess pit - in a shake of a lambs tail, I was knee deep in a full scale dumb and dumber re inaction of the diarrhea scene. So with that all going on - I then ventured out into the liver and gall bladder detox - 6pm = consumption of a cup of salt water, same again at 8pm. At 9.45pm - I drank 1/2 a cup of olive oil and 1/2 a cup of grape fruit juice - and then sat back - literally, horizontal for 25 mins.

The next morning, I visited the bathroom to see the most absurd thing in the pan before me - time dark colored blobs in between light green pea shaped blobs, apparently, the dark ones are gall stones and the light green ones - cholesterol. OH MY. The shit trilogy was in full force.

I wouldn't recommend you try this at home - it was a mere experiment for me suggested by a few friends - I did do my own research, but probs best not to mirror my activities. My inquisition got one up on me again. Needless to say, a few days later - I feel light and fluffy again - the images of my insides will eventually disappear, I hope!

So - the next part of the 'shit trilogy' commenced as a discussion with friends at a charity Breast Cancer ball later that weekend - 'cue extreme gross out reactional faces'. Yup - it didn't go down well - to make matters worse - the partner of friend who was disturbed the most went on to bid on what we thought was two cows at the charity auction (in the village of course) - it turned out to be 2 TONNES of cow pat - now they have more poop than they know what to do with! Unlucky!!

Hop skip and cleansed gut jump. BO. X

CYCLODELIC.

2009-11-02T21:49:00.006Z

I am quite prone to say YES to most things - so when an e-mail came through asking whether I would sit on a panel of experts at the London Cycle show to promote Women in Cycling - the obvious answer was YES. The day was hosted by Cyclodelic - a FAB new company for female cyclists - Cyclodelic. The company is pretty new - run by the amazing Amy Fleuriot who heads up the glamorous and beautiful accessories and stylish clothes for girls who ride.

It was the busiest day at the London Cycle show on the Saturday. I arrived to a hustle and bustle of people who have one thing in common - their love for bikes.

We had 2 slots on the main stage speaking about our experiences in cycling, nutrition, travelling, clothes and training - we also fielded an array of questions from the audience.

On the panel -from left to right - Nicole Cook (Olympic and world champ), Amy Flouriot, Hollie Avil (U23 World Champ), Victoria Pendleton (Olympic and World Champ), Anthony, Lil Me and presenter - Annie Emmerson (Former Triathlon Champ). Rachel Atherton was also on stage - but isn't on the photo!

It was a fab day all round and a great experience to work alongside some of the Worlds best female cyclists. It was amazing to be able to chat to the girls back stage - to find out about their Olympic experiences and their nutrition habits.

BO. X

Dirt Nutrition.

2009-08-01T22:45:00.005+01:00

Hey y'all...

If you are into gravity MTB, you will all read DIRT.

Keep your eyes peeled for some cool wee articles on nutrition. I have 5 articles in over the next few issues which should all tie some key nutrition messages together for you all.

I really hope you pick up a few tips which help you fuel better and ride with a bigger and stronger smile on your face.

Happy reading.

J. x

The Scottish Champs.

2009-08-01T22:18:00.010+01:00

Glencoe........

What more can I say, this track is HARD. Hrd in the dry and near on impossible in the wet. The weekend of the Champs...we had it all, glorious sunshine, heat and no midges on the saturday and full bown torrential rain on the sabbeth.

Personally, I don't think it is a nice track to ride full stop and certainly not a track I like going against the clock on. But it was the venue for the weekend and the course was the same for every single rider.....there was certainly plenty on track to sperate the men from the boys! Check out these nasty crashes. Pics taken from Ian Linton.com.

I was pretty excited about the Champs none the less, after winning the title for the past few years I wasn't really up for letting it go without a fight. There are some really good up and coming young riders in Scotland at the moment and the SCU have an excellent development programme for them which is just wicked. I only wish I had that when I was younger.

I stopped to see the riders and give them some nutritional products to aid recovery on the Wednesday before the race as they were on a training camp in the village. I spoke to one of the devo girls who said tongue in cheek that at the weekend I was 'going down'. Up until that point, I was fairly nonchalant about the weekend, but she did me a massive favour and fuelled my jets!

Practice on Saturday was top trump, I hit my lines, shook some monkeys off my back from last year and left the track in the afternoon knowing I could do okay.

By Sunday, I have to admit to being a little fearful, the rain morphed the course into a giant swamp which could take anyone out at any moment. The lines had changed and the traction in some areas was almost zero. I stuck with my tyre choice of swamp things and lifted my head up.

My old teamie Neil sorted my head out as usual and said one sentance that got me focused just before I hopped on the chairlift. I knew that as the rain was falling hard our first run would be the run that counted....track conditions were just getting worse.

I did what I had to do......got a steady one in the bag, rode safe with a number of mistakes, it was by no means super fast or smooth, but it got me the win.

2009 Scottish Womens Champ......and the trophy is home to roost for another year. Thanks to all at the SDA for organising a terrific event and getting some extra curricular activities on the go to keep everyone out of trouble after practice!

Job done.

J.x

Village idiots.

2009-08-01T21:49:00.011+01:00

Nestled in the tranquil Borders is a wee village called Innerleithen. It's a haven for cycling of all types, touring bikes pass through daily mounted by people persuing their own goals, more often the end to end -lands end to John O'Groats.....yea, they might look funny, talk way too much about routes and nutrition and probably by the time they hit the village they smell like meat pies, but they are doing it and fair play.

On any hill on any day of the week there are people seeking other challenges. Facing the fear of the MTB tracks. It's frikking awesome, there are tracks everywhere and I am never short of someone to hit the trails with, more often than not, there is a challenge in our midst.......here are but a few.......

1. To unleash a whack photo on the camera of a fellow rider (Rider A and Rider B - Identity not disclosed!).

2. To ride the trails dressed in a lycra skin suit and pretend you are actually on the Barbados national squad on a busy day at the trail centre.

3. To pull some wood from the giant jenga stack without it squish squashing down on your heeeeed.

4. To pick up a cereal box with your teeth without letting your limbs touch the ground or face planting on the decking (Teeny and Tracy Brunger).

5. To get to the bottom without getting lost in the mist and calling the mountain rescue (JC and Chris).

6. To win the potato hitting contest, beat your component and not get too carried away that you have a full 3 feet of dangle between your legs (The Guesty, Teeny, Big J and Little J!)

So there you have it, a snippet of village life. Get into it!! X

Fort Billy Willy. GET OOOT MA DOOOUR.

2009-06-10T20:53:00.004+01:00

It's that time of year again! FORT WILLIAM! I frikkin love it and just can't get enough, it's an amazing track, loads of challenges, physical and mental and once a year, the circus comes to town, with it brings a heap of fun, my beautiful friends and the best riding in the world. What girl could ask for more?Deep down, I rode well, I was strong and consistent, I pulled it together for my race but was left with that lingering what if...what if I had the chance to ride full time? What if I put my eggs into one basket and threw caution to the wind? What could I do? I always know deep down that I could do so well and not just crack that DARN top 20, but go further and faster. Truth is, I love what I do and I love knowing that I can do so much all the time, but in the back of my mind I know if I had the resources that I could do so much more. Maybe one day I will bite the bullet.

For now, I am happy to know that with the efforts and resources I have I am doing my best across a number of different fields in my life......and I know I am living, I feel it, good and bad and I am proud to have finished 25th overall, a few seconds quicker than last year.

Contentment came after a battle with my inner self this weekend and on Sunday night, I rested easy knowing that with a lot of help from my friends I had fought my demons and did what I love with the people around me.

When all else feels blue, the friends around you can shake you up, slap you around and make you see that the road ahead IS paved with goodness. With a few sessions on the water bomb sling, a few episodes of the Jerky boys, some fear of Mrs Thomas' afterbirth ghost, some good choons, a few cook offs and some beautiful scenery and fresh highland air I found my Jayminess again. It's not always about the bike, it's about blowing off the warts with a good ole BLOW TORCH - Got ooout ma door!

Thanks guys, you know who you are and I love you all dearly.

P.S. What does happen to people who can't cook - do they not just go hungry??

J.X

At home with NEVENEVEN and Big J.

2009-06-10T20:52:00.006+01:00

Neven - her name is a palindrome, just like Hannah......but Nevens name is unusual.....and I am big believer in unusal names. I think your name can affect your personality, think about it. Now I am not for one minute saying that Nev is the same back to front......sure she isn't. She is a GOLDEN chick and one of my coolest and bestest friends and we just had a ball for an entire 10 days!I'm not going to bore you with the girls gossip that went down......but I will give a brief round up.....Nev arrived, we talked straight for over 8 hours, slept, talked some more, rode a trail in Innerleithen.......I worked, Nev worked, Jim arrived. We dressed Jim up like a girl and all went for afternoon T at the country manor......we rode another trail.....you get the drift.....onwards to.....

BOOB MOUNTAIN. It gets a separate paragraph and capitals because it is a special mountain with a special tail behind it! It sits high and proud above my village - it's real name is Lee Penn and I have wanted to ride this monster for over a year....from one trail centre (Glentress) to another (Innerleithen) ...it's a good couple of miles with a good few meters of climbs. The time was right, Jim, Nev and myself got fed, watered and hit it...we climbed to the boundary wall on the black run of Glentress and there it was steep, heather covered mountain side.....the only way up and the only way to get up was to carry the bike and hike. It was in the heat of the day in the midst of the UK heatwave......and boy it was long and lingering. Without Nev and Big J, I think either one of us would have turned back at any point, but hence-forth, we spurred on like cows to the slaughter in teh baking heat! Our mids and thoughts and excitement focused on the descent - but there wans't one!! After 5 hours of hiking, there was no release.......aside from the pub....where we went and didn't leave until we got asked too!! A great day made better and more memorable by the quality cider and banter from 2 of the coolest people I know! Yesh!

So......after the tour of the Innerleithen and Glentress trails, more talking than gets done on news 24, many an alfresco meal laced with fine wine, some cross dressing, shopping, tourist adventures, afternoon T's, a few books, some new adventures and a heap of laughter it was time. FORT WILLIAM was calling.X

Filming at the Fort.

2009-06-10T20:51:00.002+01:00

Chris Ball from Dirt School is making a new vidoe.....so I headed up to support a friend and got rpoed into a bit of filming!

The guys at the Fort were helly-ing dirt onto the track for the World Cup, so the first few runds down were a little sketch as we spent most of our time dodging the dirt piles - but it was such a great few days riding wise. Chris really opened my mind with line choice and bike handling skills sessions.

I will no doubt post when the video is out.

Ciao bella. X

The ducks nuts, badgers nadgers, mules joules. BALLS OF THE TORROS.

2009-06-10T20:50:00.007+01:00

So, Spain....I have raced here, passed through, flown over, but never travelled and experienced the sights, sounds, smells, culture, sangria, paella.......bulls balls and inticacies of this beautiful country.......I was long overdue a taster!!

My travelling partner for the duration was a bit of a let down to be fair, I felt like I was tailing in an unspontaneous workaholic....which in all honesty, I was. But never the less, I tried to get around and see as much as is humanly possible in the duration of the week and enrich both our lives and senses completely.

We landed in Malaga, spent the first night there absorbing the Easter madness in the city before heading to the Picasso museum bright and early on the first day. In the afternoon, we headed due north east to Ronda, an ancient wee town, made famous for it's bull ring and ancient connecting bridges. Man this place was sweet......again, I was desperate to see a bull fight (when in Rome and all that) as it was the start fo the season. I just wanted to hurl myself into everything traditionally Spanish, but my travelling partner prefered to keep his sights firmly in his narrow box....so far dink-um on that score....I settled for a magical tour of the bull ring and let my imagination go wild!

Onwards to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.....a little altitude and two amazing nestlings in the mountains called Pampeniera and Capileira. These little villages were the epitamy of Spanish tranquility, small white houses with tiny terracotta tiling perched on the side of some of the most beautiful basin like surrounds in the world. We unpacked our bikes and hit the trails. I had been told a heap about the trails in Spain and all the whispers were true...this terrain aint like no other, it's red, like the dessert and rocky central. In the heat of the day, I didn't take to happily to the climbs, but some of the descents were wicky wicky wild wild west!! The one thing I will rememebr about these villages are the rugs, the beautiful viubrant rugs that the locals made, if only I had more room in my travel bag!!

So, with the mountains behind us, we headed to Granada. I was so excited to see the actual Sierra Nevada resort, as this was once the host to a World Cup. Unfortunatly, at this point, me and my now certifiably boring travel partner had fallen out, he wasn't dealing too well with being away from work- his distinct lack of spacial awareness had lead him to stoving our hire car into a bollard (at a hefty cost), he had fallen asleep at the dinner table one evening and puked his guts up for the duration of another evening which could be attributed to a weak immune system - probably stemming directly from his lack of eating pretty much everything outwith his key safe foods - to add to that he was transfixed on his blackberry inbetween blinks. How someone can prefer looking at a mobile phone screen instead of enjoying and absorbing vibrant abd beautiful surroundings is completely beyond me. Anyway, it was really starting to wear thin by this point....so I just cruised the resport by myself and boy am I glad I did. It was minus a million degrees and snowing...but it had the air of a cool place about it for sure!

On the second to last day, we hit Seville. We toured the famous bull ring and finally got more than a large whiff of Sangria! About time too.....in the midst of the Easter celebrations, the city was ALIVE! And so was I...totally buzzing from the sun and colour and music. This is a heftily rad city and one which I will revisit for sure WITHOUT my dull travel partner!!

Trek Global Team.

2009-03-30T22:11:00.007+01:00

Waugh-head, BB and I landed in sunny Portugal a few Saturday mornings back. Waugh had his camera, B had his marketing hand shake and I was fully loaded with Lucozade Sport and a bunch of presentations notes for the team!

Trains, planes and automobiles are never easy hu! Whilst sat in the departure gate at Edinburgh, I managed to miss my first flight, but thanks to EASY jet, it was EASY to get on the next one, it just came at a slither of notes to the sum of £35, I tried to get it waivered, but the sympathy vote by passed my disorganised wimper....after nearly missing my second flight I/we made it to Porto, Portugal, and were met by a dotty wee Portugese man who took us to our rental car which was about 2 miles from the airport. This was no Hertz kiosk rental, this was a full scale local deal!

Now the rental, probably the highlight of the weekend and a slight bone of contention, it was black, shaped like a box and pretty shit......it made sense for it to temporarily adopt the more than apt nick name of SHITBOX!! It was probably the biggest hunk of junk imaginable and for sure the worst rental I hav ever had....it was functional and we can't take that from it, it got us there, but nearly didn't get us back! No surprises to hear I almost missed ny return flight!!

The team look excellent, all of the guys are happy campers and their year ahead is just as exiting as it was ever going to be when the team was all of an idea back in June! I have no doubt they will reach new levels and bring home the medals.

For everything else there will always be a SHITBOX if you look hard enough! Yowch. X

The winter.....

2009-03-30T21:36:00.010+01:00

So, I have been pretty slack on the ole BLOGGING (god that word is so cringe worthy, for some reason it sends shivers down my spine, to me, it epitomises that geeky computer beaver who spends every last person writing their life down for the world to read...but to be fair, who is actually reading about a life on the keyboard???......this blog, an average of 10 people/day, so I can rest assured I'm not wasting my time....)

So, what's been happening this winter......XC rides, mega windy kite flying sessions, some brief encounters with the swimming pool, miles to many moments that have landed slap on my hips..... and TWO DH races! Yea, the wheels of steel got slung into motion!! The Scottish Winter season races were hosted right here in the Innerleithen ghetto, about a nanosecond from my front door! The courses were true, natural, tight, rocky, rooty Inners through and through!!

Wayne from Trek made the journey to support the crew (Mosley, Buckle and lil old me). It is such a luxury having race support at a regional race! Cheers Wayne.

The first race was Buckles FIRST DH race! He was a champ....he had the best time and just went hell for leather all weekend! I think...or at least I hope he has got the bug, he was as pleased as punch...and doesn't' that smile just say it all?!! We had a wee bet running, lets just say, he still has a bit of catching up to do!! ;)

So, that's the racing......the riding has been COLD!! I have been riding out with a great friend, former GB junior world class rider and village idiot EC! EC is just a treat to hang out with, he is just fresh as a daisy and funny as!! Elliot has shown me some of the secret local trails in and around the village. So far, they are all pretty taxing, but a heap of fun, super long climbs followed by super steep, natural and pretty fresh trails, rockie/pumpie and some more on the Inner DH side of the village. Friday rides RULE! If you are in the village on a friday, be sure to see us dipping in and out crazy un marked trails.

That's y'all up to speed......I'll leave you with a pic of EC in the stone circle about 1/4 a mile from my hoooose. Thank goodness it's not the sabbeth...double birdie commin atcha!!

Which moose let the juice loose about this hoooose?! XX

The DIRT on Caffeine!

2009-03-30T21:27:00.003+01:00

Most of you will are already avid DIRT readers, for those who arent, there is a cool wee article on caffeine in issue no. 85 which I put together.

Go get it, have a read, have a think, question what your stratergy is, how you can make it better and then give it a whirl in practice, play around with it and make it work for YOU.

Because every second counts....... XX

2009-02-02T13:46:00.003Z

Giddy up campers. Good news for 09, the love is all around this season. I am still on my TREK which is always a good thing, the best bike in the world, lightest and soon to be proven fastest in the world by the TREK Global riders. The other spot of good news is that I am sticking with FOX

The FOX and TREK families are the coolest families to be part of in MTB. With a hot looking bike that thas been developed with unreal attention detail and and amazing clothes, some excellent race support at selected races, and some amazing clothes, developed for function, and comfort, I know that I will be able to trust my equiptment, what else can a girl DH rider ask for? The rest is up to me!

Watch this space for some funky girls clothes and in the mean time, check out the FOX global site for my rider bio.

Jme. X

Little snow, big snow.

2008-12-28T19:45:00.020Z

So, I managed to wrap up at work a few days early this year.....it gives me time to chill before settling into my new position/promotion in the New Year.....and what better way to chill than to go on a wee excursion to what could potentially be the coldest corner of the US! Wisconsin.....home of the Harley Davidson, Chicago, Cow farming, Coors Beer, The Great Lakes, a heap of holy cheese.....and last but not least the home of TREK!

B and I got bumped into some comfy seats on the plane and had a luxurious ride out to Chicago where we literally ran the Chicago Airport marathon to catch our bumpy but speedy flight to Milwaulkee where we camped for the night......after an amazing home made curry.We woke up bright and early on Monday morning with an action packed scedule and started off the day the US way, with a Starbucks to warm our bellies before hitting the Harley Davidson museum. To be fair, neither of us care to much for Harleys, but both engaged with the impressive archive compiled within the walls of the museum.There was everything there, the first Harley, Evil Kinevils bike, helmet, a belt driven Harley, push bikes, custom bikes, ladies bikes, war bikes, pizza delivery bieks, dragster bikes, clay bikes used to help with the design.....belts, jackets, studs, over sized bearded enthusiasts, large cups of carbonated drinks, greasy burgers, side cars and complimentary HD pint glasses!! If it had Harley Davidson on it...it was there, well archived, documented and on display! It was GREAT.

We then headed off to the domes, three dome shaped horticultural glass botanical domes. They was a desert oasis and a tropical jungle. Nothing to write home about really, I think the real McCoy is better, once you have been to the egyptian and arizonan desert and the carribbean, most bases are covered, but some of the plants were amazing, and it was so soothing to smell the tropics and step into the warmth for half an hour!

We found our next rest-bite from the cold in the Wisconsin museum of art, which was the coolest museum I think I have ever been in.....the building itself was unreal, shaped like a bird, the wings actually close in and cover the roof.
On the inside, the view (below) through the structure of the building was unreal....it even had heated parking in the basement parking lot!! After a beautiful lunch, we strolled slowly into the main building and burned some calories in the Act React exhibition which was unreal. It was a digital installation exhibition, with 6 pieces that required the interaction of the entire body of the viewer! Basically, you got to interact with different pieces of art and have a giggle while doing it!!

I spent the next few days in Madison, chilling out, checking the museums, Christmas shopping, catching a rotten cold and loosing my mind at the HQ of all bike HQ's TREK! It was wicked, Dylan (senior suspension engineer....advanced concept group) gave up an hour of his morning and gave me a wee guided tour.....we went through the main building, the Sales room, R and D, colours and concepts type section which was all new and spangly, marketing, productions, painting, decals, hole punching, the whole sheeeeeee-BANG....then we got onto the really cool bit.....

The entire collection of Lance Armstrong TDF bikes and Contadors 123 race bikes.....as well as President Bush's 08 frames, complete with the presidential seal! After all these years of racing and time in the bike world, it was so cool to see how a bike goes from the ideas stage right through onto the peg first hand.

We were kind of forced back to Milwaukee a day early....did I tell you how cold it was out there? Well it was three times colder than the average freezer.....on the last night, the weather forecasters forcasted an ice storm! With the fear of being trapped in Madison and missing our flight home....and more importantly, Christmas as we know it.......we de-camped to Milwaukee for the last day and experienced the ice storm from the luxury of a retro art deco hotel in downtown called the METRO....this isn't a photo of the hotel below...just a cool set of stairs, what ever tickles your fancy hu?!!With an in room hot tub......we had no option but to chill out and sit tight and wait to see if our flight was running! Unsurprisingly, the airport in Milwaukee came to a complete stand still after the storm dumped 12'' of snow in a heartbeat. The guys did a stirling job and worked their butts off to get it open by 4pm on the Friday......our flight was 5pm.....we made it out and home YEA! I swear, you could have easily confused the airports in airport in Chicago and Milwaukee for a massive snow blower display comp ground......I have never seen so many snow blowing machines gliding around fanning snow left right and centre! Before we left tho, we managed to have a little fun in the snow and just how an entire city clear 12'' of snow off EVERY road AND footpath in the speed of a sneeze! Have you ever noticed that little flakes of snow make big smow on the ground...and big flakes of snow lie wet and heavy and melt quickly making little snow? Little snow, big snow, big snow, little snow!! Think about it, it's one of my Mums theories!

Seasons greetings and a joyus NOEL to you all! Jme. XX

2008-12-05T09:10:00.003Z

NEVEN! I love you!! I check my site meter once in a while........and I have a few links from Nev's site to mine...which means there is traffic coming here from Nevs site!! How geeky is that?! Anyway, she's got into a crazy 'tag' fest and it seemed fun, so I thought I would join in. Nev has tagged me into doinga list of 6 things about yourself that people might not know!!

Okay, so here goes.

1. I have a small scare on my forehead from falling off an icy wall when I was little. My Mum told me I shouldn't walk on the wall as it had ice on the top, my stubbornness carried me through and I fell off and bared the scar ever since. What made it worse at the time was that a few days later my Grandparents flew in from the Caribbean and spent their time in the UK with their granddaughter who had stitches SLAP BANG in the middle of my head. I went back out on the wall and made it to the end....It is the ultimate scar of stubbornness!

2. I am the ambassador for the dry hump.

3. My favourite meal is Christmas dinner and this year I get to spend it with my family and my lovely boyfriend B.

4. I have a hammer toe! It's gross and it was made that way by not wanting to give up my roller skates when I was little!! I wore them until they were way too small and they deformed my toe. Hammer time! My beautiful relationship with my skates came to a bitter end after failing my attempt to 'skate down the stairs' at home. It resulted in a wounded me and a few smashed photos, some broken glass and a confiscation of the skates!!

5. I have a grade 5 in the viola and have passed many singing exams. I used to sing in the church choir and at peoples weddings. This is where I first developed my penchant for vino....although I don't suppose drinking a wee under aged dram of communal wine was or is the done thing...esp not in the eyes of the church?!!!

6. I once thought I was TANKGIRL and shaved my hair completely off when I was 16, I also had my lip, tongue and ears pierced. Looking back, I resembled a pin cushion for around 8 months!

So, there you go!
I tag the following people....

1. Fionn
2. Tara
3. JC (Joules Coventry)
4. BB...which forms the perfect excuse to get a blog up and running!
5. Melissa...even though Nev has tagged you, I think you need an extra nudge! X
6. Undecided...I will come back to this.....

K, gotta run, busy day ahead and fun to be had.

Sweet out chickens. XX

Coaching the buffday boy!

2008-11-24T11:39:00.004Z

So with Winter comes cold days, short nights and a reluctance to ride, dare I say it!! Stepping out and getting pinkies and toes cold is not my favourite past time and could be easily traded for a rather large caramel machiato a healthy chunk of millionaires shortbread (from the Hub of course?!) and many an hour chewing the fat!

Well, the good thing about the autumn/winter change over is my birthday! I have never looked forward to it as much as I did this year....because this year I was simply spoiled rotten! My lovely boyfriend literally whisked me off my feet! We went to London, stayed in the Hilton in Trafalgar Square, suited and booted (dresses for the ladies) we drank cocktails in the rooftop Garden with my Bro and Sister-in-law and then hot footed it to the play house to watch Flamenco Flamenca! It was a nothing short of fabulous!! Hungover, yet throughily chilled out, on Sunday we culture vultured it up and went to St Pauls Cathedral and then to a Rothko exhibition at the Tate Modern.When you get to a certain age, it's hard to make birthdays special, so I guess you have to do it for each other! Boy did I have a hard benchmark to reach!! The thinking cap came on and so did the light!Last week after a whistle stop few meetings in the US, B drove up to meet me in the Lakes. The first stop was dinner in a lush wee country pub with roaring log fire! We had a cup-o-scruff with my rentals then voyaged back up to the lowlands of Scotland. After an excited opening of the presents, and swift, refreshing 5km morning run we ventured out on our sexy Session88's to meet no other than Mr Chrispin Bowbag Ball, DIRT SCHOOL extraordinaire!! It was B's first outing on his new bike...the lightest DH bike in the world and the actual one featured in this months DIRT top 100, so that alone was pretty exciting!!
I arranged a skills day for us all with Chris and boy was it a good one! We rode just off my doorstep on the DH trails in Innerleithen for most of the sunny part of the day! It was great, Chris really pin pointed some of our weaknesses and switched out brains on.The following day, I had to be in London for an interview, so I called my bro and arranged a tour of BBC Radio 1! It was a cool place, totally reminded me of my student days, real hectic and loads of organised clutter!! We saw Edith Bowman on air, Zane Lowe just hanging out, Aled kicking back in a meeting and Scott Mills preparing for his show. We hung out in the Live Lounge for a bit which was definitely the coolest part....just to know that that was a studio where so many famous artists have layed down a snip of there music there was almost spooky.

So all in all, winter ain't a bad time, a time to chill out, climb (which is coming back onto the agenda as of next Saturday), running, XC day and night riding, DH, road, lil bit of hockey, cakes, early nights with the candles on and BATHS!!! I just wish the white stuff would fall!!

J. XX

P.S The bottom two photos are of St Marys Loch.....on a perfectly calm day!

Heads up..............

2008-09-28T23:42:00.005+01:00

Hey troops,

I just wanted to give you the heads up, I had a text from Chris Ball from Dirt School (A.K.A UCI technical deligate and SCU DH devo coach) yesterday morning telling me that he had found his van smashed up and the contents stolen.

They took all sorts from his van, but most importantly, his factory Ironhorse, with green hope brakes and hubs and also 09 Fox forks and shock. They also stole timing and video kit.

If you hear anything or see anyone on his bike, please call the police and call Chris. His number is 07736321795.......or drop him an e-mail, his address is on his site.

Thats the official line.......if you do see anything, namly some pikey pikey, do as you likey skooting round on Chis's pushiron, feel free to push him off, kick him in the goolies and if you so happen to have any gaffa tape and a permenant marker, do take it upon yourself if you are feeling burly, to strap him to the nearest post and scribble humiliating obscenities on his forehead while waiting for the police to come!!

The Barts.......Barnes and Mart tied the knot!

2008-09-28T23:31:00.012+01:00

I remember writing about Liz and Adam getting engaged on here ages ago, in fact I think it was like the 2nd ever post, I though it would be the funniest thing to post photos of my older bro Adam in a Jimmy Saville wig sitting in a dust bun....stranger things have happened since, trust me!!

Anyway, last weekend, Liz and Adam lived their dream wedding day. Months of planning and hours of thought went into their day and it was nothing short of beautifully wonderful! It was so 'them' everything they ever wanted rolled smoothly into just less than 12 hours!

The church was beautifully decorated, the Father a riot, the guests were all correct and present, people who have enriched both of their lives, lovely, wholesome and fun people! The choir brought the house down.....Adams speech rocked, the addition of sound bites and a personal congratulations from Jason Donavan himself went down a treat......the cake was lush, as was the food, the Austin Princess was white and old and very sleeeeeeek.......the music was ace and the moves were top.....and the Inn was just amazing, every room was individually decorated and elegant, 4 poster beds, african parrots, the most amazin collection of antique furniture, and one of my old flatmates favourites......Molton Brown bath minitures!!I was the worst bridesmaid, so busy, struggled to get the dress fitted, missed the rehearsal as I was looking for shoes and a strapless bra.....and briefly a pair of spanks, until I realised I was 27 and had no excuse to spend £35 or wear hold it all in pants/tights except for shear laziness and a twinge of gauging on rich and indulgent grub!The wedding breakfast was lovely...hosted by Mother Mart, herself (My Mum). We had a some great nosh and a giggle. On the morning of the wedding, I hot footed it cross country to get ready with Liz and her sister Kath. I took with me, under strict instructions from my brother, one last rolo, a CD, a wrapped box and a list of instructions......Liz was to play the CD, eat a rolo and on the 2nd track open the box. The first track was my brother talking to her.....the second track was Hotel California.....the box contained a platinum Hotel California disc, a silver inscription and a photo of where they would spend their first night on honey moon......in THE Hotel California! Not much renders me speechless, but that DID......I cried........and so did Adam......
The photos were taken by a couple called the Lawsons, and they were just the most fantastic couple ever and it shows in the beauty of their photos! If you are getting married any time soon, it may be worth checking out their site www.lawsonphotography.com

THEY DID IT!! Congratulations guys!! ALL MY LOVE. Lil J. XXX

Shladminger STRIKE 4.

2008-09-28T23:05:00.031+01:00

So, this was the 4th time I have screwed my race head on and ridden in a World Cup at Schladming, and for the 2nd time, this was the final round.For some reason, pracci started on the Thursday and race was on the Saturday which was as mixed up as fried eggs on a slice of carpet with a dollop of engine oil for breakfast, I mean, it's a world cup, it's not meant to be rushed!! Whatever the UCI say tho!
The course was AWESOME, it will always be one of my favourites, a true alpine course, fairly natural, steep and fast! It has an element of everything except rocks, but I think that is true to the terrain. It's flowey and smooth to ride, but towards the end of practice and into quali's the braking bumps were pretty vicious.

Much like Fort William, the breaking bumps and length of the course were the killer and drained your energy so quickly, those smart enough to sign up to the self preservation society did the best thing and rested, there wasn't much to learn......it was more a case of conserving energy!
True to form, I loved practice and nailed everything I set myself up for.
When Quali came around, I rode cautiously and fluffed up in places which I should have blasted through.

I finished 25th, miffed and questioning whether it is possible to race to this level and work and do everything else whilst maintaining any kind of level satisfying personal achievement is possible.....it is all to easy to spread oneself thin and become that ever so common, 'jack of all and master of none'. I have some training and thinking to be done over the winter........one thing I we all need to remember is....... FAT BURDS don't fly!!Fi Kicked off the after party in style scrounging not 1 but 2 kegs of beer from the local Schladminger brewery, we gathered in the troops for some pre party party beers and collected donations for our friend Tara Llanes! As always, everyone was super generous and dug down DEEP! Everyone was in the pits, kicking back for what seemed like hours after the race. Intense threw an awesome party for the riders with cranking beats and beer which took us upto about 11pm.

When we had to figure out a away infiltrate this crazy building where the party eventually moved too. For some reason, the club was incredibly hard to get into, the riders were like spiders, sneeking in through any open door, ducking and diving, bribing the bouncers, climbing in through the ceiling, you name it...but we all did it! The day after we had the most perfect hangover cure, schnitzel and strudel with ice cream followed by a 7km downhill off road go kart race............it kinda speaks for it's self hu!! The go karts were just awesome, beat up ragged ole things with crappy brakes! You could slam on the anchors and rail them round the corners......you needed goggles for sure as you kick up so many rocks when you braked!
On our last day, we all hung out at one of the coolest castles I have ever seen inbetween Schladming and Salzburg, the silliest thing is, I don't know what it was called, but it had an awesome falconary centre in it with the coolest collection of birds I have ever seen in one place...check it. The castle looked like sonething out of the Sound of Music, it had the coolest brickwork and surrounding fortress.

We headed to the airport, all ready for home, exhausted and craving a home comforts....cleared security, spent the last of the euros on chocolate and crappy flavoured water only to be told out flight had been cancelled.......dooom loomed! Thankfully we were in the safe hands of Mr super organised and super efficient B, who got onto it sharpish. Before we knew it, we were back in Salzburg in a comfy hotel waiting for another day in the land of the Sound of music and another bunch of traditionally laderhosen clad Austian chappies to slap our visuals senseless!!

Rhodeo Mart.

Whistles in Whistler and Nudes in Vancouver

2008-09-28T22:36:00.022+01:00

When work sucks and you need to catch a glimpse of the fun side of you for a while...what do you do, JUMP ON THE FUN TRAIN!!

Thanks to B and his red carpet club status, we managed to land some last minute flights to sunny Vancouver. Actually, all credit to him he took the reins on the whole trip! I tend do take the 'manyana' approach to planning things which has never set me in bad stead.....but B for some reason struggles to relax on my slack programme (who knows why that is??! ;))! Before I knew it, we had somewhere to stay, a transfer and a flight......GAME ON.

We landed in Vancouver on the Tuesday afternoon and headed upto Whistler and Blackcombe. It was the most amazing drive. B slept all the way, while I gawped out the window in true tourist fashion......minus the geeky camera case dangling freely from my neck.....of course.

We had 4 days riding in the village, one of those days were illuminated kindly by the bright star we call the sun....precipitation accompanied us through the woooops for the other 3! On day 2 we met Spike, a good friend of mine from the UK........he randomly pulled up next to us and shouted JAYMIE MART while we were sussing out a drop on A-Line, and thank god he did.Spike took on the role of friend/funniest and most efficient tour guide we could have wished for!!

He wizzed us both up and over each jump, drop, rock section and berm on most of the trails on the hill at the rate of knotts......this will make sense for those of you who have ridden there, so we covered, B line, A line, Freight Train, Dirt Merchant, Ho Chi Min, Karate Monkey, Crab apple, Duffman, Hornet, Clown Shoes, Schlayer, Upper and Lower joyride and Upper Whistler DH.....and those are the ones I can rememeber!

Whistler was so much better than I could have ever imagined, the facilities were awesome and the trails just let you do what you want, easy, technical, pedally, steep, rooty, rocky, north shore, you could ride what you wanted, when yo wanted!!

I have never been strong at jumping, but for 4 days, I felt like I could jump, I was clearing nearly everything and getting comfortable enough to whip it a little on some stuff tooo.....oh lala!!

We had a fab time and caught up with another friend from home who was out there for a season, the not so wee Matt Parkinson!! We also caught a glimpse of 2 bears, one in the village and one baby bear on the trail, so cute! We had T and a few too many beers with the Canadian DH contingent, Bucky, Clair Buchar and Katrina Strand...they are all as always, mad as toast!!The day before we were due to fly home, we headed into Vancouver for a night of urban comfort at the Hilton. B and I ventured into downtown Vancouver to have drinks with one of my dearest friends from Uni, Frankie Bean! Nothing changes with Frankie, she is like an old book, you can start up where you picked off!!.......She did point us in the direction of a few things to keep us out of mischeif in the city on our last day............so off we plodded........out towards Frankies new Uni, UBC and onto Wreck Beach........

AND STRAIGHT INTO A NUDIST FESTIVAL!! It was actually pretty fun, there is 'nowt as quere as folk' and that was certainly highlighted on Wreck Beach! Brown people, wrinkly people, senior willy, droopy boobs, abs, overhands, body acceptance machines, gays, straights, logs, umbarellas, bare feet, hammer toes, warts and all.....you name it and someone was displaying it with pride! I just loved that place. If you get a chance to go.......don't think twice!

Fat birds DON' T FLY

Bruised FUFU and Gold on the table!

2008-08-02T15:44:00.002+01:00

So round it came again, the Scottish Champs!! I have had the title for a while now although I haven’t scheduled in many regionals this season, the Champs was a dead cert and something not to be overlooked because of commitments to work!!

I landed up on Sunday night and spent the night camping about 5 miles from the race site at Glen Etive, it was amazing, it is one of the most accessible but untouched areas of Scotland, not far of the main road. The camping laws in Scotland are fairly relaxed in that I think you are allowed to pitch a tent anywhere, as long as it is not within 100 yards of a dwelling. I camped with a few guys from the village right next to the Glen itself.

So, the course, for ya'll internationals reading this, is the only other course in Scotland which has chairlift access, and it is about 17 miles from Fort William and it is GNAR!! Steep and rocky and scary as hell!! I didn’t walk, but took the Angel (Trek Session 88) straight up for a big ole blast, I couldn’t wait to ride it! My first run was a mess, I was hitting the rocks blind but got through it all okay, the next few runs were great, as long as you could thread the needle on that course, you were fine. As the volume of riders on course increased, the track started to degrade and it did so pretty rapidly! The moisture from the various streams got dragged over the once dry rocks and soil which resulted in the course becoming greasy and increasingly more brutal. I had a few really bad crashes in my first run and took some sore knocks, but nothing could prepare me for the bashes in my second run. As I was navigating off the back of the bike through some rocks, I suddenly came to a standstill, before I knew it, I had wacked the saddle so hard and got pitched over the bars. I don’t know what got me to the bottom apart from sheer adrenaline, but I got to the hot seat and the guys from GOFAST handed me a chilled can which I shoved into my pants to numb the pain!! Needs must I suppose!!

Anyway, Helen Gaskell took the actual race win, but because she isn’t eligible for the title, I lifted the cup. In the past, when I first moved to Scotland, there have been a few years that I wasn’t eligible for the title and won the actual race, since that point, I have always lifted the cup with a victorious race win, but this was the first year that didn’t happen, I was a little gutted that I didn’t take both victories, but I guess I am safe in the knowledge that Gas is one fast Eddie!! The journey home was pretty gruesome too, about 30 miles from the race site the guy I travelled with’s dog had the worst dose of the Gary Glitters (shitters) on the seat in the van right next to me….by the time I realised what was going down it was too late, the stuff was frikking everywhere……including my seatbelt buckle. I screamed for the dude to pull over and when he did, I flung the door open, but I couldn’t get out! There was DOOOOOO on my belt buckle and there was no way on hells earth I was touching it. I started dry heaving and crying and didn’t stop until long after the dude had unleashed my seatbelt! Completely grossed out, I sat in the back the rest of the way home!!

So there you have it, one random weekend!!

Ciao fer the noo! Jme. XX

Fort Bill, The Angel and Mrs Thomas.

2008-06-13T00:15:00.021+01:00

Guest Book insert;

'Mrs Thomas, you may not remember me, but my name is Motty Mott Mott. I live in Flagstaff AZ, ride MX, fix bikes and sing about freedom. I stayed in your log cabin for 5 nights, you washed my friends clothes, hung em out to dry and brought em back all neatly folded. I hung my washing out and left it for 5 nights too, but Mrs Thomas, you never folded my clothes or washed them. On the 5th night, I shed a tear, brought them in, folded them myself and now I ready to go back to the USA. Mrs Thomas, I have one question for you.....What would you do if you had to fold my clothes for Freedom?. Thanks again for having us, your place was swell. Motty Mott Mott.'

K, so in our rush, we forgot the guest book entry, but I am sure if Motty had the chance, that's what he'd have written!! We totally landed on our feet with accom at the Bill this year, a last minute booking, 4* digs with leather sofa's...I know, I know, I can feel you rubbing your thighs in delight!!

So, this week, it was Barbados and the USA, Buhl, Motty, Steve and Dave. The most amazing bunch of DH boys I have ever roomed with, they showered us with culinary delights and mechanical comfort all week long (a.k.a Dave fixed my puncture!). It was a quiet week for us, but boy did the riding benifit!

I have to say tho, I didn't ride on form just because of the good grub and early nights.....it was more to do with the arrival of the Angel! Mr B from TREK carried yet another steed across the pond for me, but this time it was a little different ;). The Session 88, A.K.A. 'Angel' went down a storm on course, she pedalled a dream, cornered like a waltzer in full spin and jumped like a frog from the pond. I was in my element all week. I haven't felt at one with a bike like that for yonks, that sounds like a pile of cods-wollup, but it's true! The press were lovin it too. It's was the first in the country and it's seriously going to be a BIG deal next season. I rode it as stock, no Ti spring, stock wheels and FOX forks and with all of that, after a weigh in on the TOMAC scales, it came to a mere 39lbs. In the US the guys have fitted some lighter parts and got it down to 32lbs. The lightness and the plush linkage on the rear end which does the same as a floating brake will separate the bike from it's counterparts and lead the way for light, responsive bikes off the shelf in the future. Keep your eyes peeled for more info, reports and product feedback.....and if you want more specifics, check out the TREK site. I spent Friday afternoon in a photo shoot with Geoff Waugh. I have used some of his pics here and on the side of the main page. We were out on the trails for a couple of hours and got some great shots. It was so much fun, Geoff is great pro photographer as you can see. Check out his site http://www.waughphotos.com/

The track was the usual Fort Bill gnar, but the additional changes this year made it flow beautifully, the course builders were on top of most of the diving braking bumps, although it was still horrendously rough, hard on bike and body it seemed easier to ride. They removed the crappy left hand rock corner onto the motorway and replaced it with a smooth kicker, so you could carry your speed right through. The wood section was sweet too, no changes there, but the dryness helped for sure. B.T.W The photo below was sent to me from www. phunkt.com

K, so quali was great on Sunday, I qualified 18th and was over the moon until I realised that a few of the faster burds got red flagged. After they had their second run, their times pushed me out of the final and I finished 22nd. Gutted by that, but not too dismayed as I know, finally after three bad races that I am back up to my speed, and the monkey that has been weighing me down is now firmly off my back!!

So, round up without the babble. Buhl got on 2 podiums GO GAL! Fi popped some ribs OUCH! The after party was a total FLOP. Almost the entire Syndicate squad got on the podium which was great to see, it was also ace to see Nathan back on form, about time too! Freedom turns were UNREAL. J.D has the most BIZARRE wardrobe!! Brian from the CYCLEJERSEY is a total leg-end and has made us the coolest custom fitted jerseys EVER! Dan A.K.A Blabbermouth, my team manager is officially the rad-est MC to date. Everyone should embrace the elbow dance.

For results, as usual, you can check the UCI site http://www.uci.ch/.

Beers in. X

TATA's to the Sun!

2008-06-13T00:00:00.010+01:00

Inbetween Andorra and Fort Bill us girlies decided to take some time out and bask like seals on a nude beach in Barcelona laying TaTa's to the sun! Things kinda went to plan with some adjustments and additions.......Motley (Motty Mott Mott) Buhls mechanic, and good friend of ours joined us which was great, but we didn't quite make it to the nude beach...never the less, we found a window for nudity!!

We got into Barcelona early in the afternoon after the most scenifc drive burdened by stink hangovers. Barcelona was a heaven of moped riders winding their way in and out, one BURK smashed into our wing mirror, which was pretty stupid!! The sun was SCORCHIO!! We stayed for a few days at Gina G and Wee Cathrines place just outside of Barcelona a hop, skip and rollie pollie from the beach and the waters edge.

We walked through the door and were slapped in the face by the aroma of Dim sum, thai red curry and home made choco brownies. Bearing in mind that since the marathon, I have been eating enough to feed a modest african family pretty much every meal, one would think that stuffing my face with posh nosh, once again would be a little extravagant, when in Rome!!

When it comes to food, it's always best to air on the side of caution and stuff up, as you never know where your gonna get your next meal from right? I'm never on the slow boat to china as far as food is concerned. That night we dined like Kings and Queens.

After dinner, we took the kite down to the beach and tried to fly it. I blatenly wasn't thinking as there was NO wind!! So, that wore thin after about a dozen attempts chucking the kite in the air and waiting as if it was magically gonna take flight!! Nev and Buhl sat there patiently, egging us on. The next morning, I attempted to fly the kite again solo at the crack of dawn, in the absense of the essential ingredient WIND. You'd think I would learn?! After being amused by some crazy EuRo beach antics and etire, a wee swim and a beautiful lunch and then packed up and hit the airoport. I bumped into an old friend of mine from Aberdeen in the airport which was a lovely suprise!

Love, peace and chicken grease.

Jme XX

IS YOUR BIKE HUNGRY? THEN LET ER EAT!

2008-06-12T23:37:00.012+01:00

K, so of late, I've been kicking back and watching some Peter Kay and talking to my friend about the politial incorrectness and hilarity of comedians such as our one and only Billy Connolly. Then I got to thinking about my blog, I read a few of the last posts and realised that something is up with me. I'm getting boring and being serious!! Well, I guess some people like that, the 'this one time at band camp, I did this and this and this....Seriously tho, it's numb. It aint what this blog is about......so, here goes, a naked view of the races! Andorra, home to the luxury of tax free status. We rocked in on Wednesday after a manic drive over hill and dale with Top Fuel (Melissa Buhl) and her hilarious aunt and Top Gun instructor Gina G. Gina is a kick ass bitch let me tell ya, she is not only airoplane captain, but she also instructs pilots. The only thing bad about her is she did bring Tom Cruise along for the ride, there were no great balls of fire for me!! Probs a good thing as my Tom Cruise was waiting in the wings!! X I was in my element on track after a few 'bedding in' runs. It was like Innerleithen, tight, rooty and wet. Just how I like it...loads of threading the needle required and some rutted riding top to toe. We let er eat big style and rode the snake like we've never ridden it before. Caecelia was bitching up there, there was some really flowey corners and unsuspecting fly offs which we rode off joyously, like a nun in a cucumber field. It sure wasn't our first rhodeo!! So, yet again, if pracci was my race, I'd have flown through the quali. I've never had as much great feedback in a LONG while!! So many of the riders came upto me a complimented my riding which was a MAAAAAHHHOOOSIVE boost......but I got all nervous and about 5 corners from the bottom and thought to myself...'GO JIM, GO.....(and then the terminal thought hit) DON'T CRASH MOFO'. You can guess what happened next, thats right, the sea earchin rose up from behind the bush, blew a kiss and knocked me into the bears arms. I shouted for peace, guzzled a Sunday roast (leaving the yorkshire for last...obviously) and then went into battle. By the time I turned by back on the then wounded bear, mounted my chariot and crossed the finishline, the battle with the clock was lost. I finished 31st and hung my head in dismay, once again, shed a breif tear and admitted defeat. The monkey returned to it's roosting place, on my back. SUGAR PLUMS.

Aside from all of the above, my head was not on the game and I messed up. So, what else happened over the course of the weekend? Erm, I found out that CG owned half of Andorra. Cedric organised a great party for us in his bar which ws next to his bike shop and down the road from his club!! He was the perfect gent and made sure we were all looked after!! Chris Ball, UCI tech deligate is the new ambassador for the UCI polo shirt, both long and short sleeved! Nice!! My friend Diana Margraff rode her best weekends riding in so long and made me so proud. She has come a long way in the past year and jumped some enormous hurdles to be where she is now and it was a beautiful day for her. She has the coolest hair doo at the mo too, a mullet, buisiness on top, party round the back!!

Neven was my roomie for the week, poor soul, we chatted about everything and nothing until the small hours, she woke up with me fully clothed in the bed next to her on a number of occasions, phone charger cable round my neck and probably dribbling...mmm, nice!! I think I might have a larger than normal phone bill next month. It's all GRAVY?! :)

Onwards and upwards.......Barcelona, here we come. X

World Cup, Round 1 Maribor, SLOW-ENIA!

2008-05-13T21:58:00.013+01:00

Yea!! The season HAS STARTED!! What a kick off let me tell you, I've just landed back from 5 fast and furious days in the beautiful MARIBOR, Slovenia. A lot can happen in a week.....where do I start..FROM THE TOP of course!

We stayed in a cool wee apartment at base camp, BULLFINK. We literally woke up in the morning and rolled down to the start line. I landed in on Wednesday and we were welcomed in by Fee-Gee and Jill and a MASSIVE vodka jelly. Mr Rennie came by and we had a wee party which was heaps of fun. In the morning, Top fuel and I nipped out to the shops and stocked up on breakfast for the millions, it was YUM tastic. We were a little short on outdoor furniture, so Nathan and I borrowed some from the neighbours for the week. Buhl carried over some of my fav coffee creamer and some LUSH coffee from the US. LUSH!

The course was the same as last year, so I felt comfortable with all the obsticals, but had to shake a monkey off my back and throw myself off the first jump. The UCI reduced qualifaction from 30 to 20 for the womens final (GRRRRRR different story altogether!!)...so I had to step it up and find an edge. I had to do everything on course head on and do it as best I could. My first attempt at the jump was squiddish, I took off, pulled and pulled up short like a total jessy......but that was it, the monkey was long gone, and all I had to do was improve on it. It was like everything else in life that scares you, you think about it so much, the easiest thing to do is shy away....but once you actually step upto the plate, you realise the easiest thing to actually do is face your fear head on!

Although I haven't spent much time on Caecelia to date, I had faith in her and in my riding. I spent a while with Damion, he was so ace, he's so busy, but he made time for me and taught me about suspension and helped me with the bike set up. Jose from Trek also sent me some really wicked personlised instructions to help me set the sag, reboud and compression for my rear shock. I'm fit at the moment, not as strong as I would like and my sprint is rubbish, but I know what I have to do for the rest of the season. Work hard on my anaerobic threshold, lactate tolerance, strength and speed and not squid around! A winter of marathon training doesn't condition you for a 4 minute fast, hard MTB race!! I was cornering well and riding aggressivly, but again, I need to work on pulling everything together when the clock starts ticking.

Buckle from Trek came out to watch and I so wanted to ride well for him, he's been so cool...he even stood at the bottom of the course like a true factory manager scribbling down split times. I finished 25th overall, 8 seconds away from the top 20 cut off. I was gutted, and cross that I could pin point exactly where I lost time and why, I made some silly mistakes, but like everything else in life, I guess the most important thing is to learn and build. Top 20 is NOT out of sight at all. I'm just a little out of practice, but if that's all that's wrong, then I'm happy with that, becasue it's easily mended!

So.......quick round up.....I AM AN AUNTY!! Both my step sisters had babies this week, Emma and Paul are now proud Mummy and Daddy to Isaac, and Rachel and Paul have a shiny new baby girl, Evie. They are both SO adorable and I can't wait to meet them both!!

K, so, we had some whopper dinner parties, Damion and I got upto no good, army rolling under the stars and spying on people. Jill bought me some apple catchers to beat my ENTIRE collection. Buhl and Fee finished 4th and 3rd in the 4x. I surfed on a big ole bin lid. Mio taught me some Japanese. Buhl flashes for coffee. Ryan and Brad are RAD, throw way too many mushrooms and squirt squirty cream up peoples noses. Rod Warmer is back, Britians oldest EMO, it was so lovely to see him again.

Fee, Jill and I are famous in Greece, we got an article in the Gravity mag. My future sister in law, Thin LizZy won a silver award for her radio programme at the Sony awards last night. If you run a medal, you should never be afriad of wearing it EVER DAY!! Cunny is officially consistantly rude rude dowg on the scene. One of my friends pees her pants after too much coffee...no names!! Bawbag is the new UCI technical delegate, congrats. We missed NEVEN!!

Trek Shrine.

2008-05-01T11:41:00.011+01:00

K, so, it's about time I payed homage to my new stead, Caecelia. We got introduced at the Sea Otter and she is currently winging her way back to the Motherland after a brief stay in customs!! You guessed it, I'm rambling on about my new bike. The Trek Session 10.

Prudence is small in size and perfect for me. Between now and next Wednesday when I fly to Maribor, Slovenia for the first World Cup of the season, I will be spending a little time tweaking it and making small adjustments. I need to swap out the saddle, change tyres, cut the bars down, put on my lucky grips and having a think about the suspension set up.

Most of the guys on the circuit probably doubt the technical ability of the girls when it comes to maintaining their own bikes. Some say would say we don't help ourselves as most of us do utilise the dumb blonde and batter eyelids to get tyres changed etc...Never judge a book tho hu, that isn't a real reflection of incompitence at all!! I suppose a lot of guys wouldn't know I have 2 degrees and a truck drivers licence? I have worked at various bike shops over the years and am more than capable, with the right tools of maintaining bikes myself. One thing I can't do is suspension. So, this season, I am gonna take full advantage of the brainboxes on the circuit and see if I can put my feelings and preferences when it comes to suspension into practice myself. I need to understand the main princlples and how to make adjustments for different course myself. Check out the bike, the photos come straight from the Trek site. Also, you can check the stock spec and keep up to date with the new kit. There is a lot going on at Trek at the moment which will really benefit the gravity world. Keep up to speed folks. X

K, so, back to the bike. How is this beast a true gem in comparison to the other bikes on the circuit? Firstly, it has way more travel than most bikes, with 10 inches, it is ideal for the bigger courses. It has a LCM which stands for Low Centre Mass, the purpose of this design focuses the weight of the bike on the lower middle of the frame. This is critical for slow stunt terrain that requires balance and timing. Upon first inspection, the chain line seems a little crazy, this is the CTE (Chain torque eliminator) and the purpose of this design is to prevent kick back, it eliminates chain growth, and provides excellent pedaling efficiency on hard accelerations up to big gap jumps. Okay, so, I haven't really had a chance to test these features, but from the Sea Otter, I can safely say that it pedals really well and presume that this can be attributed to the LCM and the CTE!!

Also, it is QUIET, which for me is awesome. I don't know if you remember CCA? (Crawford Carrick Anderson). When he was racing, he was one of the top 20 in the world. Crawford was deaf which caused him obvious problems when it come to balancing. When he first started riding, he was terrible, as soon as he took off, he'd get all squiffy in the air and crash. Once he got to grips with this, he was unstoppable. To this day, I strongly believe Crawfords disability played in his favour, he couldn't hear the bike, he couldn't hear the rattlings which provide many a momentary distraction to most riders. For me, sometimes I hear the bike and immediately think something is loose. Having a quiet bike for any rider is beneficial, as it provides one less sensory distraction.

Now I bet some of you are thinking 10", wow, she's a luck girl. Well, yes I am.....and it gets better. Let me introduce to you Betsy.....Betsy will be with me at the end of June. She is Treks new invention, their 8 inch model. Ideal for small Barbadian riders, oh, wait a minute, that's me!! This wee bike is gonna be a big deal, so keep your eyes peeled!! It's gonna get a finger licking whoppin launch!!

Speaking of whopping launches.....all of my friends seem to be cooking at the moment! I'd really like to welcome Hazel May (9ls 3oz) and Ted Brown (9lbs 11oz) to the world. My good friends Zel and Arron and Vicky and Alex are all proud as punch!! My boss was due yesterday and both of my step sisters in the next two weeks!! It's quite an exciting time all round for my family and friends, and the horrific birth stories are the best contraception for me!! I just wish I wasn't so busy s I could pop down and see them all!! I'm sure I'll make some time. Congratulations.

Jme. XX

So Cal..the OC, Leguna Seca and too many SMOOTH MOVES to write home about!

2008-04-25T16:49:00.014+01:00

The day after the marathon, I dragged my bags and limped pathetically to Heathrow, destination L.A. Catching each falling star on the way and putting it in my pocket!! Tara and Polly met me off the flight after a funny evening at the Ellen Degeneres show and we settled in in the O.C for a few days. I woke up on Tuesday and set out on Driving lesson #1! T can't drive right now, so I was at the helm in her nippy wee Lexus! We went to rehab where I spent most of the time rubbing my eyes!! Not because of jet lag, but in amazment of Tara's progress! In 4 months, she has come on in leaps and bounds. She has consistant, localised sensation and movement which can only be a good thing. She has mastered walking aided by her Forest Gump style leg supports and crutches and can kick both her legs out. Progress is slow but very very steady.

After a bit of car-barny and some major shuffling, we were packed and ready to hit the road north to Monterey. Kim, T and I chewed the fat and gased the entitre way along the 6 hour drive!! We landed in our hotel, dumped the bags and headed out for T with my sistas Fee and Jiggs. First day at the Sea Otter gave the indication of a biggy biggy event, it was like a festival, everyone and everything 'bike orientated' was there. The venue for the race was the infamous Laguna Seca track. The place was a hive of activity, roadies, xc, slalom, BMX, and DH, there was pretty much every kinda pie for kinda tastebud!! The pits were nestled in the bowl surrounding the track, the roadies raced the track and we raced on it's backside....OOOER!

Riding was cool. Buckle from Trek was a total legend and flew my bike over for the event. When I got there it was all built and ready to go! It was a little big for the course, but pedalled like a dream. I can't wait to get it onto the bigger Alpine courses and see how she handles, she still needs a name tho...hmmmm! CAECELIA????

Okay...so a low down. I finished 22nd in the DH, Fee came 3rd in the Slalom and 2nd in the DH, Buhl kicked ASS in the DH and took the win. Damion is rubbish at returning keys and has a bit to learn about wine but can cook up a juicy steak.Wagner's shit trilogy is just as funny 2nd time round. Kim is the most practical person I have ever met, a human swiss army knife. In and out burgers are finger lickin good. The Syndicate guys took over the podium. You drive on the right there, you drive on the right there!! I am no longer a California or root beer virgin. Fruit bats lurk in the trees in Monterey. Neven is officially the most lethial social handgrenade I know, full of great banter and laughter. You can get handcuff shaped bike locks which are great for locking people up?!

Tara has the funniest franglais accent, best used ordering in take outs!! Monterey has the BEST breakfast place ever and breakfast while I was away was the funniest meal of the day...SMOOTH MOVE!!. Facial hair is SO last season. 110mph on the freeway is apparantly a good move?! I scored 9 points on the KHS team funny board!!California produces some lucious vino and the biggest strawberries I have ever seen. Asking strangers for lifts is naughty unless they drive jeeps and you are with Neven! Reading glasses come in all shapes and sizes, som are good in a vertical position in bed?

Keep your eyes peeled for the May edition of the Dirt Magazine, there is a wee treat in there for y'all!! Which moose let the juice loose about this hooose? SET THE JUICE LOOSE! xx

26.2 miles, blood sweat and blisters!!

2008-04-25T16:04:00.008+01:00

There I was on a dark December night, deluded after a long drive cross country racking my brains as to how I can go about raising money for a dear friend of mine Tara Llanes. Cast your eyes south and read her story below....

Cut a mammoth tail short, I ended up talking to some of my fellow Lucozade workers and low and behold, in mid January, I got news that I had made Team Lucozade Sport and I had a secure place to run the marathon. I was so excited, I know people who have tried for over 6 years to get a place to run in the race!! The excitement soon faded when the reality of actually putting your mind and body though the hours of training and then the actual race set in! Training was nuggets, I had to train up and down the country (As I am usualy away with work) and I trained in the dark in all weather conditions including snow, rain, sun, hail....in The Isle of Arran, the Lakes, most of the major cities, Edinburgh, London, Glasgow, Manchester BLA BLA BLA, you get the picture.

The tredmill helped me loads and I spent quite a lot if time running at a set pace over set distances on the 'milly the treadmill! I got my 10km time down to 53 mins, which ain't bad for a novice!! I found out a lot about running too, did you know that if you wear the wrong panies, your fufu can chaffage and it can fall off? Interesting!! I bet you didn't know that it is not uncommon for people to loose all control of their bowel and soil their panties whilst running? Note...I WAS NOT ONE OF THESE LOOSE BOTTOMED FOLKS!! I did however whitness some shameless shitting en route round the marathon course!! Also, it is not uncommon to need a wee en route, pretty obvious really, considering the average time is 4 1/2 hours and the average fluid consumption is arounf 2L. I am proud to admit to a spot or urban peeing, it was quite releaving actually!!

The build up to the big day was exhausting. As Lucozade are the title energy drinks sponsor, it was all hands on deck for the Expo! Me and my budding team of Sports Scientists were on hand giving runners last minute advice and tips for 4 days prior to the event! It is the busiest few days of our working calendar, actullay it is a working marathon!! My boss was a peach, he actually forced me to take the day before the event off and a day off it was, long lie in in my hotel and the ole feet were up!! My bro and sista in law took me out for T which was so well needed!!

Marathon day came in a blink of the eye!! There I was in my Team Lucozade Sport kit, all hydrated and well fueled. I past the 2 mile mark, looked over my shoulder and saw my friend Amy! Out of 36'000 folks, what are the chances of that? We ran together until the 25th mile, she was the best running buddy ever!! We also met Blind Dave and his team, he is the most amazing guy! I helped him with his nutrition stratergy and the London Marathon was the last in his 7 marathon challenge across 7 continents in 7 days, the third man in history to complete the challenge...oh, and he is blind!! I was lucky to run the last mile with 4 nativly dressed Massi warriors, they were amazing, they ran with bike tyre style foot covers held on with string. The crowds all the way down the course were 4 deep and the cheers were unreal, it was like a world cup for 26.2 miles!! My whole team waited in the rain at the last Lucozade feeding station at mile 23 to cheer me on, it was pretty emotional!! I swore at a team meeting that if I hit the wall, I would resign! My fuelling was textbook, I felt strong, hydrated and well fuelled the entire way, the only thing that held me back were a few monster blisters and a fat, feeble foot!!

I hope you never experience having to step upto the plate for a friend, but if you do, do something worthwhile, make it count and in the mean time, it is never too late to sponsor me!!

http://www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com/ XX

2008-03-24T14:00:00.011Z

After driving and working all hours, most people with any level head would use off days for R n R. Good job I haven't got a level head then hu? It all started a few weeks back after a big presentation in London and a training session with one of the UKs Olympic marathon hopes Liz Yelling, I trekked the length of the country and ended up with my friend Alex on the Isle of Arran.

We had an ace few days kicking back, checking out a tour of the local Arran distillery, taking a peek at local cheese factory, discovering old caves, running training in the pouring rains, grabbing a bed and breakfast in a Swiss owned lodge and eating Chinese in someones living room...long story!! The island was real quiet which was awesome for absorbing the views and ripping our rental car around.

The next couple of days off were spent blasting down from Scotland to Wales in search of some epic xc riding. Em, Tracy, Teeny, Dan, Jake, Dean and myself piled into the Hub vans and blasted down at warp speed (fuelled by the biggest box of travel sweets known to man) for some quality trail riding.

We were met by Mo which was ace, I have stayed in the same house as Mo and have quite a few mutual friends, but strangely, in 10 whole years, our paths never crossed!! It was great to eventually hang with her!! Day one was spent at Coed y Brenin on a 32 km loop which was awesome, the trail was interspersed with all kinds of variety to keep us on our toes! There was the most randomly thrown together patch of north shore, it was so squiggly, I nearly did a top fuel and bailed into the bog.

Day two was a little more chilled out on the trails of Betsy Coed. I swear, my ass was so frikkin sore, it felt like someone had wired a tenz machine to it and turned it on FULL BORE!!

Wales was is like a nicely decorated cake. Beautiful on the outside and a little fruity in the middle! Some areas are pikey pikey do as you likey. It is beautiful in a sense that many areas are still untouched, but it does breed some strange things........its all about the village!!

The only reason I am on this computer is because I have HIT THE WALL!! In the last few days, I have driven from Glasgow to what feels like Tim-Buck-Two and back for work....I did like 400+ miles yesterday and I am pooped!! On the way home I was looking forward to going for a spin with a smooth talking Irish stew pot, somethings just never go to plan!! I think I got the best deal tho, I ended up with the Hics in hill-billy-ville pitching a ti pee in the snow!!After stocking up on essentials, we did some 4 wheelin in the snow along the rough ground to 'BASE CAMP' Helvellyn just in time to watch the sun set and the snow clouds roll over. The guys had the deal dialled in, they'd made the coolest wood burner which I cooked a sausage casserole on for T. Man those guys know how to live, basic and FUN! We had such a laugh, I set my shoes on fire

So, be warned, when in Wales, if you walk into a pub and ask if they are still serving, the answer is usually in the fact that the lights are still on and the door is open!! Tom tom aint always right...however, you if it tells you to park up and take a bus, it generally means your lost, bail!! Teeny has the SWEETEST tooth! Ti pees are officially the coolest way to camp. Deliverance is best played full bore, plaid clad from the booms of a 4x4 in the middle of no-where, tinny in hand. Boys don't always know where the hole is, especially in regard to petrol tanks that are cleverly concealed by anti theft 'flaps'.

TREK-Extreme Medics Racing team 2008.

2008-02-22T18:03:00.005Z

Yea y'all!

Well, here you have it! For 2008 I will be racing alonside some of my oldest buddies on the racing circuit, under the Trek-Extreme Medics unbrella.

I'd like to take this opportunity to present my new team:

Manager: Mr Dan Jarvis. With a gob to match mine. For those of you who don't know Dan, you'll have heard him. He commentates at most of the World Cups! He is a total ledgend and responsible for sewing the seed and pushing me to ride for Barbados back in 2003. I was so stoked when Dan invited me to join the team. It's gonna be a fun season.

Rider DH: Petra Wiltshire. Pee one of my many big sisters on the racing circuit. We have crashed out/travelled and laughed our way through many a race over the years. Pee is an awesome rider. She is a 2 x World Masters and former Euro Champion. Pee has experience and wisdom running from her head through to her tyre.

RiderXC. Gemma Collins. I have never met Gemma, but I am sure sh'll have me roped into an XC race at some stage! Well, at least I hope she will!!

Our title sponsors include TREK BICYCLES and EXTREME Medics. We will also be promoting the Tara Llanes and riding with her logo on our backs. We do our damndest to raise money and awereness through various initiatives throughout the season...watch this space!

I'll be on board a sexy wee Trek sESSION 10, fully kitted up with the latest RockShox/Avid/sram componentry, wearing a custom made cyclejersey.com shirt (all black/pink and flowery!!)

The race line up for me includes:

Sea Otter Classic. April. California.

Maribor World Cup.

Andorra World Cup.

Fort William World Cup.

World Championships.

Schladming World Cup

Jersey Downtown.

Scottish Championships.

Keep your ears open. We're gonna blow your drums this season!! See ya on the trails.

Jim. X

Hogmanay in a haunted Castle.

2008-01-07T16:42:00.000Z

So...all hell broke loose, what more can I say, I have just had two weeks of constant parties and

laughs with friends from home and uni. Christmas was all a lil bitty funny to be fair, it was the first Christmas without my Bro and there I was, playing Cranium with my family and family friends with no wingman.

Boxing day was as traditional as ever. All the girls (minus a key few) got together for my best friends birthday, and our annual catchup! The whole place was brought alive by Pete Mc, his Christmas woolie, crazy V-dub belt and panchant for small bottles of red wine??!!

K, so..........the annual bash at the Bagby broke up Christmas and New Year, Nats pushed the boat out with an amazing meal for 14, loads of amazing home caught nosh and fine wine. We finished the night in the 'entertainment room'. It was hilarious, karaoke here we come!!

New Year was a last minute, there were a few options and as usual a danger of having a flat New Year, thankfully, I have never ended up in a dross pub and tend to always land on my feet and this year was no exception.

We drove for four hours north of Inverness on the North East coast of Scotland to a rather exquisite Castle. Perched on a wee juting of land the Castle looked right down the valley. The Castle was built for the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland way back when (1906-1917) and was used during the war by the King and Queen of Norway as a safe refuge when the Nazis attacked Norway in the second world war.The building was awesome, I think there was around 120 of us for New Year, we all convened on New Years eve, we ate before we got there at a lush wee nosh hooose in Aviemore and then drove up to the Castle, choons blasting and singing for Scotland!! We were welcomed by the most amazing raging log fires and a maze of wicked paintings, marble statues and kilted men!!

After a power nap and a catchup, everyone got dressed up and headed to the ball room and adjourning rooms for a pre Ceilidh catch up drinking session! It was ace to see the Aberdeen crew again, all on form and dressed to impress. We danced until the bells, raised our glasses, spread the love and partied on until the small hours.

We woke early on New Years Day, piled into our friends car and headed even further up north to Thurso for a cheeky surf. The guys surfed Thurso East which was working like a beast, double over head and raging as only Thurso East can! Nugget had a bad twist to his ankle and bust his MCL which sucked, not the best way to start the day at all!! After the guys got changed and warmed up, we headed back to the Castle for an banquet and prepared for round two of dancing and letting loose!

Tara. Don't stop believing.

2007-12-24T18:00:00.000Z

Where do I start on this one. If you are reading this, then I would presume that you already read my site and are a fan of DH. If so, you would have heard about the horrific injury Tara Llanes sustained in September 2007. I first heard of the news a few hours after the accident and was on the way to work really early one Sunday morning. I pulled over for a good while, cried a bit and carried on as though I had been in a cold bath for a while, I was numb.Tara has had two lots of major surgery and has been in hospital in Denver for just over 3 months. What she hasn't gone through, physically, mentally and emotionally in those last three months is no bodies business. We popped by to see her pretty much as soon as we landed in Denver and gathered the troops. I was so excited to see her, but naturally a little scared, I just didn't know what to expect. T was AMAZIN, she was bubbly and had the same spark about her that I just adore! Her andf Polly told us all about the crazy stuff she has gone through T showed us the scars from surgery on her spine and some videos of her playing air guitar to 'Journey-Don't stop believing'. It was taken a few days after her surgery and she was pretty smashed on her combiconction of drugs...it was a pretty funny vid!! We stayed longer than I thought, time literally flew, I looked at my watch and it was 9.30pm, T was drooping. She works so hard all day everyday, she gets pretty tired early on. We all vacated and let her get on with her nightly routine.

I popped back on Monday to spend some QT with her and stay with her through a whole day of classes in the Craig rehab Hospital. It was an amazing hospital with one of thee best facilities for the treatment of spinal injuries in the US, if not the world. There were athletes and none athletes in there and the atmosphere was just so inspirational. All of the flags you see hanging up are from old patients, some with msgs on, some with names, others were just hanging.

Tara's schedule was NUTS, I swear, it was like a whole day of P.E. lessons. She started out early doors, first class at 9am, I joined her for some mat to floor work and watched her complete her first bench to floor manoeuvre, it was amazing, her determination was unreal. After that, she got to stand in a support structure that helps keep you upright. We had a wicked game of Jenga and just as it was hotting up, T took a turn, she suddenly got really cold and we all went back to her room so she could get some rest. After lunch, she had ROM testing, then a class where she learned to get in and out of a car and then a second class where she learned how to manoeuvre down steps in her chair BACKWARDS...after that, she had a demonstration of how to correct her chair if she happened to tip backwards. All that in one day, I was exhausted just watching!

I learned alot in one day and I am not going to wing out a whole load of meaningless cliches. Seeing one of your good mates struggling and fighting with a smile on her face, a world of pain on one shoulder and a bigger world of determination on the other really makes you think about what is important in life. Never be complaisant with anything or anyone and give everything in life 110% effort and committment. In the fine words of Journey 'Don't stop believing, hold on to that feeling.'

DUMb AND DUMbER......

2007-12-19T10:14:00.000Z

So, in true Dum and Dummer style, M-Dawg and I cruised on into Golden (Denver) in hire car STRIKE 2 and landed 'clad for the hills' of Aspen in our somewhat ridiculous get up at the Yeti HQ, in search of the famous D-Dawg Donkey…Denvers hottest bit of bachelor…and we are not talking Bachelor of Science fellow readers. D-Dawg excels in many things, most notably, he has a fine tuned nose for take outs and any situation in which he can slyly unleash his pinkie??? To find out more, keep your eye on the Yeti website over 08.! We walked in on a full-scale on 2008 staff photo session, so naturally, we joined in! Would have been rude not to, seen as how we were dressed for the occasion! We had some Friday night beers with the guys and a wee tour round before hitting down town Denver in search of the smiley face of the one and only Tara Llanes. I’ll tell you all about T in a different chapter. After lunch meal and a heavy night in a club in Denver, we descended on D-Dawgs apartment for a good nights sleep!!

Damion babysat us both for 3 days, chauffeuring us around and showing us the sights and sounds of Denver; he took us to some cool places to eat (breakfast, dinner and T!!) and shop (fancy dress up....and proper shopping).

One afternoon D and I ventured up to Winterpark to try and hire Ski-doos, unfortunately after a lot of digressing over a VERY LARGE breakfast, we got there too late. To make up for it, D taught me how to 'drive in the snow', we were in our rental car (which was more like an overly mumMY-ISH Chealsea tractor complete with 'buff' interior), and it was an automatic, but we had a great laugh anyway!!

I think D was pretty much forced to get down with his feminine side for three days!! Using his laptop as a makeup desk, blaring girly choons from his ipod speakers, singing and dancing and finally, hanging towels to dry on his pristine bikes probably took things a little too far (sorry, x). Aside from two corners of his apartment overflowing with girls bits, clothes, pants, shoes, coats, scarves....I think he really enjoyed having us.

We met up with Neven, and her cool Boulder friends. Neven never fails to make me smile, her amazing face just lights up like a Christmas tree and her wicked laugh just makes me laugh in return, we have like we have infectious laughing diarrhea!!

Denver is a cool city, there is a great vibe about the place, we didn’t spend much time there, but driving around it was evident that live music still had a firm footing in the social side of the city. It dumped when we got there so the city was under a thick blanket of snow which made the place seem even more magical. The roads were nothing but HELLISH tho, but thankfully, D took care of the driving, a seasoned pro shall we say, we were in safe hands. The city had a wonderfully western feel about the place, some of the buildings although pretty new were very in keeping for a western city with as I would imagine it to be, there was a hint of the wild west of you looked carefully enough.

Phoenix to Denver, 2 hire cars and a splash of coffee...

2007-12-13T22:03:00.000Z

Inspired by two major American classics, Dumb and Dummer and Thelma and Louise, Melissa and I found ourselves battering every last beat out of our eyelids and scoring a snazzy Nissan Roadster 350z for the equivalent of a lavish Sunday lunch at the chippy!! We sped off into the distance, first stop Flagstaff for a meal and catch up with Motty Mott Mott! After that we headed under a blanket of stars to Grand Canyon Village where we lay our weary heads for the night. We woke up at the crack of dawn and made our way up to the Grand Canyon to watch the sun rise....and GRAND it was!! It is not one of the 7 wonders of the world for nothing, it was nothing short of breathtaking, we seemed to stop at every conceivable vantage point; Maricopa, Mather and Pima, to name but a few. There was no big blazing solace due to the wisps of cloud over head, but it was certainly an amazing experience.On the way out of the Grand Canyon we stumbled upon some beautifully tame wildlife......mmm, not every day you get so close to these beasties!!

So......onwards through the vast Indian reservations and prairie lands of the Wild wild west, through the Monument Valley, out of Arizona and into Utah, through San Juan, Moab (the MTB Mecca of the US) at 125mph (momentarily) in the 350ZZZZZZZZZZ. We pulled into Top Fuels Uncle and Aunts house just as the snow flakes started falling out of the sky. We had some awesome home cooked nosh and sank a few glasses under the stars in the hot tub. Bliss!!

In the morning, we rose just after 4am to finish the rest of the voyage from Grand Junction to Denver. There was a slick blanket of snow outside. With news of no road closures and a good versing into the perils of driving in the snow, we took the bull by the horns and hit the road. 2 yuppies, 1 sports car, 1 coffee to go, ipod blaring, heaters on, city boots, scarves, make up...you name it, we had it. We lasted 10 minutes before careering off the road into a ditch!! I guess city tyres aren't so good in the snow?!

Thankfully, Uncle Tom is a dab hand with motors!! He and his buff son Brock pulled us out a few hours later, it was an effort, but only one that the real Men of this world could have accomplished....and they did in style. Para nosotros nada!! Off to Hertz to deposit the city mobile, pick up the 4x4 and it was 'Bon voyage' to Grand Junction...we headed to the mountains for the last part of the expedition. The second hire car was functional, a new white Toyota. In comparison to the 350Z it was a mere skid-mark in the pants of rentable sports mobiles, but it was spacious and warm! So off we went, surfing the glistening white tarmac one more time.

MX in the Desert

2007-12-13T20:59:00.000Z

So, on the last day in Phoenix, Buhl, Dave and I opened up the gas in the Desert. We had a fruit salad mix of bikes, a 450, a 250 and a lil 125...Me being the rookie...I got the 125, it rocked the hooose dooon!

Buhly gave me a 5 min plug into the Matrix of all things MX, one down, two up, clutch in and out (just like a car)...bla bla bla....off I went, turned nicely and came back down. As I approached, I suddenly realised I didn't really have a scooby doo how to brake. One quick plug into the Matrix of all things brakes at 150 decibels and 173mph from TopFuel and I ground to a controlled halt, no worries!

After experiencing a desert toilet, picture something out of trainspotting +20 odd degrees, I freaking out, peed in the sand and we set off, eagarly in search of a typical desert scene. After a few miles, we resigned ourselves to the fact that maybe we won't see a coyote perched ass end up on a cactus. Disappointed and shattered from the chase, Melissa and I convened to wait for Dave who was struggling in the 'wash' (deep sand). After a few moments, an obscure bellowing came from around an arid desert bush....Had Dave captured the infamous cactus butt plugged coyote??!! Not quite...the bellowing clarified upon his wobbly approach and it became clear that he had not found the infamous cactus butt plugged coyote. On the contary, his exact words were...'Melissa, this MX stuff sucks, I'd rather stick a cactus up my ass...SLOWLY!! All of us bent over double, I think we can safely say, Dave was not enjoying the loose sand!! We headed back to base camp, Dave chilled out and Top fuel and I went off on another BLAST.

We got back to a slightly sultery Dave who was lying, parched and shrivelled up in the back of the truck. Melissa had taken the keys by accident. Dave took it tight that day....but I am sure she made it upto him with a good ole erm....beer. ;). On that note, I will leave you with an image of the sunset in Phoenix, taken from Camelback mountain.....it was a treat first hand let me tell ya!

The Hawes Trail, Senoran Desert, Arizona.

2007-12-03T05:20:00.000Z

Today we hit the Hawes trail. A two hour XC loop in the Senora desert. Sounds hot and it was in comparison to the nippy climate of Bonny Scotland, it was nothing short of scorchio.

As far as an average day in the desert goes, it was cool. It has been raining here the last few days which has hydrated the terrain and made it niiiiiice and grippy.

There was a great bunch of us, loads of fun banter. One of the couples owned the local bike shop, Global Bikes. Nichole the owners wife was so cool, she rides the trails all the time, there is a mecca out there and really easy to get lost. As a cartographer, she took matters into her own hands and decided with the help of her trusty Garmin to map the trails. So, if you are ever in Phoenix and fancy a spin out, all you have to do is nip along to Global, see Mark and Nichole and grab a map! Happy days.

Riding in the desert was cool, it is very much alive with vegetation, cacti are 10 a penny and there are loads of other random shrubs of blooming greenery! It is rocky as hell, like something from a Flintstones film set and dry as bone. There are few big mountains, so the trails are fast and lightly undulating. An awesome stomping ground for winter training. Melissa kindly learnt me her 4X rig which was just perfect, the one chain ring enabled me to sprint down the trails and excuse myself from blasting up the uphills!! My uphill allergy didn't break out all day!! The pedals caused me problems tho, Melissa rides them super tight and I have a weak ankle, so struggle to unclip if they are not slack. I got my feet stuck in em a few times and ended up keeling over like a full scale weekend warrior...it was hilarious!! I also had my first encounter with a flippin cactus....I 'brushed' past one on the trail with my hand, it was pretty sore, like a being subjected to a session with an untrained acupuncture therapist, random, sharp and very unsatisfying!!

2007-12-02T06:14:00.000Z

When you feel like life is an ongoing wheel of work and no play and a friend needs a hug, it is time to down tools, pack your party pants and move closer to those who you smile with. I packed my bag late at night on Wednesday and sank into bed for a brief 4 hours of ZEDS before being rudely awoken by my alarm clock.

I flew Glasgow-Hamsterjam-Minneapolis-Phoenix, Arizona. Top fuel met me at the airport and the fun began! First stop, the biggest organic supermarket I have ever had the pleasure of getting excited over....we bought up all the goodies possible and headed back to Chez Buhl for a mad night on the beer, wine and kamikazes! After a constant 30 hours, I crashed, drunk, clothes on and safely tucked in on US soil!

There is so much to do in a short 2 weeks, we were forced to sit down and create a methodical planned itinerary! Yesterday, Melissa and I went to her gym. It was amazing, simple and effective, it is a gym for athletes (NBA and NFL guys, tennis players, volleyball champs, you name it...) none of this nancy pantsy machine packed ponse we have in the UK, this place is hardcore and every one in it is 110% focused. I went for a run outside in the heat then joined Buhl for a few sets and some laps pushing this crazy weighted sled up and down an astro pitch, total burner let me tell ya!! After a blast in the mall, we hit the SUNS vs ORLANDO MAGIC NBA game. It was so much fun, amazing atmos!! We had an all American day!

Day two kicked off with a hike in the desert checking out the local fauna and flora! It has been raining the last few days, so it was tres cool. We took the dawgs with us and for lil things, they both did SO well! Melissa and I looped round to Mama and Papa Buhls residence for the biggest home cooked feast since time began!! BELLY FILLER!! On the way we stopped to pick up some ingredients from the super market and Melissa ended up throwing a yogurt pot at this random!! Comedy moment.

Rated #23 Hardcore Dude in the World by MBUK

2007-11-19T15:43:00.001Z

I got the heads up from a few people that MBUK put in a cool wee artical in this months mag under the grand count down to see who is the #1 Hardcore dude in the world. They rated lil ole me # 23. Yea!!

It reads;

You don't have to be the most talented rider in the world to be hardcore. Those who aren't and keep on because they love it are arguable the real thing.
Jaymie was pushed into downhill by an ex boyfriend and has never quit. She doesn't disgrace herself, neither is she the best at world level, but she is so keen to ride at top leve that she persuaded Barbados it needed a DH team and that she is it!
Her Mum is a black Barbadian and her Dad's a ginger Mancunian and she's the most irripressible and amusing advertisement for MTBing on the planet!

Get yourself a copy and check the photos!!
Go MBUK!!

X

The off season.

2007-11-05T12:59:00.000Z

My party trick...the cartwheel, how novel, Not. Watch yer drinks...incoming!!

I guess everyone is pretty similar in the off season...we hibernate, migrate towards friends and fun before starting to train!! I'm no different, it has been an awesome start to the winter. With Trudys hen night then the wedding, Luxys 30th, loads of dinner parties, old friends, new friends and a diary that is busting at the seams, it has been a little hard to sit still, not that I do that usually. The A.D.D sees to that big style!!

I've been flying my new kite a little, it's a wee 1.85m Flexifoil rage in pink...pink to make the boys wink ;)!! It's just enough for me to handle, thanks to Paul for getting me a whopper of a discount and Hakim for supervising me on its maiden flight and making sure I didn't take off around the world!! We had loads of fun!! XX

K, so, what else....I hung out in a tornado the other week, all part of a days work!! I spent a lil time in London of late and managed to squeeze in a night with my Bro and his fiance Liz. They are both big up muso types and landed us on a +A guest list to a Led Zepplin DVD launch after party...we hung out, took advantage of the free stuff and then moved on for big drunken eats in SOHO! OH...........I'M GOING TO BE A BRIDESMAID AT MY BROS WEDDING!!

Speaking of weddings, Wayne and Trudy got married this weekend. Congrats, good luck and enjoy! It was a mammoth doooo, very traditional, too many drunk northern MTBers under one roof! Good to catch up, I passed out a little early, lost my shoes and it snowed! Snow balls were defo out the window, far too hungover to care enough to sacrifice the warm fingers!

Here is a lesson for the day.......Never drop 'lovehearts' into champagne.

FOR SALE

2007-10-23T15:15:00.000+01:00

It is a dark day, but like everything else that is swell, when the swelling goes down, it is time to move on. So here we have it, my partner in crime: EDNA.

World Cup DH Mountain Bike. She is a beast, she has been by steed and riding buddy for the past 9 months, seen me down some of the gnarliest trails in the world. From Champery (Switzerland), to Fort William (World Championships), Dunkeld, Innerleithen (Scotland), the Lisbon Downtown and many more. Fionns bike was featured in a recent issue of MBUK, they have done a full lowdown, so go check it out if you can get a copy and do your homework!

The bike has been well serviced by our very own Griffiths Racing World Cup mechanic. The rear Rocco shock was serviced at the World Championships (September 2007) by Marzocci and the brakes by Hope Technology at the same event. The bike is in good running order and condition with a few scratches which are wear and tear.

Compnents.

Small Norco Team DH Frame

Foes Forks F1 XTD DH Fork (r.r.p £2000)

Rear shock. Rocco World Cup. Marzocci

MPR Chain Device.

Truvative Cranks (black).

Hope Moto V2 Factory Brakes

THE Saddle and lock on grips.

Kenda Nevegal Tyres.

SRAM X-O mech and shifter and cassette.

FuNN Bars (black)

HALO Freedom rims (black), Black HALO spokes (black) on HOPE BULB rear (black) and Foes compatible front (black).

All yours for £2500 o.n.o. Complete bike only. One careful lady owner, as you would expect!!

Please e-mail me at jaymie@jaymiemart.com

2007-10-14T23:18:00.000+01:00

For the past 3 weeks...I have mostly been doing LOTS!! It may seem from the lack of posts that I have been being lazy hermit, but that is so not true...Here is a brief breakdown.

I am one year older and wiser?! I have moved to a different country, I have taken up running (only for 6 months, trust me, I hate it!! I have a real goal, for a real purpose, watch this space, more will be revealed!!). I have mastered the art of whipping my clothes off in a lift, swapping them with friends clothes and going out in a hotch potch of outfits??. Corrinne International came to stay for a few days, we culture vultured it up in the city during the day and unleashed at night!! Fun times, fun times!! There is a whisper of a deal in the pipelines for next season(MTB). I am learning Spanish, and also to knit...note to friends and family, please refrain from getting your eggs fertilised, scrambled or poached will do fine for now...knitting 8 pairs of booties is going to take a LONG time and a LOT of patience!! I have been village visiting, Newcastle, Inverness, Manchester, Scotland, New York, London, Clappam (True Only Fools and Horses style!). I have developed a new addiction to FaceBook and also Weetbix Oatibix Porridge, Apple and raspberry!! I have being getting out and riding loads of XC mainly in the lakes, but also on the 7 Stanes trails! You can tell autumn is setting in, the temperature outside is dropping as fast as the leaves off the trees!! I love autumn, especially in the Lake District, it is beautiful! All the trails have been pretty dry and the leaves crispy, crunchy and fresh, it seems most of the rain fell in the summer...typical!!

The good news is I have been promoted from T girl at work! Yea! I get to move onto the cake making machine!! I'm also planning a trip to the US of A to see Buhly, Tara and the Colorado Massif! I should be heading out in the next 6 weeks...I am watching flights like a hawk and will swoop on in when the price is right!! I miss everyone SO much already!!

Increase the peace!! I'll leave this one with ya. Jim. X

"Champions aren't made in gyms, champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision.They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." Muhammad Ali.

Blast from the past...

2007-09-20T22:30:00.000+01:00

Blast from the past! Check this pic out!! This was taken inbetween pracci at the Schladminger World Cup in Salzburg 2005!! Left to right, Me, Jamie Faulkner, Jules Coventry, Dan Jarvis, Fionn Griffiths, Jill Coleby and Petra Wiltshire!! Struth, check our period faces..was everyone so grumpy back then?!!!

I've just landed home after a leg in the van back from a few days in London. I dropped in on Fionn and Jill and Jo Petterson for a few hours. We squeezed in a few laps of the GO-KART track and saw some hot shot supermoto world circuit rider testing some fandabby-dosey nifty new carbon bike! Wish I was paying attention.....bit blonde when it comes to moto tech chat! WHO CARES!

If a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its ass when it hopped!!

Clap-slap. XX

Goodbye grey sky, hello blue......

2007-09-18T11:59:00.000+01:00

You could have made a docu out of us all this weekend, we were full boar, everywhere you turned there were people ripping, laughing, getting up to mischief.

The Bronco got us all, we totally got into it and set up timed comps! Buhly won, not through skill I might add!! Just kidding duck!!

The after party rocked. SRAM organised free beer for the riders, which I have to confess, we missed out on, beacuse we were busy with our pre party party. We headed to the main DOO a little late, but it was so worth it. We got an entire bus to ourselves, and didn't we know it, it was chaos...

So....this week I learned...
1) Goggles aren't just for riding...they duel us as a defence against onion tears!
2) Never take Austrian airport symbols literally if you are a nervous flyer and scared of crash landings!!

3) Scribbling on your friends with pen is way more fun than getting tattoos, and they wash off, so you can have new ones every day! Yesh!!4) Never trust drunken team managers with ab exercisers in crowded rooms with loads of glass!
5) Brits are renowned for having nasty nashers...take pride in your dental hygiene! Floss daily and scrub like a mofo, rotten pegs look nasty!
6) Never wear go forwards to a world up after party unless you want to walk on glass, but we knew that anyway right?!
7) Always carry a wetsuit, you never know when it might come in handy!
8) The time displayed on a TomTom isn't wrong, it's your ETA. Cheers Neven!

This is how rumours start............aparantly!

Check out the race repo

Fix up look sharp. X

Watchout for the TOURONS (Tourist Morons)

2007-09-18T11:51:00.000+01:00

From top to bottom, it was long, fast and just like a bowl of alpen, a little bit of everything! It had your eyeballs bouncing as you blasted over the squillions of roots, rocks and railed the wide open berms. It is an amazing course, smile all the way down, unlike the survival instincts you dig up when riding the fort, I found myself at one with my bike and the course. Practice was so much un, Diana and I rode flat out all day on Friday, I think we squeezed 6 runs in 4 hours!! Flat out! The only thing that held us up was the mammoth gondola ride, you hung loose in that thing for so long. The drop down to the ground was massive!! HEY YOU GUYS (Goonies style!)

Racing didn't go to plan. I rode cautiously again this weekend, if practice was my race, I would have rocked, but haven't we heard that before!! I have some work to do this winter..I need to adjust my mind set big time and start of fighting, rather than riding like I could crash any seconds and trying to play safe. It is a dull technique!!

Kiora. XX

Maribor. SLOVENIA! The Last Push!

2007-09-18T05:19:00.000+01:00

The World Cup finals this year were held in Maribor, Slovenia. I raced the track back in 2002, it was my second ever World Cup (Seems like Yonks ago!!). The course went down as one of my all time favs along side Nevegal, Italy...and I swear, it didn't disappoint!

I flew in with an old wing man of mine, Cookie. We booked our flights for a penny a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I managed to book my return flight a week late and was forced to buy anew ticket! Cluster F%@k or what!! Not ot mention the excess for my baggage!! Flying by the seat of my pants as Fi would say, it all turned out to be cool. Fi met up at the airport and we trucked to the site in the van.....stopping briefly to launch some moves off a bouncy castle!

First night in, we had a big old feast, no ghetto culinary muck ups in sight, I'm talking Buhly style curry with ALL da trimmins!! We had girly slumber (USA style) and wine on intravenous!! It was hilarious!!

There was a problem with my entry at rego, so I missed first days practice, with a little help from the guys in Barbados, everything was speedily sorted! Fi was hilarious in rego, she rocked up to the desk and I quote 'I have no licence and no money, I juts want to ride my bike please'!!

The day came to a close as we ate al fresco in what morphed to be our local jaunt for the week. Peaty, Nathan, our mechanic H-er and myself got messy! With a little peer pressure, H sank a whole half bottle of Tabasco, he vomited shortly after and was rewarded with night in 5 star digs! Good work!

Stretchy stretchy big fellas!!

You can do side bends and sit-ups, but don't you lose that BUTT!! xx

The Race and beyond!!

2007-09-11T20:59:00.000+01:00

Ok....So the race was unreal. What an amazing experience, the noise from the crowds was supersonically phenomenal! I heard nothing but encouragement ALL the way down the course, and believe me, if you have never seen it, that course is LONG! My run was fine, but again slow and cautious. I hit all the lines I wanted to, just not as fast as I was doing in practice. I had strength in my legs and made a good sprint down the bottom section!

I finished 33rd overall, not quite what I was hoping for, but I am stoked with that, in once piece!! BIG SHout out to Fionn for 5th in the DH, Buhly for her 3rd in 4x and Ruridh Cunningham for WINNING and acquiring the infamous rainbow stripes! What a phenomenal achievement. The results are on the UCI website:

But first, there is a small issue of the party!! They threw us an 80's party in the BIG TOP, Mama funk were on stage...and we all went to town! Check it out!! I could only take so much 80's, a few of us fled into town after laying down some big shapes on stage!! It was hilarious!!

Thanks to everyone who made it up there, everyone who cheered my on down the course. You mand not just the day special, but the event amazing and memories to last a life time. Thank you so much.

Big thanks to Fi and Jill for just being fantastic, organising me and kicking my lycra clad ass into touch! Jill, you are the best team manager in the world. Thank you for making it so memorable. Big thanks to the Keith and Charlie at the BCU for sorting out my entry/passes etc. Big thanks to Brian at the Cyclejersey.com for printing off my shirts!! Ian from Ian linton.com for taking some wicked snaps!! You all rock!! Thanks to my Mum and Jules for their summer of work a couple seasons back which enabled my to actually ride for team BARbados!

With that week wrapped up, the circus packed up and headed out of town to the warmer destination of Maribor, Slovenia.

Onwards and sideways.

Jme XX

Is seeding the same as sewing the wild oats???

2007-09-11T20:29:00.000+01:00

Training was BAD ASS!! Everyone took it easy on their runs, the biggest battle at the Fort is to refrain from exhaustion!! One too many runs and you are left literally pitifully peeling your fingers off your bars!!

The good ole reliable Scottish precipitation fell lightly throughout training, but the course held up really well, the wooded section was dry and dusty for us girls nearly the whole weekend. Sneaky lines kept appearing which were faster, but it was tough to remember where they were!! My perception of the race course was etched in my brain by Thursday, and the fear of change lead me to unbearable depths of mental turmoil in my attempt to appropriately adjust my FBill mind map...all came good in the end tho!! I resorted to my usual tack and followed the BROWN LINE!!

I trained with Fi, Jo, Top Fuel, some of Team USA and Anka! Anka and I had such a giggle! Training for me was amazing, I have not had that much fun on the track for a while! I swear if pracitce was my race I would have kicked ass! I felt so strong and poweful..the joy of being able to stop and rest before hammering into sections hu! Buhly had a bit of a random crash off a table top and into a BOG!! It wasn't funny really as she nailed herself, but she successfully claimed the title of BOG SNORKELING QUEEN! Unfortunately, my challenge for the day stemmed from Buhlys delve into the murky waters, I had to dress up Scuba Steve style and gate crash the US Team brief.....after a random run round the hotel, we cooled off at the bar and then I went for a cheeky dip in the Loch to fulfil the days task!! Cheers Bog Snorkler!! Mission accomplished!

Seeding was a night mere!! I got to the top to warm up on the wind-trainer only to find that my shifter was bust. I could only ride in 4th gear!! I couldn't pedal in and out of corners and sprinting on the motorway was as hard almost as impossible as dry humping a waterfall. Thankfully, it was only seeding, not qualification!

Yowta here Yowth............