Singletrack Staff Blog

Hi

Thanks for your online entry and payment.
I will process your entry shortly and eventually I will publish an entry list on my site.
Nothing will be sent by post - all information will either be on my site or the event site, www.rltrust.co.uk
You will be contacted further once race numbers and start times have been allocated (which cannot be until we have received most or all of the entries).

Regards
John Schofield
————–
ukresults.net

That’s my Triathlon entry confirmation.

This was me tonight after a went for a 6 mile road ride followed by a 3k

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so smug about a bank holiday weekend full of Scottish sunshine… It’s now grey and rainy here in Glasgow, but we’re off up north shortly to ride an enormous loop around Kinlochleven and to chase the sunshine in the hope of getting some good shots.

This is a pic from Monday’s ride along the Speyside Way. We took a steam train out of Aviemore and rode back. A great way to spend a sunny afternoon. I do believe that’s dust on the trail…

Today I rather rashly agreed to enter a triathlon. I’ve never done one before and my attempts at running to improve my fitness of late have been, shall we say, counter productive. I ran a couple of miles a few weeks ago and ended up so stiff I couldn’t ride a bike let alone do anything else to improve my fitness for four days!

Anyway, I guess all I need to do is keep doing it. Right?

Anyway, I went for a shorter run tonight and had to stop to take this picture. No.. it wasn’t because I was waiting for my lungs to catch up. In fact after I took this shot I felt really quite inspired and a little bit ‘lifted’. Funny how random stuff like this can change your whole perspective.

Oh, that triathlon is in two weeks.. Shit!

I’m off to Scotland this evening, yay! I’m doing the route guide this issue, based around Edinburgh, but with a cunning twist… (Which you’ll have to wait to find out about - as I’m not sure it’ll work yet…) Anyway, and then I’m going further north next week to do some more Big Hill riding… I’ve not been playing up there since Matt and I did our Glen Tilt adventure and I’m keen to go back. Scotland has a great appeal, with its big views and great people. Wish me luck…

But before I can go, I need to box up the Ibis Mojo (yes, that’s still around) so that it can go to Magura. It’s being loved up with 2009 stuff for their press launch in July, so they need the bike first so as to bolt on all the good stuff… OK, time to get the spanners out.

Hard to believe the sudden switch from cold to hot.

We headed out to Gisburn Forest for a spin to check out the trail pixies latest delights as well as a long overdue tasting of it’s old school offerings.

And we learnt it’s easy to break a black terrier in  hot conditions. Even throwing Pip in every stream we came across wasn’t enough to keep her cool enough to cover the miles in comfort. We need to plan in case we get  a proper summer….

It’s a strange thing being British and all. We get a lot of weather, and talk about it a lot. So when we get a truly nice day (like yesterday up in Drumlanrig - not a cloud in the sky, or today in Tod - blue sky and warm - my first ride in in a T-shirt this year) we wonder what the catch is… OK, so it’s a lovely, warm, spring day. The trees are greening up and sucking the moisture out of the ground, drying the trails, the air is warm. So our immediate thought is ‘Well, this isn’t going to last, wonder when the rain is going to come back’. And traditionally, we’ve been right in thinking that. May usually has a balmy fortnight and then it all goes to pot.

But, hey, perhaps this year will be different, eh? All tanned limbs and dusty bikes… Start the positive vibes now. Buy suncream (and keep the Goretex to hand, just in case…). Incidentally, Sunday’s rain didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm at the UK singlespeed champs. Pictures of that tomorrow when I remember my camera…