Fort William held a great range of trails from trail centre to natural & for me that makes for a good weekend. The
SES brings riders together from all different backgrounds with a strong field of skilful riders when it comes to
the natural gold, but as my reputation seems to be emerging... it is true, I do love a good pedal in between the wild muddy sections.
Coming in to my third year of racing Enduro, the
SES has been a solid foundation for me. From 2015, each round has pushed my riding on committing me to the race line down steep muddy shoots I would have otherwise toyed with. Getting together with over 300 riders for a weekend of fun, Round 1 was one of the most chilled out weekends of racing I have had with excellent company & good craic, it was so good to be in that atmosphere again... I’m still laughing my way down stage 4s wild mud rut/spaghetti bolognese.
During the off season break in races I didn’t follow a good solid training program. What I did commit to was flat pedals... from a DC trainer/not so grippy Gusset pedal combo to a FiveTen/Nukeproof dream... it has been one big
learning curve. A visit to Rab at
Dirt School in November to rewind back to the basics was priceless, my whole riding position changed & I’m feeling more in control (I did sneak the clips back on for security this weekend haha, but
really felt a difference in confidence when the mud simply didn’t let me clip back in!). My bike, Ibis Mojo HD3, was stripped down for a good 6 weeks at the start of the year as I worked my way around replacing all the much worn parts & I took to hill walking/dog sitting adventures for the best part of February – best job ever.
With a pretty large time gap still to close & lots of confidence still to gain, the slow progress has been enjoyable. It was pretty awesome seeing even more girls coming through to the race this weekend, from new riders to experienced, the overall women’s field is strong! Cheers for a good weekend, I hope to see
you all again at round 2.
Solid result all round for Team
TCJ/BaseCampBikes, yessss!
