It seems like a very long time since the last Scottish Series race in Mull. Many beers and mince pies have passed over my lips since then, and not many rides to compensate! It's not like I didn't want to get out, but a combination of hideous weather and a lurgy has made it difficult to get motivated. Yeah  - excuses excuses!!

So yesterday's race at Rouken Glen came as a bit of a shock to the system. It's the first race in the Super Quaich series and takes on a different format than the Scottish Series as it's made up of an A and B race that contain men women and even some 'children' who have been put in whichever group reflects their past results in cx races and other events. It's also a longer race than normal with an advertised 55 mins plus a lap. Doesn't seem like much more than normal but that extra 10 minutes proved to be a fairly big challenge for me!

A lot of snow had fallen on Saturday night and as we drove along the M8 we knew that this race was going to be nuts! TLI races never get cancelled. It seems that anything goes and with ice and thick snow on the ground the normal challenges of a cx race were increased ten fold!

We arrived in what we thought was plenty time and I headed over to the race area with Jac Marquis. When we still hadn't arrived after 10 minutes of walking on thick snow and icy paths I started to get a bit anxious. I'd arrived with a puncture so Matt was changing my tube so I couldn't have ridden over anyway, plus I though that warnings that "the race area is really far away" were just exaggerated, but apparently not!

The long queue at the sign on gave me a chance to catch up with friends, all of whom shared the same trepidation as me. The words 'mental' and 'carnage' were being thrown around freely and my nerves were growing. Finally I got my number, timing chip and Stinger waffles so I made a mad dash back over to the van to get changed. I got back to the race area at 10.45 and the race was due to start at 11. Maddy Robinson saw me looking lost and shouted that I needed to get to the start area NOW! I had no clue where this was so Ian Dunlop kindly escorted me up a slippy path that joined onto a well gritted road leading downhill to the start line. I had a few minutes to get my warm layers off and let some more air out of my tyres before the start claxon was sounded. The noise of pedals being clipped in and folk shouting as they touched wheels with the riders in front filled the air. Up the hill through the snow covered trees we rode, then left into the woods and the craziness was underway!

This is one occasion where I'm glad I hadn't had time to pre ride the course, cause if I had I might not have started the race! It was slow going for the first few minutes as 85 of us made our way through single track into the open, but that suited me. When we finally came out of the woods we were faced with white, flat slippy snow. Touching the brakes too hard was a big no no as I could feel my wheels sliding around under me. I immediately knew that my tyre pressure was too high and I should have stopped and let some out early on, but I didn't and this meant that for most of my race I was getting very little traction. Normally I'm really confident at cornering but after a few heart in mouth moments where I nearly lost the front end I could feel my confidence slipping away (pardon the pun!).

I'm not great at remembering my races and what happened when, but what I do know is that I was holding things together pretty well for the first half an hour. I was riding close behind team mate Jac which is where I usually am in races, so I was happy enough. My legs were feeling ok as I'd spent a week off the bike with a cold, but my chest was tight and I was coughing quite a bit as the cold air entered my lungs. At one corner I heard someone shouting and looked up to see another rider who'd stopped to warn us that 4 people had just fallen there. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than I made it 5 people! It wasn't a bad fall, but I lost a bit of time composing myself and getting back on the bike. I never caught the little group I was with again and my head went down a bit as rode around myself.

The extra race time was catching up with me too and as I grovelled up the muddy rise to the road section for the 5th time I was feeling shattered. I've always said I'll only DNF if I have a mechanical or a bad crash otherwise I will try my best to finish, so with that in mind I just slowed down and tried to relax. The course was getting more and more slippy as the race went on and we now had the freshly thawed thick mud in the woods to contend with. Getting on and off the bike was getting trickier too. As I ran up the bankings I was collecting a nice cleat full of ice so clipping back in was hard work, and likewise getting unclipped was tough.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity I passed the finish line for the bell and I knew I just had to get round one more time. I could see as I snaked through the course that people were beginning to catch me from the back of the field, and I was being lapped but I just soldiered on. I reached the switchbacks and by now I knew that they were really slippy as the snow was giving way to very greasy grass underneath. A combination of bad riding and tiredness meant that on the last turn I took a really hard fall and landed on my elbow and then my head. I heard a cracking sound from my shoulder, felt a sharp pain and feared the worst. Several riders checked I was ok which is part of why I love cx racing. I got up and ran up the banking and realised nothing was broken and I needed to get myself to the finish line. It was a very long lap (about 13 minutes!) but finally I crossed the line and got a very nice hug from Jane. I was never happier to have finished a race!

It's not until later that you realise that it wasn't the race itself that was the problem. Albannach put on a cracker of an event. So many nice touches like marshalls in magenta bobble hats, beer mats being handed out that you could exchange for real live beer at the finish. The course itself was cx at it's best, a real Belgian style course and if it wasn't for the snow and ice I'd probably have been totally fine. The problem was me...not fit enough for the 1 hr 10 minutes that I finally took me to complete the race and not savvy enough to know my tyres were too hard for the conditions! But in my defense it's my first season and I'm still learning. The important thing for me is that my performance at RGCX didn't put me off, instead it has spurred me on. There's not much I can do to get myself in shape for next Sunday at Doonbank, or the remaining 2 races in the series but there's 9 months til the next Scottish Series and that's where my sights are aimed. I'm never going to be on the podium but I know I can be fitter and faster so bring it on!!

photo by Addy Pope