Firemonkeyphoto

I was scanning some old images of my family when I came across this wonderful image. It was an break in the stiffly posed rack ‘em, stack ‘em and smile group shots that were the majority of family photos at the time. I get my sense of humour from the kid with the wriggly toes on his mothers knee.

While looking at the photos with friends around the dinner table, we noticed that one of the formal portraits was taped to another photo. We supposed it was just a rubbish photo being used as a backing to stiffen up an image of my grandfather. We carefully detached the two and it turned out to be this image of my grandmother:

I can’t take credit for the original images, the first one was taken by my granda and the second by a long defunct photo studio before my Dad was born.

The Ten Under the Ben mountainbike endurance race was held last weekend at Fort William. The course seemed longer than the last time I competed (2007), but also better. The newer sections were hand cut shallow descents through tight trees and over slick off camber roots, with one particularly notable (and FUN) chute. There was also some most wonderful northshore and rocky drops which rewarded enthusiasm. The trail headed up a downhill section of the world cup course which was dispiritingly steep but blessedly short. The extended first lap was also a source of knackerage for the unwary as it tacked a considerable distance onto the ride. Despite this extended section, it was still a traffic jam into the first section of singletrack.

The main enemy this year was not the trail, it was the intense heat. Despite some forecasts for light rain, the day was cloudless and the sun relentless. Even when not on a bike it was a challenge to remain hydrated. On the bike, the occasional section of unadulterated sun gave me with a feeling of being cooked inside my helmet. The wait at transition was also a problem as this year there was no shady cattle market to hide in, coupled with the longer circuit, this meant long minutes of standing in the sun waiting. The longer circuit also meant that our team did’nt manage nine laps and I came up short a lap while Sarah (in her first mtb race) earned hero points by doing the extended first lap and two others. On the upside that gave me a chance to put the hammer down to beat the 1 hour mark on my second lap. I did manage to botch the chance as I wound up rolling off a descent with a cramped hamstring and thigh. A friendly No-Fuss marshal appeared on an Orange full susser and gave me a quick stretch and a suprisingly effective sachet of vinegar. There may be a packet finding its way into my racing kit for next time.