'An Experience'

Hello! Gosh I can not believe that it is nearly June! I have made myself a cuppa and sat down....this does not happen often so I thought that it is most definitely time for a quick update. I have loved reading about everyone's race experiences and feel really inspired to get going again. I enjoyed a great weekend away with some of the Flare Team to Hamsterley last month and look forward to meeting the others in the future. Hands up to Hannah Myers for choosing such a wide range of riders to join the team. Riders like myself who are just starting out and dipping their toe into racing, all the way up to those who are competing at both Elite and World Cup Levels. Each and everyone with their own stories and personal goals for this year and beyond.

Obligatory Selfie with Nienke on the journey to Hamsterley

Things are looking up in the Main household and after numerous appointments and expense I have got to the root of my leg injury which turns out to be a knee injury. I have been busy working on strengthening exercises with my physio in order to correct this and seem to be making progress, albeit fairly slowly. It has made me much more aware of looking at my body as a whole in terms of flexibility, strength, function and balance of muscles. I am still unable to run which is frustrating but have built up to jogging for 2 miles so the next step is running.

Not to worry I am back on my bike and at the weekend took part in my first ever SXC race at Laggan. I spent most of the week prior to this worrying and feeling anxious about it but one evening I came across the following quote whilst scrolling on Instagram.

 

'I don't believe that you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be' Ken Venturi

 

Something that I think we should all strive to achieve. It is so easy to get caught up with what everyone else is doing and loose focus on what is realistic for ourselves to achieve.

 

It changed my whole mind set and I felt more positive. Each and everyone of us improves at our own pace and are achieving our own personal goals. Lining up at the start of the race was an achievement in itself for me this year and my main aim was to enjoy the race and ride all the technical parts of the course and ride as fast as I possibly could. Did I achieve the latter.....

 

In a nutshell yes I did! I came away from the race feeling really inspired by all the fast ladies, pleased that I rode all the technical parts with only a couple of offs and also delighted that my laps were consistent in time. I had gained the experience of my first SXC race. Thank you to the SXC team for putting on such a well organised event with a fantastic course and also for the strong focus on the kids. I was slightly discouraged by a couple of incidents involving male riders, however next time my elbows will be firmly out and I will try not to crash at an inconvenient part of the course to avoid the 'f' word behind me! I think that all riders both male and female must remember that everyone has to experience their first race and that their behaviours can have a huge impact on new racers. Everyone has been there.

Note to self....the start is an all out sprint oooops! Loving my Flare Jersey



Ouch!

Highlight of the day for me was the kids race, I love seeing the little ones get involved. Magnus took his bike with him and thought that he might take part. He decided that he would and he loved it! Daisy cycled around on her bike all day long and David got to ride the trickier trails across the road. All in all a great family day out finished off with a fab tea in the Mountain Café in Aviemore.



Magnus getting in on the action SXC Laggan



 

Next up is the most demanding physical and mental biking challenge that I have set myself, 10 under the Ben on the 20th of June at Nevis Range. I will race my own race, although for 10 hrs I am sure it is just a case of surviving the race. Looking forward to it!

See you all soon

Kerry