Ten at Kirroughtree

Last weekend was due to be a, much needed, chance to catch up on some chores and sleep. That was until a 10pm decision to head up to Ten at Kirroughtree . We grabbed little more than our tent, sleeping bags, my 69er and our new Alpkit down jackets, and then jumped in Mel’s car. 4:30 am we finally hit the campsite. It was time to get up at 7:30, to attempted to find a race entry. Luckily for me Andy from Alpine had been dropped in it by his partner so I landed a place in pairs.

Andy headed out to ride a double but turned up after an hour having managed to snap his chain in two places simultaneously and being made to walk back down the course. I left him to sort it out as I headed out. The course was great, very singletrack heavy and relentless. The climbing was broken in to small chunks and hardly noticeable but the payback was a long fast decent at the end of the lap. When I got back from my second lap Andy wasn’t in the handover. I headed back to the camp to see where he was. I wasn’t expecting the answer to be "hospital". Apparently he had fixed his chain, then, while riding on the gravel car park, snapped it again and thrown himself over the handlebars. Everyone knows car park injuries are the worst, and it turned out his knee was pretty battered. I headed out again for another couple. The atmosphere was great but by now I was looking forward to a cold beer so I joined dR j0n and Marty from the TSPC as well as Damo (all the way over from Aus) who were "recuperating". As the afternoon drew on some went out for more laps while others joined us for more r&r. Andy got back from hospital but wasn’t up to riding.

As the race ended Phil and Anja took the mixed pairs easily and Jac won Solo. This, along with Phil’s birthday, gave us a good excuse to celebrate. Late in to the night.

The drive home was less pleasant but all in it was a top event and I certainly hope to be back next year.

Pic of Mr The Horse by Trina