‘Highland Bail’ forces a rethink

When you know a race or event is going to come to a premature end the mental process of evaluation starts and self questionning begins as to why you are finding yourself in a position no longer able or wanting to continue.

I knew I wasn’t going to be racing the Highland Trail 400 I just wanted to overcome my mental block on riding for multiple days self supported ... I have tried before at Grenzstein Trophy and though the legs are good the mind is always weak.

This isn’t my attempt to blog my efforts at the Highland trail as there really isn’t much to talk about there ... in fact its taken me so long to sit down and write this its kind of irrelvant other than the event forced me to have a think about my year again ... in short the event route I did ride was amazing and I would like to ride more of it.

So why do I think my efforts came to an end in Scotland even at at touring pace ... I can lay the blame at the door of being tired from Trans Iowa but in reality I felt pretty good ... I think I just didn’t want to finish enough.

At the start of the year or even more importantly before that I knew I would be supported by Salsa Cycles in the US .. a real honour for them to take the gamble to support a rider outside the US and a rider who if we are honest doesn’t see a lot of podium top steps .. what I offer is huge variety in my means of suffering.

So with a new sponsor to impress I went at my events calender like a hungry man at an all you can eat buffet .. with no reservation I piled on as many big events and rides as I could ... I trained hard and in all weathers .. when Trans Iowa came around I felt great .. I swallowed that big helping of Iowa gravel and came home feeling good ... but my appetite had been reduced so when I showed up in Scotland for the Highland Trail I was near full already.

After a few days of riding progress wasn’t fast ... trails were good and riding companions entertaining but I had ridden enough and with a new event in Portugal to ride in August I decided to just come home and reset ... no schedules or agendas ... just riding for fun .. its an absolute must and the only way anyone I believe can sustain an appetite for these events.

After a month or so of time away from focussing on events I am refereshed and freshly enthused by those I know tackling some huge riding challenges of their own.

Looking forward to Portugal in August and satisfying my renewed appetite for racing.