“I have bought a cyclo cross bike on ebay” I heard myself say to Michael who looked at me with a surprised expression on his face “I thought you meant to be resting this winter” he replied. “yeah, but this way I won’t ruin my MTB in the mud and snow on winter rides” I defended myself. I was back to owning 4 bikes. Two weeks later I found myself entering the second round of the Scottish National Cyclo Cross Series. When I told Michael, my excuse was that the race was only an hour away from home. “I won’t be training for it” I reassured him.
Picking up the bike on the way back from Will Hayters wedding weekend
I had managed 3 rides to get used to my Canondale CAADX bike
before the race and I was hooked. Although I had been sitting on the fence for
a long time in relation to cyclo cross finding it a bit of a strange sport,
being a mix between mountain biking and road cycling. I never understood what people liked about it. And then I rode my cx bike for the first time. I absolutely loved it. I had bought an
introductory bike which I am sure felt a lot heavier than my MTB but it rode
like a treat and I was very excited about finding my way into a new sport.
How you suppose to look on a cx bike : Sanne Van Paassen
Race day arrived and I was nervous for the unknown but very
relaxed in every other way. I was not a sprinter by any means and the 45 minutes of racing was going to be about 4hrs to short for me. I felt,
for me, very unfit and knew I was racing girls from a descent level coming from top road backgrounds (including Common Wealth Games cyclists) and MTB back grounds. Some of the girls were very experienced in this discipline. Finishing last
was very possible and I was ok with that. I met Lizzy Adams before the race who so
kindly brought a spare tube for me after I discovered the night before I had a
flat and no spares to replace it with! Through her I got introduced to the
lovely Cathy Wyse another machine on the bike and not much later we run into the bubbly Marie Meldrum. I got
given pointers and advise in the warm up of which I was very appreciative and the
girls explained the format of racing to me. I felt ready for the start!! 
How I look on a cx bike
Whilst riding the course I discovered that my nearly slick
tires which came with the bike were less than ideal but it made me giggle
slipping through corners and having absolutely no control in the mud! At one point in the race I was going full bore on a
flat wet and muddy bit of grass and my bike was actually not moving forward!!
New tires have been ordered.
Getting off and on the bike fast is a challenge!!
I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun racing!! I
loved every minute of my first cyclo cross experience and almost felt
disappointed when the race was over. I felt like a kid again!! It was twisty and fast, up and down, tree
roots, little drop off, hurdles, off camper mud, mud and more mud! I gained a
bit more confidence every lap, cornering a little tighter, getting off and on
the bike clearing the hurdles a little faster. I learned so much in 45 minutes
of racing!! And very excitingly I did not finish last!! 
wearing my Flare top was perfect for this race
It would have been so easy to fall back into the trap of training hard
because this race definitely stoked up my fire again to become fitter and faster. But I am
fully aware that that was not part of the plan, and it would not do me any good looking ahead. Instead of clocking up serious
amount of hours on the bike, I will be sticking to my plan of staying mostly on the couch this winter. And instead of
getting faster by fitness, I will try and improve by working on my skill’s, racing that little
more efficient, that little (or a lot) smoother and going that little faster. The nicest thing about it all is that it will be completely without pressure or expectation's I put on myself.
“Will you come to the next round” asked Lizzy after the race
“Hell yes, I had so much fun!!” I answered with probably the biggest
smile on my face post race I have had in a long long time. At the end of the
day, I am a racer, I love it, it is in my blood. Fit, unfit, fast, slow, good
or bad, there is nothing better than the feeling of improvement within a race at whatever level.
“Today you are YOU, that is TRUER than true. There is NO ONE alive who is YOUER than YOU” Dr Seuss