10 under the ben Fort william

Driving up through extremely hard rain shower with the wiper blades on as fast as possible wasnt really the weather me and damian were hoping for, we had faith that come saturday the sun would be out and all would be fine. We set up our tents inbetween showers next to the trail and set off to registration, free food and whisky tasting was also on the menu for competitors at the top station off the gondola which meant that was us sorted for the evening. It was blowing a gale outside and also snowing, i was wondering if i had enough warm riding kit with me to ride in winter conditions, i dont think anyone was expecting snow and hail a week before June but as they say this is scotland!

outside the bar

looking to fort william

Awaking the next morning after a few pints, one to many shots of whisky and a bowl of sweet chicken thia noodles i felt pretty dehydrated (i can however recommend Benromach origins batch no2 as a top notch whisky). Damian was up and dressed and i just lay in bed listening to rain hammer off the tent. Finally the rain stopped i got up, changed and got everything sorted for the race.
The start of the race at 9.30 came round quick and i found myself on the start line still dehydrated, the weather wasnt looking to bad as we set off, sure enough though after the first lap the heavens opened and the rain started, all i can say from this point on about the weather is it just got worse.
The course was amazing it had everything a course should have, fireroad climbs, nice fast singletrack, technical rocky decents, rooty sections, stream crossings, crazy out of control muddy parts, i enjoyed it. I was riding at a comfy pace through the race but come lap 8 the weather had got me down a bit, i was feeling strong but just couldnt ride fast i was cold and wet threw, the rain was coming down hard and i just wanted to give up and crawl into my tent, something stopped me from doing that and i plodded on. I didnt have a clue where i was in the race as both me and Damian were solo on our own. I finished my 11th and final lap at 9 hours 55mins i could of gone out and done another lap but i really couldnt face it.
Turns out i came 2nd, so i was over the moon with that and to make things better Damian got a 3rd place in his category, Another 2 podium places for team cooksons.
I had ridden 102 miles with over 11000 feet of climbing.

podium