January is my least favourite weather-wise so it feels rather like a poke in the eye with no endless hot, dry and dusty summer to look fondly back on to help you make it through the gloom to Spring!

Fortunately January is also the time when it gets rather exciting as the MTB event calendar is more or less out there and you can start feverishly signing on the dotted line for whatever blows your skirt up. In addition to some old favourites I’m going to have a go at some new stuff but before I piffle on about that here’s a random collection of what I’ve been up to lately.

XC without wheels
Our particular festive season was dotted with a few coughs and snuffles, lots of scrummy food and a healthy dose of our favourite monk’s nectar. 2008 sort of crept in without me really noticing and all of a sudden I was also another year older.

Now I've not done a running race for, well, probably a decade and a half (eek!), so although I’ve been dabbling in a bit of cross training I really don't know what on earth possessed me to agree to turn up and run in the County XC Champs the very first weekend of January.

So there I was, freezing on the start line in what felt like my underwear staring at my lily white cycling legs and counting my goose bumps to take my mind off the inevitable pain to come. It was all suddenly seeming like a very bad idea but before I could say, “Where’s my bike?” off went the gun and it was way too late for me to wimp out. Off I trotted around the muddy course in a sort of mass-in-motion fashion - for Lord of the Rings fans out there it was definitely Gimli-style (but without the beard) rather than Legolas - and when I finally plopped over the line I had clearly scraped out parts of my lungs that haven't been used for while. Well that’s gotten one new experience under my belt for 2008 already!

Santiago; Sheep of Destiny

Oh yes, during the festive season came the unexpected arrival of new race mascot Santiago and over the coming months you will probably be subjected to seeing a unique sheep’s eye view of the 2008 race season rather than just listen to me rattle on about it.

With access all areas expect a brutal appraisal of the various highs and lows of our efforts at the races and maybe also enjoy a keen insight into exactly how much slacking (red wine drinking and chocolate eating) might actually go on behind the scenes. Anyhow, the woolly S will be on location 24/7 and telling it like it happens so you can read it here first.

Well with January almost done and some start numbers in the bag I’m finally feeling that the worst of the winter is behind me (kiss of death, famous last words etc). I can’t really say with any honesty that I’ve been truly loving getting outside on the bike this last month and as a consequence I had to endure an excruciating visit to Helga’s House of Pain (aka the Physio) where I had a bit of a ticking off by Neill for spending way too much time at the movies on my trainer. Ok, I am not ashamed to admit it, I become VERY bored VERY quickly having to do all my riding (and running for that matter) on pieces of tarmac and concrete but after this nice little introduction to the joys of RSI for legs (another new experience) I guess it’s time to go find somewhere rocky…….

TTFN

Before I go here’s a lovely shot by Mr M to prove that there is still the odd gorgeous sunset to be seen over West Malvern - even in the depths of January.

I am off now to pop the kettle on and continue pawing over the events calendar, as whatever sort of event takes your fancy there is certainly plenty to choose from!!