The sun was splitting the trees all day and the trails were sweet.
I arrived at Selkirk rugby club around 9.30, for the pre-race briefing (thought i'd better listen this time) and met up with Andy, and Dave, Shaun and Greg from MTB-Borders.
The buzzer went off at 10am, and we were off, heading for Bowhill and the Duchess Drive.
This is one of my favourite trails, as it climbs through the forest to open moor land, before a choice of 3 great descents. Todays descent (as last years) finished at Fastheugh - christened 'The Sheep Encounter'.
Fortunately, there were no sheep encounters today, and before long, we were on a freshly cut section of single track through Black Andrew wood. I had a small over-the-bars moment while dropping down the steep bank onto the single track, but apart from that it was great.
The next section was the climb from Yarrowford, up past the Youth Hostle to the Rocky Road - with the days first section of 'portage' Everyone was pushing up, as the hill is so steep. Once we reached the SUW, it's a short climb to the 3 Brethren - the highest point of the day.
Walt and Toni from MTB-Borders were waiting here to cheer us on, but did not notice me as i wasn't wearing my usual orange Mellow Johnny's top.
The next section is the Yair trails that i've ridden 100's of times, and i love.
I managed to catch and pass Andy just after the Yair trails. Then, it's a short road section to Elibank and the switch backs. These are so steep, and the trees are so close to the trail, there's not a breath of air. After reaching the top, there's a couple of really muddy sections of single track past Elibank castle, and then back onto the road heading for Traquair,
The next section uses the 7 stanes trails at Innerleithen - Traquair XC. Again, this is a trail i've ridden 100's of times, but it's not easy with 60k in your legs.
Once at the top, there's the Brown Knowe descent (my fav.) heading back to the 3 Brethren. Andy caught me here, so we kept each other company from then on.
Once we reached the 3 Bretheren for the second time, it's down the Corbie Linn road all the way back to Selkirk - a super fast descent of around 3k to the finish
Twas a good day
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