Round 3 of the series saw a long drive up to Callander's Mclaren Centre in Stirlingshire.
This is a new area for the series, and also with a new event organiser.
Having biked in the area previously, I knew the terrain could be quite steep.
There seemed to be a few technical issues on the start line with the dibbers, but mine seemed to register OK, so I set off.
My innitial plan was to gather up as many of the lower-level points as possible, plus a few of the higher value points in the harder to reach areas.
That plan went out the window after taking a wrong turn early on, and i missed a 5 and a 10 pointer.
To make matters worse, my hint sheet had fallen off my wrist while climbing over a fallen tree, and i didn't notice it was gone until I was at the top of a very steep climb. A quick run back down, and it was easily found and re-attached.
For the rest of the morning, I felt as though I was chasing points, not sticking to my plan at all, and was nowhere near on the map where I wanted to be.
After a fairly long climb up to a 30-pointer, i was descending quickly - trying to claw back some time and washed out on some loose gravel while trying to avoid a barrier. I was OK but my map board wasn't so lucky - the 2nd broken one in two events.
I attached the map to my bars as best I could and headed off, with it flapping in the wind.
The next control was an easy 15 points. Unfortunately it didn't register. Whether this was due to the issues on the start line, or whether i didn't dib correctly, i don't know.
Anyway, i made it back with about 10 mins to spare with a disappointing score of 190 and a provisional 14th place (No penalties were deducted due to the start line issues, so i'm hoping to move up slightly once this has been resolved)
The scoring at this round has been far lower than at either of the previous two. Since it has been announced that only 4 of the 7 rounds will count, i'll definately be dropping this one.
Next round is closer to home - Yarrow Valley
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