So, this weekend it was off to our "local" NPS race. It may be in Scotland but it's still 5.5hours driving down to Kirroughtree! However, it's closer than most so definitely can't complain. Scotland must have heard that the English were arriving en masse and so hoardes of midgies and pouring rain headed down to Newton Stewart. Perfect! Gotta make sure that they have that authentic Scottish experience ; )

Saturday morning before heading off was pretty chaotic, trying to pack to move out of my student flat, pack for race and loads of other tasks I should have done sooner. So it's no surprise that a few miles from the race course I started remembering the things I'd forgotten. "Erm... Can you see my helmet back there...??" Nope! So after sign on it was a frantic search to find a similar size headed person to steal a helmet for the weekend. THANK YOU Steven Lockhart, cake is coming your way : ) !

Pre ride showed a pretty much identical course to the SXC back in April, albeit a