The Highlander....

Rail set up

So yesterday saw the last round of the Highlander Scottish Freestyle series held at the Cairngorms. It was blasting a gnarly gail with white out's so you couldn't spot the jump which everyone was having enough trouble trying to get the speed to clear anyway. Up higher at the rails you could feel it pushing you off them with the direction the gusts were coming from but this didn't dampen the spirits. Scottish riders are a hardy bunch used to dealing with insane weather like this and were still found talking, cracking jokes, throwing snowballs at the top while waiting their turn. Meeting some cool people through out the day and speaking to the 3 other female riders who'd entered that I'd never met before. They were an awesome bunch to ride with for the day and had fun :)

I've always found entering comps just a bit of fun and stoked to be riding with a crew of riders that you only see at events like this. It helps push your riding making you try things you thought you could do but never tried, last year I lost sight of this due to a number of reasons and the fun was taken out of it for me. The first Lowlander comp of the series I created a situation which sent bad vibes to everyone involved and through much apologizing I don't think any amount will help get back the respect I lost, but feel that being away has done me the world of good. I don't think I've ever cried or felt so alienated from everyone as I felt back then and don't want to ever feel like that again!! Of course it was hard going along to the comp because I didn't know how they would feel about me entering but was a way of supporting it and trying to make amends. Big thank you to all for making it an awesome day despite the conditions. Was happy with some parts of my 3 runs was wanting to spin off the jump but just managed to clear it on my last run and taking things on the cautious side due to my knee and heading away again in the near future don't want to do anything stupid when conditions are like that!!

Photo by Neil MacGrain, Orla Doolin 1st, Emilia Vanni 2nd, and me 3rd :)

Needless to say I was surprised but stoked to come 3rd and get presented my medal by Lesley McKenna :) I hope Rebecca (I think that was her name) is all good as she had a super gnarly slam. Just happy to be there and riding with some of the best riders Scotland has to offer makes it a winner of a day for me and can't wait to ride the gorms again on Saturday for the Vans Dawn of the Shred :D I entered it last year with Barry, Ryan Shiach and Vanners were also there making us the only ones representing A'deen hopefully more will be there for it this year as it really was an awesomely EPIC day of shred!!