Friday the 23rd of June saw the first day of the best biking festival of the year. The Muckmedden Head2Head Eliminator 2017, hosted at Parkhill Farm, Cupar.

Arriving early on the sunny Friday afternoon meant we had our pick of the campsite, and after much deliberation settled on a spot close enough to the toilets for midnight visits. But far enough away to avoid the inevitable waft of keich that was certain to fill the air by close of play sunday.

Our camping ritual insists that once parked, the first beer MUST be immediately opened and consumed quickly to avoid anyone from woosing out if the weather turns nasty. The clinking of bottles meant the start of an epic weekend full of bikes, beers and banter. Which by bedtime that evening, was had by the bucketload. Probably too much fun was had to be honest!

We awoke at 7am on the Saturday slightly fuzzy, shovelled in breakfast and quickly dashed over to the event village to visit the guys at The Cycle Jersey to pick up my shiny new race shirt for the day, and special Eliminator tshirts and mugs! We couldn’t have James representing and not myself as well!

Atop the hill the wind was trying to take us back to Edinburgh, and if Stevie had caught enough sick air off the cheeky double at the start of the run, that's where he just might have ended up! The course consisted of a blast along the crest of the hill, turning down the face of it over the launch pad jump, then blasting into the woods. Down a steep slippery chute, exploding into the event village and over the road gap into the final section through a barley field! None of us had  ever competed in a head to head before, so we didn't know what to expect, but as usual, Aaron and his team put together an excellent format which is friendly and fun, but lets not forget its still a race!!! Its win or be eliminated!

Big Steve was called first and wasted no time in collecting the teams first win of the day. James and myself followed, both winning the next few runs. However a pedal slip at the start by myself saw me eliminated shortly after and Stevie too was pipped at the post by his opponent only a couple runs previous. Leaving James to bring home some silverware for the boys, but sadly this was not to be. Eliminated by one of the top riders attending saw us all hitting the bar sooner than we would have liked! But…..without realising it, I was the last eliminated eligible to qualify for the barley dual slalom.  Another smaller knockout tournament held between finals of the Eliminator event. Which to my delight, I won!!!! So when all was said and done the team gained our 2nd Gold medal, which by the way, iv only just managed to pry from my chest as I was so chuffed. It may not have been the main event, but we will take any medals we can get!! Needless to say, the rest of the Saturday evening was spent dressed up as an 80s trucker in a full mullet and double denim, flying around on a borrowed tandem bike and drinking more than our own bodyweight in alcohol! Of course it was…there's no other way!

Sunday morning came and we fell out of our vans into another gale force wind and began dismantling our HQ, we said our goodbyes and hit the road for home.

Another epic weekend of gears and beers with some seriously quick and talented riders thanks to Muckmedden events. Plenty banter and laughs had by us at JRS ENDURO and The Cycle Jersey, always good patter over a pint with these guys…. and not to mention our epic new racing shirts!!!! Thanks again, much love and we look forward to seeing you all at the next event. Cheers!!!