Happy New Year from Posse Ecosse

It is the last days of 2009. The year Ironman identified a new challenge and invited Bigman to join him in their Epic Caper to South Africa in March 2010. This is now just over 10 weeks away. Coverted to days and it is only 75 more training days.

It seems like the season to do reviews of 2009 and why should the Ecosse Posse be any different. The build up started almost 9 months ago to the day when Moonwalker typed ferociously on the keyboard to successfully gain one of the 100 wild card entries to the Cape Epic 2010 Mountain Bike Race. The other 99 had gone within 120 seconds. Bigman had prepared himself for success and so whilst the trepidation grew, a successful entry was not in doubt.

And so our story began with many friends joining the posse on our many training routes. The Posse has toured Scotland in May, seeing the sights from Carbisdale Castle near Bonar Bridge, to Ullapool, the fishing port with the fish and chip shop that imports fish from Iceland, to Saucy Mary's guest house in Skye and on down via Eilan Donan Castle before the snow showers hit the posse near the Cluannie Inn. We were pelted with rain and cars that wanted to get close, passing down to Fort William and met up with soul mates from New Zealand whilst in Killin.

In May, some locals revolted during the Caledonian Etape to deflate the Bigman's hopes of breaking the 4 hour barrier for 81 miles by laying carpet tacks on the road.

As the Bigman was between jobs, he and the Wee Yin headed off to 'do the French Alpine Classic Climbs' over a four week period and the sun shone gloriously for four weeks. As a 'brucey bonus they camped at the foot on Mont Ventoux and climbed the mighty mountain 2 week before Lance Armstrong and his mates arrived for the real gig.

This was all a prelude to the inaugural Col du Carnock International Meet held in August with an international field. Local knowledge won the day with The Ironman winning by a fat margin and a flat tyre.

As the days grew shorter, the nights grew longer and the birds headed for warmer climbs, the posse settled in to the long winter nights with regular outings to climb the Col du Cleish in the dark nights. This encouraged some nocturnal cyclists to join the posse.

Bigman headed off to warmer climates for some winter training in Lanzarote before returning to the big freeze which has decimated the plans for holiday training during the festive period.

And as the year drew to a close, a new generation of cyclists was born, Junior I has added Junior III to the family and Junior II has added Junior IV to the family.

The Posse has had many friends joining Bigman and The Ironman on its outings including The Fit One, The Duracell, Santiago, The Gasman, Wingman, The Wee Yin , Little Nemo, The Shredder, The Marathon Man, Junior I, Junior II, The Boss, Clyde, Knight Rider and some other that have only been known as the unnamed riders to protect their identity.

It is estimated the Posse have covered over 5000 miles been covered in 2009, many tales recounted on these pages, and many deeper friendships built.

In the end, it is all about relationships. As the hours of 2009 slip away and we raise a glass to 2010, we can look forward to the Ecosse Posse riding out once again renewed by the challenge of man against machine and building even greater friendships.

Happy new Year.