Enduro Racing as a Plus Size Female Rider - Kat tells us about her recent Enduro MTB race.

Enduro Racing as a Plus Size Female Rider - Kat tells us about her recent Enduro MTB race.

Our Ambassador Kat tells us how she got on with the last PMBA event planned.

Kat tells us all about her experience in the last PMBA race of 2024, maybe the last one ever.  As our plus size Trail Bloom ambassador, Kat is smashing it on the trails, in events and for fun and showing us, size does not matter on 2 wheels.  Read her story below.

Back to reality for me now. Saturday 17th August 2024 saw me up in Scotland at Ae Forest, racing the last PMBA event for the foreseeable. After my mishap at Kirroughtree, which lead to a fractured elbow, I was back, looking to do well in my (probably) last race of the year!
Following some physio, I did feel ready to race, although with how busy work had been recently, I knew I wasn’t fully prepared. However, this didn’t stop me.
My main goal was to improve on last years overall time at Ae Forest (c. 6mins). Anything extra to this would be a bonus.


What helped most was having my good friends Dee and Elaine there to ride with. Their banter and laughs made the climbs a heck of a lot more bearable.
When it came to the race runs themselves, I got into the zone as much as I could. I knew I would have to push if I wanted to do well. I may have pushed a little too much as after my first run on stage one, I may have let my insides say hello to the floor. However, after refuelling and having words with myself, I went back up for another run and was able to give a bit more.


I had planned to do all 3 stages at least twice (with the format being Mashup) and while I did stick to this on the first 2 stages (improving on both), when it came to stage 3, I just couldn’t go a second time. My elbow was complaining and rather than causing more problems. I decided to call it. Plus, the push up was disgusting, even on an e-bike.
I slowly watched as my named dropped further down the rankings (I ended up being last in the e-bike category) but, the fact that I had been able to shave 15 second off my overall time from the previous year, I was chuffed! Looking at my times, I was close to the other women in the category so I’m please that I can definitely keep pace.


So, what did I wear? I decided to wear the new long sleeve animal print jersey for race day. Absolutely love the design and it was incredibly comfy to wear. I also had on the TB padded shorts which made the day in the saddle incredibly comfy, especially on the legs. The lack of that sticky stuff on the leg cuffs made riding a dream. Hidden away on my feet were the Trail Bloom socks in black. Probably my favourite socks to ride in. With larger ankles, I usually feel some riding socks dig a little, but the socks from Trail Bloom are so soft and you can’t tell they’re there!


Sad to know that this will be the last all women’s race I do for a while but I definitely feel a massive boost in confidence with how much I have improved. I’m definitely up for making more progress on the bike so I’ll be planning to get on the bike more and hopefully enter some more events next year. Representing Trail Bloom as a plus size rider is such a fantastic opportunity and hopefully my continued involvement helps to encourage other plus size riders to join the sport, in any capacity.

 

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