Sportive blogger Lorna has overcome 'the dreaded lurgy' and is no longer 'pure scunnered'. We've no idea what that means but Lorna assures us it's not rude and means that her season is back on track. Over to you Lorna...

I’m beginning to wonder if my new Cervelo R3 came with a curse as my cycling seems to have been blighted since it graced my life in early March.

I was in peak physical condition after a couple of grueling months of winter training and was ready to attack my packed sportive calendar with gusto on my new steed. The first misdemeanor was the result of an ‘operator error’ and I eventually returned to training following my long layoff through injury.

I was under no false illusion as to how much work I needed to do to get back to where I was three months ago but I was determined to take part in the Trossachs Ton as it would be my first century and had always been a big goal for the year . I tried to pack the miles in and was like Jekyll and Hyde, loving my cycling one minute and spitting the dummy the next when I couldn’t climb at the speed I used to be able to.

Thinking I would take all the help I could get I bought a new cassette to grab those all important extra couple of inches to get me up the hills. Several other club members were equally as nervous at the prospect of trying a 100 mile ride for the first time and we had promised to get each other through it come hell or high water. So you can imagine my utter dismay at being struck down with ‘the dreaded lurgy’ just five days prior to the event.

As a healthcare professional I know that these things take their time to pass but in sheer desperation I tried every potion and old wives’ tale available via the wonders of Google - to no avail. Lacking in energy, running a temperature and wholly frustrated at the hours slipping away I knew there was no way I’d be joining the guys for the Ton and I was thoroughly miserable or, as we like to say in Scotland, ‘pure scunnered’.

The weather wasn’t particularly kind to them and I hear the Scottish midges were truly out in force but I was delighted that they all managed to get through the event as a team and could tick the century off the ‘to-do’ list. I’m still chasing mine, but thankfully there is a wealth of superb sportives all over the country in the coming months and I have a mere ten weeks until the hill horror of the epic Bealach Mor (take a look at the pic below for an idea of what Lorna faces - Ed). Ten weeks of hard, hard graft and, now that I can breathe through both nostrils I could not be happier at the prospect!