October kicked off a lot more relaxed this year. Finally on off season, training slowed down and everything became more relaxed. My bike of choice became my mountain bike, a fun, easy way to keep some fitness during this rest period while not having the rigid structure of a road session. Most days for the first few weeks of October me and my friends would explore all the trails Stirling area has to offer. We were able to find some fun jump lines, technical trails and one massive step up jump. During this off season all my training slowed down except running where I retained volume but dropped intensity ahead of my upcoming half marathon next month.

The second half of October was filled with lots of surfing action, firstly I headed home for one of the SSF junior series events in Sandend, where I came 2nd in U18 category with some fun little waves. It was fun to my feet back in the wax to prepare for the GB Cup the following weekend in Thurso. After the Sandend comp, I headed back to Stirling for a few days as I had a test for uni. Went mountain biking again, then headed up to Thurso early in the morning in hope of scoring some fun waves the day before the competition started. Me and my brother got 2 surfs at Thurso east and another fun surf at a more secret spot further west. During the competition window, poor weather set in causing some challenging conditions, with the weather settling down on the last day for the finals. I made it through a few heats before being knocked out, after which me  and my brother and dad headed west again to score some pumping waves all to ourselves. As I return back to Stirling, off season comes to a close and the grind of winter training begins.