Sometimes Rides Bikes

Half a Bob.

2012-01-10T12:56:00.000Z

The Bob Graham round is 66 ish miles, 42 tops and 28'000.

As day broke last Sunday morning, and I descended into Langdale I'd done 36 miles 22 tops and 14,000'.

Saturday James kindly drove me up to the Lakes. I was rested, fed, and generally feeling rather good about heading out on a mid winter Bob Graham round. We arrived just in time to have some supper in a local hostelry, but of course without beer.

We'd maybe left it a little tight on time, so I had to be quick to get ready. But there was time for a quick leg massage form Ali before I headed for the Moot Hall.

At the Moot Hall there were lots of people. Along with some of my helpers, and supporting runners were Dave Ward's team. Dave a fellow Pennine runner was setting off at the same time. We must have cut it fine, as apparently we had 3 minutes before our 8pm off. No time for nerves, just as I like it.

Below Steve and Mark, a couple of my leg 2 pacers.

Having not run for a week, I'd feared this first section, as I'd thought my legs would have forgotten how to run. A foundless fear, as one of my pacers said I was running too quickly, when I thought I was jogging. Dave's team were in sight for quite awhile as we headed up Skiddaw's lower flanks, but I made sure I wasn't going to chase them. We were making good progress and thankfully unlike the last two times I'd been up there, the wind was manageable.

Skiddaw was summited with time in hand against schedule. Next a steady jog down into some very damp ground before the climb up to Great Calva. The exact line of the trod to the top proved elusive until we were a fair way up the hill. We weren't the only ones to take an alternative route to the top that evening. As I neared the top Dave's team rolled up a short distance behind.

On the descent Dave's lot were away ahead of us. The River Calva when we reached it was a mellow calf height deep, and in seconds we were across it and on our way towards Mungrisedale Common, and then in turn to Blencathra, though this section seemed to take an eternity. Still, plenty of time in hand.

On Blencathra a few dabs of snow reminded us that this was winter, even though the lack of wind rain and cold seemed to suggest otherwise.

Playing safe we jogged down Doddick Fell. The wind that hadn't really been much of a nuisance briefly reminded me of its presence by whisking my HCtB winter hat from my head before dumping it somewhere near Scales Fell. Sadly I didn't have the time to go and look for it. Hmm a bit of a niggle in my right knee.

Down at Threlkeld I ate, changed head torch batteries and had my legs massaged again.

Leg 2 a trudge through bogs and tussocks to gain the slopes of Clough Head. A bit of wind, but not enough that we couldn't hold a conversation and be heard. Good progress through the occasional mist that came and went. Skirting Calfhow Pike we were soon on the Dodds ridge. As we picked them off in the distance we could see lights. Steve and Alan now joined us.

On over the rest of the ridge towards Dollywagon Pike we kept close to schedule, but as we descended each hill my right knee started to hurt more and more.

Years back I'd had some ITB (illiotibial band) problems, but throughout all my recent training had never had more than the tiniest twinge. Not impressed.

Climbing Fairfield was painful, and descending even more so. By the top of Seat Sandal I'd lost a good chunk of time, and by the time I reached Dunmail to the sound of my crews cow bells a good chunk more.

It's hard to describe the emotions I was feeling there, except to say I was definitely emotional. I felt strong, not tired and really wanted this. But my ITB was murdering me. Failure had never been a possibility until now. I was not going to chuck the towel in. Emma and Ali had tea and noodles for me which I devoured.

Ali again looked after my legs gave me a cuddle and Hey Presto I was ready for Leg 3.

Dunmail to Wasdale was the leg I'd thought if I could get through then the rest would go.

I was encouraged by Hanno thinking that the ascent of Steel Fell was a toughie. For me it was a steady effort, and a short one. The knee was not too painful after it's massage, but that didn't last for long.

The next section should have been quick. I managed to run the few flat bits, but the ups and down were slow. Even though I'd been up here a few weeks back, without my GPS I wouldn't have had a clue as to where we were. Paul (now to be know asThe Seer) without map and compass however knew more or less excatly where we were. Most impressive.

I got time checks as we attained each summit, and as I'd feared, was hemorrhaging time.

Dawn broke accompanied by a chill wind, not giving the usual lifting of spirits that dawn brings. By Thunacar Knott, I was nearly 1:30 down on schedule. Ahead of me some of the biggest roughest climbs of the round.

Not lightly, for sure, but the decision was made. Getting round in 24 hours was not going to happen. Paul made the call to James to let everyone else know what was happening.

The drop down to Langdale if I was fit would have taken 15 minutes tops, on the day probably closer to an hour aided by my walking poles which I'd picked up at Dunmail to take the pressure of my knee.

Down at the New Dungeon Ghyll we were greeted by Jenn with tea coffee, and gingerbread biscuits. Yeah. Some walkers commented on how gauche we were having tea and coffee before we set off on our walk. I said "Start? I've just finished, and started from Keswick". I don't think they believed me.

Back at Keswick were Ann and the kids. It was great to see them. We adjourned to a cafe where Emma, Ali and James joined us for breakfast. I ate, chatted, and shortly after was struggling to stay awake.

So, as I finish writing this a couple of days after the end, my current reflective thoughts.

A winter round is a toughie. You have to love the night. I'd trained in the dark and being able to cover rough ground quickly by torchlight is essential. When I was not hobbling, I was on, or ahead of pace, so I feel that part of things was good. I ate reasonably well, and at one stage I probably ate a bit too much which my stomach didn't like. The logistics of the round went well. Having a number of helpers on the ground proved useful on a couple of occasions. I see no reason why I wouldn't have got round if my knee hadn't flared up.

I am indebted to a number of people who haven't been named here, but they have been thanked in person. I certainly wouldn't have got as far as I did without them.

Will there be another attempt at the round? Indeed there will. I'm going to find a nice day in the summer when my knee is fixed and do the round with some friends and have a few beers afterwards.

Next Winter though I'll be back. The Lake District is a special place as you all know, but having it to yourself and a few mates in the dark is something else.

PS. Congratulations to Dave Ward, 23:02 for his round. :)

Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting.

2012-01-05T19:00:00.000Z

Well a less than ideal forecast for an 8pm start on Saturday, but there you go.

Other forecasts say that we start of windy, and as Saturday night continues the winds abate.
Sunday day is meant to be quite pleasant, before the winds, and hey some rain on Sunday night.

Gear packed, some food to buy tomorrow.

Ready, steady......

BGR training done, now Weatherwatch...

2012-01-01T14:29:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

My training is now done and dusted for my winter Bob Graham round.

I started keeping a training diary at the beginning of October 2011, and my totals to the end of December are 470 miles run with 114,805' of ascent and descent.

That's not far off the usual recommendations of 40 miles a week and 10,000 of hills. I've never run so much over such a period of time, and as the weeks have gone by, I've found I've enjoyed running more and more.

One thing is for sure, is that post BG I'll try and keep at it. Already I have my eye on some other longer events.

A few days of rest now and weather permitting I'll be leaving the Moot Hall in Keswick at 8pm on the 6th of January.

I've set up a twitter feed for my helpers to add updates enroute if you're interested. @RichpipsBGR

A Date in Winter.

2011-12-21T12:50:00.000Z

I feel I've done enough training now for my Bob Graham round. 3 months of high miles, and big ascents, building on the rest of the years base miles.

So, the 6th/7th of January I shall be leaving the Moot Hall at 8pm.
Darkness for legs 1 + 2 and as far as Rossett Crag. From there the most technical ground will traversed in daylight, before dusk again falls at Honister Pass. Leg 5 back to Keswick again in the dark. All this based on a 23 hour schedule.

I'm feeling strong and confident.

Having written all that, I will be at the mercy of the weather and ground conditions. A much faster runner than me, Nick Clark is currently on his own winter round. Early expectations were of a sub 20 hour round. The most recent time check is that he's well down on the 24 hour time limit after leg 2. Rain, low visibility, and deep snow aren't helping. My fingers are crossed for him.

Let's hope the Lakeland Fells and weather play nice in January.

Bob Graham Training 2011 for a Winter Round.

2011-11-21T15:59:00.001Z

Just over a year ago I started training for the Bob Graham.

Unfortunately the training ended about a month later.

Too much too soon, seemed to be the cause of it. I'd read of building run mileages up slowly, but I guess I thought this didn't refer to me.

I did try a come back of sorts but my aspirations for 2010 as written elsewhere on here fizzled out. Looking back now, this has been a good thing.

I kept at the running, didn't fret about the mileage or ascent, and in so doing built a solid base from which to work from.

I trained hard as well for the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross. With lots of time spent on the bike which seems to have transferred well to running up hills.

So after the Peaks I tentatively decided to keep training with half an eye on the BG again.

I've concentrated on my running technique, I'm now a fore/mid foot runner, and the knee problems that have plagued me in the past, are a distant memory.

I've worked on a week of hard work, followed by an easier one to allow recovery. Though throughout making sure I get as much hill work in, even if the mileage is low.

There have been some long runs, and some proper long rough ones.

I've been practicing eating on the move, and gorged myself in cafes on the way round, all good.

This last week has been my biggest so far, and a sort of tester to reassure myself that all is going to plan.

64 miles and 9000' on the fixie with lots of hard efforts.

60 miles and 19,200' run including a 9 1/2 hour day.

Felt pretty good throughout really, though a couple of little niggles started to appear towards the end of the week. Though these don't seem to be developing in to show stoppers. Anway, an easy week this one.

So I'm fit enough I reckon to give the Bob Graham round a good go.

Plans are afoot for a winter round if the weather plays nice.

More soon.

School Run #1

2011-10-05T11:38:00.000+01:00

Putting ones proposed plans on the internet is good if you need a reminder, or a little nudge, but is not so good if you have a change of mind. Writing this a couple of days ago commited me to going for a long run yesterday. Basically drop kids at school, go for long run, pick kids up after school. Which would have been fine if I, a) woke up with more than fifteen minutes to get ready and be out of the door, and b) hadn't got a bit of a hangover. I could have so easily opted for a less stressful start to the day.

I rushed a gulp of tea, and a couple of rounds of toast down me whilst collecting together the stuff I'd fortunately organised the preceding evening. Less than ten minutes to get to school, means we'll be riding there and quickly. Kids delivered to school on time, bike dumped in the school bike shed, and I'm away.

I'd been rushing that much that I ran off on autopilot, not going the exact way I had planned. Soon to be rectified with a slight change of direction. The next part of the route I knew well, and it wasn't until past the Brown Knoll trig, that I covered some new to me ground. The sun was shining thankfully and the ground was dry, Brown Knoll has little attraction on any other day.


Brown Knoll from South Head.

After the desolation of Brown Knoll, it was back to a sort of civilisation and the kempt ridge path that takes me over Lord's Seat and onto Lose Hill. Lots of folk out walking this part of the route. I say good morning to them all.

Whilst descending Lose Hill, I check my watch and I'm down on my schedule by about ten minutes. I also can't decide what I'm going to have for lunch. I'd like a full English, but can envisage my stomach not being impressed once I start running again. Ten minutes later and I am in the Woodbine Cafe. A pint of coffee in front of me and beans on toast ordered. Map out to see if I can find a bit of time in better route choices, if I'm ten minutes down now, then that would mean maybe twenty minutes down overall, which wouldn't do. I find a solution. Nothing for it but to run the first two and a bit miles on the road, which should give me back a bit of time.

Another cup of coffee before I leave and I'm soon heading up Edale road. I'm making for the YHA en route for Ringing Roger and the Kinder Plateau.

Edale YHA.

After the YHA it is open ground, and the headwind I was expecting began to make itself apparent. Once on the plateau, whilst near the edge the wind near blew me over a couple of times. Thankfully when inland of the edge a bit, the wind's effect was not as intense.

I'm starting to clock watch more intensely now, doing Naismith type calculations in my head whilst trying to keep up my running speed. Unsurprisingly my legs are tiring a bit, so pushing on hurts. At Edale Cross, it's mostly downhill, the time is 15:02. I conclude that it's going to be a close thing getting back to school for 15:20, which I've since worked out would be 3 x 6 minute miles :)

The last thing I want to do at the end of a long run is to start running fast, but that is exactly what I had to do. I lengthened my stride and went for it. Down the rocky uneven ankle twisting Edale Road, then onto the unforgiving, no excuse not to really run fast tarmac back into the village and onto school.

I made it some ten minutes late, only to be told off by my kids for keeping them waiting.

25 miles, and 4400', 5 Hours 48 minutes moving.

A really enjoyable day out in the hills.

Plotted, A School Run.

2011-10-03T19:57:00.000+01:00

I've quite often got free time during the week after taking the kids to school and before picking them again if I'm not working.

So I've come up with an occasional challenge, which shall be henceforth called the "School Run". The idea is to drop the kids at school at 8:50 and run somewhere, before returning to pick them up at 15:20.

6 1/2 hours should be good for a good few hilly miles. I've done it before on the bike, and it can be quite challenging getting back "just in time".

My first School Run is plotted for tomorrow at 25 miles. From here over to the Woodbine Cafe for lunch and then back again. Weather is looking bang on.

I finished the 3 Peaks Cyclo Cross 2011

2011-09-26T11:31:00.000+01:00

This year at the 3 Peaks Cyclo Cross was going to be my fastest, and by a long way. I've done the race three times before, and always been the wrong side of 4 hours 30 minutes.This time my plan was to be pretty close to, if not under 4 hours.

Pic- Ed Rollason.

I'd trained really hard, lots of fell running and lots of miles on my bike. My trusty bike had just one fixed gear, so in theory little could go wrong.

Off we go from Helwith Bridge. Steady away for me, it's hammering down with rain, and people are all over the place. Once we turned off the road at Gill Garth I started reeling people back in. That is until I passed the farm. My rear tubeless tyre decides after a week of being ridden hard over pointy stuff that now is the time to unseat itself from the rim. It is pissing it down with rain, and getting the valve out of the rim is a nightmare. Long before I finally get the tyre re-inflated, I am in last place. Last place in the three peaks at Gill Garth farm is cool if you are 70 something years of age, not when you are 45 and fit.

I dig in and before Simon Fell proper I've already got a few places back. By Ingleborough I'm 120 places up, but ~20 minutes behind my 4 hour timetable. The going down off Ingleborough is gloopy, I never touched the brakes until the very last bit to Cold Cotes. Frustratingly twice my chain falls off. The chain tension is OK, how does that happen? At Cold Cotes (another 20 places up) I stop and tighten the chain, and swear a lot (sorry kids), and loads of people who I've passed now pass me.

Away on to Whernside and I'm motoring I pass everyone who's passed me (twice) and by the top I've made another 15 places. No need for elaboration but before the viaduct at Ribblehead I first pass loads of people, puncture once, get passed by loads of people, pass loads of people, puncture again etc.

At Ribblehead (now 30 places down) my wife is puzzled why I want more tubes and Co2 cylinders (which she has left in the car). Ace. I bark " Run to the car, get to Horton before me."

I ride the road slowly chatting to someone I've not seen for years. No point getting to Pen Y Ghent lane without any extra tubes. Ann eventually catches me up with replacement tubes etc. Time to push on again.

I leave Mairi and though 4 hours is already nearly up, my other goal to beat the fixed gear record of just short of five hours is still a goer. I ride and run up Pen Y Ghent lane by the top (40 places up). All is needed now is to get back down in one piece.

I descend fast, and then the chain falls off. I wait until the bike comes to a natural stop, and then put it back on again. Shortly after the chain falls off again, but this time it gets caught between the frame and the cog, resulting in a locked rear wheel. No problem I think. I stop and unwind the chain from the wheel only to find that more than half of the chain is no longer there. Oh well, game over. Consoled though that I'm not broken like some others.

Scooting and rolling gets me back to the road.

My pal Chipps Chippendale and someone who I don't know assisted me back to the finish via Madison style slingshots and other towing techniques. Thanks.

So my slowest ever 3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross at 5:07 , but definitely the most eventful.

Lessons learned for next year.

Peris Horsehoe 2011

2011-09-05T12:06:00.000+01:00

I've been running and cycling lots recently. Recovering from races and training quickly. I thought that slotting in the Peris Horseshoe with its 17.5 miles and 8500ft of ups and downs into my calendar would be good as a last long hard day befor the 3 peaks at the end of the month.

Saturday I wake with a good hour to fettle myself before I leave. No rushing, I eat plenty, but not too much, I feel a bit off. Not properly ill, but just a bit bleurgh.

As I drive on I graze, and my bleurgh feeling neither transitions to the vomit stage nor does it improve. Llanberis and I decide as it's not going to get worse, it'll probably get better. I register for the race.

The weather forecast for the race was pretty grim. Rain and winds gusting up to 50mph on the tops. In the valley the forecast seemed correct. Rain and lots of it. I dressed accordingly, a thermal long sleeved top with a spare plus the usual full body cover hat and gloves. It was quite warm though in the valley, and I was wondering if the thermal was going to be overkill, there were plenty of other runners in vests.

The first climb heads up through the quarries, then on grass to the summit of Elidir Fawr 2600' in 3 miles, and the most of it runnable. I was enjoying the climb, and reeled in a few over the long climb. Though I definitely wasn't feeling as strong as I should have been. As we pulled out of the quarries the rain and wind became a lot more noticeable, not in a making progress awkward way, but in a chilly way. I was cold. I stopped put on my extra top, and hat and pushed on.

I kept running, and I was still cold. Granted the sun wasn't shining, but other people were wearing much less, and I didn't see their teeth chattering. I'd been eating my trusty jelly babies since the off, so fuel shouldn't have been a problem, but by the time I got to the Glyder Fawr climb (under 2 hours out) I was fading fast. Moving just fast enough to not be too cold, but not running too fast and chancing the risk of blowing completely. A long time since I've felt like that.

Coming off Glyder Fawr I avoided my speculative short cut down to Pen Y Pass, and instead took the circuitous path down. No time to try to be clever. The occasional glimpse of the Youth Hostel below spurred me on. Which was as well, as I really was on empty. The option here was to jack, or continue the other half of the horseshoe.

A relatively pleasant 1/2 an hour at the PyP bus shelter spent shivering uncontrollably, before a bus ride back down to Llanberis. Thankyou to the lady who paid my £1 bus fare.

I get warm dry clothes on have some pea and ham soup and feel back in the game. So back in the car, and homeward bound. 1/2 an hour up the road now warmed by the car's heater, I feel the signs of sleepiness. I pull into the services set my alarm for an hours time and sleep. An early night, and even the day after I slept loads.

On Saturday I was disappointed how things had turned out. I've completed this race before when much less fit than now, so I know that it was easily doable. My bleurgh feeling was most likely due to my body saying "Hey I'm tired, lets have a day off" rather than some proper illness.
Though my kit exceeded the minimum FRA race requirements, on the day I was under equipped.
I was pleased how I did my thing once it was clear that a "situation" was a distinct possibility. Making stupid decisions when cold and wet is easy.
I should have taken something a little warmer, and some money for the bus just in case.

Richard Seipp 1 - Peris Horseshoe 1

Rematch next year methinks.

Plan Fail.......A Change of Focus.

2011-08-19T21:39:00.000+01:00

Apologies for not letting folks knowing what has been occurring. My BGR aspirations for this year all went wrong, in part due to my dissapointment with my original plan, my increasing workload, and in part due to my wife's work commitments. A deficit, and a lack of time to make it up in time for a pre-determined date. Gutted really, to not be able to turn up and give it a realistic go.

I tend not to write when there's nothing positive to say, and even on twitter (@richpips) I left the building for a while.

I've been back for a while riding a bit, and running also. First socially, and I have to say without my friends I'd probaly not have bothered for a good while longer. Out with friends doing fun stuff in the hills is top.

Last minute decisions got me into a couple of 24 hour races in teams rather than solo, that has been my want previously, and unlike the solo thing, racing in a team is fun. One can race hard for a lap, and then relax for the next few. This sort of got me back to the idea of racing. We're not racing for the top spots, but who can do the fastest lap ;) .

July the 1st and the entries for the 3 peaks cyclo-cross open.

I am in and I am going to race.

Just for fun of course.

More soon.

Mind Training.

2011-01-24T17:21:00.000Z

I haven't been able to shake this bloody lurgy that's been with me for a couple of weeks now.

So after Sunday's handicap, I took Mon-Wed off from exercise. So you'd think by Thursday I'd be fit and raring to go again.

Er, no. Still I managed a couple of miles in the morning accompanied by my lungs trying to expode. In the evening I went out with the club, and ran 6 I guess, though slowly.

Friday another rest day.

Saturday after a shocking nights sleep. I dragged myself from my warm bed to run round the Kinder Trial. 12 miles and 2500' of rough Dark Peak loveliness. I felt shit most of the way round, and the temptation to jack and go home was never far away. Still I was pleased to have pushed on through to get to the finish, albeit in a leisurely style.

The guy in the pub afterwards commented that I'd looked like I'd done something exhausting. He must have been right. I slept for 2 hours when I got home, and after supper it was an early night.

Sunday and a 6:45 reveille. This time not for a run, but instead for a 100 mile audax. I can't say how easily I would have rolled over, switched the alarm off and gone back to sleep, if it wasn't for my having arrranged to take Gus and Lisa to the start.

Once at Cheadle we met up with Amy and albeit a few minutes after everyone else headed off down towards Delamere for our first cafe stop. We soon caught everyone else up and made Delamere in a couple of hours at a steady pace. The course was flat so it was just a matter of getting the bike up to speed and rolling along, taking a turn every now and then to keep the groups momentum up.

From there onto the next cafe at Audlem at 55 miles. Once inside in the warmth I felt proper tired. I poked at an apple crumble and ice cream. My stomach wasn't up for food. I drank much tea instead and soon we were off again in the cold.

I suppose 60 miles was about all I was good for on Sunday in comfort. The next 40 were a task, with the last hour being a big ask.

We just made Cheadle as dusk fell. My GPS had got me back to where I'd left the car. I had to rack my brain for a good minute to recall where we had signed on 8 hours earlier. Once that bit of info had been retrieved it was soup and rolls, and then back home.

So, a week where I've felt sub par. Run 20 miles and cycled 100. None of which has been easy. I must have dug deep yesterday, because after dropping the kids at school, I went back to bed for another 6 hours sleep.

Still there will no doubt times when I'm heading round the Bob Graham round, and things are not going well. When those times come it'll be good to have a resource of times to draw on when it also wasn't fun and easy, and importantly knowing that I kept on going.

Go lurgy I've had enough of you now.

Family Flu.

2011-01-18T12:43:00.000Z

This was going to be a week of doing a good few miles, and has ended up with doing very few.

Basically I ended up spending the majority of my week looking after the rest of the families flu wants, until I too finally succumbed.

I'd planned on a couple of decent sessions for Tuesday and Wednesday. Nah, child care.

I got out on Thursday to the club run which was good. Friday and it was my turn to feel the beginnings of the plague. About 7 miles into a run, I bailed, freezing, shivering etc. I went on to spend the next 24 hours in bed.

Sunday and we had a club handicap. I didn't feel my best but thought I'd get round, and so I did.

Monday back to a high temperature and bleurgh. I write this on Tuesday afternoon and am just starting to feel a little better.

So last week yielded a low total of 25 miles, 5000'. Lots of high temperatures, coughing and snot.

I'm back running.

2011-01-09T17:50:00.000Z

Well that injury was a right nuisance, and it seemed that the only way to get rid of it was to take some time off from the running. I've ridden the mountain bike a bit and this seems to have helped in maintaining some fitness.

Anyways this week after reading of others fitness New Year resolutions I got my running shoes on and got back out there.

A tentative and slow 50 minutes on Thursday afternoon suggested that my injury was gone, so later that evening I went out on our weekly club run for another couple of hours. All good.

Saturday, and Lisa and I walked over Kinder to Fairbrook, and thence to Edale. Proper icy up on the paths on the Northern Edges.

Pretty light as we headed over the plateau.

Sunday and a run over to the Downfall, which whilst thin for climbing has plenty of spray ice on it.

So 28 miles and 5800' this week. But most importantly no pain or niggles.

More next week.

Arse - Nemesis.

2010-11-30T20:10:00.000Z

What a peculiar post title eh?

Well it is you see. My arse has stopped me getting out running. The preceding week's Sunday long run ended up with some discomfort in my tail.

Sadly Monday and the discomfort had turned into a stab which manifested its self everytime I put my left foot somewhere.

So really we can now say left arse, and somewhere deep too.

Anyways, sensibly (don't be shocked) I took a couple of days off running and took it easy.

Friday, still not much improvement, some pain, even when walking, but my physio pal tells me another week off and I should be back to running.

So I miss the Famous Grouse race on Sunday, and take some pictures instead.

I've managed a few bike rides, but todays 2 hour bash about in the snow drifts, has made me realise that this too is maybe doing more harm than good.

So I guess that's it for a while with running.

Physio again on Friday.

Arse.

PS. Some good news, I got the tests back from the Docs today, and apparently, am not going to die of kidney, liver or lung related ailments soon. Though my cholestrol levels leave a bit to be desired.

A Mixed Week.

2010-11-21T17:54:00.000Z

Monday a pleasant steady 5 miles.

A niggling pain in my chest forced me to the doctors on Tuesday. The Doctor was so not impressed with my peak flow reading, that I then had to have lots of blood tests and a visit to the hospital for a chest X-ray.

Not a clue what, if anything is up, but it certainly put me of my stroke for the first part of the week, though I did manage a couple of short sorties. WTF does it take 10-14 days for a digital X-ray to get back to my doctor? Anyways, as I write this it doesn't hurt anymore, so we'll forget all about that unless we hear otherwise.

Thursday I did 10 miles. I slipped and heard my shoulder pop as I tried to slow my progress to the ground. Sore.

Friday, mileage deficit and a shoulder that hurts like hell. 0 miles.

Saturday, a good day. Did fairly well in our club handicap. Pleased that I was able to stay with some of the qiucker runners, at least for a while. Felt fairly strong.

Sunday, a long run over to Edale and back. Felt pretty rubbish all the way round, still ~20 miles not feeling good for the mind, is probably better than a 20 that feels easy.

A bit light on the hills this week, but in spite of the crap start to the week I still ran 40 miles which is where I wanted to be at the end of it.

The plan is for more miles and hills next week.
We'll see eh?

The First Bob Graham Recce.

2010-11-10T11:49:00.000Z

A definite change in the weather this week, which required some adjustments, mostly mental.

Monday, I'd planned to do some hill reps, but in the end I couldn't persuade myself out into the continual freezing wind blown rain (snow higher up). The half of me that said another rest day was OK won over the one that said I was being lazy and ought to get my arse in gear.

Anyways Tuesday I got out. A steady run out to the foot of Mount Famine. The first ascent and descent I did was up the steepest route possible, which in theory was a good idea, in practice I kept on slipping on the steep tussocks, which may be in part that the Walshes I was wearing have little tread left on them. So once at the bottom I headed up the valley a little towards Dimpus Clough. The climbout of which gave an average gradient of 10% less to the summit. Still 450 feet in 0.4 of a mile (green line on the pic).

Only a short run but I made it out of the house. Also glad to have found a nice line for future reps.

Wednesday when not working, spent eyeing the weather forecast and packing lots of warm clothes for Thursday. More than a moment spent hoping I could keep up with the guys whom I was going to be running with. The forecast of blizzards and 100mph gusts not the weather to be travelling slowly in.

5:19 on Thursday morning I leave the warmth of my bed, and by 6am we're in the car and on our way to the Lakes. Driving is interesting with the heavy rain and winds. My wife informs me I am mental for even considering going for a run in this weather. She is probably right.

I get to the Moot Hall in good time, and by 9:06 we (Bill, Jim and Dave) are off. It soon becomes apparent that I am the one everyone else will be waiting for today. Rather than cane myself to keep up which would hae resulted in implosion, I settle for my pace.

Once above the Skiddaw car park, the wind makes its presence known. It seems the weather forecasters got it right. At the top of Skiddaw, forget running along the ridge, I struggle to stay on my feet.

Thankfully as we descend towards Hare Crag the wind doesn't come with us. There's good visibilty, and route finding is easy, but Bill kindly explains how to find the trod when the clag is down. On to Great Calva and then down to the River Caldew. Bill goes on his own with the water up to his thighs. The rest of us find somewhere slightly less deep and together form a group wedge, and shuffle our way gingerly across. That water was cold.
A steady plod up to Blencathra was spent chatting to Jim about his forthcoming winter round.
At the top we check out the various options for descent, opting for the Doddick Fell route.
The wind nearly had me over a couple of times on the way down, still by the time we get to Threlkeld we were only 15 minutes behind schedule, which considering the weather was OK.

Over the A66 and on to Clough Head. Rain, hail, and wind did not detract from what is a fierce climb. Head down, plod plod plod. With a bit of interest kicking steps in snow to make the summit ridge.

Once at the summit the wind was really doing its thing again. We shold have been able to run from the top, but instead had to make do with staggering at an angle to the oncoming wind to the col. Wild.

Decision time 3pm iirc. A couple more hours of daylight left. Carrying on was an option, though we decide to do the sensible thing. I've been on Helvellyn on less windy days and been blown over, and have heard of others who've been permanently blown away.

So after Calfhow Pike we traverse the hillside to Castle Rock and then down to the A591. A mile or so on the road and onto the King's Head at Thirlspot. 20 miles, 7000' and 2 pints of Hobgoblin.

Ann kindly drove back whilst I slumbered. Once home I ate, and then I ate some more. I'd eaten during the day, but obviously not enough.

Friday a day of rest. I was knackered after Thursday's efforts.

Saturday. My 45th Birthday.
Glorious weather. 8 steady miles briefly visiting the Kinder plateau, still feeling Thursday's day out.

Sunday feeling better a much faster run than usual over 8 miles.

So in spite of a shaky start not a bad week. 42 miles, and well over 12,000 feet of hills. Thursday was fun, and informative as to the actual route, though I think I'll forego epic weather days when checking the route in future. I'll certainly not be embarking on the Bob Graham round in such weather.

I'll probably leave recces up there until spring now. Lots of good stuff to do nearer to home.
Having said that I will be heading up to the Lakes in December for the Tour de Helvellyn which will be a good long day out.

I shall try and resist the temptation to ramp up the mileage and hills much for the next couple of weeks. Consolidation first me thinks.

Round Kinder.

2010-11-07T15:37:00.000Z

42 miles run and 8600' of hills this week.

Tuesday and Wednesday were relatively short runs.

Thursday's original plan was to drive over to the A628 and to run North to Black Hill, but Lisa's car was grumbling so we opted instead to run from the village round the Kinder plateau.

From hers over Matley Moor, and on to Mill Hill we go. We couldn't see much from there, but as long as we kept a void to our left all was good. In fact we didn't even bother to take the map out. We tried to run the lot though the peat groughs did their best to slow us down. I used my Trail Blazer walking poles for the first time and they helped progress. Lisa referred to them disparagingly with a phrase featuring the words "old man".

Approaching Blackden Brook, I checked over my shoulder and Lisa had disappeared. Odd but no doubt she'd taken a slighty different line through the peat hags, so I carried on. A moment later I checked back again, and still I couldn't see her. I stopped and scanned the area methodically. Nowt.

I legged it back the way I came and soon find her lying motionless on the floor. Interrogation quickly reveals that she has gone over on her ankle big time. I make her see if she can move her foot, and she can, so I know if we're not going to call Mountain rescue, that she better get back on her feet straight away. I give her my "old man" sticks and tell her to head down to the Brook whilst I work out our escape route.

Excellent, we are about as far as we can be from Hayfield, in fact about as far away as we can be from anywhere of note. Edale is around 3 crow miles away, so I take a bearing and we make our way across the plateau, and then down to Edale.

We check the train times at the Station and find that though it is 1:30 the next train won't get us over our side of the hill until 4pm. Public transport eh?

A quick ring round a few friends and we solicit a lift back to Hayfield just in time to get the kids from school. (Thanks Debs)

Lisa reports she has a blue tennis ball on her ankle (last seen yesterday with her own walking stick). :) Not so funny is that it'll be a while until her ankle is better.

Even though we'd only done ~13miles that day, on Friday my legs were sore, so I had the day off.

Saturday I needed a big run to get the miles up. So again, though this time alone I headed for the Kinder Plateau. This time mindful of what can happen in remote places I instruct Ann of route and times in case things go wrong.

A contrast to Thursday, Saturday is a still sunny day. I make good progress and feel strong most of the way round. Though the bogs were getting tiresome towards the end. I should have got up a bit earlier so I didn't have to finish in the dark, but otherwise a top day out. 19 miles and 3700'

Looking forward to heading up to the Lakes on Thursday for my first Bob Graham recce of legs 1 and 2.

BG training week 1.

2010-11-01T23:49:00.000Z

I think it's more or less a week since I decide it was game on, so, if only to poke my self in to action, every now and then, I'll put some facts up here and observations on them, to keep me motivated.

Conventional wisdom says build up slowly ie increase total mileage by 10% a week. So as I did 22 miles last week on my recent return to running, it was only right that I did loads more this week.

No?

I enjoy pushing myself, and I know that the BG is going to be a push. So a harder week to evaluate my weaknesses was in order.

7000' of hills this week and 38 miles.

I could have done more - Good. The running thing was OK, slow but I can do that for a few hours already. 3 1/2 hours my longest outing this week.

Bad- my shonky knees. My knees pain me on the bike, walking with a sack, and running. Bleugh.

So my knees are definitely going to be my weakness, especially descending. So I've done two things, one started some quad exercises and also ordered some Mountain King Trail Blazer Poles.

For sure that if my upper body can assist me in getting round via some stick things then I'm up for that. Plus i've seen some people fast descending using them, so if I get on with them and can master the technique.... well we'll see.

I've had a day off today.

Back to it tomorrow, and loving the shitty weather and darkness, which is somewhat odd for me at this time of the year.

Pictures to be resumed soon, my memory card for my GF1 fell to pieces the other day.

What would Bob Graham do?

2010-10-27T20:25:00.000+01:00

I had a plan for next year which involved my return to 24 hour mountain bike racing. I've always liked competing solo and endurance is the only high card I will ever hold.

24 hour bike racing, I like it but the same old courses no longer hold a real appeal.

Thursday: We go and reccy a fell running race with navigation. 2-3hrs. Rain, mist, concentration and pain from trying to make swift progress. I haven't run for ages, I tried hard.
So contented from the sortie, that I run another 4 miles that evening with my fell running club (who I've drank far more beers, than I've ever run miles with).
I hobbled for a couple of days after.

Sunday: Race day, (I'd reccied checkpoints #2 and #3 on Thursday).
I find #1 easily, who knows what possesed me next. I traverse far too high, I completely miss #2 and #3.

I can see nothing, it is pissing with rain, my navigation is obviously not A1, and I am slow. I remember 30yrs ago atop Rossett Gill crying in similar circumstances, and it bringing me no more salvation than it would today.

OK time for home? Nah, I have cheese scones I made yesterday and jellybabies.

On to #4 then #5. Down now to #2 and #3, then back up to #6. So much time lost. Rain, wind, bog, cold, thirsty.

#7 and #8 were easy, and the weather calmed a bit. #9 would have been easy to find for a navigator, maybe, I was crap it took me ages to work out where I was.

Anyways ~4 hours on my own getting lost, falling over, and eventually finding the checkpoints. The penultimate finisher. Tired but not too much considering the night of beer and dancing the night before. Probably 12 miles and 3500' .

And I have run twice since. Forsaking my bike. What's occurring?

Right, I'm crap at fast running, and I haven't run regularly for years, and would like to tell you how I did wonderous things back in the day, but the reality is I've mostly been a smoking, beer drinking type who fits exercise in amongst partying.

So without more ado I'll announce I'm going to do the Bob Graham Round next year.

62 ish miles and 27,000' of ascent and descent. Hills I know well, hills I've not visited for a long time and some I've never visited.

Loads of training to do, (27 miles and 8000' this week). Looking forward to trips to the lakes with like minded peeps to reccy it all.

It's going to be scary, it's going to be painful, I'll learn to read a map properly, but for sure it's going to be more fun than training for, and riding round a muddy field for 24 hours.

Sometimes Takes Pictures Instead.

2010-09-28T10:03:00.000+01:00

Last year I rode the Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross, this year I didn't.

I've avoided racing this year, my race mojo was not with me.

Though I've just remembered I competed in the Summer Polaris with my friend Lisa and we won 3rd mixed vet. OK, so I've not ridden many races.

As usual in the couple of weeks before entries open for the 3 peaks I get reminders of the entry date, so I can't say I missed the cut off for entering. However I decided that though of course I could get round, that I wouldn't be able to improve on my PB, so instead it was better to let someone else who'd challenge themself, have my place.

This was not my only reason though. I really fancied covering this race with my camera. With the bonus that someone was paying me to do so.

Like riding in the race, I knew some proper preparation would be needed. The first thing I did was to look and see where those who had gone before had shot their pictures from. From this I learned that there were lots of pictures out there, and that there were some good shots taken from the majority of easily accesible places. Hmm.

So with my race knowledge I can think of a few places which might be good spots which don't seem to have been covered. Only thing is they're nowhere near each other. Hmm again.

Next how to get about? I could ride a bike on some bits, but along with my cameras, lenses etc on my back, I'd be too slow on the steep bits, and anyway I'd never keep up with the action.

So after much gazing at the map I decided on a route along with some useful tips from 3 peaks guru Dave, though more of that in a bit.

Now I'd decided on where I was shooting, I had to work out what shots I was planning on doing, where the light would be, and ergo what stuff I'd need to achieve that.

Most of my sport photographic work recently has been the sort where if the shot isn't spot on, I can give the shot another go ("can you ride that again please"). In a race situation this isn't an option. So I spent a couple of hours working out some custom camera and corresponding flash settings.

I knew there would be no time for faffing.

So race day, somewhat fuzzy after an evening spent with multiple former race winner Fred Salmon and friends in the Helwith Bridge Inn, we drive to the turn off for Simon Fell and I set off up Simon Fell.

I've got fell shoes on my feet - good. A rucksack weighing 10kg on my back - bad.

For those who don't know Simon Fell is steep, for those who do know and have carried a bike up there, it didn't feel that much easier not carrying one. Anyways, I didn't need to race up there I'd got a 30 minute start on the peloton from Helwith Bridge. Once I'd made it to Rawnsleys Leap I set up my stuff, and 10 minutes later Rob Jebb arrived and I took my first shot. A few more clicks of the shutter, resisting the temptation to stay there longer and I legged it.

Onwards towards Ingleborough summit in a jogging style, stopping occasionally to grab a few more shots. So far so good.

From the summit I retraced my steps and took the footpath down to the Hill Inn. This seemed weird, I was supposed to be taking pictures of a race, and yet I couldn't see any cyclists. Running as fast as my unfit legs can take me, I soon see some riders on the road. I was thankful that I hadn't missed them all. Once with the riders again, a few more shots, and on to the feed station at the bottom of Whernside.

More pictures bagged and I have a route choice decision to make. Original planning had suggested that heading up Whernside was a good idea, my schedule now some way down suggested it wasn't.

So again I leave the race course and traverse the base of Whernside to the Ribblehead viaduct, running though my legs were starting to ache. 'Twas a good plan I've got back some time relative to the riders. More photography, and we jump into the car (Ann is driving) and over to Horton in Ribblesdale.

Gridlock. We aint going nowhere. So back out of the car to capture a few more riders before the car horn going 'beep' signals that Ann's made the junction.

Sandwich and Coke downed, I'm hanging out of the car window to get a few more shots. Never tried that before. Fun.

Next destination Horton Scar Lane, it's a popular spot always with race spectators, and on Sunday no less so. There's a great atmosphere as the fast riders descend the hill and the slower fight their way up. Some great pictures of grafting riders faces.

Not long spent there and finally it was time to return to Helwith Bridge to capture the aftermath, and of course to catch up with friends.

A fun day out on the Three Peaks. To race or not next year, we'll see.

There's a slideshow of a few of the pictures on flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishcyclingphotos/sets/72157625043763522/show/

All the rest can be found here.

Postcript, my legs still ache after all that running.

Can I Come Riding With You?

2010-08-26T17:03:00.000+01:00

Four months since I posted anything, I have been out on my bike, but have been either too busy or lazy to write anything on here.

Anyway today I'm going to write about my riding partner for most of the summer.

He's not been riding long, probably just over a year since he first threw his leg over the bike and made a few pedal revolutions, before the bike threw him off. A few tears were shed, he picked himself and the bike up and tried again. Never once throwing in the towel. Frustrating those early days, though perseverance quickly paid off. Soon we were riding a few slow miles, but eventually made it as far as the next metropolis (New Mills).

Anyway at the beginning of the summer hols he decided he wanted to go and do some "proper" riding. So along with his 3 year the elder sister we went on a 12 mile loop, which is steady away in terms of technical ability, mostly towpath type surface, but like most rides round here takes in some steep hills. He rode 90% of it no problem, and pushed his bike up the rest. One of our running/riding friends with similar aged kids, described the ride as child cruelty. :)
Back at home he was buzzing, and asking what was next.

"OK, let's go and do some proper mountain biking" I say, and he says "cool".

A steady ride down the Sett Valley trail, then up Sitch Lane (steep), left up past Barking Dog Farm and we're into off road proper, loose and rocky and he just rides on. A couple of pushed bits, but importantly he gets down the loose rocky descents, with only a couple of crashes. Oh, he does crash and cry, but after we check for major blood loss and breakages, he always gets straight up, and gets back on the bike. Next we skirt Lantern Pike, and he modulates those brakes down the loose sketchy descent no problem. Wow. Back down the road and then to home. Not a long ride, but plenty of technical challenges especially if you consider those little 20" wheels.

Later that evening "When are we going out next"?

The Tissington Trail is a disused railway line that runs from near Buxton, down to Ashbourne. More or less flat, and 17 miles in length. I reckoned the kids would have no problem riding down to Ashbourne, and as a long shot, would even make it back. Transport home was arranged in case of sense of humour failure en route.

We parked the car near the start at bang on midday, and South we rode.
An early cafe stop at Parsley Hey, and then jelly babies fuelled the other 15 miles to Ashbourne.
In the cafe they asked if the kids wanted kids portions of beans toast and chips. Err no thanks, they'll eat the adult portions, and they did.

So I asked if they wanted to ride back, and they said yes. Slow now, especially on the slight hills, but amazingly my lad was having little trouble keeping up with his sister. At 8pm as we pulled up to the car my phone rang. My wife wanted to know where we wanted rescuing from. Tom shouted "we don't need rescuing, we're on the way home".

That evening at 9:30 Tom, sat like Buddha in front of the TV, obviously tired, he asked with enthusiasm in his voice "Are we going riding tomorrow"? Me, "No, I need a rest day".

The week after we went to the Lakes. A couple of 10-15 mile rides, and 3 back to back loops of the Whinlatter blue route. Very little pushing now, the boy is getting strong, if I can ride it sat down in granny ring and 3rd sprocket, he can grunt up it no problem.

He did wipe out quite spectacularly on one corner at Whinlatter resulting in a big scratch on his face. Everytime someone asked how he'd got it, and lots did, he said it was a scratch he'd got in a sword fight.

This weekend he came out on his first grown up group ride, from Hope up the Roman road, on to Hope Cross down, Jaggers and on to Edale, there we opted for the cafe and a train ride to New Mills before bombing back down the trail to home, as the others continued up some more big hills.

Out again the day after, rode all the way up Highgate Road without stopping, every weekend I see adults pushing up there, and then a couple of hours of offroad splashing through every puddle possible, which seems to be one of his favourite bits.

All that riding has taken some toll on his bike, so we spent a rainy day this week fixing up his bike this week. Swapping out some heavy junk (500gm handlebars anyone?), and adding some better stuff UN72 BB and an XT front mech to stop the chain jumping off.

He really likes the whole thing, and even scary jumps and stuff. I hope he doesn't break me when he's older.

If the weather is reasonable at half term, we will be somewhere on the Coast to coast, shame there's not time to fit it in before the end of this summer's holidays, and most likely LeJog next summer.

Anyways I've had a fantastic summer's riding, and I think Tom has too.

Peregrine Perambulations.

2010-04-04T17:28:00.000+01:00

Courtesy of STW classifieds, I find myself the owner of a Singular Peregrine frame and fork which was the plan B tourer choice after the Fargo. Mostly built with stuff I had already, though I did shell out for some Titec H-Bars which looked like they'd give two or three different hand positions.

It's inaugural trip this weekend was a plan B. The original plan being a family camping trip, though kids having just recovered from a bug and an atrocious weather forecast meant that the night before the depart, I was planning something a bit more challenging, as they'd elected to stay at home.

So thirty minutes with tracklogs mapping, and the original twenty six mile two dayer has been extended to nearer one hundred miles, with most of it off road.

A not particularly early depart on Good Friday, I headed out into the forecast rain. A couple of minutes from mine, and it's uphill, and so it continues on up to South Head. Thankfully my road cassette coupled with the XT chainset gave me a low enough gear to ride the lot. I thought that I'd most likely have to push up from the Roych, but I gave it a go, and to my surprise got all the way to the top of the cobbles, not a given on a bike without a load. Soon after though, the pushing commenced, which is damn awkward with panniers. At Rushup Edge I checked my watch, and it was clear that this was going to be a long day. The extra weight certainly made my progress slow.

From Rushup and I leave the Dark Peak grit trails that I know well and head into limestone country that I visit rarely. The skinny cyclo-cross tyres slog through the muddy grass well enough, but slither all over when coming into contact with the wet limestone. Still I stay upright mostly with only one unplanned bike dismount all day.

At about 3pm I stopped to brew a cup of tea and eat. The water took that long to boil (as I hadn't turned the stove up full), that I was colder after my warming brew, than when I'd first stopped. Fail. Of course as I was colder, it was no surprise that this was when the rain started really hammering down. The next three hours were pretty miserable really. Slow going because of the muddy bridleways, wet and cold. I was greatful when I got on to the Tissington Trail at Parsley Hay. At last the going was good. Even better I soon came upon an old railway works hut. I got inside, brewed a pot of tea (properly this time) and scoffed some food. I squeezed the water out of my waterproof gloves, and warmed them over the stove for a while. I noted also that my other waterproofs were not. Wet feet and damp clothes, but then I'd been in the rain for eight hours, so wouldn't expect much else. This time the food and drink had done their stuff, and I felt somehat revived. Now of course the rain stopped, and after a short while the sun even made an appearance. I really enjoyed this next section, some ace views, and no one else around. Riding in the big ring more often than not I was soon in Ashbourne. Some cash from the bank, then I backtracked to a campsite near Tissington. I just managed to get my tent up before it went dark. Some nine and a half hours on the bike that day. Supper cooked and eaten, it was time for beer.

Back on the bike I headed to the nearest pub. Friday night 9:30 pm I open the pubs door. Two people at the bar stared at me in a what are you doing here kind of way. I ask "Are you open?", to which they in unison reply "yes". I enter. Next an ear grating screech akin to a smoke alarm needing a new battery, then the same again. opposite the bar there is a cage with a parrot in it. £3.10 later and I have a pint of Black Sheep. Knackered I try and find a comfy seat, instead I settle on a bench seat with a vertical back and a sort of dado rail at it's top which sticks out nicely into my shoulder blades. Ten minutes later and those two people, were again the only two people in the pub.

Back on the bike I head to pub number two. On arrival, I check through the window before entry. Promising, there must have been twenty people in there, some of them are even smiling. Phew. A few beers later and I am in need of sleep.

A most pleasant nights sleep was had in my new "ladies" sleeping bag (1/2 the price of the men's one). In fact such a good nights sleep that I wasn't away until 10:30am next day. An easier day than the previous. For starters it wasn't raining, and for the most part the trails were quick under tyre. A fair bit of (quiet) road too, so 6 hours got me back to Hayfield.

I'm really pleased with the Singular Peregrine's performance. The bar bag and the panniers worked well together, and though obviously handling was different, the bike still handled really well through the rough stuff. Oh and if you are thinking what has he got in all those bags, well the answer is exactly the same amount of stuff less two lenses and a camera that I am taking with me when I go to the Icelandic interior in the summer for a few weeks on a picture taking mission. I'll be swapping the CX tyres for some Marathon XR ones though :)

Testing Times

2009-11-29T19:31:00.000Z

I'm after a tourer, and my shortlist is either a Salsa Fargo, or a Singular Peregrine. Before I splash my cash though a test ride of both is needed.

Yesterday I picked up Chipps' Fargo, and today after the rain subsided I took it for a spin. Even though it is equipped with Conti Top Contact touring tyres, it handled quite well over the rough stuff.

I've owned a Carradice SQR for ages, though without a bike it would afix to. There is just enough clearance between tyre and saddle to fit this 16 litre monster of a saddle bag to the Salsa. A prerequisite of the new bike, is that this bombproof carrier should fit.

I need to ride it further to make up my mind for sure, but so far so good.

I'll put some knobblies on it next week, and see how it fares on the proper technical stuff with some load.

Still need to find a medium Peregrine to loan for a trial ride before I make up my mind finally.

I reckon this or the Singular will be great for the Tour Mont Blanc.

2010 Adventures Overdue.

2009-11-27T09:44:00.000Z

Nearing the end of 2009, I realise that I've spent very little time on my bike. My only race was the Kielder 100, and that was a bit of a disaster, and other than a few day trips, not much in the way of adventures.

It's not been laziness. I devoted the days where I would have raced, to taking pictures at those events instead. A strategy which for my photography that is paying off. I've managed to have pictures published in a number of sports magazines. The most recent of which was a picture of Nick for the Ride Journal.

Anyway for 2010 I'm hoping to combine more riding with the photography, and have some big adventures along the way.

So far on the rather small list are a few sojourns. In no particular order Amy, Kate and I are going to have a couple of days out in the Lake District completing the Lakeland Lugger. A route that I formulated over 2 years ago, reccied a coupe of sections, and have not yet completed. Date TBA, but sometime twixt May and July.

A Tour of the Cairngorms. Time to revisit the Scottish wilderness. 5 days or so camping and riding in February sometime between the 13th-21st (half term).

For the summer holidays, I've not quite decided yet, but following some of the Tour de France and completing the Tour de Mont Blanc in under 24 hrs are targets.

I've retired from 24 hour solo racing for the time being, but I will be at Strathpuffer, Mountain Mayhem, and Sleepless in the Saddle with my camera.

Any more ideas for adventures gratefully received.

Kate's Birthday Ride.

2009-11-14T18:10:00.000Z

My friend Kate invited me along to her Birthday ride, and kindly she'd arranged it to start about 2 minutes ride from my house, so no excuses for not making it, or being late. Even though I was the last to arrive.

Along with Kate for our little adventure were Amy, Ali, Simon and Chris, and they'd all brought along their singlespeeds. I was asked why I hadn't brought mine, to which I replied along the lines of "because I know better".

They had a route planned, however as the local I was allowed to modify our route to incorporate some bits of quality riding that our party hadn't done before. In fact it was modified that much in the end, other than the direction of travel it shared little trail with the original route. Route Hijack.

A pleasant warm up roll down the Sett Valley trail, then off we went up the first hill. Just this side of rideable for it's extent, though of course if you have a singlespeed, you'll be needing the right gear.

Once at the top of the hill, we headed down a nice steep descent, no offs, but a couple of refusals.

Swoopy, droppy singletrack followed, never too tricky, but exposed.
Poor Ali discovered on the way down, that the mud and grit of which we have plenty currently, had eaten her brake pads. So we diverted slightly to point her in a homeward direction before heading off in search of more slippy twisty lines.

We all knew the first section, but then the next special diversion. I'd only done it once before. In preparation for the 3 peaks James and I had ridden it on our cross bikes. On that occasion neither of us had made it to the valley floor without kissing the grass on our way. I had thought though on that occasion, that on a mountain bike it would be possible to clean the descent.

150 metres of descent in a kilometre and all of it on a track little wider than a tyre. The first part without obstacle, but a couple of stoppers and drops meant that more speed was needed than one might have at first thought.

I was waiting for anyone down here. Solely focussing on getting down without the dreaded dab. It was going so so well. I passed the previous points of ejection without ado. The crux, a drop with some rock stoppers was barely an event. Sneaky grass covered ruts that had twice snatched my front wheel last time were glanced at and avoided. Of course just as I thought I'd made it a lack of momentum and inattention forced me to put my foot down. Pah.

I had a little wait before the next rider came into sight. Simon crested the brow smoothly, before spectacularly leaving his bike behind whilst continuing over his handlebars. Nothing broken though. Everyone down safely, and the weather was closing in. A good ride, so far. No need to be greedy, there's always another day. We retreat to the George.

Happy Birthday for tomorrow you giffer.

What? The Wrong Tyres?

2009-11-12T13:26:00.000Z

I can't believe I wrote that title. Having read numerous threads on mountain bike forums over the years, I'm bored to death with reading about what is supposedly the best tyre for (insert name of place). I am of the opinion for general XC, that it's not about the tyres on ones bike, it's about the rider's skill. The End.

Well not quite. Yesterday Nick suggested I head over to Todmorden with him to ride some of the trails round there with the STW crew and assorted bike industry folk. I'd ridden there before all would be good.

After hammering the coffee machine at STW HQ we assembled outside to split into three groups. Basically rides of differing length and difficulty dependant on how one felt on the day.

I elected to ride on the Todmorden Tech ride which would show some of the hardest riding the valley has to offer. Roughly half of this group was made up of 'locals', and I noticed before we left that many sported what are the bike equivalent of agricultural tractor tyres. Heavy wide, squarish profile, and deeeeep tread. How odd.

Off we went on the road along the valley, and again up the first hill on the road. Oh yes, those tyres sucked it out of them boys, and no doubt those who heard us passing without seeing us thought they could here the sound of distant thunder.

As always after the up, there comes the down, and at first I had no problem staying with the locals. Bare rock, and sandy trails, exactly what i'm used to.

Problems started to arise with my controlling the direction of travel and velocity of myself and bike, when the line to ride was underlying slithery mud covered with the autumnal fallings from the trees above. I was out of control.

As the day progressed I only took a couple of tumbles, but the near misses were many. Mid afternoon I decided I'd run my luck dry for the day, and on more than one occasion opted to avoid the "I'll end up in Hospital if I don't make this" line.

A great day of proper technical riding which caused not only me, but near everyone in our group to involuntarily get off their bike at least once.

Next time I head over that way, i'm going get me some of those there big tyres.

Some pics of the boys below. Click for bigger.

Ogden Water to Hebden Bridge Revisited.

2009-10-05T09:40:00.000+01:00

These days I am quite parochial when it comes to riding my bike. Unless there is a race, I rarely stray far from our local delights, Somtimes though it is good to travel, to revisit places, and meet up with friends.

Tony aka Ton from the singeltrack forum had proposed some weeks back a ride from Ogden Water over the hill to Hebden, a route that I first did some 20 years ago. I was tempted, I put my name down.

I arrived 5 minutes before the rendezvous time, which I thought would give loads of time for getting ready. Group rides are legendary for pre ride faffing, but on this occasion, everyone but me was ready. Amazing. Anyway 5 minutes later I too was ready and joined up with the rest of the group.

Group, it was more like the start of a small event. There were loads of people. 49 to be precise. Yikes.

Experience told me that this was going to be a steady ride, and not without mishap. True enough we were no more than a mile or so in before the first casuality, a seized freewheel. Well at least he was not far from the car park. It was a gorgeous day though so speed was not important we made our way onwards.

It was good to catch up with old friends and to put faces to names of others as we rode along. Punctures occasinally forced the group to wait whilst a tube was replaced. I manged to get two of them, being too enthusiastic whilst hurtling down some of the great rocky descents that Calderdale posseses.

We stopped at Gibson Mill to find that we had 'lost' a couple of our party. Time for coffee and cake whilst we awaited their arrival. After some time a search party was sent. They had disappeared. Our only checkpoint was named as the Cali Cafe in Hebden, so Ton went one way there, and we went another to meet hopefully having found the others somewhere along the way.

The lost were found. So onwards and upwards back from whence we came. Plenty of climbing, and great descents followed.

A great day out.

I might stray from home again someday.

Our leader for the day.

Know your Bike.

2009-09-30T12:35:00.000+01:00

I'm a cyclist, and presuming you read the title, I guess you are too.
In all likelihood you've ridden your bike loads more than me this year. But hey it's not a competition is it? Well no, it's not, we ride our bikes for fun if and when we can. That's good.

Now lets say you race bikes, that's different. I used to race lots, I put in the miles for training and by my standards did OK. This year has been different, my work as a photographer has meant when I would have otherwise been racing, I have been taking pictures instead. Which is also fun.

On July the 1st though, I submitted an entry for what I and many others consider to be one of the toughest races one can do on a bike. The Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross. So of course I should have done lots and lots of training, but yes you guessed it, I hadn't.

So back to the title of the piece. With only a few weeks to go and few miles under the belt, I knew that going out and doing crazy miles was unlikely to yield much in the way of results on race day. So instead I opted to learn to ride my bike. I've had my Lemond Poprad for maybe three years now though as I also have two mountain bikes, and a shiny carbon road bike, it only occasionally gets used. I was going to learn it's strengths, it's foibles and I hoped that maybe this knowledge would save the day.

I rode it on my occasional morning road rides, and most importantly I took it places that cyclo-cross bikes don't usually go. I found the loose technical climbs, the boulder strewn technical descents. Oh yes, and I crashed lots. Pushing the bike until I knew precisely what Poprad and I could achieve together.

The night before the race though, I still felt that my lack of fitness would be my undoing. A few weeks earlier I'd attempted the Kielder 100 which after 35 miles, I'd pulled out of due to a combination of a niggling injury, and general knackeredness. I was tempted to not even start the race. Nick spurred me into action about eight that evening telling me how busy he had been getting everything ready for the race. After I put the phone down, I amassed my cycling kit in 10 minutes, chucked it into an Ikea bag along with a bag of jelly babies. I too was now ready.

Race day at 6:30 am I awoke. I ate a tin of rice pudding for breakfast, then chucked everything in the car. Game on. I'd borrowed my mother in laws posh Audi for the drive up. Luxury, and speed too if needed. That is until the engine decided it didn't want to work properly. There had been a fault with the turbo previously, which apparently had been 'fixed'. Well near Blackburn, it decided it wasn't fixed, it was broke. This meant the engine went into safety mode, it went, but slooooooowly. Maybe this was the excuse I had been looking for. "Sorry busted car, couldn't make it". So there were now four possibilities, involving direction of travel, and the likelihood of being stranded on the hard shoulder.

I drove on towards Helwith Bridge, and made it.

Lining up for the race I skulked towards the rear of the start line. I wasn't going to get in the way of the racers. For me it was about getting round in one piece.

Then we were off. I took it steady at first on the road, then as folk started to get away from me I reeled some in and passed them. Still I was cautious not to give it too much as the hard bits were lying in wait. Once off road I easily rode most stuff to the bottom of Simon Fell flicking the bike round and over the damp limestone rocks on the way.

I was dreading Simon Fell, memories of burning calves, were burned into my memory. My tactic was not to look up, the enormity would be demoralising. Instead I elected to take it one step at a time. Fantastic, before I knew it I was there at the top, and then back on my bike. On to Ingelborough which involved plenty of riding, and just a little push and carry.

From the top I knew that I could make time if I descended to Cold Cotes fast. I'd learned along with Poprad, that if one wishes to descend fast, one does not use the brakes. We passed many a sqwealing bike and rider on the way down that hill.

From Cold Cotes to the foot of Whernside I did a combination of caning it to jump to other groups of riders, recovering in their slipstreams, taking my turn at the front, and then pushing on again.

I treated Whernside as I had the first carry, focussing on what was just in front of me, and passing banter with some of the other competitors.

The descent from Whernside has to be one of my favourite parts of the course. Technical rock infested nadgeriness, where bikes with less than four inches of suspension ought not to be really. In the past i've ridden it all top to bottom, but my time spent with Poprad had taught me that, some bits are faster done on foot, than astride the saddle. However that did not stop me shouting "Rider" to clear the way on the bits that I knew I could assail at full speed.

More road from Ribblehead this time in a speedy team of three all taking our turn so on our arrival at the foot of our last obstacle we weren't too worn out. Well actually the other two obviously weren't as they quickly rode away from me as we rode up towards Pen Y Ghent.

It's somewhat demoralising this part of the race, as if you're of my ability, as you are heading up the hill, the fast people are on their way back down. I see a mate Neil a little way up who informs me that Nick has won. Fantastic news. He'd only said the previous day that he was looking forward to the race, but without the pressure to win as he was now a vet. Looks like that relaxed attitude had paid off.

It was all beginning to be a bit of a slog now. Ride a bit, push a bit, and the final carry to the top. On the way back down I walked more than I would have liked. My hands, especially my left hand had developed blisters on the palms of my hands which made using the brakes very painful. Occasional screams of pain may have been heard on my way back down the hill.

The last part of the race is on the road, and the guys who were with me decided we should do this as quick as is possible. As we turn right towards Helwith Bridge it becomes clear that we will be partaking in a sprint finish. I push on a little to make a gap as we crest the bridge, job done, but no, he comes back. I push again this time hard, but he's still coming. Into the finish loose stone chipping under tyre, I give it everything. Well at least I won something that day.

Poprad and I amazingly bettered our last time by some 7 minutes.

We will of course be back next time to do even better, hopefully with a race fit rider.

"It's not about the bike" said Lance, maybe, but it helps if you know the capabilities of the one you have.