chantsrants

Ras yr Yddfa / Snowdon Race

2009-07-19T01:43:00.000-07:00

Not your typical fell race. For starters there are crowds of people at the start/finish to cheer you on, which never normally happens. Then there's a helicopter that follows you up the mountain, filming your every move (assuming you're in 1st place) and most importantly there's the shoes - it's not a race for Walshes and Innov8s, it's more Nike and Reebock. It's pretty much tarmac and rock all the way, grip isn't really a problem, comfort is (comfort, fell running - in the same sentance?).

Thought i was coming down with Swine flu the night before, felt bobbins, couldn' see anyway I'd be racing on saturday, but didn't feel too bad by the morning, just a bit lethargic. All of which disappeared when the race started. I started with Matt but realised that even for my modest aims we were way too far back in the field so put on a burst to move up the field before we left the tarmac when passing would just get harder.

Predictably enough Matt left me soon after we hit the path, but I tried to stop him getting too much of a lead on me. I passed Swiss Schali (aka Patrick Schalbetter) soon after Halfway Station - although he was still with me above Clogwyn, which was about where Emlyn Roberts passed me. This was not a good sign for my personal battle with Emlyn - I figured I needed about 2 minutes advantage on him at the summit to have any chance of beating him.
As the gradient eased off the visibilty dropped to nothing, the path narrowed, the number of walkers seemed to increase and the lead runners started to pass me on their way down. I guessed (fairly accurately) that Matt had summitted 2 minutes ahead of me and reasoned (not so accurately) that I'd easily regain this on the descent. Emlyn ran away from me on the loose section above Clogwyn and I eventually caught Matt at halfway station, but I couldn't shake him and after the tunnel he passed me again as I ran out of puff on the flatter section. I caught up with Matt by the time we hit the tarmac but I didn't think I'd have any chance of keeping up with him over the final 400m through Llanberis. Unluckily for Matt he cramped up on the steep descent before that and finished 8 seconds ahead of him - shades of Lemond vs Fignon on the Champs Elysees? Perhaps not.

Stat-attack:
Summit time: 1:03:58
Stage Position: 165th
Descent time: 31:46
Stage Position: 80th

Overall time: 1:35:43
Overall Position: 127th

I'm happy with that :)

Not quite a road century

2009-05-31T00:27:00.000-07:00

I had intended to do a 100 mile road ride yesterday, but it didn't quite happen. Woke up ridiculously early, so I was on the bike at 6.30am, but it was a glorious morning and I was plenty warm enough with just a jersey, arm warmers and gillet. Rolled down to Llanberis, climbed up Pen y Pass in a rude head-wind, then down to Betws y Coed. Shortly after that the GPS batteries died (no, of course I didn't take spares). through Penmachno and past Llyn Celyn to a cafe stop just north of Bala. Then Trawsfynedd, Prenteg, Beddgelert, Penygroes.
The first 95 miles felt fine, the last 4 miles took 30 mins. Felt quite tired afterwards.

99.6 miles
3290m ascent
7h 40m
Max Speed 45 mph
1 malt loaf
3 chocolate brioche
2 boiled eggs on toast

Ras Moel Elio

2009-05-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Mental.
Moel Elio is my local run, from the front door I can be on the summit in 40 mins, so I know it quite well. The race stars in Llanberis tthough, so there's more climbing to do, but that was OK. What was quite definitely NOT OK was the wind that was blowing over the summits - it wasn't quite blowing you off your feet - it would have had to be ooh, about 3mph stronger to do that, but I was blown off course a few times and when it started hailing, well, that just wasn't funny. I estimated the wind speed was 50 - 60 mph, apparently someone measured gusts of 80 mph on the ridge!
Anyway, it was nice to drop off te front of Moel Cynghorion and eventually get out of the wind. For some reason I wasn't happy on the descents, but had a decent run otherwise, finishing 28th in 84:57.

Dyfi Enduro

2009-05-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

What a great event - it's so good that virtually everyone I know stayed away this year! No matter, it probably just meant that Saturday night was slightly less beer-fueled, good to catch up with Chipps and Emily though - and Stef & Gemma (eventually).
The course at the Dyfi is a lot of fun - well, the descents are a lot of fun, it helps if you enjoy climbing because there's 3500m of it, but nearly all doable on the Singlespeed.

The numbers:
Distance: 60km
Ascent 3500m
time: 3h43m
Gear Ratio: 32:19
wheels: 29ers

The food:
2 clif gels (first one 20 mins after the start!)
1 flapjack
2 bits of fruit cake
1 chocolate brioche

The pain:
Yes, after 2 and a half hours quads, calves and lower back were aching in unison.

The fun:
Lots of it on all the downhills :)

Looking forward to next year!

3 Peaks Race

2009-04-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

24 miles, 1500m ascent.
I've had better days.
Got to Horton reasonably early and was registered by 9am - over an hour before the race start. Went back to the van to get changed and found I'd picked up the bag with cycling shoes in, rather than running shoes - not good. A quick phone call confirmed that the desired running shoes were back at Diane's house in Bentham and they were promptly delivered to me in Horton 7 minutes before the race start.
Up Pen-y-gent was fine. On the way down I was consciously trying to take it easy and was probably being too casual about it until I tripped and landed flat on my face. No real damage done, the bloke behind asked if I was OK and then remarked "well, it looked quite good!". I was feeling fine at Ribblehead and shortly afterwards I passed Cath and then Derek from Tod Harriers and had a few words with them. Started feeling less good as the climb up Whernside steepened. Cath passed me, then Derek and we had a few words. Just below the summit I felt a twinge in my right calf, but nothing serious, had a quick stretch against the wall at the top, because I'd read that it was a good idea to help stave off the "Whernside cramps" and set off along the windy ridge.
At the first stile my right calf locked up - I could see the muscle was in spasm - assumed it was cramp, tried to stretch it off and it calmed down but it didn't go away. Walked on for a bit, stretched some more, shuffled on, stretched again, but it wasn't really getting better - I was going to have to do the rest of the route with just one good leg. Walking was OK, I could do a slow run with short strides, but my right leg wasn't doing anymore than that. It had stopped being a race for me (not sure what I was racing against, but still...) and was just about finishing now. I briefly considered retiring at the Hill Inn, but decided to push on because I could.
Eventually shuffled into Horton in 4h57m, feeling a bit tired and a bit frustrated, which was a bit weird as I didn't have a target in mind - I suppose I just wanted to go as fast as I could - and that didn't happen. But you can't take anything for granted in something like the 3 Peaks. Even though I felt fit enough, strong enough and pretty confident before the start, it's still a hard route and there's plenty of scope for things to go wrong.
Guess I'll have to do it again next year :)

Ras Moel Tryfan

2009-04-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

Damn, that was windy!
First race of the Great Arete Tuesday night series last night, a 3m dash up Moel Tryfan from Y Fron. One of the windiest races I've ever done, which certainly spiced things up a bit - almost came to a dead stop at one point when I sort of ran into a wall of wind. No idea where I finished but it felt like I was going OK and I crossed the line in 22m15s - which probably qualifies as the shortest/fastest race I've ever done.

Damn fine weekend

2009-04-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Went for an early run up Snowdon yesterday with Matt as a sort of early practice for the Snowdon Race. Nice steady run up the Llanberis path (well, a fair bit of walking up to and beyond Clogwyn) got to the summit in about 1h10m, had a short faff with shoes and came down in about 40 mins. At the last but one gate a walker asked if there was a good view from the top, I couldn't help laughing and pointed at the cloud which was sitting at about 800m, "no, it's kind of cloudy and windy up there!". If his eye sight was so bad he couldn't see the clouds, why was he bothered about the view? Anyhoo...

Had a short rehab ride with Sue in the afternoon from Capel Curig - Ogwen and back. Dinner at every Londoner's favourite Snowdonia pub - it's never a good sign when your fish pie is vaguely tepid, so I'll not be going back there in a hurry. On a brighter note, stopped off at the Fricsan on the way home for a majestic pint of Purple Moose Glaslyn - so good I had 2 in fact.

Today was another rehab ride with Sue from Bontnewydd to Felinheli, taking in the Garddfon (Hartleys Cumbria Way) and Yr Harbor (er, J20 - no beer worth drinking). Got home and walked down to the Snowdonia Inn with Pippa (Jennings Cocker Hoop).
As if all that wasn't good enough, it hasn't even rained. Brilliant!

3 Peaks Training

2009-03-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

Started doing some properish training for the 3 Peaks. Went to Salisbury for 21st/22nd and went out do to a 3 hour run - underestimated how much ground you can cover in the absence of real hills and nearly fell off the map somewhere east of Figsbury Rings. Anyway, pieced together a mostly off road kind of there and back route that took me over the magical 3 hour mark, Tracklogs says it was the best part of 19 miles. Didn't feel too bad afterwards, although a couple of rubbish nights sleep left me feeling pretty lousy for the rest of the week. Ho hum. Really must try some mountain biking down there.

Last weekend I went up to Bentham to do an actual recce of the actual 3 Peaks. Walked up Pen y gent with Pippa on saturday and did a nordic walk / run of the Race route minus Pen y Gent on Sunday in a steady 5 hours. Quite pleased to be feeling OK after that :)

Ras Moel Wnion

2009-03-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

I did Ras Moel Wnion (4m, 1500’) on Saturday, which was also Matt’s first fell race. So I wasn’t too happy that new boy had the temerity to pass me on the steep climb up Moel Wnion when I was feeling fairly rubbish. I decided that it was a useful training run even if I wasn’t going so well and it was a nice day to be out anyway so I kept going and felt better as the race went on. Luckily for me, Matt didn’t yet own a pair of fell shoes and was consequently struggling a bit on the steeper descents – and this race has about 3 descents which get progressively more technical, so I was able to catch him coming down off Gyrn. I think I passed a couple of others on the final descent from Moel Faban and finished in an unconfirmed 44m50 – quicker than last year, but the start/finish had moved so there was less ascent this time.

Went for a lovely ride up Drum the next day – IN THE SUN! It was great :)

Long time no blog...

2009-02-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

To borrow a line from the marvellous 'Flight of the Concords', when I'm doing interesting stuff I'm too busy having fun to write on my blog. When I've got time to write on my blog, there's nothing much to say. Anyhoo...

Had a flippin ace weekend - did Ras Moel y Ci on Saturday (Sue's first fell race!) which was great. Hadn't done it before - a long steady climb, which was hard because it was all runable, followed by a short techy descent and a mix of mud, rocks, tarmac, fields, missing out the legal short cut through my own general ignorance. Sue comfortably achieved her goal of not coming last and managed a top 10 placing in her catergory, which was better than I managed. Grrr!

Went to Penmachno this morning and met up with SteveM & 360 and ragged it around loops 1 & 2. Just me & Dave really, as Steve's knee wasn't working so he ducked out early on. I made the rash decision to singlespeed it. Weirdly, my legs feel quite tired tonight. New (well, to me) Fox forks on the Karate Monkey and I have to say it went like stink, confirming what I've long suspected - that fully rigid bikes are for cocks! You heard it here first...

Another wet weekend.

2008-09-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Went out for yet another run in the pissing rain yesterday. I almost couldn't be arsed (still recovering from Thursdays TT?), but I felt OK once I was out and did a new circuit - half way to Llanberis, up the bottom bit of Moel Elio back through the ex-forest - about 45 minutes.
Felt inspired enough to go to the Beacon afterwards. Spent ages gassing to Keith & Ray, did some bouldering, got arm pump very quickly. haven't worked out yet if that's the nature of the sport or if I'm doing it all wrong. Better than watching telly though :)

36 minutes of pain

2008-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Last night we decided to ride a time trial from Brynrefail to the surge pools. 600m climb over 9.1km. It hurt. My quads were feeling it after about a minute, but I managed to avoid blowing up and got to the top in 36:06. Felt quite sick at the end and it was only this morning that I started talking normally again. Had a feint cough all today as a result of turning my lungs inside out last night. Great fun!

Catch up part 2

2008-09-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

Um, another blog gap. Whoops. My sister came up 2 weeks ago and we went to Penmachno for a fun packed Thursday night ride. Well, I say fun, in truth I was captain uncoordinated all night, but managed to not crash through the policy of riding quite slowly. Ho hum.

Went out on the road bikes on the Sunday - Beddgelert, Nantmor, Pen y Pass. Nice circuit marred slightly by a puncture. Time to replace those bag o'shite Michelin Lithions I think. I offered them to Wendy, but she didn't want them...

Last Thursday night I went up Snowdon with Alun. Fanbleedintastic! Up & down the Llanberis path, 2 hours to the summit where it was thick cloud and a bit parky. Alun donned his full body armour gimpsuit and flew down the descent while I didn't really bother trying to keep with him. If there's a better descent in the UK I want to hear about it!

Got up early saturday and took the road bike out for a scenic ride to Bangor via the surge Pools and Bethesda. Met Sue at the Station, sent her off to Manchester and drove home for DIY fun.

Sunday morning Matt came over and we ran up Moel Elio, back via lower Cefn Du. First half decent run for a while and I'm pleased to say it felt fine.

Tuesday night I went out and ran some hill reps on the road. It hurt.

Catch up

2008-08-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night I met Matt at pentir and we rode up Moel Ici, over to Marchlyn, up towards the surge pools, down the quarries to Bus Stop and back over past cliff richard woods and down Moel Ici for a pint at the Vaynol. It was almost like summer for a change, but it didn't last.

Saturday I was chez Stricklands at 7am for a ride with Matt and Gary to check out the local downhill track. Rain was threatening but didn't really happen, but I did manage to be sick near the top of the downhill. Weird. Felt pretty lousy the rest of the day.

Sunday - took Pippa for a 30 min run over the soggy slopes of Cefn du.
Monday - as Sunday.
Tuesday - as Monday.

The Valley is flooded. IT IS FUCKING AUGUST FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

Endura Sleepless in the Saddle

2008-08-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

I was just a little trepidacious (is that a word?) about doing a 24 hour race as a pair, wasn't sure if my legs would explode as I hadn't really had a great build up to it. anyway, got down for about 7.30 on friday, parked up and went straight out to ride the course, partly to give my legs a loosener and partly to figure out the course and see if there were any easy sections where I could eat on the go. Bumped into SteveM, Mel & Shaggy setting up camp on my way round, which was handy and that's where I headed after my lap. Figured I'd be lapping in about 60 mins at pairs pace. Luckily me and Emily were in total agreement about strategy - 3 laps on, 3 laps off so we could get a decent rest between rides.
Had a couple of beers and went to bed about 1am.
It pissed it down for much of saturday morning, which didn't bode well, so I opted to use the back-up bike - Surly Karate Monkey (singlespeed being suposedly mud-proof). I started the race with the run and was near enough to the front to not get too badly held up at the first bit of singletrack and by the time I got to the 2nd bit of woods there wasn't really any hold ups at all. First lap in just under an hour and all seemed OK. 2nd lap was different though, the course was much more churned up now and the going was a bit slower. Washing out in the first bombhole didn't help (twisting the bars in the process) then the back wheel stopped turning while pushing up a hill - time to de-clag the sticky mud. Lap 3 was crash-free and I started to carry instead of push through the worst mud, picking mud off the bike as I walked. Then Emily went out for 3 laps and there was more rain.
It was 9.30 when I went out again and the course had deteriorated massively. good job I'd put a skinny CCX tyre on the back. Maybe. After walking virtually all the singletrack - which was now covered in about 4" of peanut butter mud - I got half way around in an hour. This was the opposite of fun and I was reconsidering the 3 lap strategy. After a load more walking I was thinking "fuck this!". Riding bikes is good, endurance events are good, I'll quite happily take myself into a world of pain and exhaustion either on foot or on a bike. Note the 'or' in that last sentance. Bikes are for riding, I have next to no interest in pushing bikes unless there's a reward for the misery (e.g. Snowdon). And while I'm here, I'd like to add that running or riding myself into the ground in Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire, the Alps or Colorado beats the shit out of truding across potato fields in middle englandshire where the views extend to the gravel pits, the container distribution centre and the power station. This was the kind of conclusion I reached in these 2 hours. Can't say I reached a low point or anything, I just decided I couldn't be arsed with such an unsatisying venture. So I finished that lap and had a beer. It was bad. I think I must have passed about 30 people with bikes in various states of fuckedness - most geared bikes seemed to be dying. I heard later that the Shimano boys were fitting 15 rear mechs an hour - which is bonkers.
Emily took it all with good grace and resolved that she'd go out for some laps in the morning. I took a cold shower and downed some more beers with Mel, Shaggy, Steve, Chris and Schali and gave encouragement to Jac in her solo effort.
Had breakfast with Schali, Chipps & Emily and eventually Emily went out for some laps. At this point I had no interest in going out again, but guilt got the better of me and after emily's 2nd lap I went out at 12.30 for another (final) lap. Got back in about 15 mins before the 2pm cut off and Emily took the glory lap, which was fine with me.

So, after taking 10 hours off, we finished 5th! I think a lot of people just quit altogether - broken bikes would have accounted for a lot of riders. Don't think I'll be back to 'ride' it again. Courses like that don't stand up in the wet. In the UK it tends to rain quite often. I'll took for more intersting events next year.

Moel Elio & Marin Time Trial

2008-08-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Went up the Moel on saturday for first time in ages, took it steady, felt OK on the way up, took it very steady on the way down and nothing bad happened.
Went to the Marin trail on sunday to beast myself, which worked a treat. did the loop in 1h43, so there's the target for next time. think I made the Dragon's back in 57 mins.

Plas Menai

2008-08-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

last week's thursday night gathering was at Plas Menai to play on the miniture track there. All singletrack, all fun, all over very quickly. 1 km in total. We did it the right way round, the wrong way round, did it again and then time trialled it. Good fun. Then it rained and we went to the bar where it took 30 minutes to pour 5 pints of Guiness.

Llyn Cowlyd

2008-08-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

went out last sunday to ride the Cowlyd / Crafnant circuit - 2 superb bits of trail seperated by what feels like about 15 miles of tarmac. Well, it's probably less than 15 miles - 14 maybe? Anyway it's still good. 3h20.

Snowdon Race and deposits in the karma bank

2008-07-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

Just got back from watching the snowdon race - the first time I've ever been a fell running spectator. I nordic walked/ran over to Llanberis, watched the start gave a cheer to everyone I knew and to Swiss Schalli, who I don't know, but I do know some people who know some people who ride bikes with him. Power walked up to half way station and helped the marshalls pick up the plastic cups that had been discarded then didn't have too long to wait for the leader to come past on his way down (probably less than a minute after the lantern rouge had passed on their way up!).
Cheered more people on the descent - Espana, Italia, Scotland, Eryri - got sore hands from clapping so much. Saw Iain, Sarah, Hannah and Schalli come past and then started to make my way down. I could run faster than the competitors by now, which made me feel a tad guilty, but i figured at least I wasn't in their way.
Found a guy who'd taken a fall and bust his finger pretty badly, some German tourists were already on the phone to mountain rescue when I got there, trying to get a helicopter for him! Luckily broken finger man didn't need too much persuading to walk himself off the hill. The nice but dim tourists then wanted to bandage it up for him, which seemed pretty pointless as by the time they'd done that he could have walked himself to an ambulance in Llanberis. I think it shows a certain mental weakness to call out a helicopter for a broken finger, with that attitude it's not hard to see why they lost 2 world wars ;-)
Anyway, John (broken finger man), whilst clearly shaken up, could see the sense in getting himself back to Llanberis ASAP so I walked down with him, partly to make sure he was Ok and partly to rescue him from the Germans :) Fair play to him, he was determined to finish the race because he'd been sponsered and once we got to the tarmac he jogged back to the finish.
I nordic ranwalked back home and got quite sweaty.

Le Tour d'Apres Travail

2008-07-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

A much anticipated stage that was sure to see some changes in the GC. Before a pedal had been turned though, the news was all about more riders abandoning – following the sacking of their young rider Tom Carter the entire Team Egniol withdrew, which immediately raised questions about some of their recent impressive performances.

The EA team leader Matt Strickland and super-domestique James Camis also failed to make the start line, saying that "with the GC out of reach we're pulling out now to focus on the BBQ, hopefully we can come away from that with a big haul of medallions".

With points available at intermediate sprint stages (30mph signs) it was pretty frantic from the off, Guy bagging the first points at Deiniolen and again at Mynedd Llandegai (even though he didn't even notice that one). Ali pulled back some points at Bethesda as Guy had by this point completely forgotten about the sprints, but was still leading by 5 points as they approached the mountains. A vicious headwind on the climb up the Col d'Ogwen made it difficult for any attacks to go clear, but Ali and Guy worked together to isolate and then drop Craig the only surviving member of the EA team. Ali took the first KOM points and the bunch regrouped for the descent to Capel Curig.

Guy attacked early on the approach to Capel and bagged another 5 points before the feedzone at Plas y Brenin. At the foot of the hors categorie Courmet de Pen y Pass Ali road away from the groupetto to take the second summit of the stage and secure the KOM jersey. He stayed clear on the descent to take the sprint points at Nant Peris but the group reformed on the valley road, before Guy burst away again to easily win the Llanberis sprint. Showing Cavendish-like dominance Guy took the final points at Clwt-y-bont too, the NHS rider winning the green jersey by a massive 15 point margin.

Great BBQ too, thanks to Matt & Asa.

MTB, road, running, stretching

2008-07-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Last thursday went up the quarries from nant peris with Matt, James & Phil, felt moderately unfit, but what do you expect after 4 weeks with practically no excercise?

Saturday I took myself up & down Telegraph Valley, good climb but i still don't rate it as a descent, but everywhere else was a watery soggy mess. Ho hum.

Sunday I hit the road with Mark and his carbon Cervello. Pen y Pass, Nantgwynant, Nantmor, Beddgelert. A fairly relaxed 35ish miles apart from the idiot in the 4WD blasting his horn and gesticulating as he overtook us by Rhyd Ddu. Some car drivers seem to get very offended when you cycle 2 abreast - if we were slowing them down I could understand them getting pissed off, but the road is narrow on that stretch, there's no way that a car can pass a single cyclist without crossing the centre line (or killing the cyclist I suppose, which I think would be their prefered option). If they need to cross the centre line to get past a single cyclist it's the same as passing 2 cyclists riding side by side (or indeed a horse, I hope the twats don't drive like that when they encounter horses). So it pissed me off. So much that I put the hammer down in the hope that the road works were still going on down the road and he'd have to wait at a red light where I could have given him a few stern words, but no such luck. It makes me angry though, I don't like self-righteous stupidity at the best of times, when it's twats in 4WDs being aggressive to people riding push bikes it makes my blood boil.

Grrr!

Legs are feeling OK though :)

KHS test

2008-07-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

Did 2 laps of Cefn Du with Matt last night, which was fun. Had a comical over the bars moment where my shorts caught on the end of the bars leaving me suspended upside down half way through crashing. All good.
Hamstrings still quite stiff and lower back feeling really stiff tonight. More stretching, less blogging.

Climbing

2008-07-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Went to the Beacon Sunday night with Matt & Asa to further my fear of heights desensitization program. Had 2 “trips to the vet” (i.e., I was shit scared – inspired by Pippa) while doing some 5a/5b sport routes, but I did them. Yay me!

Legs stiff as a board, but no knee pain, so it seems that I’ve got the pain on the run.

Back in the saddle

2008-07-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ooh, that was good. Did a couple of laps of Cefn Du on the KHS test bike, which was a lot of fun. It was only about 1h20, but it was great. And I stretched afterwards too.

It's all been quiet...

2008-07-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I've not been doing much. Which is a lie, of course I've been doing stuff but it's been DIY on the house, which bleeds my soul dry, so I'm certainly not going to start writing about how much I absofuckinglutely detest pissing my life away doing this mundane shite. But I digress....

Knees have been playing up since I did that road ride around the 3 peaks. Turned out my saddle was too high, which could obviously cause a problem (bike unpacked from france in a slightly dazed state, sloppily rebuilt, chucked in van, driven to Bentham, ridden without checking saddle height - doh!). So, bad knees ensued. And they didn't get better, for like, ages. So I belatedly went to see Zac at sportsresource.org who's wisdom could be summarised thus: "your knees are fine, your posture rubbish, you have zero flexability in all your muscles, stretch or die!".

And that's how I got switched on to Yoga.

Quiet week

2008-06-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

Made the numpty error of not setting my saddle height properly last weekend, so I've had sore knees all week :( consequently haven't done much fun stuff.

Still, I'm getting over it. Jogged over t'Beacon tonight and met Matt there for some climbing/ddringo/bouldering (haven't learnt the welsh for that yet). That was fun, plus I got some useful tips on all the stuff I'm doing wrong :)

The 3 Peaks (by road)

2008-06-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Went to Bentham at the weekend for what would have been Dad’s birthday, popped out on the road bike for a couple of hours – 58km.

Spent Sunday morning driving home listening to Humphrey Littleton tributes on radio 4. Managed to get to the Beacon for about 90 mins of bouldering fun on the greens and blues. Knees don’t feel right, probably need to stretch more/differently.

Still tired, just less so.

2008-06-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Took Pippa for a 25 min power walk.

Nordic dog walk

2008-06-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Been feeling quite tired since the 1000M peaks - coincidence? Maybe...
Any road, took Pippa for a power walk up Cefn Du tonight - me with walking poles, powering along in a Nordic style, yes? Pippa didn't really embrace the whole Nordic mood, but seemed to have fun in her own way. Wasn't really paying attention, but it was proably about 45 mins. Surprised at how fast you move (compared to say, walking) and it felt like a reasonable workout for someone that didn't feel like running and can't take the dog for a bike ride.

Welsh 1000M Peaks race

2008-06-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Before I say anything I should say a big 'Thank you' to Club Gorphwysfa for organising another great race.

Weather forcast was looking good - barely any wind, 17°C with broken cloud at 900m. It felt pretty hot when we set off from Abergwyngregan at 9.30am and I was sweating more than you'd want to, despite starting out at a very steady pace. Got to the sheepfold above the falls and was dissapointed to see a line of people heading up the gully that I'd found with Justin and Emlyn a few weeks before - that was meant to be my secret route. Approaching Bera Bach it was apparent that the cloud was down to about 800m, which made navigation interesting/pot-luck. I found myself approaching the main path north of Garnedd Uchaf, which meant I'd gone too far west. I doubled back a bit to contour around the peak and with a bit of luck found my way to Foel Grach, despite a few anxious "where the **** am I?" moments. Celebrated with a chocolate brioche and pushed on to the first control on Carnedd Llewelyn.
I'm sure I stayed too high and missed the best line on the approach to Carnedd Dafydd, fumbling across the rocks where I'm sure there was a faster route a bit further south. It's all well and good going out to recce the route on a clear day, but it all goes to pot in the mist. Nevermind.
Coming off Dafydd I stayed high on a nice trod path and then cut straight down to the checkpoint at the wall, the marshalls there thought my route choice was bobbins, but what do they know, eh?
Grabbed a couple of Jelly babies at the unofficial feed station at Llyn Llugwy and had a couple of cups of juice at Ogwen before the slog up again. I could see Emlyn Roberts about a minute ahead of me but I couldn't close the gap and as I got further up Nicky Spinks and then Hannah Toberman passed me. I took solace in another brioche and plodded on.
Felt vaguely guilty about passing Hannah on the way down the hideous Miners track towards Pen y Gwryd, but felt good to be running instead of hobbling like last year.
I was feeling OK at Pen y Pass and as we headed up the Pyg track I had a Power gel and actually passed someone! I could see I was gaining on Emlyn too and passed him before the Crib Goch turn. Obviously the place was full of oblivious walkers and I soon got bored of being polite - saying "Excuse me" just seemed to provoke them to startled and irrational movements so I took to just nipping past them where I could. That bloody Hannah passed me again before the finger stone though. I was strugling to run up any incline now, but I could still manage a bit of speed coming off Garnedd Ugain and tried to run the final ascent to Yr Yddfa, couldn't quite pull it off though.

It was nice to finish and I could still speak, unlike last year. Shared congratulations with Hannah and Emlyn and got off the summit sharpish as it was too cold to hang around.
5:14:17 - I said at the start that an optimistic goal was 5:15 and I made it, so was happy with that. 46 mins quicker than last year - and I gained one place (33rd instead of 34th!).

Went for a short ride on Cefn Du the next day, legs felt OK but reactions and coordination had completely deserted me. Tiredness will do that.

Vaujany mini duathlon

2008-06-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Went out for a run this morning to make sure I could still do it, went up the road to villete and took a path for the Col du Sabot. It all got a bit vague higher up with some interesting water crossings - there's still lots of snow melt coming down I guess. Ended up on the tarmac road for a bit, considering whether it would be rideable, but nearer the top it was covered in snow, so that ruled out that idea. Went off-road again and stopped when I hit a blanket of snow about 10m below the Col, considered going on, but reasoned it wasn't worth the risk of taking a slip on the snow.
1250m - 2100m, 1h45.

So, for the afternoon's fun I went out on the bike with Wendy to go to la Poste in Bourg d'Oisans. A nice easy spin on the way down and on the way back - until you get to Allemont where it all gets a bit steep for the last 6km or so - steeper than Alpe d'Huez, but a lot shorter. 2 hour round trip and home for tea and cake :)

Alpe d'Huez

2008-06-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

me & Wendy started at Allemont after a visit to the Boulangerie for Pain au Raisin, trundled down to Bourg d'Oisans to get some tubes from the nice bike shop and then settled in for 15km of climbing up 21 hairpin bends - you gotta love it!
Decided there was no point trying to ride it together so we just went at our own pace. Had my picture taken twice - the photographers then run after you and stuff a business card in your back pocket! also saw the Francais des Jeux pro team out training - they were coming down as we were going up. Have to say that it wasn't very painful, just about 80 mins of riding uphill, but it's not very steep. Faffed around a bit at the top then came back along the balcony road via Villard Reculas to Allemont, which was a great way to descend.
Had a monster baguette when we got back and then I went out and spent about an hour playing on the Vaujany climbing wall.
A pretty good day (again).

Challenge Dauphine Libere

2008-06-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

Preparation is key for a cycle sportive like this. So, the day before the event (in the Vercours, near Grenoble, France) I fly from Liverpool to Geneva, only I don't, there's debris on the runway at Geneva so we divert to Lyon, where a bus will then take us to Geneva. It's just that sister Wendy is due to arrive in Geneva later in the evening, I'm thinking that if her flight is also diverted to Lyon, the last place I want to be is Geneva. Call macpuppy (our man in Vercours) who is going to meet us in Geneva, he's been in bed all day with a virus, the last thing he wants to do is drive to Geneva. So I get on a bus to Grenoble, sick macpuppy meets me there and we drive to Geneva to meet Wendy's (late) flight, there's just enough time to fit some new tyres (my, they were a tight fit) and get something to eat, except everywhere's closed, get back to macpuppy's kennel at around 2am, when I start building my bike. Oh, I've only eaten a baguette in the last 12 hours too. Get to bed at 3.15am, get up at 6.45am to make the registration cut-off at 8am. Like I said, it's all in the preparation.

Mass start, 900 riders, lead-out car, motor cyclists, it's quite a spectacle. Macpuppy skids on some gravel but keeps upright and we settle into the first climb of the day. It's long and steady. Very long and steady. Back tyre feels a bit soft- PUNCTURE! Tant pis!
Those new tyres I fitted are tough to get off the rim, but eventually I get the tube changed, why won't it inflate though? Can't figure out what's going on, decide to take the new tube out to sort it out. This takes some time - did I mention that the tyre was a bit tight? - but I now see that the valve is kaput. So, patch the original tube put it back in, wrestle the tyre back on (this time it took 2 pairs of hands - a cycle tourist had stopped to watch the comedy) and I'm back on the bike. This whole episode took about 50 - 55 mins. That's right. I am now the 'lantern rouge' and am praying that they haven't packed up the first feed station by the time I get there. They haven't and I grab some sausicon, cake and brioche and get going. Still haven't passed any riders, it's going to be a lonely ride.
Over the first Col and down the other side, I've passed about 3 riders but there's no one else in sight. At the 2nd revaitailment there's maybe 6 riders hanging around, I just grab food and get going, to see if I can catch up with Wendy and macpuppy (or, indeed, anyone). After Villard de Rouset the signs tell me it's 12km to the Col, and once it starts to ramp up I start to catch a few stragglers. At the turn off for the 173km route I'm way after the cut-off time and anyway I couldn't face the thought of another puncture with no-one to hear me scream, so it's now a 70km time trial back to Autrans. At the 100km mark I think I spy Wendy ahead, yay! Macpuppy's not too much further up the road so for the next 10 km we sort of ride together, regrouping at the top of each climb. There's a fantastic gorge, the rock overhanging the road and raining water down on us, then with 10 km to go Macpuppy starts to fly. I try to stick with him but I can't and the gap opens up - with 5km to go he must be a good 200m ahead of me but I get a second wind and stamp on the pedals to see if I can reel him back. No chance!
Finished in just under 6 hours, the GPS says less than 5 hours riding.

483rd out of 500. It's a different story in France. It's not that the hills are tougher, I mean they go on a bit, but there was nothing very steep, it's just that people seem to take it much more seriously and the general standard of riders is much higher than the UK. The standard of the feed stations is incredible too. Bravo!

Ras Helfa Fawr

2008-05-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Had an almost rest day yesterday after the Fondo, just ran over to the Beacon to play on the boulder wall with my new booties. Got very tired quite quickly.

Tuesday night race series tonight with a new race from Llanberis, no idea if it has a name yet, but it went to the Helfa Fawr bunkhouse and was probably 3 and a bit miles with some ascent. I was still feeling pretty tired, but didn't run too badly, finished in 27:53, position unknown, but I beat Emlyn for a change, so that was nice.

Medio Fondo Cymru

2008-05-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the stats:
142km
3100m ascent
1 clif bar
1 banana
1 flapjack
1 sausage butty
1 power gel
average windspeed: 192 mph
rain: yes, that too.
6h33

The first 90km was quite good. Managed to chain gang across to Ysbty Ifan into a nasty headwind, which was good. Long section from Plas y Brenin where I was on my own pretty much until Maentwrog. After Trawsfynydd it went gruesome, special mention should go to the 4 mile climb into a bastard headwind just as it started raining.
Probably not the most fun I've ever had on a bike, but it's good to do these things. Isn't it?

I have arrived!

2008-05-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today I joined the North Wales fellowship of climbers, which basically means I can now be accepted in North Wales as a proper outdoorsy type, instead just being regarded as "that freak who rides bikes".
Completed my intro course at the Beacon Wall, which was all good fun. Then went over to Llanberris with Sue, via the cheeky DPC backdoor and paid a visit to the lovely people at Joe Browns. Tried on about 6 pairs of climbing shoes and Sue bought me the best ones.
Pretty good day.

The last 2 months in summary

2008-05-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, even blogging a simple training diary seems to be beyond my ability/organisation/enthusiasm. Must try harder in future. It seems like lots has been going on in recent weeks, hence the lack of blogging, I got busy, lost the impetus.

In no particular order then:
SSUK at Drumlanrig - brilliant! Fell out of love with my Karate Monkey, got well beaten up trying to work it around the trails and trying to keep up with Biff. I lost. Made up with the Monkey the day after though.

Paddy Buckley recces: no, I'm not doing it, but I did a couple of days in the hills with Phil from Tod who's aiming to do the round later in the year. Interesting to see how doable 20 miles is when you walk the climbs!

Anglesey century: took advantage of a rare weather window a couple of weeks back and churned out 100 miles on the surprisingly hilly Anglesey. Out for 8 hours, averaged 15 mph while riding, 1800+m ascent, all good.

1000m Peaks recce: did the Aber - Ogwen section with Emlyn & Justin in a leaisurely 3 and a bit hours. good visibility, handy iawn.

Snowdon bike: hiked up the miners track, pinned it down the Llanberis path. The best descent in the UK? I should coco.

Promise to be more regular in future.

Easter weekend

2008-03-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday - the hour loop at Beddgelert forest.
Sunday - did a mini audax with Sue down Lon Eifion cycle path, with plans to go to Porthmadog. Innevitably set off too late and ended up turning back well before Porthmadog, stopped at Inigo Jones for scrambled eggs (yum!). Got hailed on and snowed on coming back through Rosgadfan.

Monday - Went for a run from Y Fron down to Nantlle and Talysarn, 73 mins.

Breakfast run & the Youth Hostel

2008-03-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took Pippa for a 20 min run before breakfast, then after work we went over to Llanberis YHA for a 66 minute loop.

Went for a couple of dog walks today and did some yoga positions in the loft while fitting a switch for the boiler. Is that a rest day then?

Drum by Bike

2008-03-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Rode up Drum on Wednesday night with James, Phil & Tim. Left my battery at the office so made do with the petzl tikka, though that wasn't really needed for the ascent. A climbers route really, the descent is fast and long, we took it all the way down to Llanfairfechan for a pint in the Virginia - proper old skool pub :)

Breakfast run

2008-03-17T13:20:00.001-07:00

20 mins with Pippa before work. Felt a bit tired from yesterday, more so as the day wore on.

Paddy Buckley recce - Elidir Fach - Foel-goch

2008-03-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Started from Llanberis, up to Dinorwig Bus Stop, up through the quarries, picked up the incline pretty quickly and took that to the winding shed at the top, then up another incline to the gate on the access road from Marcelyn. Followed a faint trod path from there to Elidir Fach, which had a chill northerly sweeping across it. There has a much clearer trod path from there up to Elidir Fawr, but the summit ridge was a boulder field akin to Tryfan. The path crosses from west to east of the ridge around the summit and is pretty clear dropping down to the saddle below Mynydd Perfydd. I skipped this peak for the more interesting looking Foel Goch. Then down to Nant Peris and back along the road. Pippa took it all in her stride. 10m, 1000m ascent, 2h45 mins.

Ras Moel Wnion

2008-03-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

First fell race for ooh, ages. 4m, 1600ft ascent, finished in 47:52 or there abouts. Sounded like I was being pursued by a wild boar for most of the race, which was a shame as otherwise it was a lovely run - the tops of the Carneddau covered in snow, wild ponies mooching around, shame the moment was spoilt by the CONSTANT hacking, snorting and spitting of some animal behind me. I'll take my iPod next time :)

Moel Elio in pea soup

2008-03-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Solo ascent of Moel Elio tonight in thick fog which just reflected my head torch back at me, so I couldn't see a thing. Consequently the descent took about as long as the ascent. 1h15.

Beddgelert Blast

2008-03-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I spanked the Karate Monkey around Beddgelert forest for an hour, which was fun.
Did nothing on Monday, but got in a 20 min easy run with Pippa this morning.

Double run

2008-03-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

Pre breakfast 20 min easy run with Pippa. Then fitted a new sauna and finished the bathroom ceiling.
Went out later in the afternoon for a run up Moel Ici - 1h20 after doing a few extra bits.
LLAMFF was a dissapointing end to the day.

Day 3

2008-03-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

The wheels fell off. Too knackered to go out for a ride at 9pm so it all ended a bit quickly. Ah well.
Went for a run on Tuesday night, 2 min hill reps * 5.
Wednesday night ride - petit tour de Moel Ici.
Thursday - run around padarn lake.
Friday - nothing again.

30 in 30 - Day 2

2008-03-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

An unexpected nice (ish) day so I fired up the road bike for it's first outing in months. Back roads to Bangor, then Llanberis and home. 1h 45. Felt knackered since then. Still, only another 28 days left. They're forecasting snow tomorrow....

30 from 30 - The start

2008-03-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

Well, no posts for some time, can't be bothered to fill in the last few months, sorry.

So, I fell into agreeing to some stupid challenge to ride atleast an hour a day for 30 consectutive days. March is going to be an interesting month.

Today was Day 1, met papa Makin, 360, Benji, and The Midget at Llanrwst for Midget's birthday ride. Did the Marin + Deviations to take in little lakes and Green Gulley - 2 1/2 hours of much fun. 1 down, 29 to go.

Snowdonia Marathon

2007-11-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

I suppose I should say something about this, it's not everyday you do a Marathon after all. I didn't take the whole training thing too seriously - did a lot of biking, obviously, went for a couple of long runds (2 -3 hours) and even did a few runs on the road. I thought I'd be OK to get to the finish, but I wasn't sure how hard it would be.
As it turned out, I felt good for the first 17 miles, then my calves started to tighten up. I briefly thought about stopping to stretch, but thought it woldn't make a lot of difference so carried on. By 22 miles my legs really didn't want to run anymore, so I did my best to ignore them. The descent into Llanberis was quite painful and with half a mile to go I had to have a little walk. Once I'd finished I felt fine (well, relatively), apart from my calves which were shot to pieces.

Finished in 3h51, in 317th place. I might do it again, but next time I'll do more road running beforehand :)

Beer

2007-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Haven't blogged for a while - too busy or too lazy? Maybe a bit of both...
Anyway, I'd meant to post something about american beer, which was broadly speaking very good. New Belgium was particularly ace.

Mmm beer.

Soda Creek Revisited

2007-09-26T14:36:00.002-07:00

September 20^th shall henceforth be known as 'Better than Hiking Day'. We set out to ride Soda Creek trail together – rode up Tiger Road, Horseman Gulch, Soda Creek, then took the bus back to Frisco. Messed around taking lots of photos and had a generally good time.

In the afternoon we drove up to Breckenridge, had a wander around, then I went and rode a bit of the colorado trail that I'd missed yesterday. To be honest, I think the accidental ride to Keystone was better, but it was good to check it out, because now I know.

More Colorado Trail

2007-09-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

I rode out to do another bit of the Colorado trail while Sue headed for the more modest Flume Trails just north of Breckenridge. After a painful amount of climbing (there has been a pattern emerging here...) there was some very cool riding down some switchbacks, all quite alpine-esque I thought. After a while I began to get a bit concerned that the regular Colorado Trail waymarkers had disappeared. Having given the map to Sue I was relying on the guidebook to find my way around, now that I wasn't sure where I was the guidebook wasn't a lot of help. Sure enough, I ended up in Keystone – I'd descended into exactly the wrong valley. Oh well, it was a fun ride.

I then enjoyed a hot hour first trying to escape from the Keystone Ranch Golf retreat – all fenced in only one road in and out, no signposts. Ended up riding into silverthorne as I couldn't find a bus stop anywhere near Keystone. Eventually got back to the RV at Gold Run, very thirsty.

Meanwhile, sue had been having a great time on the flume trails and at 40 years + 1 day old experienced an epiphany – that riding bikes is more fun than hiking. So the plans to slog up Quandary (one of the 14er peaks) where shelved in order to spend our last two days in colorado squeezing as much fun as possible out of the trails.

Late in the afternoon we drove up Boreas Pass road and rode the Baker's Tank Loop, which was a nice way to spend an hour or so.

Went out for a day late birthday Mexican, Burrito del Mar and Margarita Gold – we need more Mexicans in our life.

Sue's birthday hike

2007-09-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

That was a cold night, the ground was frosted and Sue was cold – happy 40^th :)

We took the free bus to Wildernest and hiked forever up to Eccles Pass (it took about 2 ½ hours actually, but we nearly turned back, convinced we were still miles from the pass, but just in time we realized that the top was within reach, so we could complete our linear walk back to Frisco. At over 12000', above the tree line the scenery was (literally) breathtaking.

Stayed at the most expensive RV park ever (Tiger RV resort near Breckenridge) because we needed to winterize the RV before more freezing temperatures. Felt totally ripped off until we discovered there was a pool and a hottub on site. Except they were both closed for maintenance and the WiFi wasn't working so we felt bitter and ripped-off again Ho hum.

Frisco, Monday 17th - another almost rest day

2007-09-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

It rained hard during the night and was raining it's arse off in the morning. No riding today, so we went shopping instead, we deserved it after all. It brightened up by lunchtime so I went for a run and Sue went for a walk. I bumped into her shortly after setting off by which time she'd already acquired a dog, a long haired black retriever. I offered to take the dog off her hands and he gladly followed me, outpacing me all the way even with a few swims thrown in for good measure. I decided to name him “Boy” and he seemed happy with that. All good fun, but I couldn't take him back to the RV so I headed into town intending to find a friendly Police station or something, but before that happened Boy had wandered into a Coffee Shop, behind the counter and into the kitchen. The owner didn't seem fazed and said she'd call Animal Control to get him collected.

We parked up just out of Frisco at the end of the peninsula trail and spent the night there.

Monarch Crest Trail

2007-09-19T07:10:00.001-07:00

Monarch Crest had been billed as The Best Ride in Colorado by more than one person, so it was something that had to be done. Starting from Monarch pass you have a steady climb for about 5 miles up to 12000', before descending to Marshall Pass and a bit of climbing and contouring, followed by an almighty descent to Silver Creek. It didn't disappoint. On the shuttle with me was a group of 7 women from the Winter park area, a couple of guys and one old geezer. I kind of rode out with people for the first few miles, but after 5 miles or so at the shelter (Green Creek?) I decided to head on to Marshall Pass to get to the toilet first. I stopped to pee on the way, stopped again to check the map, slowed down when startled some deer, did the business at Marshall Pass, ate a banana and wondered when my colleagues were going to show up. I soon got bored of waiting for strangers and decided to press on. Wished I'd packed my iPod.

The descent to Silver Creek was of the yahoo variety – fast as you like and not too technical. Lower down it got a bit bouldery, then a bit loose, then there was the loose boulder section, then the drop, then the sketchtastic super loose stuff and before you could say “actaully my arms are starting to hurt a bit” I was at the bottom. Well, not exactly the bottom – there was still another 10 miles of undulating singletrack to enjoy. I got passed by a couple from Crested Butte about 3 miles from the end who had passed my shuttle bus friends much earlier, before Marshall Pass, not moving – I was glad I hadn't waited ;)

The Rainbow Trail singletrack spat me out on route 285(?) - 5 miles of downhill back to Poncha Springs. I assumed an aero-tuck and averaged 33mph back to the RV.

We then hit Walmart which was when the storm hit – it rained hard, making me really glad that I wasn't still on the mountain. With the food cupboard restocked we headed north to our next appointment – Mount Princetown hot springs. The only way to recover from riding Monarch Crest – OFFICIAL.

Then we drove north through South Park and Breckenridge and parked up in a car park off Tiger Road ready to hit the trails in the morning.

Rest day (almost) Saturday 15th

2007-09-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Overslept and felt too tired to ride Dead Man's Gulch as I'd planned so just did a short ride up Walrod's Trail instead, which was short and sweet with some lovely switchbacks on the way down. The whole ride took less than an hour. Sue decided to walk the same route so I had time to kill when I got back, so I took the bikes down to the creek to give them a clean.

We said goodbye to Crested Butte around lunchtime and set the controls for Poncha Springs near Salida. I booked myself a place on the next mornings shuttle bus to Monarch Pass and we stayed the night at the Heart of The Rockies RV resort, which was acceptable.

Crested Butte

2007-09-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

Drove up to Mount Crested Butte first thing in the morning and set off to ride Upper Loop, which was fun. Sue took the easier descent down Whetstone Vista while I did the Upper Upper Trail, which was just some brutal climbs followed by a forgettable descent, Sue's route sounded much better – there you go. We then headed out to do Strand Hill which had been recommended by several people. It started with a fierce climb up a rough jeep track, but it was all doable, I was coping fine with the steady climbs where you just sit and spin, but as soon as things got steep and you needed to put some power into it I was gasping for breath and pushing – that's altitude (at least that's my excuse).

We split again, Sue opting for the easier Strand Hill Bonus Trail, while I did the Strand Hill Standard. It was a hoot. By the time we got back to the RV we'dd been out for about 6 hours and were feeling beat. Created Butte doesn't do RV parks or camp grounds but we found a great dispersed (free) campsite down Cement Creek road and stayed there for a night of thunder storms.

Sea Kayaks, but no sea.

2007-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sea kayaking on blue Mesa reservoir. It was calm as a millpond for the first 3 hours but when the wind picked up it created a bit of a swell to spice things up. The kayaks a had rudders, which I'd never used before – essentially you control the rudder with your feet and steering becomes trivial. That said, I'm not a fan of them for these reasons:

they work great in calm water, less well in a swell because the rudder ends up out of the water too much, where it is useless.
The paddling technique I'd been taught involves starting the stroke in your legs, so you push against the foot rests and develop a kind of peddling action. This isn't possible when your footplates control the rudder because as soon as you push against them you change direction. Thus, you're forced to use a paddling style that i think is weaker and less efficient.
It makes things dull, there's no technique to learn/practise/use/master.
If your rudder breaks you're stuffed because you haven't learnt 'proper' technique.

So there it is, just say 'no way!' to rudders.

We headed up to Crested Butte after that and did an early evening ride up upper lower loop and back on lower loop and woods walk trail to finish up in town for beer and pizza at the Brick Oven. Had 2 lovely pints of New Belgium Mothership Wheat Beer and rode back up the track o the RV by the light of a headtorch, talking loudly to scare off the mountain lions that had been recently spotted in the area. It seems that Mountain Lions are wary of people who talk too loud – sensible creatures.

Hartman Rocks - Gunnison

2007-09-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

Lazy start to the day, helped by the chill morning temperature, so it was about 11ish when we started riding at hartman rocks. Let me confirm, hartman most definitely rocks (sorry!). It would have been even better if we'd had any idea where we were going – me and Sue split up to do our own thing, she had the map, I had the guidebook, neither of us could work out where we were, nor could we determine where we'd been after studying the even more bewildering map at the trailhead. Nevertheless, we both found some peachy trails. There was sweet sandy singletrack, technical rock steps, slabs, sand, everything you need for choice desert riding. Recomended.

Had a BBQ featuring a ridiculously large steak.

Crater Lake

2007-09-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Slept badly, convinced that the temperature would drop below freezing and burst the water tanks in the RV. Sue slept badly, convinced that we were going to be eaten by bears. Still, he headed out at 7.30am to hike up to Crate lake at nearly 12000'. Altitude does weird things – walking uphill we were breathing really hard, but stop for 2 minutes and instantly you feel OK again. Fingers swell up too – Sue couldn't even clench a fist, but we didn't get altitude sickness, so that was alright.

Canoeing at Vallecito

2007-09-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

We'd spent the night at the Vallecito resort, an RV park that seemed to be run by square dancing christians. When Sue went to pay the propritress said “hey Bill, this lady's from the UK and she's rented an RV with her husband and they're touring around, isn't that cool!”. So there you have it, square dancing christians think we're cool.

Hired a canadian canoe and went for a paddle on Vallecito reservoir which was fun, until we saw the rain clouds coming in. We made it back before the storm broke though and headed back through Durango to the Trimble hot springs - 50m swimming pool and 2 hot pools, all outdoors. Either I'm rubbish at swimming now or the altitude completely did me in.

headed of the road to camp off piste in the San Juan mountains by St Andrew's lake.

Colorado Trail - Durango

2007-09-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The 470 mile long Colorado trail starts in Denver and finishes in Durango, I set out to ride the last 20 miles of it. Keen mathematicians will have gathered that this implies a 40 mile round trip, which is quiet a lot. I don't have the exact figures, but I'd estimate there was roughly a billion feet of ascent involved too. The first 3 hours were nearly continuous uphill on dirt road – all steady middle ring climbing, just for 3 hours solid. That was OK, I was on schedule when I hit the Colorado trail and was looking forward to 90 mins of glorious singletrack. For the first 30 mins it rocked, then it turned steeply uphill which blew. I was pushing for long periods and didn't really know where I was beyond being on the Colorado trail, in the trees, with the creek below me – which narrowed it down to a 15 mile stretch. When I thought I'd got to the top of the climb the trail started undulating, but by this time my legs had gone and was pushing every time the gradient went up. After forever it levelled out and i had a traversing super narrow trail to enjoy for so long that it started getting boring! Then it finally started descending. Relentlessly. I was nearly too worn out to enjoy it, but not quite :)

I think it was an hour of continuous craic. Possibly the hardest ride I've ever done, certainly one of the best. Epic.

Horse Gulch trails Durango

2007-09-12T16:49:00.001-07:00

We rode into town and out the other side to the Horse Gulch trails where we split, Sue rode Meadow loop and other bits while I did Telegraph Road, most of Sidewinder (couldn't find the top of it despite an extensive search), a bit of Cowboy, Crites, Anasazi and half of Meadow. Damn fine trails. It didn't suck at all. Not massively technical, just tight, twisty, flowing REAL GOOD STUFF.

I was cooked by the end of it though (all 2 ½ hours of it).

We headed back into town in search of fluid which was provided by Carver's brew pub and their Lightner Creek Lager. Bought a camera (Yay!), dragged ourselves back to the RV and I finally managed to bully the laptop into looking for other wireless networks apart from our home one, which was clearly out of range.

Fruita to Durango

2007-09-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

Got up with the sun and rode up Prime cut and down Kessel Run with Sue before breakfasting on eggy bread and beans – a pretty good start to the day.

Tried to buy a camera in walmart but they were shite. “Do you need any help sir?”

“Yes, do any of these compacts have an aperture priority mode?”

“Well, I'm not too sure about the technicalities, but I think you can adjust the ISO on some of them”.

It was hard to leave Fruita, but the cooler climate of the mountains did have it's own appeal, so we headed south for Durango, stopping briefly in Ouray (little Switzerland as it's known because the mountains around there are reminiscent of well, Switzerland) for huge and delicious ice creams.

Stopped at the United RV park on the edge of Durango.

Bookcliffs, Fruita (06/09/07)

2007-09-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

The trails that everyone associates with Fruita. Went and did Prime Cut with Sue, then rode Joes ridge, which didn't quite live up to the hype. We were chilling out in the RV waiting for the sun to cool off when Troy, keith and Quentin from OTE showed up with a couple of guys from out of town. They offered us a shuttle run up to do Prime cut and then Kessel run. They hammered the trails and I was going all out to hang onto a wheel. Prime cut was loads more fun at full tilt, but Kessel run was just brilliant swooping, twisting trail. Sue did it twice she liked it so much.

After a couple of beers and a nap I summoned enough energy to set out to ride Zippetty Do Da. I went up Western Zip and down Q70 and up Coal Gulch Road to Frontside (not something I'd repeat). I was suffering on Frontside, it was undulating singletrack with brutal climbs that I was too exhausted to ride. But Zippety delivered. One of the best trails I've ridden anywhere.

I was happy and broken by the time I finished. A tough day enjoying myself. Camped at the trailhead. Discovered my camera had died :(

Kokopelli's Mack trails, Fruita (05/09/07)

2007-09-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Went out earlyish and did Steve's loop with Sue, a nice ride which ran along the edge of a bench with the colorado river way down below. At one point the trail is a few feet from a 300' drop – hello vertigo. The most scenic loop in Kokopellis? Probably. Sue took the shortcut back while I did handcuffs and Troy built. In general these trails are moderately technical, narrow singletrack with short bits of seriously difficult/impossible problems usually at the start and end of the loop as you descend to / climb out of a bench. I'd had 3 punctures in 24 hours and decided that my back tyre was for the bin, picked up a new one at OTE.

Went out on the Wednesday night OTE ride which was Troy built again but in the opposite direction to how I'd done it in the morning. It rocked again. As the light was fading there was lightening going off all over the place, but amazingly we only got rained on for about a minute. It was half light by the time we finished Troy Built, so it was quarter light as we came down the stupidly fast descent off Lions.

Rounded off the day with Shrimp Burrito and Margarita at Fiesta Guadalajara. Perfect.

18 hours and Mack Ridge (04/09/07)

2007-09-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Got up early again and were on the 18 Hours of Fruita trail by 7.30. More singletracky than I'd expected, lots of swoopy flowy loveliness and with the sun just coming up it was a delight to be there. Lots of rabbits, the odd Gofer and the briefest glimpse of some deer proved that we were at one with nature. We finished the 18 Hour course with over 16 hours to spare and retired to the RV for fresh coffee and brownies. We'd spotted some mad looking pedal boats – basically a bike mounted on a mini catarmaran, but the lakeside hire place was closed because it was a week day, so I didn't get to try them, shame.

Not wanting to dwell on the disappointment of the pedal boats we made off for the Kokopelli Trailhead to do Mack Ridge. Fixed a puncture before setting off so it was about 11am when we started turning the pedals and we realised that in Fruita at this time of year it gets pretty hot by 11am, very different to Frisco – but we had lost about 5000' altitude, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. To get to Mack Ridge you have to climb – it's a ridge, see? The clue is in the name. It was quite tough actually, the annoying kind of track that's not steep enough to excuse getting off and pushing, but loose enough and long enough to demoralize. Sue was feeling less than 100% and decided to turn back when the levelled out bit turned upwards again. It was probably just as well she did given what came next. The climb up to the ridge was on rough and loose doubletrack but when you reach the ridge the views are stunning – the massive Colorado river runs a squllion feet below you and there's just this view that I can't put into words, I thought about taking a picture but it wouldn't have captured it - I'd have need a trick camera with wide angle lense and being there 4 hours earlier would have helped too, but trust me, it's a spectacular scene.

Enough of that – the descent starts right away and it quickly leads you into some spicy rock steps that were borderline crash territory for me. Then I was treated to some quality rocky singletrack that had a couple of silly technical moments that I just walked down, but most of it was a total hoot.

I was back 'home' by 12.30 and only the sun stopped me going out for another loop. We'd decided that Highline campsite was too far from everywhere to be of much use to us so we booked in at the Colorado River State Park in Fruita which offered the luxuries of water and electric hook up for the RV. Did the first 'dump' of the grey and black water tanks (grey water come from the sinks, black is worse). A typically chatty american pulled up alongside as we were reading the manual to see what we were supposed to do; “ah! The great leveller! It don't matter how fancy a rig you got, we all end up here doing the same thing, no getting away from it!” Of course everyone loves us because we're from the UK and everyone's got a grandfather from Scotland.

Peaks Trail, Frisco (03/09/07)

2007-09-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

This place is cool. Why? Well, one of the reasons is the free shuttle buses that operate between places. Both me and Sue had slept intermittently again, but had managed a lie – in until nearly 7am. We drove the RV into Frisco where she caught the free shuttle to Silverthorne and I took the bus to Breckenridge – with my bike on the bike-rack. A free bus that takes bikes – I like.

Another reason I like this place is that when some guy hears you're from the UK he doesn't go “Oh, Manchester United, Liverpool...”, no, he says “Steve Peat's an awesome rider man!”. But I digress. The bus ride saved me an hour or so of tarmac climbing and at 9000 and something foot elevation I think avoiding unnecessary climbs is a good thing. Still, there was still a 30 minute climb out of Breck to the start of peaks Trail which sort of contours along about 1000ft below the ridgeline of the 10 Peaks. It's very good. No big climbs but lots of short technical ups. It has rocks roots trees in just the right configuration. The first 6 miles from Breck undulate nicely, to be honest the altitude makes the climbs tougher than they look, a short pull leaves you out of breath and even though i wasn't ragging it i could feel a lactic burn starting in my legs, I guess that's oxygen deficiency for you.

The last 3.5 miles seem to be entirely downhill. You read that right. A very big blast. I got a bit too close to a tree at one point which unerved me a bit when I tried to imagine how many pieces my shoulder would have broken into if I'd hit a tree at warp speed. Eventually i was spat out onto a double track that looked like it was the end of the fun, but directly opposite was a sign for Rainbow Lake trail. I'd never heard of it so i asked the dog walkers who'd just come along it where it went and was assured that it would be a fun return to town. They weren't wrong. A wide and unremarkable track took me past Rainbow lake then headed back into the trees. After a while I spotted a bit of singletrack diving off to the right, so I followed it – fanbleedintastic. Super tight, twisty, rocky, rooty, like the old Innerleithen downhill trails, but better because it's Colorado and its sunny! The icing on the cake.

Sue had been feeling ropey again so did the shops at Silverthorne. After lunch in safeway's car park we hit the I70 and didn't stop until we reached Highline state reservoir, Fruita, site of the 18 hours of Fruita event.

Frisco (02/09/07)

2007-09-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

We drove the RV down to Frisco – no great distance but we were very aware that at 9000ft and with no acclimatisation we were likely to be feeble UK bikers. Looking for an easy warm up ride we stumbled on the Shoreline trail that was lovely buff singletrack around the peninsula. We hadn't heard anything about this trail, it was just a line on the map, but it was great.

After that I bought some cleats that actually fitted the pedals on my Dawg. Not wanting to over do it on our first day we went shopping in Silverthorne, but I only came away with a $20 pair of lycra shorts. Sue was feeling pretty ropey by now so we headed back to the campground. I was dead sympathetic and took off on my bike again, popped over the hill and picked up Soda Creek trail – another gem. Colorado doesn't do duff trails. In fact all buff, no duff could be there tagline. Maybe.

Denver - Dillon Reservoir (01/09/07)

2007-09-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 3.30. got up about 5am and had a shave. Managed to make enough noise to convince Sue that she might as well get up too, she wasn't sleeping anyway. By 6.30 we were in the pool, then we moved next door to the jacuzzi. Jet lag never felt so good.

We dumped our stuff at the RV rental place and took a bus into town to go shopping at REI – the outdoor megastore. Bad idea – I spent a ton of money. Minor mishap getting the bus back, we naively assumed that if the 31 bus took us from 98^th to Spere Avenue then to get back to 98^th we just needed to pick up the 31 going back the other way. Not that easy though is it? Still, we had a nice tour of residential Denver.

The RV was bigger than the one we booked, which was nice and they got a bike rack for us too. First priority was to buy food – the Eggs Benedict I'd had for breakfast were great, but that was 8 hours ago. So the first meal in our new home was in Safeway's car park – classy.

We hit the I70 and headed west and in just over an hour we were rolling into Lowry campground above Dillon Reservoir – lovely spot. I built the bikes, Sue sorted the unpacking and made dinner and that was that.

Bangor to Denver

2007-08-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

Alarm woke me up at 5.45, I'd decided to ride into Bangor to get the train rather than sit in the back of the van. It was raining a bit so there was a last minute bike change (the nice road bike doesn't go out in the rain) but it was a nice start to the day to have 35 minutes on traffic free roads.

Train to Watford (delayed), bus to heathrow (delayed) queue, queue, queue some more, buy a bottle of 16 yr old Highland Park in duty free and board the (delayed) flight. Before you know it you've been up for 23 hours and are checking into the poshest hotel you've ever stayed in.

Welcome to America, baby!

Poor pootch

2007-08-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Pippa's my dog. She's had a hard time lately. Anterior cruciate ligament went in one of her back legs, coincidentally the same one that she tore all the tendons in 4 years ago. That wasn't so bad, the vets can fix these things, they substitute fishing wire for ligament and away you go, after a few weeks of recuperation. She was healing well, very well in fact, doing 15 minute walks a few weeks after the op. But then she started carrying her 'good' back leg, same symptons as before.
It's an age thing, her ACLs have stretched and she's got hip displacia.

It's rubbish when dogs get old.

Tryfan

2007-08-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Went to Ogwen on the way home from work to go for a run, it was a perfect evening so I went up Tryfan. Ok, it was more of a scramble than a run, but was oodles of fun nonetheless. Saw the RAF rescue helicopter on my way up, seems as though someone needed help getting off the hill. I decided that as I was only wearing shorts and T shirt and didn't have map, compass, spare clothes or food with me that it might be polite to give the Mountain rescue boys a wide bearth.

Tryfan was ace though, first time I'd been up to the top. although on the way down I'm pretty certain I passed the spot I'd reached with Pippa a while ago, when I turned back in the mist, not having a clue where i was - turned out I was about 40m below the summit. North Wales rocks.

where does the time go?

2007-08-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it happens, but time vanishes before I get a chance to write anything here. It's 10 days since we went to Rob and Lydia's Wedding in St Agnes, Cornwall. I didn't have any holiday to use so it had to be there and back in a weekend - left work at 4.30pm, got to Plymouth at 12.30 am - nice. had an easy dive to St Ag saturday morning, mooched around with Vic, Lisa and Bex doing flower arranging and casually checked into the B&B to get ready for the main event.
That's when I discovered my suit trousers weren't there. Oh dear! This was with just under an hour before kick off. I tried the only clothes shop in the village - women's only, they suggested a sarong (no thanks) but luckily Sue bumped into the groom, who made a call to his neighbour Paul, who provided a pair that fitted exactly.
With that little hiccup dealt with the rest of the day was superb, even without getting stupidly drunk. best wedding I've been to - hurrah for Rob and Lydia!

Snowdon

2007-08-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

I've been quiet lately, chest infection and general clutter of life getting in he way of fun. anyway, left work tonight, made the most of some rare good weather and headed up snowdon on bike. Made it to the top in a shade over 2 hours, clear skies, no wind, chuffin ace views, sun starting to dissappear.

What a peach of a descent! Made it down in one piece, no mechanicals, just as the last smidgeon of daylight vanished. Pinch flatted on a kerb 50 yards from the van.

Does it get much better than this? I don't think it does :)

Rob's Stag weekend

2007-07-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

What a weekend - back in Leeds for the first time in over 2 years, catching up with friends I hadn't seen for atleast that long. The occaision? Little Rob aka The Overseeer, aka Dr Chug was having his Stag do. There was nothing planned for Friday night so naturally we all met at becki and Lukes and drank red wine like it was going out of fashion. Woke up predictably early and dehydrated on Saturday and mooched around Sara and Aidan's place getting shot at by young Lucy and set about re-invigorating myself.
Went to X-scape in Castleford in the afternoon for a male bonding session: lazerquest with Rob, Aidan, Alge, Luke, Paul and Pete. I think most of us got our arses kicked by all the 9 year olds tearing about the place, I know I did, but Rob was apparently quite good, ranking as 3rd hardest "quester" - I guess it favours short people :-)
After that we did aerial rope course thing where most of us kacked ourselves, well pretty much everyone except Pete who was loving it. So yeah, we got wupped by 9 year olds and then acted like a bunch of sissies, it was brilliant.

Scooted back to Leeds for a cracking meal at Hansa's followed by drinks. Lots of drinks. We started in The Reliance, joined by Vix and Bex and Lisa and got things going with a tequila slammer. After one beer I switched to G&Ts to try to shake the bloated sleepy feeling. Everyone was flagging after the meal and I think it was only more Tequila that rescued us from slumber, but by about 11.30 we were hitting our stride I think. stayed in Reliance until they shut then went to North Bar until they shut, then onto the Sela Bar until they shut and then some other place that nobody remembers the name of (funny that...). It was carnage. Bex had her bag lifted, Lisa was apparently talking to herself in Sela and then fell asleep, I ended up with someone elses phone(?) and we finally rolled home at 4.45am. Rob collapsed on the garden Steps before rallying enough to wobble upstairs and pass out fully clothed, Alge videoed most of that scene and sent it to Lydia (his future wife) who received it on her way to church a few hours later.

Sara described my appearance the next morning as "shambollocks". Happy days!

Mountain Mayhem

2007-06-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

It was Mountain Mayhem last weekend - 24hr mountain bike racing(?) at it's best and worst. i was honoured to be riding with Singlespeeders of Destruction, thanks to Chipps, Biff and Nick for being a gorgeous team to get properly broken with. Felt absolutely empty after the first lap, so just tried to survive after that. It got easier on the next lap, then I did a double night lap and went to bed feeling sick. woke up after 3.5 hours sleep and thought "my knees hurt, I don't want to do another lap". Had a quadruple espresso and thought another lap or two might not be so bad and ventured forth. The horror. It was like a re-enactment of the Somme with bikes instead of bullets. I might have thrown my bike down when i got back and cursed about dragging a 50lb mud laden singlespeed around that course.

It was ace!

SSUK 2007

2007-06-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

It was in Brizzol. It was ace. You had to be there.

DNF!

2007-06-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

After my sterling (ahem!) performance in the 1000m peaks I was humbled last night in the Moel Elio race - completely blew up after about 10 minutes, tried to carry on but didn't have anything in the tank and could feel my throat getting sore and a dry cough started up. Took a short cut and still came in last but one. Hey ho!

welsh 1000m peaks

2007-06-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well, 10 days after the event Ive just gotten around to brag about completing the 1000m Peaks race - 22 miles, something like 2700m of ascent, starting on the coast at abergwyngregan and finishing on the summit of Snowdon. A cruel place to finish a race of that nature because when you've 'finished' there's still another 4 miles to get back to the car. Finished in 6 hours dead - and i was dead by the end, could barely speak when I reached the top of the miner's track let alone run.

Probably the hardest thing I've ever done. No, DEFINITELY the hardest thing I've ever done. But having done it, well, it begs the question "what next?" maybe I should concentrate on doing shorter races a bit quicker....

Foel Fras fell race

2007-05-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

13.5 miles with 1000m of ascent, finished in 2h 02 mins. It was really a training run for the 1000m Peaks race, in terms of distance atleast, so I was pretty happy to finish feeling reasonably strong after having passed a few guys over the last couple of miles. Still finished behind the fastest over 60 though :)

evening run

2007-05-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Met up with a bunch of fell runners, expecting to go for a 90 minute run. Ended up being out for 2 1/2 hours - a bit longer than expected! Still it was a steadt pace and I didn't die or anything, so it must have been good training...

New van

2007-05-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

So I got a Berlingo - Woo! Seems like the ideal thing for trips with bikes, plus no more getting laughed at for turning up at the builder's merchants in a Fiat Punto. Oh, no - in my new Berlingo i shall command total respect from them, and when I go to B&Q I'll be getting jealous looks from people thinking "Grr - he's got a Berlingo van and I've just got a Ford Mondullo". But it will not faze me.

I'll put some pics up when (if) I can be bothered.

Moel Elio - 12th May

2007-05-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Fell running as it should be - straight up a big hill along a bit then straight down. I wanted to put some extra miles in as preparation for the Welsh 1000m Peaks race, so i ran over to Llanberis to the start of the race and ran home afterwards. Consequently I didn't really race, I plodded round even slower than usual and finished with a particularly unimpressive time of 97:23. All told I ran about 14 miles and didn't even feel to bad afterwards.

Dyfi Enduro - 6th May

2007-05-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, what a blinkin brilliant event that was - a live band, dancing girls, people snorting lines of SIS 'Go' at the feed station - cycling's the new rock n roll I tell thee. The course length seemed to vary depending on who you spoke to but I'm going with 68km, with about a billion metres of ascent. The Karate Monkey ate it all up and spat me out at the end. finished in 3:37 ish I think. Best event of its kind bar none.