A weekend of getting away from it all

Saturday morning comes around and I rode up to Ilam hall near Ashbourne taking 85 min for the DVO club champs. The aim of the game is first across the finish line wins with the fastest off last; Lord only knows why I was last and with a 2 min gap on 2nd to last. I began the race in the knowledge of needing to catch 33 min of the first person who began the course (highly unlikely). The race was going great and i was flying, 3 miles in i hit a hill and felt some sharp twinges in the arch of my foot (not for the first time), sensibly i pulled out where i sore my 3 min and 5 min man so I was running very well. I later cycled back from Ilam quite disappointed and did it 5 min quicker than the way back in the baking heat. On the Plus side I received a little tan!

Sunday morning at 9.30 I meet Steve to go mountain biking somewhere in the Peak District. We arrive in Calver about 10.30 and decide to explore the café whilst waiting for Chris to arrive. Steve and Chris clearly had been in here before and ordered what can only be described as a 'bucket of tea/coffee. We spent about half an hour talking and glancing over routes and maps before deciding to ride a nearby route. We park up and assemble our bikes, Chris suddenly realises he has left his skewer for his front wheel at work in Carsington. He decides to head back their after having just driven from their, meanwhile me and Steve plan to ride for an hour.
So whilst that wally was driving, we were riding and loving it!

We started out slowly just testing our legs and checking the map at every junction. We strayed slightly from the bridleway on a rocky decent at one point and stumbled upon two women on horseback. They shouted us to turn around and head back up to the bridle way, I was not about to argue with a horse. We started climbing again up a rocky single track, when my front wheel jammed down between two rocks and I came close to walking myself over the handlebars. In the process I strained my hamstring and bruised my thigh. Not that i noticed till I reached the top of the hill and the adrenalin wore off. We later sore a heard of grazing highland cows with beautiful ginger coats and massive horns blocking our route, amazingly they didn’t seem phased by us and we went on our way. We ragged our bikes down a steep rocky decent down into Calver, got lost a little and ended up cycling back to the car all along road and boy was it steep it was around 80 mins.
Chris pulled up just after I had finished stuffing my face, what timing! He assembled his awesome Treck fuel ex 8 whilst i stood drooling. We rode around part of mine and Steves previous route and the soon went the wrong way (according to the guide book) but it worked well cutting out a large road section. We then started hitting a few big climbs where I seemed to storm ahead of the others, getting nice rests at the top. However, Chris got bigger rests on the decents as I let out whelps of pain when i kept coming of my flat pedals (I want my cleats back). Roughly 2 hours after starting our ride we were back at the car, beating the rain and I was stuffing my face again with an even bigger grin than before.

A tale of exploration and of food deprivation

After a great day at university (having solved my methodological problems for my dissertation) i got home shoved a couple of tuna sandwiches in my mouth and got on my bike. I started the cycle expecting to do the normal (slightly boring) ride up the A6 and around either Shinning Cliff or Black Rocks pending my physical state. However, for some unknown reason i turned off the A6 unexpectedly, so i kept going and then decided to turn of this road until i found a footpath up onto the Chevin (a nice little ridge of a hill traveling alongside the A6).

After i came down of the Chevin i felt in the mood for more exploring so i tried numerous roads and paths but kept failing until i stumbled on a road i new from a 30k race i had done previously, so i sped off and up the grassy footpath beyond that. when i hit the next road the hunger pains kicked in, so i opened my Camel Back and ate a bar which made me more hungry so i ate another and another and another oooh and then my last one. So much for rationing!!

After my food binge i arrived at the woods and cycled around them taking some new routes in and didn’t even know existed. after an hour of playing on crags, jumps and pointy rocks i headed back to the A6. I cycled back along the Chevin and took the back route to my house reaching 36.5 mph which il aim to improve on next time :D.

Welcome to the ultramarathon club

Yeh thats right today i went on a little training run that turned into 52 km taking me just under 5 hours. I began by stuffing my camell back with bars, water and full waterproofs incase things got hairy.

so i set off at about 4pm and decided to run to Shinning Cliff about 16km away and then back, but i was enjoying it so much i decided to go all the way to Black Rocks and catch the train home. My journey to Black Rocks sore me getting chased by about 40 cows i was very very scared and ran very very fast. After which i took my 1st of two pit stops, at a farm shop a few miles from black rocks, i was in and out in 2 min and bought 2 pints of milk that was super creamy, i ran with the bottle munching some bars for a few miles till i reached the top of Black Rocks.

leaving black rocks it started to rain and got dark very quickly, i ran down the high peak trail to the A6, passing under a bridge in the dark i couldnt see a thing and for fear of falling i produced some impressive high knees.

from here on it got very boring and i had 14 miles of it, all road and i dont really like roads. tell you the truth the best bit about the roads was the uphill, where there was much less impact upon my joints. i stopped for my second time in Belper for some electrolytes courtesy of a Morrison's petrol station. i pushed hard gritting my teeth, my stride shortening with every step and my right knee decided it didnt like bending anymore and gave up about a mile from home.

well it certainly feels nice to be seated just worried im stuck here !!

40 miles of cycling for 6 km of running ??

For some unknown reason i decided to help DVO out, by being a controller at Carsington pastures next week. So yesterday i cycled 20 miles up their whilst blaring my motivational playlist on my ipod! On route i almost squashed a stoat that was playing chicken with me ... bit i won!!

It took me 1 hour and 40 min to get to their so i had a quick 30 min snooze in the sunshine on the hill side whilst i waited to meet the other controller and planner, we walked and jogged about for an hour or so. We said our goodbyes and parted.

The way home was an amazing cycle, i took a different more off road route that was slightly longer but so much more fun !! I reached 38 mph and averaged 18 mph making my journey home 20 mins quicker.

I got home and dont think i could have been any dirtier!! spent ages cleaning the bike today wish i could just pop it in the shower with me and apply some raddox haha !!