I'll apologise from the start, but we are a bit short on the pictures front this week. So, if you only look at the pictures, skip to next week, but you'll be missing a treat, because, even of I do say so myself, this week's a good one!
27 Dec 2021
Righty ho, here's a stupid idea if ever I've had one. Back in the summer I signed up for the Winter Cross Ultra, 50 KM of hilly, muddy, fun, along a stretch of the South Downs Way and a bit of the Meon Valley Trail, a stretch of nice flat disused railway line. Now, I can hear you all saying "that doesn't sound very stupid", but that's the sensible bit. The stupid bit is that a couple of months later I spotted the Full Fat Festive 500 Audax, a jolly jaunt from Bristol to Cambridge and back, perfectly designed for burning off some of those mince pies that I've been busy scoffing for the last month or so. Again, I can hear you all thinking "that's not stupid at all, 300 miles on your bike, Pah, easy" and you'd almost be right. Apart from one small detail. There back to back, yes that's right, the Winter Cross is on the 28th and the Full Fat Festive 500 Fun starts at 06:00 on the 29th, less than 24 hours later. Oh, and it's the middle of winter, it's been raining all week and the forecast is for more rain with strengthening winds, and in case you haven't noticed, it's dark for about 16 hours a day at the moment! See, I told you that this was a stupid idea, and as I sit here in the van, surrounded by running and cycling paraphernalia, mentally checking off that I've got everything ready for the start of the Winter Cross tomorrow, before a quick drive down to Bristol. I'm starting to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew this time. The thing is, I've been doing the running a cycling lark for quite a while now, and I know that I can run 30 miles without too many problems, and I know that I can cycle 300 miles without killing myself. But the big question remains, can I do both, one after the other, and can I do it in the middle of winter, when I'm guaranteed to get cold, wet and miserable on more than the odd occasion. To be honest, I've got no idea and I'm a bit nervous about finding out, but as I keep on saying, "The greater the challenge the greater the reward" and my new favourite, "Without struggle, there is no strength". So I'm going to find out, and hopefully, what doesn't kill me will make me stronger (not deader). I'm going to leave this here for the time being, and go back to considering my impending doom, but I'll update it again tomorrow. By which time, hopefully, the first challenge will be behind me and I'll be safely in Bristol, ready for the start of the next leg and I'll have a better idea of how my legs feel. So for now, I'll bid you fare well, it's 20:45 and I'm going to bed, after all I've got to get up and run 30 miles in less than 10 hours time!
28 Dec 2021
Well, that didn't quite go according to plan. All will become clear later on, but first a quick bit of waffle about the Winter Cross. It's brilliant, and that's all you need to know about it! Oh, you want more, Ok then. It's a really good day out with 2 distance options (50 and 75K), and consists of 3 or 4 out and back legs, depending on your distance choice, centred around the village hall at Meonstoke. The first leg, is a nice and easy bit of running along an old disused railway line, and apart from the lake just after the start that you have to wade through, there's not a lot else of interest. Leg 2 is a bit more saucy, heading out from Meonstoke, Eastwards to pick up the South Downs Way and takes in two big climbs, firstly up to Old Winchester Hill and then again to take you to the turnaround point at the Sustainability Centre. Once you get back to Meonstoke, leg 3 takes you West, back on to the South Downs Way, via the real slog of a climb up to the high point of Beacon Hill. Before another couple of miles of easier, undulating terrain to the turnaround point at Holden Farm. And for the real nutcases out there (I'm not playing on this one today) leg 4 sees you back on the disused railway line, heading in the other direction, before heading back to the start for tea and medals. See, what's not to like about that, fast bits, hilly bits, big puddles and being the middle of winter, more mud than you can shake a big stick at! Brilliant!
Anyhow, back to matters in hand and having collected my race number, had a last minute wee and got to the start at the appointed time (07:30) I was ready and raring to go. Or more accurately, I was stood in a damp field, in the dark, with 200 other idiots, all looking nervously at each other, waiting for the nice man with the loud hailer to say, GO!.
Now today wasn't supposed to be about fast, or winning, it was supposed to be about taking it easy, plodding round and saving myself for tomorrows main event, and to that end I happily hung back at the start, letting the fast guys surge ahead and falling in step with someone who seemed to be doing a steady pace. About half way along the first leg, steady pace man in front of me started to get annoying though. Not through any fault of their own, just that their stride length was a bit different to mine, and their route choice around the puddles wasn't to my liking. There's only 2 choices in that situation, get on with it, or go past, so go past I did. It wasn't long though before I was faced with the same dilemma again, as I caught the next person. Ok we'll go past them too. In fact by the time leg one was complete I'd probably moved up from where I was, to about 15th, It's not a problem though, I felt happy at that pace and It wasn't causing me any problems. As I started leg 2 there was a bit of confusion on the route, with 4 or 5 people in front of me going Right, where I thought we should go straight on. In fact the guy in front of me stopped and questioned them, by which time I'd caught up with him. Now luckily, and I don't know why, but yesterday afternoon I'd suddenly thought, "maybe I should download the route to my GPS and take it with me" in fact I'd even considered leaving it in the van this morning but didn't (why would I need it, the course is marked and I've run it before, surely it's just more stuff to lug around?). A quick check, showed that we were right, and those in front had gone the wrong way, and suddenly, my easy plod round has become a good chance of a top ten finish, without even trying. Ok, lets just keep pushing on at the pace I'm doing and see what happens, I'll get a better idea of my position at the next turn around point, as I'll see the front runners come back the other way. In fact, just plodding on, by the time I got to the turn I'd caught and passed another 3 people! Come the turn, it looked like I was in about 7th or 8th place, but some of those in front were doing the 70K, so they weren't even in my race. What now? Well, just keep going I suppose, I can't just slow down, that would be stupid, but at the same time I'm not supposed to be running this pace, what about tomorrow? By the time I'd started leg 3, I'd been overtaken by one runner, but I think that we had both caught some one too, which meant that I was in about the same position and to be honest, I was still feeling pretty good and the pace I was running at didn't feel unduly hard. As I came up to the final turn around, the guy that passed me earlier said "your in 4th for the 50 K" as he came the other way, which looking at the numbers on those coming the other way looked about right (70K runners had different coloured numbers). Oh well. I've come this far now so I may as well keep pushing, losing places at this late stage would just be a waste of effort. So I did, and you know what, crossing the line in 4:26:28 was good enough for 4th place, or if your feeling picky 3rd place man! Although I must admit that the lady that came in 3rd overall, for first female, was in a class all of her own. Not that I'm going to turn down a trophy for 3rd male mind, even though it's not really deserved.
So what's the problem and what didn't go quite according to plan, I hear you ask, surely 4th overall is a real result? Well, yes it is, but the whole purpose of today was not to kill myself and leave enough in the tank for tomorrows massive effort, and I suspect that my ego which just couldn't slow down and not race may have jeopardised that. Not what was supposed to happen and not what I was supposed to be doing!
Oh, and it absolutely pissed it down for a good hour with the wind lashing the rain into my face as I made my way back from the turnaround on leg 2, and that wasn't part of the plan either. I suppose that only time will tell how much of an impact todays efforts will have had on my energy levels and fatigue, but to be honest, I still felt pretty fresh at the finish, and although I feel a bit stiff and tender as I sit here now, typing away, some of that may be to do with sitting in the van for the trip down to Bristol, as much as todays efforts, but I suppose we will see in the morning. For now, I'm going to have some tea, a beer, rub some Deep heat into my legs, and get an early night, and see what tomorrow brings, after all the alarms set for Audax O'Clock (that's pretty early for the uninitiated, in this case 04:30). Good night!
29 Dec 2021 (04:30)
Bugger me it's early and my legs hurt from yesterdays efforts. You might never get to read this either, as I'm not sure if the van will still be here when I get back (whenever that may be) and my lap tops in it. Oh, and it's pissing it down!
30 Dec 2021 (evening)
Well, I can confirm that it is possible to run an Ultra Marathon one day and then set out to cycle 500Km the next day. I can also confirm however, that it's a stupid idea and is unlikely to ever be repeated, judging from how I feel right now! As I mentioned above, when I awoke Wednesday morning, just before the alarm went off at silly O'clock, it was throwing it down with rain. However, in a possible turn up for the books, by the time the other dozen or so lunatics and myself had gathered at the start, the rain had stopped. I'm not sure if this was a sign of good things to come, or just a brief pause in proceedings, and to be honest there wasn't really any way to tell. We could have looked at the sky to see if it was full of clouds, but as it was still pitch black, with no sign of dawn being even close, that wouldn't have helped! Rolling away from the start on the stroke of 06:00, we quickly headed out of the still sleeping city on the way to the first of the days checkpoints at Faringdon. I'm guessing that a lot of people have taken advantage of the longer Christmas break, as the roads were surprisingly quiet, a trend which happily continued throughout the ride, and it wasn't long before we were heading up towards the edge of the Cotswolds, with their picturesque houses and pretty little villages, not that there was much of a view today, with it still being dark! It would seem that the weather Gods didn't appreciate the swift pace though, deciding that now would be an ideal opportunity to slow things down, by resuming the ongoing monsoon season. Having put up with the rain for the best part of an hour, I eventually decided to stop and put on my waterproof trousers, not to try and stay dry, I was already as wet as you can get. But because I was getting cold and miserable in the rain. Luckily this did the trick and within 20 minutes the rain had stopped again, necessitating another stop to wiggle back out of my trousers, before I boiled, like some oversize Christmas Turkey (not that I've ever boiled a Turkey, so I don't know why that's a saying?). With the rain holding off for the time being, Faringdon was quickly dispatched, and it was onwards towards Winslow, via a detour through the centre of Oxford. Which, being a bike friendly place was actually quite a pleasant experience. Having previously, occasionally had the displeasure of working in Oxford, I can happily confirm that I've never seen the roads so quiet, or the streets so devoid of tourists, and on this occasion it made a pleasant detour, and a welcome change from the quiet country roads we had been on up untill that point. A Sandwich and a packet of biscuits, to munch along the way, at Winslow satisfied both my hunger pangs and the need for a receipt as proof of passage and then onwards again, heading now for Cambridge. A quick pause midway, to put refit some of the layers that I'd been shedding all day due to the unseasonably warm temperatures and make sure my lights were shining brightly ready for the long darkness, coincided nicely with the skies finally clearing and taking on some lovely colours as the sun set. Just after 17:00 and with roughly 145 wind assisted miles covered, the sign welcoming me to Cambridge hove into view. It never fails to amaze me how far you can get in a day by bike. I'll grant you that it takes a bit of work, and you wouldn't want to take too much luggage, but what a revelation it must have been when they finally perfected the design idea and the world started opening up to the intrepid explorer!
Cambridge centre was still busy with post Christmas shoppers and early revellers, so I didn't hang around, crossing the city before finding a convenient supermarket to grab a sandwich and replenish my rapidly dwindling water supplies. And then onward, picking up the guided Bus-way, complete with amazing cycle path, for the short blast up to St Ives and the turn for home.
Now I don't know why, but I got a real case of the shivers as I left Cambridge, going from pleasantly warm, to tooth chatteringly cold, in the space of 30 seconds and it took a while to get warm again. A bit worrying at the time, but looking back I suspect a combination of the temperature dropping, plus a bit of low blood sugar levels may have been to blame. As once I'd digested my tea and pushed on, warming my legs back up, and getting my heart beating again, I soon warmed up and was fine again for the rest of the night. Strange? With St Ives dispatched in short time, it was time to face the demon that had been on my back all day and head for home. Yes, the turn moved the wind that had been blowing from behind and providing a nice little push, firmly into my face. I must admit though, that the first 2 sections on Wednesday night weren't to bad, apart from one little error on my part. Now, being the cunning chap I am, I'd already considered that by late evening, I'd be cold, wet and tired and in need of a sit down and a brew. Casting my eye around for suitable solutions the week before, our friends at Travelodge had come up trumps with a room at Northampton, for the unbelievable sum of £25. At that price it was a no brainer and even if I didn't stop for long it was some nice insurance just in case. You never know what's going to happen when your 150 odd miles away from home, with nothing but a push bike and a spare pair of pants, and if you can be sure of somewhere warm to get your head down for a few hours then that's most of the worries taken care of. Heading out from St Ives at about 19:00, I seemed to think that it was just 27 short miles, to my nice comfy hotel room, and considering that I should be there before 21:00, there was bound to be somewhere that I could grab some food to enjoy in my heated room luxury, result as we say in the trade! So, imagine my surprise, when first, my predicted (wild guess on my part) arrival time, became 21:30 due to the headwind that I mentioned above, coupled with a bit of tired leg syndrome. Followed closely behind, by arriving at what I thought should be Northampton and bed time, only to discover that it was in fact, still another 20 miles away and another whole set of GPS route instructions. Arrrggghh, as we also say in the trade! Well that's buggered it, not only is any food option going to be shut by the time I get there, but I'm a touch on the peckish side now, and there's no way I'm doing another 20 miles on an empty tank. Luckily, and I've been here before on many a night out, I stumbled across the late night drinkers supper of choice. A Kebab shop. I was going to say salvation, but I'm not sure it was. A portion of chips and a bit of unrecognisable meat substitute, covered in chilli sauce, eaten with my fingers, perched on the steps of the church opposite, in the dark, did hit the spot though. You can say whatever you want, I certainly know how to live! Hunger sated, I tapped out the remaining miles to my salubrious accommodation in short time, arriving at 23:30. Not a bad days efforts then, 17 and a half hours in the saddle, of which I'd probably spent 45 minutes to an hour stopped at various times for food etc, and I'm guessing somewhere around 210 miles (337Km) covered. Before I move on, I must just recount my other cunning plan of the day. The 29th is "The Old Man's" birthday. Now, thinking ahead the night before, I thought that he's not going to want a birthday text when I get up at 04:30, and I'm not going to remember, or want to do it later on when I'm wet and cold, so I'll write it now and set my phone to send him my birthday greetings at a more sensible hour. Duly sorted on Tuesday night, I thought no more about it untill I arrived in Northampton, to discover said text still sat on my phone, unsent! We'll that's a bit naughty, now he'll think I've forgotten his birthday, or more precisely my cunning plan will have been in vein. Sod it I'll send it now. Now I'm not sure which would have been better, bright and early at 04:30 on the day of your birthday, or 23:55, well after bed time and looking to all the world like I'd suddenly thought, bugger, Dad's birthday, as I was going to bed. I'm guessing I might have some explaining to do, on this one!
Right, back to the matters in hand. Safely ensconced in my warm hotel room and with time still in hand for the 17:30 cut off to be back at Bristol, it made sense to grab a quick bit of sleep. So, head down, with the alarm set for 2 hours time, my plan being to be back on the road for 03:00, leaving plenty of time to get back to Bristol nice and early and hopefully home again.
What seemed like seconds later I was back outside again, making final kit adjustment and putting my waterproofs back on. The forecast had said rain at 12:00, so either they were a bit late or they'd got it wrong, as it was pretty damp at 03:00. Not to worry though, at least there wasn't a force 10 gale blowing straight in my face for the next 110 miles. Oh' wait a minute, yes there was! This was going to be an interesting day! Once I'd got going, heading towards the next control at Tewkesbury, some 70 miles away, the rain eased off, but that wind. My god, it was relentless. Even in the dark, I could feel it trying to push me back the way I'd come, in a newer ending, leg sapping, battle of wills. And if I'm honest, for long periods of the early morning, the wind was winning the battle of mind over matter. Slogging along, I tried every trick I knew to take my mind off the relentless force pushing me backwards. Day dreaming, music, podcasts, count to a million, recall Pie to 100 figures. None were working. In fact the only thing that finally cheered me up through those long dark hours was just as it was getting light, I found an open shop that had some scabby old sausage rolls in a warming oven. Along with yesterdays Kebab I don't think anything has ever tasted as good as that warm, crunchy pastry and old pig innards, washed down with a can of fizzy sugar, devoured whilst sat in a bus stop, at 07:00 in the morning. See, I keep telling you, it's a culinary delight this endurance sport lark! Onward, ever onward, into the howling gale, the only respite coming during the uphill's, where the hillside sheltered you from the wind and the odd occasion where the road turned and suddenly all became quiet and still, but not for long as it soon turned again. By the time I finally reached Tewkesbury I was really starting to struggle. The relentless pushing against the wind, coupled with yesterday's and Tuesdays efforts, were really starting to take their toll and I was wondering if I was going to make it back. Finding an open shop, I sat on the forecourt, resting my back against the wall, stuffing my face and trying to build back some energy, as the shoppers gave me strange looks, whilst collecting their morning papers and the milk to go with their cereals. Anyone would think they hadn't seen someone with 430Km in their legs having their 3rd breakfast of the day, but there you go, that's their loss! Come on though, I can't quit here, not after having come so far. So drag myself on I must. 16 miles to Gloucester into the wind in the rain down the A38, wasn't much fun, but by taking it slow, which is all I was capable of by now, was soon achieved. Through Gloucester amidst the shoppers and out the other side. Under 30 miles go now, surely I've got this? And you know what, eventually I did get there, but it was absolute hell, and I'm quite happy to admit that by the time I did get back to Bristol, I was absolutely spent. Probably, as knackered as I've ever been, and I had to make deals with the Devil and anyone else that would listen just to get there! I crawled along for long stints, battling the wind, where I couldn't even get above 10mph, I used gears to move forward on the flat, that I would normally get up the steepest of hills in, and I begged, prayed and wished that it would all be over soon. In fact, if someone had stopped when I was half a mile from the finish and offered me a lift on the proviso that the entire 320 previous miles had been in vein, I would have been in that car in a flash. But you know what, 32 and a half hours, and 508Km (although by my reckoning it came out at about 322 miles which is 518Km but that will include my hotel detour) I was back at the start, and sitting here 5 hours later, having had some tea and a beer, I don't know what all the fuss was about. In fact having vowed at the finish that I'd never get back on my bike again, I'm pretty much ready to get back out there. So yes, you can run an Ultra Marathon, followed by a winter 500K Audax, but believe you me it won't be pretty and it will take you to some pretty dark places in your mind that you had better hope you've got the will power and stamina to overcome! And will I do anything so stupid again? Of course I will, in fact the stupider and harder the better! As I keep saying "The bigger the challenge the bigger the reward" and I'm just rewarding myself with another beer and a mice pie (get them while they're still available, they're the best thing about Christmas). Cheers!
Postscript - 08:00 - 01 Jan 2022.
I've just been sat here proof reading the drivel above, with a brew and some breakfast, trying to make my random writing from the previous days into some sort of grammatical sense and it occurred to me what an outstanding piece of machinery the human body really is. When I consider what I put myself through over the couple of days discussed above, to be sat here now, feeling fine and ready to go again is unbelievable. I had a great sleep on Thursday night, I got my head down around 21:00 and slept like a dead man until the rain on the van roof woke me up at 06:00, and I woke up feeling refreshed and great. Maybe a bit stiff, but I'd been laying down for 9 hours so what do you expect. In fact I could quite happily have got back on my bike and set off for another round. When I got off my bike on Thursday afternoon, I thought that I was done, I couldn't go another step, but that was rubbish. By the time I'd got back to the van, had a brew and some food and chilled out for an hour, I knew that it was all in my head. Of course I could have gone on. I actually felt OK, I'd just started losing the mental battle. I'd let the wind, and the relentless effort, get to me and allowed my mind to start playing tricks on me! Someone once said that endurance events are 90% mental effort and 10% in your head, or something like that, and it's true. If you can overcome the dark times, when your brains begging you to stop, then you can achieve anything. And I guess that goes for anything in life. We can do whatever we set out to do, we just need to make the effort and believe that it's possible! Right, I've got to go, I've got a hotel room booked for tomorrow night and I need to clean my bike and sort out a route to get there and back, and I need to go to the allotment too. There's no point in sitting around, there's a whole world of stuff to be doing out there!
0 Comments
Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas one and all. Apparently, it's the season to be jolly, it's just a shame that no ones told the weather, as it's damp, dull and misty here. I was out early this morning, getting in a few miles round one of my local off road loops, working up a bit of an appetite for my Christmas dinner and even if it hadn't been dark, there wouldn't have been much to look at. Santa could have been sat in the middle of the track in front of me and I wouldn't have seen him until I ran into the back of the sleigh! What else have I been up to this week then? Well, to be honest not a great deal. I've spent a good couple of days servicing my new run around (If you remember, I gave the last one to "The Boy" when he passed his driving test), so to that end I've managed to acquire another little Peugot 206 that was going cheap (not as cheap as I'd have liked mind you). That's easier to say than do at the moment though, as used cars seem to be fetching a premium, and even when you do find one that's worth going to have a look at, or agree to buy, people will happily let you down. I'd agreed to buy one off a guy on E Bay a couple of weeks back, agreeing to pick it up at the weekend, sent him a text to find out the address in the morning "Yeah I've sold it to someone else"! Thanks for that! "The Emma" and I slogged up to Reading one afternoon, to look at another one that was supposed to be mint. The half empty can of oil in the boot, rang a few alarm bells when I got there. But not as much as the fact that the dipstick showed nothing in the sump. I'm guessing that the lack of oil in the sump was caused by the fact that it was all in the coolant. I think we'll pass on that one then! Anyhow, having finally got my hands on this one, I've changed all the fluids, stuck new brake pads on all round and front discs, replaced the cam belt and water pump, stuck a couple of new tyres on the front and pulled out the minor damage to the front bumper area that was causing the air box to rub on the tyre at full lock, changed the spark plugs and generally given it a bit of a tidy up and a good looking over, so hopefully that will see me good for a while. I've spent a couple of hours in the workshop too, finishing off "The Emmas" Christmas present and as there's not much else to talk about, here's a few pictures from that. I hope you like it, I think that it's come out OK.
It's not very often that I venture that far from home, but back in the summer when I was casting my eye around for stupid things to do, I spotted the Celtic Ultra trail Marathon. 33 Miles of scenic South Wales countryside, starting from just outside Port Talbot and finishing at Dare Valley Country Park in Aberdare.
Now under normal circumstances I wouldn't bother making the 130 mile trip from home just for a bit of a run, but, thinking ahead, I realised that I could tie this in with a pre Christmas visit to "The Boy", who just happens to live down that way. Result all round thinks I. A couple of nights away in the van, a bit of a run and a chance to get to see his Nibbs, what's not to like about that.
Well, I'll tell you what's not to like about that, South Wales is bloody hilly, and todays run was bloody hard work! That's what's not to like about that.
No, I'm messing with you, it was hard, but it was bloody brilliant at the same time. Although I must confess that the day didn't get off to the best of starts, and I nearly didn't get there at all. Having travelled down on Friday night, I only had a 5 minute drive to the start from my overnight hideaway according to Google. Even so, with the bus to the start leaving at 06:45, and the need to check in and pick up race numbers beforehand, it was still a pretty early alarm call. What our friends at Google neglected to tell me was that their route ended up nowhere near the start, but instead ended at a locked gate, down a steep single track road, with no turning places, which called for some careful reversing skills in the dark I can tell you. Not to be outdone though, after having driven round in circles for 5 minutes trying to work out how to get to the start, I came across another dozen people in the same boat, one of whom was on the phone to his mate who allegedly knew the way. Luckily, it turns out that he did indeed know the way, and a few minutes of playing follow my leader, down ever winding roads eventually got us all to the start location with a few minutes to spare.
Van parked, number collected, last minute kit adjustments made, and onto the bus for the 45 minute drive down to the start location. I wouldn't have wanted to be the bus driver mind, as he had some pretty narrow and steep roads to negotiate. But, by 08:00 we were safely at the start and stood shivering in the cold early morning air, waiting for the off.
Once we finally got going it didn't take long to start wishing that maybe we hadn't, as the road started off uphill and just got steadily steeper for a good couple of miles, which set the scene for the rest of the day. One big long uphill struggle!
Whilst it was nearly all uphill, some of it so steep you could barely walk, let alone run, it was a beautiful route. The odd glimpse of the sea early on was soon replaced by steep sided valleys and mountain tops, before eventually progressing onto more open moor land with wind turbines and forestry plantations dotting the trail side.
Industry meets landscape, with wind and tree's replacing the once mighty coal which once ruled this part of the country and bought fame and fortune for the South Wales Valleys. Coal from this part of the world once powered both the railways and the mighty British Navy, with South Wales Steam Coal being famed the world over for it's clean burn and high calorific output. No more, does Coal rule the roost though, with the pit's long gone and the landscape turned over to leisure, mountain bike tracks and harnessing the ever present wind power!
With a mix of forest gravel roads, steep single track and loose scree, today had everything you could wish for (except downhill), the sun shone with enough strength to just about keep the icy wind at bay, and with the ground mostly dry underfoot, I couldn't have asked for better running conditions.
By mile 26 I'd started to get caught by the later starting 20 mile and half marathon runners, not an ideal situation to be in and unusually everyone seemed to be carrying the same style of numbers, making it impossible to know if you were being caught by runners in your race, or from one of the shorter distances. Do I need to try and keep pace with them, or can I let them go? Am I trying to chase down someone with a marathon in their legs, or 5 miles? There's only one solution to any of those dilemmas and that's to just keep on running your own race. Too fast and I'll be on my knees before the end, too slow and I'll be going backwards through the field. Forget everyone else and just worry about me!
By mile 28 my legs were really starting to feel it and I'd heard a rumour that there might actually be a bit of down hill at some point. Coming into the final checkpoint I got caught out on one of my own japes though, when I jokingly said to the marshal "I've heard it's all down hill from here". To which she replied, "Sure is". That got my attention right enough and questioning it with a keen "really" got the old " Apart from the big uphill bit for the next 3 miles" response. Dam you, caught with my own wit, or lack of.
Oh, well, uphill or not, there's only one way to get there and that's pushing on. I will admit that there was finally a bit of downhill, a mile or so from the end, although I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't started descending at that point, oxygen would have been required, as we seemed to be well and truly in the clouds! One last push to the line saw me home in 5:20:20 for 6th place from the 138 starters. But no matter where I came or how long it took, I wouldn't change anything about todays run though. It was a stunning route, through beautiful countryside, which even on a cold Decembers day, took your breath away. This one's certainly getting logged away in the memory banks for another visit some day. Although maybe a bit more hill training is required before then.
As I climbed back the way I'd come during the day in the van, on my way to my overnight stop, the sun was just setting. Sometimes you've just got to stop and watch as the day end's. Unfortunately, my phone camera doesn't really do it justice, but you'll get the idea from the pictures below.
Unusually I had nothing planned for this weekend, not that that normally stops me from filling my time. The problem with this time of year is that you can’t trust the weather to behave and it’s generally a pretty quiet time of year anyway, people seem to have better things to do than go out to play. Imagine that!
I have got stuff that needs doing on the allotment, but it’s pretty wet up there at the moment and whilst the hedges need cutting back, I’m hanging off from doing that for as long as I can, as they’re full of berries which the birds rely on at this time of year, and I wouldn’t want to deprive them of their Christmas lunch. The greenhouse needs washing down too, but until all the leaves stop falling off the trees and the days start getting a bit longer there’s not much point in doing that either. I suppose I could have done some Christmas shopping, but as far as I’m concerned that’s a step too far for anyone and if I can’t make it myself or get it from e bay or Amazon it’s not going to happen! Not to worry through, where there’s a problem, there’s always a solution, and one presented itself mid-week in the form of a dirt-cheap hotel room for Friday night, so before you could say “where’s the map” I’d got a cheeky little overnight cycling adventure sorted.
Escaping from work on Friday afternoon, I was on my way to Amesbury, via Winchester and Salisbury, heading straight into a head wind that seemed intent on blowing me back to work again. Maybe that’s just God’s way of telling me that I shouldn’t be slinking away from work early on a Friday, but 70 miles straight into a headwind was certainly going to be interesting afternoon!
Despite the wind I made fairly good progress until the outskirts of Winchester, when I hit the Friday afternoon traffic chaos. Half an hour of stop / start progress and wiggling my way through stationary traffic, whilst trying to work out where I was going did nothing for my enjoyment of the afternoon, I can tell you. A situation that wasn’t improved much by the icy gale that I fought, during the long slog of a climb to get out of the other side of town. In fact, by the time I’d got through Winchester and was on my way to Salisbury I was starting to wonder what the hell I was doing and considering turning around and getting a free ride back home courtesy of the wind. I’ve said before though, that if nothing else, I’m a stubborn old git. So, after a quick stop for a choccy bar to lift my mood a bit I was soon back to the slow grind, after all, standing around feeling sorry for myself certainly wasn’t going to get me there, was it! Eventually, I arrived at the outskirts of Salisbury amidst the real rush hour traffic. I don’t know if your familiar with Salisbury, but it’s bad enough at the best of times, and rush hour on a Friday is a whole new world of impatience, frustration and queuing. The only advantage to being on a bike is that you can sidle through the stationary traffic, you need to be on top of your game though and have your wits about you, as there’s plenty of people who think it’s clever to try and block you off, or open their door into your path, just for giggles and because they don’t like the fact you’re moving while they’re not!
That’s the worst bit over though and finally coming back out onto quiet country lanes for the last few miles was a real blessing. Peace, quiet and fresh air, just the sound of tyres running along the wet road surface and the occasional crunch as you lurch down, yet another rain filled pothole!
By the time I finally reached my night stop with just over 75 miles in the bag for the day (including the 11 miles in to work in the morning) I was pretty much spent. I don’t mind admitting that between the head wind, the cold temperatures, and the traffic, it had been a hard day’s riding and I wanted nothing more than a brew and an early night. Which was lucky, as I can confirm that the services and luxury Travelodge at Amesbury has no redeeming features whatsoever!
After my early night, things seemed a lot better in the morning. In fact, the sun was shining, there was a patchy frost on the ground and the wind had dropped right away, which though pleasant was unfortunate, as a wind assisted ride home would have made up for yesterdays slog! Not to worry through, I wasn’t going back the same way anyhow, choosing to make a bit of a circular route out of the weekend by heading up towards Devizes and Marlborough before picking up more familiar roads to head for home via Hungerford.
I managed some fast miles, on quiet roads, for the first couple of hours too, and was through Marlborough before I stopped for my second breakfast of the day. A very pleasant half hour sat by the roadside with a flask of tea and a few biscuits watching the world go by, always lifts the spirits and in the cold morning sun, certainly did the trick today. That’s not going to get me home though, so push on I must. After Marlborough the terrain changes as you get into the North Wessex downs, not that I’m complaining, as this is a lovely part of the country and I’d rather sacrifice a bit of speed for something interesting to look at and a few climbs!
A quick stop in Hungerford amidst the Christmas shoppers to grab a sandwich and I was onto roads that are familiar from all those mornings out and short-day rides. There’s not much need for a map from here on in, in fact my bike probably knows the way home better than I do and with that familiarity, comes the ability to relax a bit more and enjoy those final few miles.
One last climb then, to get over the top of the hill at Kingsclere and it’s all down hill from there, home in time for tea and cake, although that doesn’t tell you much, as it’s always cake O’clock as far as I’m concerned! 150 Miles across the two days made it a worthwhile night away from home, and at £35 for the nights’ salubrious accommodation, a cheap adventure too. Yes, I’ll admit that the trip down wasn’t particularly pleasant, but that’s all part of the game isn’t it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you need a few hard days to make the good days seem all the more special!
Now, I don’t normally reveal my future plans, but some idiots decided that having a go at running the Brenda Parker Way in one go might be a good idea. To that end, a bit, of route planning and reconnaissance is the current focus of my running attentions.
I’m no navigator, in fact, I seem to be able to get lost at the drop of a hat, and when I do get off track, I find it incredibly frustrating, especially when I’m tired! So, to try and limit my getting lost opportunities and to open up the running locations a bit more, I’m tying to cover random bits of the route that I think may be problematic beforehand. At least that way I might know I’m lost before I get right in the proverbial. To that end, I headed up to Bramley on Sunday morning, to get in a few running miles and take advantage of the opportunity to get lost a few times. To be honest it was a good job I did too as there were a couple of bits that weren’t too clear either on the map or on the ground and I managed to get off route a couple of times. That’s the whole point of this little exercise though, if I can spot the pitfalls now, then when it comes to going the whole way, hopefully I’ll remember them and avoid the little mistakes that soon add on the miles and frustrations.
16 miles made for a pleasant outing and wasted a few hours of my Sunday morning, and to be honest it was a lovely morning for running. The temperature had shot up overnight and I was out in just shorts and a long sleeve top. There’s something special about feeling the mud splashing up against your bare legs as you run through the puddles, it’s a far nicer feeling than cold, damp, running leggings and a dam sight easier to clean off too!
I’m not so sure that all the shoppers would have agreed, as I wandered the isles on the lookout for something for lunch as I made my way home with still muddy legs and sweaty shorts though! Not bad for a quiet weekend with nothing planned then. Obviously, I’m no closer to getting the allotment ship shape, I’ve still not done any Christmas shopping (in fact I’m hoping it will just go away) and I’m no closer to finishing off all the other jobs that I’m supposed to be doing either. But I am having fun, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters!
It's that time of year again, time for the South of Bucks Winter Warmer, 200Km of chilly Audaxy fun and what's not to like about that?
As you can see from my previous efforts it's not a bad little ride this. I'll admit that it's not particularly scenic, as it sticks mainly to the bigger roads in case it's icy, but at the same time it's quite a fast run out, although a lot of the road surfaces leave a lot to be desired, as do the antics of some of our fellow road users! The forecast for the weekend hadn't looked too promising though the week, with a band of heavy, slow moving rain forecast right across the route when I checked at the start of the week. By Friday things had improved a bit and it looked like it might only rain in the morning and to that end I'd packed for every eventuality when I'd set off in the van Friday night. It would seem that the weather gods have been smiling on me this weekend though, as the forecast rain appeared earlier than predicted and I'd woken a couple of times in the night to the pitter patter of raindrops on the van roof. But, by the time I'd got up, had some breakfast and got ready to go, the rain had stopped and the still dark skies appeared to have cleared, with the promise of a better day than forecast.
Leaving Beaconsfield at 07:30 it was just starting to get light, but the roads were still surprisingly busy for that time on a Saturday morning, possibly not the best sign of things to come, especially when this time last year we were on the cusp of lockdown 2 and the few of us that rode had the roads pretty much to ourselves.
Heading South towards the first checkpoint at Winnersh, the low laying sun reflected heavily of the still wet roads, making it hard to see at times and heightening my senses, listening intently for every approaching car. Have they seen me with the sun in their eye's through their still un-misted windscreen? Listen, tense, relax as they come past! That's still a million times better than rain though and I'd rather spend by time squinting because of the sun than squinting trying to keep the rain out of my eyes! The first legs a pretty quick one on flat roads and it wasn't long before I was through Winnersh and on my way towards the second stop of the day at Alton. I must confess that this isn't a great bit of riding, there's a long stretch down the A331 after Reading, which has possibly the worst road surface known to man and is a real rat run of fast twisty corners, with what feels like an almost constant uphill gradient. Between the car drivers in a rush to get nowhere and the draggy road surface, it's a real slog and seems to go on forever. It clearly doesn't though, as by 10:30 I was rolling into Alton with 40 odd miles under my belt. A quick stop for proof of passage and off again, heading nearly home, or within 5 miles of it anyway, on familiar, quieter roads. This is more like it, although by now the wind had got up and was trying it's best to blow me back from whence I came, with a icy chill to add to it's efforts, a theme which remained for the rest of the day.
North now, heading for Pangbourne, with it's quaint little toll bridge over the Thames and lung busting climb on the other side. Slow and steady's the key to this one, as it seems to go on forever, getting steeper towards the top, before settling down into a long uphill slog for a couple of miles to take you up onto the higher ground on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, before dropping straight back down again with some outstanding views off towards Didcot and Oxford in the far distance.
Next stop the M40 services at Wheatley and the requirement to get a receipt as proof of passage. Luckily a large chocolate muffin comes with a receipt, as does all manner of other chocolaty goodness. Well, come on, if you can't treat yourself half way round a 200Km ride, then when can you? From Wheatley it's on to the old A40 for a few fast miles, made even faster today by that cold wind that's still trying to find it's way through every little gap in my clothing, but is now thankfully on my back for a while. It's only fast until you hit the next big climb up to Stokenchurch with it's communications tower, towering over the surrounding countryside though. I'd imagine that there were some fun and games going up here back in the days when this was the main route into London. Old Austin's, Fords and Morris's crawling slowly up the hill, overheating and stuttering as they went, intermixed with Steam wagons and heavy transport crawling slowly up in their lowest gears. It's a far nicer place today, now the majority of traffic's been moved off onto the M40, and whilst it's long climb on tired legs and achieves a fair bit of altitude, it's a nicely surfaced bit of road at a steady gradient. Eventually though it's over the top and the chance to pick the speed back up for the run into Marlow and the final checkpoint of the day. A quick pause in Marlow to sort out my lights and get ready for the last leg, it's only 15:30 but the night is starting to draw in, and it won't be long until it's proper dark, and I'm soon off again. One more real killer of a steep climb and it's all over bar the shouting and the run back to the start. Just the small matter of trying to get across 4 lanes of fast moving traffic in the dark to contend with to get back to the van and the chance of a brew and warm up. Another one done then. Just shy of 130 miles in a smidge over 9 hours and most importantly I didn't get wet. Granted it was a bit chilly, but what do you expect, it is the winter and the UK's not exactly known for it's high temperatures is it!
We seem to be a bit short on the pictures front this week, mainly due to the fact that I couldn't be bothered stopping and fighting my way in and out of my multiple layers and gloves when I was out and about Audaxing on Saturday.
So instead, I'll share a few shots from my run in to work on Monday morning. Now I don't know what the weather was like by you at the start of the week, but "The Emma" had been half jokingly telling me that the forecast was for snow on Sunday all of the week before, whilst I'd been saying "yeah, right, snow at the end of November. Whatever!" Well, imagine our surprise when I looked out just before bed on Sunday night to rapidly settling snow. That put the cat among the pigeons at bed time I can tell you. Bicycles and snow don't go very well together, so a quick reshuffle of kit, resetting of the alarm and change of commuting plans ensued. Even if the snow had disappeared, the wet roads were likely to be icy and I'm too old to break a hip falling off my bike on ice! Luckily for me, there was still an inch or 2 of snow when I got up at early O'Clock and I'll tell you for free, there's nothing better than running in the snow!
And finally, as they say on the news. "The Boy's" finally passed his driving test and as a first car, that's reasonably priced to insure, my little Peugot seemed like an ideal Christmas present and the first steps on the road to motoring and freedom for him.
I know it's a good little car, it's had pretty much everything that can be done to it fixed or replaced over the past few months, so it should be reliable and get him around without too many problems. I'd rather give him something which I know the history of and know that I've worked on and had a good look over too, rather than just buy him something which I know nothing about. So with a tear in my eye, it's gone to it's new home. He came up from the depths of darkest Wales on Friday afternoon to get it and drove it the 130 miles back home again, no mean feat when you only passed your test a week ago! A real adventure for him and if you can do that, well the worlds your oyster, for want of a better saying! That's left me without a run around or project though. I did go and have a look at an overpriced 206 in Reading this afternoon, but judging by the amount of oil in the coolant the head gaskets shot and I'm not paying the sort of money they were asking for it, for a car that needs an engine rebuild. Desire to have an ongoing project or not! So, if anyone's got an old run around that they want shot of let me know. I've not got the patience for chasing around after dreamers and blaggers, so hopefully something local will come up in the next few weeks. Watch this space! |
Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|