bank holiday bivvy

as with all, rides i met simon at the city hospital. snaking through our well worn singletrack, ticking off local ride landmarks. on our way to trails new, the promise of chips and beer and sharing a bivvy spot with nine ladies and jon.

past newstead village and over the m1 and we were finally out of our 'night ride' territory. our pace was leisurely due to packs and slightly fuzzy heads but we were making good time and the sun was still shinning. so far the bridleways were good, everything was being ridden and the linking roads a chance for easy spinning. we'd completed the easy half.

into derbyshire and the hills began and our first push up of the day, amusingly at a wooded section named 'cocking tor'. some more road climbs, the sort that has you peering round the thick hedged corners in hope of a summit, only to be greeted by another bend and false summit. but the decent into darley dale more than made up for these tarmac tortures, not least because there were chips at the bottom.


full of starch and fizzy pop we had one more climb over to birchover to meet jon. this up would be tomorrow's down, which made the grinding away almost pleasurable. unfortunately we were 3 minutes late but luckily for us jon was 4 hours early-don't ask-despite having taken the long route to meet us.

more beer than necessary was consumed, due to a minimum service charge and as dusk set in we wobbled our way up to stanton moor. simon had a good idea of which particular rocky outcrop would make a good spot and after a bit of fern bashing we made our beds. hobnobs and whiskey sent us all off to sleep, despite the excitement of nine ladies the following morning.

occasionally i'd feel a blustery wind against my face and wake to find a starry sky and the lights of darley dale shining bright. it seemed odd to feel so wild and exposed yet so close to civilisation.

my favourite part to any wild camp is the sign of first light and this mornings sunrise didn't disappoint. warming our faces as well as our souls. breakfast was over quickly. we were eager to get riding and wanting to get off the moor before the first walkers. after some singletrack portage we had a lovely freewheel down to the nine ladies.

it really was quiet beautiful. the colours of purple heather and silver birch being illuminated by the early morning sun. a time for quiet contemplation and the realisation of lucky we are...and then time for silly poses and on with the descent!

yesterdays up made for an excellent down and before we knew it we were in matlock in time for a cuppa. from here we all headed up to the high peak trail before jon pealed off and headed home or maybe to grab a few more extra secret miles.

our way home was rewarded with 2 brand new downs that will certainly be revisited and a nettlely chute of doom that i'll happily never ride again. as with all rides like this there's always a section of cycle track purgatory. the tarmaced, traffic free miles fly by but you battle boredom all the way.

fittingly we finished our ride with a final local landmark, the trig point, the last of the hobnobs and end of the whiskey. from here we were on the home straight. we were out for just over 24 hours, had pedaled 80ish miles and had probably consumed far more calories than we had burnt. an excellent mini adventure.

edit** i came home expecting a hero's welcome only to find jane still in bed from the night before, a little worse for wear. so of course, i've cooked dinner, fetched drinks and done the looking after-well kind of...

lazy blue sky morning

unusually today's fun began with a lie-in, breakfast in bed and a read of the papers. i could see the cloudless blue sky from every window in the house as i went room to room, building a small pile of down, gor-tex and sugary treats.

i'm all packed now and ready to leave for a bank holiday bivvy. however, the skies are now decidedly gray and the sun has has lost it's sparkle. maybe the early bird does catch the worm....but what if the bird is wearing full waterproofs?

lights required ride

autumn is coming but the brambles are still high and the nettles still stingy. what was a surprise though was simon's new toy. unlike the change of season this was completely unexpected.

yes, that's right. a full suspension singlespeed. so wrong, it's nearly right? chris was on his new super light fixie. the race was on. simon bounced his way over strelley moor, while chris was flowing though the bramble'd singletrack.

the winner...i don't know, i was too far behind!

grrrrrrrr, arrrrrhhh

all i want to do is change a chain ring.

probably half an hour job, i have all the tools.

no, nothing ever goes to plan when it involves me, spanners and a bike. two bolts have been removed with a bit of swearing, wd40 and a rounding of a screwdriver. the other two little b@stard bolts are completely ceased on. i can't even resort to my usual desperate method of hacksawing as i broke all the blades last time and haven't replaced them.

this time last week...

was the first day of me going back to the hospital, all be it to a slightly different job. i'd forgotten how tiring 'long days' are, the aching throb of being on your feet for over 12 hours. for the first time in too long i'm having to think and use my brain again-it hurts!

there have been no surprises, the job is exactly what i thought it was going to be and thankfully my new colleagues appear to be very friendly and supportive. so far all is good. what is it they say 'hard work doesn't hurt anyone', or something like that!

the pay off for shifts is the time off in between and i've already been reaping the rewards. a long weekend in the lakes to finish off jane's birthday celebrations. along for the fun was cat 'n ruth, vikki and jon.

we had big plans for big hills, the langdale race route, fairfield horseshoe and maybe even a quick scramble up jack's rake. our eyes were bigger than our legs, or something like that! a short bonus run on the friday ended in the pub and set the tone for the weekend.

walk the ups, run the downs, be rewarded with tea, cake, beer, whiskey and giant portions of 'half and half'-not necessarily in that order. we got rained off on sunday and had an expensive morning in amblside. two cafes and twice as many shops. somewhere along the way i rediscovered running and the joy of sharing the fells with friends.

gratuitous cake shot

a year ago i started this blog. coincidentally i had also just handed my notice in and vowed never to return to health care. mmm....

new job tomorrow. new rota. new plans.

the delicious chocolate cake was made by jane's mum, and luckily we got to take the rest home. thus beginning the start of jane's 'birthday week'.

i remember when

most fridays started in the pub, straight after work, no time for dinner just liquid refreshment. things would would drift into messy, fuzzy fun. sometimes there'd be dancing but there was always music. sleep deprivation and dehydration. banging tunes and banging headaches. waking up sometime saturday, late afternoon, hopefully at home. fried foods and carbs would be my only salvation.

last night wasn't quite so extreme but it reminded me that i've neglected a certain group of friends for too long. i think my liver may be ready to make a mends.

pottering around

it still feels like someone's stolen my legs. i'm certainly not used to riding at such a high threshold, but no pain no gain. the past few days have been filled with the dull necessities of life; waiting for autoglass, gas safety checks, measuring for uniforms, cleaning and tidying etc

i had hoped that my little break between jobs would be filled with adventure but reality has kicked in. and instead of sulking around i'm enjoying being at home and doing all the things that i don't normally have time to do. having said that i' m still hoping to get to the hills for a least one proper run. but last nights ride reminded me that fun and good times can often be found very close to home.

sleepless in the saddle

sun burnt, dehydrated and pleasantly tired. a room of chaos, a muddy bike in the hall and a small pile funky smelling lycra. oh, a few half drunk bottles of lucozade,some very melted brie and a bag of melted/reformed/melted/reformed jelly babies. all adds up to a top weekend of camping and riding fun.

our team, unimaginatively named, NATS Singlespeed + Special Guest, was entered in the mixed category. all we had to do was ride as many laps of the 8m course in 24hrs as possible in a relay stylee.

Simon-riding god and owner of 'the best bike in the world'
chris-sharer of pants and gloves
alex-still in search of the perfect tyre
me-flapping around worrying about the time
and our special guest trio-enjoying a pre trans wales taper

not having ridden in a team before i was unsure what to expect. secretly i thought it would be easier than solo-i was wrong! firstly there's the pressure of knowing that someone's waiting for you to get back, no slowly but surely attitude here. then there's the element of nerves that i wasn't expecting. rather than just being a bit nervous before the start then settling into a rhythm of pedaling and pushing. i got full on race nerves every time i stepped into the change over area. then there was the 'down time' between laps. i apologise to everyone in the team and especially jane for constantly asking what the time was and how long i had before i had to go back out.

however, the pay off for this, is having a great bunch of folks to hang out with and sense of camaraderie that's obviously missing when going it alone. and the added bonus of having extra pit bunnies (fearless lucy and cambridge supporting ali). i know that jane enjoyed this a lot more than siting in a large marque waiting for my slow return and wondering what mood i'd be in.

as for the actual riding, well we were certainly very lucky with the weather. i don't think the course would have stood up to the rain and it could have been a very different event but that's the chance you take. riding on a mixture of chocolate blamonge and a mattress made of hay is what you have to expect and not something to complain about when so many people are circling a muddy field and weaving between trees. there where sections that made me whoop and grin and others that i dreaded and became my nemesis, some parts seemed to surprise each lap!

tactically we were all wrong. a 'handicap' of two ladies, no gears and me doing the first lap. but i think it was this complete disregard of competitive nous that led to such a relaxed (apart from me!) and chilled atmosphere. pleasingly we all did the same number of laps, no-one was left waiting, there was no falling out and despite a few spills and a chain malfunction we managed a credible 5th place.

good work guys!

still in bed

i have a slightly heavy head but it doesn't matter as i don't have to do anything.

well, that's not exactly true. it's sleepless this weekend so there's a fair amount of faff that needs doing.

as for 'real life' stuff, my new job starts on the 17th. 'trauma assistant', i imagine the title is going to be more exciting than the actual job. but it should stand me in good stead for getting onto the nurse training course, possibly january or more likely september 2010.

but for now, what to do with my 11 days of 'unemployment'?!

freeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom

i had a whole 7hrs 24mins of acting the office fool. it was the best day of workhouse i've had there! there are some great people who are stuck in an utterly rubbish company. i wish them all the best of luck, if in doubt "power up and power down".

two hours of roadie this evening and i'm feeling on top of the world. about to find out the recovery properties of wine.

only 7hrs and 24mins to go

was up late last night baking 'freedom cakes'. can't quite work out how to transport them now though. might have to leave a few at home.

what else is there to say except, "it's not me, it's you!" good bye nottingham (s)c(h)ity homes.

only 2 days left

3 chunks of toblerone for breakfast and i knew today was going downhill fast. i crashed into a bacon cob at lunch. got home and was sucked into the internet and mysteriously more toblerone disappeared.

luckily jane rescued me. a late evening run followed by dinner (real food!) at wagamama's. if this is my punishment for sunday, then i might have to force her out again.

the make or break ride

today i enlisted a crack team of bikers to help convince jane that despite her not being able to run at the moment, a great deal of muddy, sweaty fun could be had.

simon-fixie speed demon and default ride leader
lucy-fearless and invincible, she needs her own theme tune
jumbly-jane's trusted running partner, who also needed to re-visit the route
red-monster mileage and hill repeats
me-crossing my fingers and hoping jane doesn't fall off

the only slight problem being jane has only really ridden at sherwood pines, which couldn't be more different from the testing rock strewn hills of the dark peak. oh, and she doesn't have a working bike so was riding mine-a rigid single speed.

the weather gods were also on our side and willing jane on. however, the god of rear mechs wasn't and soon lucy was also singlespeeding. the ride must go on. and on we rode/pushed/rode/pushed/dabbed/rode. (some of us also cartwheeled and squeaked)

a disparate group of folks who, without bikes wouldn't know one another, came together to ride and share the love of two wheels. jane's verdict on biking is still out but she really enjoyed the company. i think we might see her out again. and next time i promise not to bring lard cake.

a lovely, lazy saturday

i woke with a slight brownie 'hangover'. papers and breakfast in bed with fi glover (on the radio). some more coffee and then to town to buy some chain ring bolts.

this is what was in my bag by the time i got home:
1 magazine
1 bargain toblerone (£1.50!!)
1 bivvy bag-also a bargain
1 alpine bowl
1 titanium mug
100g dates for experimental cake
100g pecans also for cake
£1 worth of sugary treats
and best of all a half price ice axe

bike shop had sold out of chain ring bolts.

july in numbers

i've not been counting miles or minuets this month. just trying to get back in the game. i'm on day 26 of the '33 day freedom plan' and despite constant 'tweaking' things have been going well.

there's only been one outing that's deserved measuring and that was the pennine bridleway ride. distances are approximate but we did reach the 100km both days (red certainly did!). so, i was just wondering if the official adjudicator will allow day 2 to count for my missed century in june?!

1 handful of runs
2 large handfuls of rides

cake of the month: jane's 'secret ingredient friday brownies'