othg

no mtb today.

Roger was busy and I needed some spinning in my legs after the weekend's hiking had turned them into jelly.

As I arrived at Betchworth, the over the over the hill gang were just leaving. The otothg is a steadier ride for those old blokes who can't keep up with the other old blokes who are in the over the hill gang.

Today was pretty quick - we scorched up Snowhill with Sabin and Andy on the front at over 30kph. At the top I eased to wait for the others and when I looked around, everyone was sitting right behind us grinning! Worrying :-0

Even on the col du Colgate it didn't let up. Andy kicked off, then Steve. Seconds later another Steve came past this one with a fixed wheel!!! and a moustache!!! I was beginning to think maybe I need some of that hormone replacement that everybody must be getting from their doctors. ;)

And this is how it went for most of the ride. I think I prefer the Alphas on a Saturday, at least I'm getting a kicking from people nearer my age group..... :)

Old cyclists never die, they just get a triple................................bypass!

The 3 peaks platinum

No cycling today, Jane had entered us for the South Wales Three Peaks Trial. this is a 30 km hike over three peaks in South Wales.

We haven't done much hiking this year, and I haven't run at all. So, I wasn't looking forward to 30km and three mountains.

The Paltinum route,unlike the Gold , which is circular, is a straight route starting at Llantony Priory and finishing in Abergavenny.

We are bussed to the start of the event and our coach was last in line. This meant that the others got a head start on the first climb...grr! oops! easy tiger , I'm not out with the alphas today ;-)

We overtook a lot of hikers and caught of couple of the runners who'd over cooked it on the first climb to the check point at Bal Mawr. On the ascent we passed Malcom, a chap who we'd met the year before last. He's very competitive and tried to hang on to us, finally catching us on the descent before the next big climb. We walked together and reminisced on the intervening flat section, he said goodbye as we hit the next climb of Pen Cerrig Calch. I was feeling pretty good here and instead of following the hairpin footpath, I pushed straight up the shortest way. I hit my highest heart rate of the day here - 167 bpm Which I held for most of the climb( nowhere near the 175's I regularly achieve on the swrc Alpha rides)

As we crested the steepest part, we saw the leader coming back down. Onto the push to the top and we first saw the second place guy, followed by a group of three. Just before the trig we recognised the guy coming towards us, it was Mike another guy we met last time. We got our cards marked and ran with a fantastic tailwind back down the way we'd come up. On the steepest part Jane hurt her knee. She was ok on the flat section through Llanbedr and no problem on the biggest climb to the Sugarloaf where we caught Mike. On the descent Jane's knee became very bad and we had to let Mike go. We finish in 05.10, it's a pity about Jane's knee because I think we would have cracked 5 hours.


we are planning next year now :)

Saturday fast ride

Today I went for my second 'kicking' from the South Western Road Club 'A' group :)



Last week was pretty tough and hilly and I hung on for a while.



This week's trip was to Danehill Farm, and I knew there was going to be some hills on the way there. I hung on quite well and wasn't off the back at all. I had one 'moment' on the last of the series of climbs when my legs stopped pushing and I went backwards for a short time. I soon recovered and enjoyed the flat out chase into into Dane Hill.

Coming back was a different matter :) My climbing legs had deserted me. They were hurting the whole way. Each time we hit a hill, I was fine and then my legs would just die near the top and everyone would come past. This was ok until the hill at Rusper, when I couldn't close the gap at the top and had to sit up and roll back steadily alone. I can feel my fitness returning, I need a bit more stamina and distance in my legs :)

I could have taken it easier on the way out, but my next race is around 2-2.5 hours. So, I need a bit of speed over that time and I think this helped :-))

tuesday ride

The weather is perfect for mountain biking at the moment :)
Roger turned up at 10 am and already it was 11'C and sunny...hurrah!
We decided to head toward Leith Hill to do some singletrack in the woods, notably Summer Lightning. - a man made trail that really just follows some old trails we had years ago. This was bone dry and a little bit dusty, which was nice because you could really get the weight over the forks and let the back drift around a bit :-o
We then went over towards Holmbury via Friday Street and Belmont School. At Belmont we took a cheeky trail through the grounds, this trail is very tight and twists throught the bushes which have grown over to meet at the top forming a long green tunnel. Next off was the climb up to Holmbury and down the telegraph row one of Roger's and Alan's favourite trails. Here I hit a root and my water bottle hit my leg and bounced out. I thought was strange at the time but only later when i got home I found the break in the water bottle cage. see pic above. This must mean I'm hardcore!!! :)
We grabbed a cup of tea in Peaslake and rode back over Holmbury and Whitedown.
An excellent ride

Sundayriders Sunday ride

The mighty Dinsdale managed to come for a ride and brought some chocolate fairy cakes...hurrah!



We've had some great dry days recently, but the wind has kept the temperatures down. Today the wind had dropped.

It felt a bit nippy when we left the house, so we all wore sleeves and leg warmers. But the temperature soon zipped up to 18' C At one point everyone took their shoes and socks off!

My legs were a bit sore from riding with the A group the day before so we took it reasonably steady, just attacking the the singletrack and climbs.

At Peaslake we saw Frank and Greg, who were out doing a bit of freeriding. Frank had taken a spill and landed on his head.

We rode a nice 50km's on hard dry trails in the sunshine.......excellent! Roll on the summer.