Bank holiday Monday extra ride :)

After nice steady off road ride with jd yesterday, we decided on a mtb on the road ride to Four Elms.

The trip to Four Elms is a nice rolling ride through east Surrey into Kent. There are no real hills to speak of, so it's a fairly high pace steady hard. It turned out to be warmer than we thought and just after Betchworth Jane took off her gilet and knee warmers. At the tea stop we sat outside in the sunshine and I took off my leg warmers for the first time this year!!! (in this country)

A good three and a half hours on the bike. Later we discovered that Jane had burnt her legs.... Again!

Tuesday ride

Not much time today, so I could only get an hour before work. So, I did the Coomb Botty ride. Standing on the hills today.

weekend mtb

Saturday - Me and Jane did our 'on the road mtb' ride to Camelia Botnar. This is a great ride for pushing hard as there is a series of short sharp rises in the last section. We attack these hard and and as there is little chance of recovery between each one, it makes an excellent interval ride. We then ride steady hard on the return. This week was a particularly hard and excellent session.

Sunday - Paul came for a steady ride around the downs. He'd just got back from the Rally di Romagna with a lot of climbing, so we stayed off the hills :)

Jane saw a massive fungus!

Tuesday mtb

I needed to stretch my legs a bit today, so I went of to Cripplegate Lake via the Downslink. I had intended to do a steady four hours, but was a bit quicker than I thought I'd be and did it in three hours forty something :)

I had a puncture at speed at the front today and almost lost control. It was a brand new tube on Sunday and the reason it deflated so quickly was that the valve seat had pulled out! This happened on Saturday too, I think that they were both Halfords cheapo tubes.

weekend mtb rides

Saturday - A tough three hours to Camilia Botnar on the mtb's on the road. Jane was pushing hard on the hills and I was having a bit of trouble staying on her wheel. :)

Just into Colgate at the end of Tower hill, we passed three oldish road guys getting back on their bikes after what looked like a mechanical/puncture. I shouted 'everything ok' and they said yes. A few minutes later, I could see them chasing fast. Me and Jane gave a bit of a dig on the next rise, but the first guy came past very fast and shouted 'Come on lads' Jane shouted 'I'm a girl'. I jumped after him and just managed to get his wheel as we crested the rise. I noticed his mates get on my wheel and we were gone!We hit the next climb and he started to falter and the other two attacked for the summit. I didn't think that I had much chance on the mountain bike, but I went around the first guy and jumped between the two and took the sprint!!! One of them shouted 'you young bugger' I apologised and said that I couldn't resist. We all shook hands and patted backs etc and I eased over to the side of the road to wait for Jane. But she was right behind us!!... I was hoping for a rest because I thought I was going to throw up!

This seemed to open up my legs a bit and we pushed hard to Camelia Botnar.


Sunday - Was to be a steady climbing off road ride, I didn't feel good from the start and we only managed two hours before we came home. It was a great route though and I want to have another go this weekend. Jane put the hammer down across Ranmore Road, and I struggled to get her wheel. Just as I got to her wheel, I saw her chain clunk to the smallest sprocket and she began to hand me some serious pain. :)

Ben Nevis

Richie had suggested that we walk Ben Nevis as a plan that he had of walking all of the highest peaks of England,Scotland and Wales. It also means that we bag our first Munroe. Ben Nevis 1344m, Snowdon 1085 and Scafell Pike 978 (Ireland has mount Brandon at 952)

So, me, Richie, Bob and Mark had made our way to Fort William for a couple of days, allowing ourselves a couple of days to select one with the best weather.The plateau is snowbound six months of the year and has cloud cover for n average of 300 days! We set off in a mild drizzle from Achintee Farm on the Mountain track, previously called the 'Tourist route' , or the pony track as it was created in the 19th century to serve the observatory at the top using ponies.

The first part of the climb ascends the Meall an t-Suidhe this part is mainly large rocky stepped hairpins as it winds around the shoulder of the mountain.



It wasn't particularly steep, but was relentless. The next col is where Ben Nevis starts properly and we crossed the waterfall after passing Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe.




Now we start the final eight hairpins and it becomes a series of massive head winds forcing you backwards and then as you round the bend a massive tailwind pushing you up the mountain :) for a stretch here the path all but disappears and it becomes a huge jumble of large, odd shaped rocks.



Toward the end of the hairpins, the red granite gave way to the black basalt and it started to get colder.



We also started to see some patches of snow, which I found very exciting and couldn't resist putting my footprints in :)We then followed the cairns, which looked like large shadowy Daleks fading in and out of view as the mist and clouds parted and then closed.



The weather began to close in as we ascended through the snow line and visibility became quite poor. Next we met the steep snow section, called Maclean's Steep. (after the contractor who built the track) This bit was great fun,as the snow was quite deep and slippery.



As we crested, we could see the cornice of snow on the north face. This where people can become lost in the snow and stumble off the edge.



The final push saw us reach the summit and we crawled in the the shelter, the highest accommodation in Britain!!!



Our mistake here was to spend too much at the summit. When we left the hut to take the summit photos, I was already shaking with the cold. My hands had become numb and I was feeling a little bit unwell. I was concerned that I could get into trouble and had to descend very quickly. I started off heading down and shortly Mark passed me at speed, saying that he too was in trouble. I tucked in behind him and we set off at quite a speed. We caught another guy and let him pace us down the mountain.




It was a good half an hour before I started to feel warmer, and once out of the cloud cover it was a reasonable day! :) We eased up once we were warm and saw Richie and Bob talking to a couple near the waterfall. Unknown to us, Bob had tripped and sprained his ankle. So they had to take their time.

At the bunkhouse we had a coffee and watched the track through the window for any sign of Richie and Bob. Once they arrived we set off back to the hotel, whereupon we donned kilts and danced the night away!


I was a great trip and great fun hiking with Richie, Bob and Mark. I even went to a pub!!!! Maybe next time I'll have a drink too!






The next trip is in the planning stage and will be Scafell

Sunday ride

Today JD came for a ride today.....hurrah!

We did a nice singletrack day, over Leith for a severely scarified Summer lightning. It was completely out in the open, very strange. then over to Holmbury for the whoop de whoops, telegraph and Ronnie Barker. We found a new trail up off Twixt and then rode back down it again. Then back home

eastbourne

Yesterday was our first jaunt to Eastbourne off-road for several years. I was a bit doubtful, because the forecast was for a strong north-easterly. But Jane had set her mind on a train journey home over the Balcombe viaduct, so we had to go!

We reached the bottom of the Downs Link in well under 3 hours and were feeling pretty good after racing in Ibiza last week. As we turned east, the wind came head on. And the first climb up to Truleigh Barn was spiteful and joined forces with the wind to destroy my legs. We had to pedal down the next couple hills just to continue maintenance of headway :) To make things worse everyone travelling toward us was moving at a good pace, smiling and cheerfully bidding us good day. I began to hate them :)



The water tap at Truleigh had been broken and so I had run out of water by Ditchling, but I felt ok. At South Ease railway crossing I held the gate for a chap coming the other way and he said Raymond? It was Jerome, looking fit and getting a few miles in. I think we last met at one of the 24hr races. Just up the trail we got some water at the farm, and I drank my fill.

The next climb was where I thought that I would meet my maker, just as we crested I almost came to a stop as the man jumped out and hit me with the big hammer. Hammer Time!! Swathed in a cloak of zero sugar, self loathing and hate for the whole world I struggled to turn the pedals as I gurned into the wind. Payback time for not drinking earlier - with interest..... compound interest!!



I ate two orange torq bars, one banana flavoured, one gel and a full bottle of water, and almost immediately felt much worse! 15 minutes later, I was smiling as we rode down toward Alfriston :) I felt so good, that we decided not to stop here like we usually do for a coca cola. We attacked the next climb up to the Fort pretty hard and enjoyed it. We got a little bit lost dropping into Jevington, because Jane was hooliganing the descent and took a slight wrong turn which brought us out north of the church. Next, was the last hill, Wilmington hill a long,long drag to the top over looking Eastbourne. We rode to the trig point and then did the lovely swoopy descent through the golf course into Eastbourne. A fabulous but tough seven and a half hours and 122 km's.