So, about this weather right...#Easter 2019 recap

For some reason, here in dear old blighty we are obsessed with the weather. This highly unpredictable weather is studied to death by us all and that really ought to make us all meteorological experts...but it doesn't does it? Nope, our approach to the weather is one  of perpetual surprise. Two weekends at HONC it was freezing, last Easter weekend it was glorious and this weekend is a total blowout as #StormHannah batters the British Isles. So no cycling today...however that presents me with an opportunity to get a blog done.

Last weekend truly was a cycling bonanza for me. I was out on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Monday.

On Good Friday I joined up with a small group of 5 led by Bairdy. Ian, Andre and Andy Payne were also along for the ride. Andy Payne and I reminisced on last weeks HONC as we ventured into the Cotswold like Welland Valley.

I should have some great pictures but I was doubling down on technological dumb moves and took a load of inexplicable selfies! Why did I do this? Well the week before my phone had rapidly lost charge  so I was doing all I could to preserve battery life. This included keeping my brightness down low, meaning you can't see your screen on a bright sunny day...so you've missed a picture of Andre vaping and riding, David Wilson, who we bumped into, being a 'full kit w@*£er,' in his JLT Condor kit plus his very lovely bike and loads of scenery shots. All of this resulted in the only good picture being the one in the pub!

We last used this route on New Years Eve and ended up in the Tollemarche Arms at Harrington that day too. On the way there we had a great ride with the highlights being Neville Holt, numerous pretty villages and the good training drag from Ashley all the way to Desborough. Bizarrely that didn't exist as a segment so I've made one! Don't be fooled I will not be the KOM here, I've just made it...that's all!

Whilst I was out the queen of cakes had a mission to go to bestbuys in Wellingborough to get some good quality charcoal. If you've ever cooked with the good stuff thn you'll know I can't go back to the supermarket/garage self lighting tastes of lighter fuel stuff. However Bestbuys had also been caught short by the weather and they hadn't stocked up...so I remembered my uncle had said some great charcoal was made near us. A quick google revealed it's a private woodland in Pipewell. I made a call to a great bloke called Hugh who lives in the wood and he charcoal covers their cost of living! I couldn't believe where it was when I drove over! We have passed this place on club rides many times and never realised! Here's a link Rawhaw Wood I tested this out on Sunday and wow! Great stuff, this is now my go to fuel! 

On Saturday I took my technodunce achievements to the next level. I knew I wanted to be at Franklin's Gardens for the rugby by 13.00 so I decided to join the C&D Saturday shop ride 'if,' they were heading in a direction beneficial to me achieving that goal. I watched the FB feed and believed a route had not been posted due to other comments and therefore just turned up...I arrived at the shop to be told that the post had updated by our club organiser Andy Ferguson, just somewheer obvious as opposed to the places that I looked. The route was heading out to Castle Ashby, possibly the worst direction for me to head in. My dilemma was nothing though compared to Steve Duke, he needed to be back before all the halloumi cheese was sold out! Anyway others persuaded me that we'd smash this out and I'd be back in loads of time. 

We left Kettering via the hill to Pytchley, half way up the hill my ridiculous Lezyne bike computer announced it was nearly out of charge! So I switched to Strava on my mobile in the hope that my equally ridiculous phone would work for a change. It did, kind of...however in a group who all averaged 17mph, that I was in all the way round my stupid Strava thinks I did 14mph. Maybe I should get a Garmin afterall (nope...joking...never will!)

It was a beautiful day for a ride on roads we rarely travel. On one such road, Bruce, on his beautiful superbike with those gorgeous zipp wheels, got carried away off the front. Bruce blasted off into the sunset as we all turned right...lots of shouting and whistling but Bruce was gone! We waited for him at the next village but Steve, getting twitchy about Kettering's Halloumi supplies decided we need to get moving! My next surprise was after Cogenhoe we headed past smelly old Billing and then turned right on a road I never knew existed and up a nice hill into Ecton. From there we worked our way to Sywell and predictably things got tasty on that fast bit from Sywell to Harrowden. Well eventually it did. Shamelessly we let the rapidly improving Amy Bird take the front, then we let Steve Minney go it alone, before getting organised with a bit of a chain gang. It was great fun and by Harrowden my legs were shaking with effort. Still being worried by time but without the cheese based anxiety I left the group at the Pytchley turn accompanied by Richard G and unbelievably BRUCE...he'd somehow made his way back to us and that was very nice indeed. Big shout out to my fellow Richard who is amazed I have the time to do all the things I do...well mate as discussed I don't and that's why it's great to blog today...I'll get a ride in tomorrow hopefully!

So after a great ride the day worked out really well. Niamh and I made it to Northampton for the Wanderers (2nd team...the first team are the Saints...don't ever ask me why because I will tell you and you may just glaze over,) crucial A league fixture with our good friends Leicester. The news is that the best club in the East Midlands prevailed again on a stunning day for running rugby and selfies.

On Monday morning I woke with the hangover I deserved after a fantastic barbie with good friends. It was difficult to get my butt in gear due to a lot of Labrador cuddles but the best cure for everything is always cycling!

I met Uncle Bob at Geddington's famous cross and not long after Andy Pendred rolled up with some suspiciously placed sheep fluff on his forks. That was us...just 3 for a superb off road ride in still lovely weather. 

The first bit of the ride involved the descent through Geddington Chase to Brigstock. It was lovely, dry and fast leading to me overestimating my ability and having a lot of fun jumping out of ruts and off of tree roots. No offs and no ambulances were required (miraculously)

From Brigstock we rode up Old Dry Lane onto the superbly quirky land around Bocase farm. These sculptures are superb. You won't see these on a road bike!

The tracks around Aldwinkle were weirdly challenging. Having been deeply rutted muddy swamps earlier in the year they're now deeply rutted and rock hard. In fact everywhere is unusually dry for April. The weather is weird...did anyone mention that yet?

This route was just superb. We had a laugh getting a bit lost in the woods, lots of single track, gravel, bridleways. Just perfect. It was the gift that kept giving as we rode around Elinor fishery and onto to Stanwick lakes.

This was the toughest part of the ride. These fields were just lumpy bumpy bone rattlers. Cheers to Andy for the additional pictures. Much better than any of mine...I blame that ropey phone!

As I neared the end of the ride that boozy night was catching up with me. I was shattered but then I realised in a good weekend of riding, the off road ride was the longest. In fact it was a similar distance to HONC, just not quite the altitude! However my reward was an Easter Monday lunch at Mum and Dad's plus an afternoon tea with my very favourite lemon meringue pie!

In other news I've discovered loads of cycling related talks on TED! They're not all good but there are some real gems. I enjoyed the one below just this morning.

I also like to promote other people's blogs. I found this one from Velo Vixen via the Velobants twitter feed. I whole heartedly agree with her 'smiles not miles,' statement.

Before I finish I want to give a big shout out to Dean Barnett for two hugely enjoyable Muddy Marvels sessions in Market Harborough and we are less than a week away from round 1 of Friday Night Summer Series

Happy Pedalling!

The Hell of the North Cotswolds HONC 2019

On Sunday the 14th of April it was time for the 2019 'Hell of the North Cotswolds!' This is an absolute beast of a ride in stunning surroundings and if you're looking for a challenging ride next year I cannot recommend this highly enough. The following blog is a tale of my personal struggle, the camaraderie of cycling mates and a very well organised off road sportive.

Let's unload my personal stuff or what the unkind would call 'excuses.' My plan post Christmas was to get in to tip top shape by the time of this ride. I knew it would be tough and getting down to a sensible riding weight and getting miles in my legs were my two objectives. Last year I'd shed two stone post Christmas and was the fittest I've ever been on a bike. So it would be easy eh? Well no. Life doesn't always work like that. 2019 started with a lot of loss. My Pap (Granddad,) died, then Harvey our beloved old Labrador died, I am if I'm honest still a little post traumatic from my car crash, it's a big year with the kids (Niamh takes her GCSEs,) and other massive things, like my father in law having cancer are bubbling along. My stupid solution to all of this is to try to batter  my way through it. I've worked too hard and allowed work stress to really get to me. I'm also taking too much on with my evening activities and having said I don't have time to cycle in the evenings I have found myself out of the house 3 to 4 nights a week. In amongst this I have managed good stuff. I have lost a few pounds since Christmas but nowhere near enough. I ditched dry January but then managed alcohol free February and the first week of March. This was followed by 'have a few pints every day it won't hurt will it.' (Yes you flipwit it does!) I've also been eating emotionally! I resist everything offered to me at work, everyone says 'ooh aren't you good,' and I reward myself by eating anything I can find in the house when I get home! To top it all I was on annual leave last week and I've been ill with a cold all week! I never get ill. I have a badge on my lanyard for not missing a day of work in 2018...it's like my body relaxed and then said "I'm shutting down now, you've pushed me too hard!" So I arrived at Sunday, the day of HONC, in nowhere near the shape I wanted to be in. Excuses concluded!

Leading up to the ride we've had a healthy messenger group running and much excitement was in the group. Through that group I arranged for Ian Bird to pick me up in his well equiped van. At 6am Ian arrived and we loaded up. I prepared the day before, having decided I'd use my Forme Calver CX for the ride. I hated fitting that saddle bag but I'd need to carry more than usual. In my camebak I had a homemade sports drink of 50:50 orange juice and water with a teaspoon of sea salt. The queen of cakes had also prepared some excellent ride snacks of peanut butter snickerdoodles https://www.crazyforcrust.com/peanut-butter-snickerdoodles/ and chocolate chip flapjack. Finally I'd also packed my portable charger because I didn't trust my Lezyne bike computer or my phone! We made it to the event base at Winchcombe in good time to get a coffee in and meet our ride mates for the day; Chris B, Olly, Andy B and Gary. Ashley was there somewhere too but we didn't see him all day so I hope he had a good ride. The young whippersnapper is too quick for us all anyway so he needed to do his own thing.

At the start we discussed plans. Everyone wanted a crack at the 100km route but also we agreed to be realistic. The route had been organised with a cut off so you had to drop to the 75km route by 14.30 or if you were really suffering dropping to the 50km was also possible. Chris was not feeling too optimistic having had a lack of training time. Even more amazing was Olly. He'd broken his ankle some weeks ago but hadn't fully realised at the time and the bone healed itself whilst he remained mobile!

It was a mass start at Winchcombe which was initially exciting. It became a bit annoying on the first climb because the track was too congested and most of us had to get off and push up the hill.

However the atmosphere was lovely, everyone was chatting, asking where we were from, had we done it before etc. The was a real mix of MTBs, CX, a couple of tandems and a massive age range of riders.

The weather may look nice in the pictures and the truth is, it was a dry sunny day. It was also very cold with a sharp wind at times. Never the less our group was in fantastic spirits for the first third of the ride and we even had a good old sing song. Queen hits to the fore, some telly theme tunes and here's one for my good friend Mark Coleman - Gary knows all the words to the TV theme tune for Super Gran!

Gary is not just a singing maestro. He has the worlds largest calves as demonstrated by his leggings bursting at the seams.

The hills were really mounting up. I was glad I was on my CX bike because it does climb better than my MTB, especially on the road. The only advantage an MTB would bring is the downhills, some of which were a bit hairy without suspension. Thank goodness for my tubeless maxxis, I would definitely have had a pinch flat with tubes.

We made it to the first food stop at 50km, Chris was absolutely wrecked at this point. I did not feel much better but tried to hide this from the others because I really wanted the 100km. My Lezyne as predicted was nearly out of battery and my phone seemed to be draining faster than usual. No matter I had the power bank...then I discovered I hadn't got any leads. Luckily Gary had a spare mini USB and the day as far as my Lezyne was saved. My phone showed 39% so I put it into power saving mode which proudly announced 8 hours of battery life, more than enough!

Chris asked us to leave him at the food stop and he would make his own way back. So the five of us proceeded with the 100km route. I was feeling rotten but wanted to push through it. The first hill after the stop was an absolute beast. I knew I was done at this point, especially as the route split for the 75km was just after that hill!

I had some moments of doubtful regrets and then decided that I would drop to the 75km. Olly, Ian, Gary and Andy headed off on the 100km route. At this point I should have taken Ian's van keys but I was worried they'd get back before me! 

As I pushed on I could feel twinges of cramp coming so I got off and pushed up every hill! As it tuns out I was actually going faster walking than a lot of people riding up the hills. The scenery remained stunning and I started to feel a bit better going at my own pace.

Throughout the day we had been riding with this family. Dad, Ian Alexander and his daughter Taryn completed the 75km route on this tag along. It was a a beautiful 'hack,' of an MTB e-bike with a hybrid bolted onto the back. Taryn was exceptional fun with the other riders and I think Ian, even with the electric motor power boost, is a legend for tackling HONC on this and even more so for having the skills to create such an excellent bike.

I arrived at the finish at 15.00 and Chris rolled in about half an hour behind me. We waited together for the others to arrive. It was a bit of a long wait as they didn't get back until well after 17.00. My phone died just moments after the finish and I had just enough juice to upload my ride. I couldn't use the power bank because my phone is a USB-B...of course if I had the van keys...Ian had one in the van!

Chris kept me company and as it was freezing we sought the sanctuary of his van. After a lot of road watching Gary was the first to come steaming in, looking like a man with fresh legs. He announced that Andy and he had pushed on together but as Andy's Garmin had failed to start for the first 5km he had gone back to make sure that bit was recorded. How fit is Andy B! The man is just a mountain goat!! Then came Ian and finally Olly rolled in. His was the 'ride of the day,' as he had soldiered on and suffered where I just couldn't.

Just look at the ride profile as pointed out by Olly. By dropping to the 75km I had missed out on that final ridiculous hill. Again Chapeau to the four in our group who completed it. Am I truly disappointed though? No I'm not. I the cold light of day I realise that I'm not unfit, just not AS FIT as I want to be. My 75km is a similar distance to a hilly road ride I did last week in Northants. On that ride we climbed 1,800 feet, yesterday on a mix of on and off road I climbed 4,100 ft! That's not far off the height of Ben Nevis!

On the way home we stopped for a well earned pint. This pub catered well for dogs but we all agreed a dog bowl of this would be very welcome right now. On arriving home, I was shattered and in bed before 10! 

So what's the conclusion? HONC is a great ride. If you get the chance to do it, then do it! Even the 50km ride would be a good thing to do. A great day , with great mates and of course next time I'll be in better shape (yeah right Rich!)

Happy Pedalling

Spring Clean...another big catch up...plus erm...5 clubs!

I haven't done a blog for ages...again! I still love writing almost as much as I love riding but time has just got so precious...the 5 clubs thing is a bit of a clue to the problem. Coaching, being coached, road, off road, KCC Cyclones, C&D Cycles CC, Brixworth Velo MTB, WVCC Muddy Marvels, RFWCC Corby Capers! My goodness I've been having fun. The biggest reason for a big catch up now though is that it's unbelievably only 3 sleeps until the 2019 "Hell of the North Cotswolds."

I'm not going to include all the rides I've been on. Missing from the featured rides are: Cyclones coaching sessions and two trips with those little superstars to the Leicester Cycle Circuit; continued training courtesy of Phil and Sean at Corby Capers, the return of Dean Barnett's Muddy Marvels and I've also made it  out in the morning for a few rides!

This was one of the rare occasions in recent history when I've opted for the banter bunch at C&D Cycles CC. I haven't ridden with some of these friends for a while so it was nice to go out with them for a change. The rest of the club had set out to complete a 100km fondo as they do on the first weekend of the month.

The route itself was nice and quite typical of rural Northamptonshire but there was one section of the A6 that I could happily never ride on again!

This is possibly my favourite ride in this blog. Andy P and I once again joined our friends at Brixworth Velo MTB for a stunning off road ride.

Unbelievably on a lovely day in stunning scenery I barely took a picture! At C&D we rarely get over to the west of Northants so Andy and I had a real lesson in new trails and even though I'm from over there we were both surprised by the difference in terrain.

The ride ended with another trip to Cafe Monde but this time we weren't quite the dripping messes of the last visit. Knowing I was going straight back out to the Saints in the afternoon I opted for a breakfast panini.  What a marvellous invention, it just needed finishing with reggae reggae sauce!

The Brixworth guys and gals are almost all riding flats on their mountain bikes. I decided to give them a second go to see why they like them so much. One short ride later and...I still don't get it...the SPDs are back on my MTB!

This ride was back with my usual gang at C&D Cycles. I was feeling spritely after 50 miles I pushed on to the magic 62.1 miles to complete my own 100km fondo.

As usual, great riding and good banter and not much else to say...

On my few extra miles I finally got a good shot of  a Red Kite whilst cycling! Mission accomplished!!!

I'm rushing through this because once again I'm pushed for time...I took the MTB to Wakerley Woods! It's still great and despite riding there often I managed a PR! Of course I'm not happy...I can't wait to go back and try to beat it! I didn't go out in the morning because it was Sam's 14th birthday.

Last Sunday I opted for the C&D Cycles CC Sunday Social. What a great ride in stunning company. The banter was of the 'what happens on the ride stays on the ride.' I you're wondering about the ride name...apparently Bianchis are the colour of angels...I doubt it Bairdy!

Okay that's it...all caught up. Not the greatest blog ever but I just needed to record the rides. I can't wait for Sunday...but before then there's plenty to do at home.

Happy Pedalling!