Tuesday was my standard 5k run. It's more miles for the May Covid Marathon challenge. As per usual I saw a Red Kite and this is my best attempt at a picture. I recorded on my Wahoo Element Bolt because I don't trust the Lezyne watch and it appears a cycling specific computer also isn't that great at recording runs!!!
On Wednesday morning I was being a bit of a wettty and very nearly did rollers on a beautiful but cold morning. In the end I had a word with myself put all my winter kit on and got out for my usual 17 mile loop. I'm really glad I did because nothing beats the great oudoors!
In Arthingworth there was a clattering noise and I looked down to see my Wahoo was gone! Ever since I snapped this by falling off my MTB it's been held together by superglue and a zip tie. I always planned to buy a new mount but it was doing so well I'd not got round to it!!! Luckily I found the Wahoo in one piece and a new mount has been ordered!
On Thursday I decided it was time to get my 10k run for May done. I've worked out if I fiddle with the GPS settings that pesky Lezyne watch, it actually works!!! So on a beautiful morning it was a pleasure go for a run!
Always need a bird picture
Friday was Bank Holiday Monday or something like that! Thanks to Dean Barnet's post on facebook I've discovered sporteering. It's a bit like orienteering using an app link to sporteering app There are two routes to try near me so I headed to the Harrington airfield war memorial to have a go at 'carpetbaggers.'
On the way I bumped into Ashley
War Memorial
Cows in fields...
Lovely tree
Bear that sign in mind for later!
I had a good ride but messed up the start for sporteering and if you get the start wrong nothing works! So I doubled back and did a quick test run. Once I knew what to do, I headed home with plans to try another day.
On the ride I noticed that my bike felt wrong at the front. So on Saturday I stripped down the headset and removed the forks. The problem was very simple to diagnose. The bottom fork bearing was corroded and very crunchy! Normally I'd take this sort of job to Andy at C&D but in these troubled times I'm trying to be more self sufficient. New part ordered and lets see how I get on!
On Saturday evening we had yet another Corby Capers quiz. Having scored a pathetic 8/15 in the parkrun quiz earlier in the day I was confident that I'd do better in this quiz. I was additionally reassured by Hans, this weeks quizmaster, as he promised lots of Sven Nys questions! Once again I memorised the great man's wikipedia page. I knew all about his 2005 and 2013 world cx championship victories. I knew about the world cup, superprestige, controversies etc I even knew he was born on 17th June 1976! This was all in vain though because there was two questions...two Hans (or should I say Josh who put the questions together.) I managed to get 50% of them wrong due to a team name trick question. Then we had a question which had a picture which I got right before I saw the picture. The answer was Pauline Ferrand-Prevot! Possibly the most beautiful cyclist on the planet. I follow her on instagram because she's an awesome cyclist and not just because she's very easy on the eye. All social media savvy cyclists should follow Pauline, she is the ultimate all rounder being the only person in history to hold the World title for road, mountain bike and cyclocross at the same time. She is also an amazing role model having overcome serious injuries and always recovering to compete at the top level. More here Back to the quiz...we used a great quiz app this week. You got bonus points for fast answers and I came 5th out of 9 mostly due to some lucky quick guesses!!! Next week Dean is going to be the quiz master, as someone who REALLY knows his cycling I'm looking forward to a low scoring but educational evening.
This morning I decided to have another crack at the sporteering thing. The organiser had actually contacted me to ask if I was goign to try again after Friday's test run. He also let on that someone on an e-bike had achieved a perfect score of registering all 30 contact points within the four hour time limit. With my MTB out of action I decided to tackle this on my Forme Calver CX bike. The change in weather to windy, colder and drizzly led me to put on a winter jersey - it was the right choice!
I didn't get all 30 contact points. Mostly because I kept going the wrong way. There must be a better way to do this than my method of just follow the phone app. I think this course is achievable with proper planning and good awareness. However if you enjoy a downhill in the wrong direction or forget to stop to scan GPS...then there's a lot of going back up the hill! However I have been down some new tracks today which was very enjoyable and I have found myself on bridleways I've ridden past and wondered about. So it was definitely worth it.
The bridge/ford on the Lamport to Haselbech bridleway
Remember the beware of the bull sign from earlier...well today the bull and his lady cows were gathered around the gate I needed to get through. However I outwitted them. Feeling smug I then completely missed a contact point...This is the field that a few years ago I was riding through with Fireman Pat and the herd at the time actually chased us out of the field. It was a scary experience and I have been wary of moo beasts ever since.
Lumpy field lovely old tree
Hang on where's my Wahoo!!!
Heading from Loddington to Great Cransley I was having a lovely time. I rediscovered some tracks I'd used before and then looked down to see my Wahoo wasn't there! You could not make this up. I specifically purchased a nukeproof stem cap mount so that I wouldn't snap an aero mount on an offroad ride again. It's really secure so how on earth had this fallen off? I was not a happy bunny.
I retraced my route and found the expensive bit of kit just sitting in the grass. I was mightily relieved. I put it back on and tried really hard to knock it off by accident. It's not possible. Who knows what happened here!!!
Time was running out so I felt I could get one more contact point in before heading back to the finish point at the war memorial. The picture above is a lovely downhill. It's less pleasant when you get to the bottom and discover you went the wrong way again and need to go back up! I made it to point 30 with seconds to spare and then back to the finish 14 minutes over time which I now know just incurs a time penalty. So if you're not going to make it in time your choices are; miss points (which was my plan,) or do it all and be late. Either way you lose points.
Sporteering is definitely a lot of fun. I wouldn't want to ride this way every day as it's a bit stop/start. Looking at my elapsed time and riding time and factoring that I didn't take any breaks...I pretty much lost an hour to stopping and working out which way to go next.
That's it for another week. Tune in next time for more tales of GPS units trying to escape...
Happy Pedalling
Great blog, thank you for trying out Sporteering, now you can travel further there are two more courses in Leicestershire to try out.
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