Sorry fellow cyclists I'm going to open up my cycling blog this week with yet more running. The #NHFTparkrunontour continued and this time at Sixfields Upton, one of two parkruns in Northampton. Not only did I meet up with the growing band of colleagues I had plenty of friends at Sixfields too.
Mark, me and Paul
Running late (anyone surrprised,) I missed the work group photo but got a quick selfie with my very good friend Mark and Paul who I know from where we stand at Franklin's Gardens #comeonyousaints!
After starting at world record pace, Mark caught me up whilst I was blowing out of my arse and dragged me round to a personal best, smashing my previous parkrun PB by over a minute. I've still got work to do though as I finished behind my Dad's mate Martin who in his confused geriatric state thought I was my Uncle Pete...still he's quicker than me despite being 20 years older!
This is Robert from NHFT. He's a legend. This time last year he weighed 24 stone! Now the Slimming World Man of the Year is inspiring us all. He runs parkrun in around 26 minutes. Like i said...LEGEND!
After parkrun we popped in to see another LEGEND! Nanny Iris was 91 years old on the 15th of June. No one is missing Pappy Gordon more than this lady but she soldiers on. I love her to bits and realise how lucky I am. This is Nanny Iris official first ever selfie.
No rest for the Richard. This stunning pair also need their walk!
Wednesday night is still Muddy Marvels night coached by Dean Barnett. These sessions have improved my riding a great deal. Also I borrow coaching tips from Dean. I tell you later how crazy the evenings have got and how many things I could do...if I had to pick just one thing to do a week...it would be this! Anyone wanting to get ready for the CX season should get themselves along to Muddy Marvels, it's free and yet we all agree we'd happily pay for it #crossiscoming
There were many reasons for heading to Devon for the weekend on the 20th of June. We both booked the day off work so we could have a nice journey down, beat the rush hour, stop at Gloucester services and arrive at our good friends Ged & James in time for a freshen up and then out for dinner...the traffic gods had other ideas and we endured an 8 hour horror journey whilst listening to England lose to Sri Lanka at the Cricket World Cup!
We did make it out for a fabulous Mexican...just in time and the carb loading was absolutely necessary for the weekend ahead!
The next morning James kindly drove me to the Plym Valley parkrun. Whilst #NHFTparkrunontour ran at Daventry (I still need to try that one,) I found the nearest run to Plymouth to try.
Plym Valley is without doubt the most picturesque parkrun to date for me. I received a warm welcome as a tourist and then we were off! Once again I was too far back at the start and spent the first 5 minutes passing people by running in mud next to the narrow track...then I got to the hill and I found people walking up it! "wetties," I thought and then with my legs turned to jelly at the top all the walkers ran past me on the flat! We went back up the hill for a 2nd lap and I didn't learn...I ran up again and got passed at the top again!
At the finish I met a bloke who'd done the Kettering parkrun! It's a very sociable thing!!!
The rest of the day was a bit emotional for me. The week before Nan and my parents had scattered Pap's ashes in the churchyard at Woodleigh, the village in Devon where Pap was born and lived until the war!
Woodleigh Church
The School House - Pap was born and lived here!
The blacksmiths workshop where a young Gordon Hallett learned boxing!
To calm down from all that emotional stuff James and Ged took us to Salcombe. I later learned that Pap had brought me here as a kid to go boating. It's a stunning place and it was a stunning day!
I was up at 5am the next day for the main event of the weekend. It was short trip round the corner to pick up the top bloke that is my former housemate Nigel and then off to Newton Abbott for the start of an amazing cycling event.
This is a massive event and it feels like it from the start...at the start the new cable on my rear mech decided to stretch and I went into stressed out mode! Luckily Nige knows what he's doing and my gears were indexed with me unhelpfully watching and wibbling.
After a gentle start you get into the ride proper. We did the 70 mile 'Medio,' distance. 'Grande,' is 100 miles and I don't feel the need to ever do that! The hills were proper granny grinds.
There was plenty of obstacles on the route and I had close encounters with cows, sheep and Dartmoor ponies! My legs were okay though and I was waiting for Nige on the climbs. This is unusual because he's a better cyclist than me even being a few years older. He's also enjoying playing gigs in pubs too much and enjoying the free ales his appreciative audience provide! Nige learned to play the guitar whilst we shared a house in the 90s...he's got very good since then!
At around halfway we had a food stop. I was grateful as I could feel the first warning signs of cramp going up the last hill before the stop. I'd also lost my big ring as my front mech would not shift! No worries I thought the mechanics at the stop can sort this...nope...no they couldn't. I was knackered so common sense was in short supply. The mecahnics told me I had crap shimano cables and that they'd need to replace. With internal routing it would be a pain in the arse and they thought I'd be better not getting it done. So I completed the next 30 miles without my big ring...it was okay because there was plenty of granny grinding to do. It just meant I couldn't get up to full speed in between the climbing!
views
Told you...hills!!!!
Here comes Nige
Stadium finish....very nice!
I am planning to order this!
The last ten miles were suddenly a lot flatter. Nige, caught me up and then we started forming chain gangs with other riders. After 60 miles of tough climbing it was both weird and exhilarating to smash along at 20mph. It was also very hard without my big ring! Before we knew it we had finished. It's not a race but you are graded on your finish time. Nige and I got silver for our time. I guess if I hadn't waited on the hills I might have got gold BUT that was not the point of the day for me. I had a great day out on my bike with one of my best mates. It does not get better than that! We are going to try again next year to have a crack at that gold medal!!!
BIG RING update: When I got home and after a chat with Andy at C&D Cycles I realised that Andy had fitted top quality jagwires to my Giant Propel. I tightened the cables myself and got the front mech working properly. It's still good now. So cheers Dartmoor Classic mechanics (not!)
It was then back to Ged & James for more top quality food and a well earned beer! We also caught up with another friend Sara. On the way back we had a much nicer journey and made it for a nice lunch at lovely Gloucester services. What an awesome weekend!
The night after Madness played the hallowed turf of Franklin's Gardens it was time for another parkrun. On a boiling hot day we ran the very popular Northampton parkrun at the Racecourse. I've always said that Northampton is blessed with a lot of green space and this park, as the name implies a former horse racing course, is perfect for parkrun.
The dogs got a very early walk on this baking hot day
Selfie with #NHFTparkrunontour runners in the background
Like most things I have started to get competitive with myself and I was not happy with my time at the racecourse. 24 something will just not do anymore! Perhaps I should be kinder though. When I walked the dogs it was bearably warm. 5 minutes into parkrun it was like someone switched on a hot air blower!!!
This date in history might become significant. The 4th of July 2019 was Sam's first ever Time Trial. My 14 year old son enjoys cycling but not in groups. He's not confident about the other riders due to a spatial awareness issue and he thought Time Trial might be better than road racing or cx. So we gave it a go with me as chaperone.
KCC regularly use the Old circuit and with plenty of friends from the club in attendance our introduction to TT was very pleasant. Sam did very well and I felt a great deal of fatherly pride.
This is the day where things started to go wrong...it was parkrun in Towcester and for some reason I also decided I needed to complete my Strava 10km.
The Watermeadows parkrun is not one I will feel the need to repeat. It's four laps of a lumpy bumpy field and my left hamstring twinged and tightened during my run. I tried to run this off by helping others complete their laps and then a bit extra before the coffee. It got very very stiff!
When I got home I was in time to see Mark finish the Rothwell 10k closed road race on the market square. It was good to catch up with him and I may do this race in the future. However I also felt it was important to support #NHFTparkrunontour...you can't be everywhere!
I nursed that hamstring for a week and it felt okay prior to the Rutland water parkrun which finished the #NHFTparkrunontour series. The day before we'd had our wellbeing festival with stunning guest speakers including Colin Jackson. For me the highlight was seeing Robert share his epic weight loss journey. Robert revealed that it was the 2018 wellbeing festival that pushed him into joining slimming world and losing the same weight as four boxes of copier paper. I tried to pick them up, I could only just lift 3!!! I also got to run a stand on cycling and was joined by Katherine our regional British Cycling Rep.
My cycling stand
Colin Jackson
larking around...
Rutland Water is an out and back course. Before we stared there was the usual great atmosphere, clap the milestones, volunteers and that day a couple getting married were having a pre ceremony run. Following parkrun on social media has taught me that this is not unusual. This was also my 19th Wedding anniversary!
Me
Trudy
Robert and his daughter
Robert...remember this man was 24 stones!!!
Anne...who has organised the whole series
Julie...my director of Nursing
Julie's husband
I felt great to the turn and got talking to a bloke who was making his comeback run after an injury. He is a 20 minuter and I told him I'd like to get a PB so amazingly he paced me to what should have been a sub 23 minute run. Unfortunately as I pushed with a few hundred metres to go that hamstring properly pinged! I still ran my best time ever even limping over the line! After the run, Anne provided cakes and non-alcoholic fizz to celebrate the end of our running series and to discuss doing it all again next year!
My hamstring was ruined for running but absolutely fine for cycling so I decided to get back to the early morning rides I've always enjoyed. It's a well ridden route and as the name implies...it's my happy place!
The first order of the day on Saturday the 20th of July was to give something back! With my hamstring still in bits I decided to volunteer at Market Harborough parkrun. For the hundreds of parkrunners they turn up every week for a well organised run in a great atmosphere. This doesn't happen by magic...it's down to the teams of volunteers who spend the week planning each parkrun. Having benefited from these fantastic people I felt it would be good to help out. I ended up scanning barcodes which was a lot of fun and as a result I didn't miss running at all. I will try and do this a few times a year from now on. I'd already volunteered at Desborough junior parkrun and that was a lot of fun too!
After parkrun it was time to walk the dogs. Those labs need long walk every day and with our house guest fudge also having bundles of energy I set off to wear them right out and also give myself a bit of exercise that wouldn't test the hammy!
Those kites are everywhere
Chazzle mcdazzle
Fudge, Bruce and Charity
Charity and Bruce
Job done!
I enjoy walking my dogs as much as riding my bikes. It's something about the peace and quiet, countryside and slower pace that allows me to de-stress completely.
On the 21st I rode over to Desborough to help with junior parkrun again. This time I was the funnel manager for another great event with a school's out for summer theme! I'd ridden over due to parkrun's sustainable transport ethos. I then went for a spin...well because I love riding bikes!
Corby celebrated it's 300th parkrun and as a result they decided on a movie theme. We were warmed up by a Spartan lady warrior (get the 300 theme?) I decided to ridiculously run as ironman, as many people know I treat ironing like a hobby too!
Many people dressed up. Lots of star wars, batman, Wayne's World, a mummy, a skeleton, charlie chaplin, Mario etc. Great fun...as for the run I started fine, did a really quick first mile and then that hammy went tight AGAIN. I've rollered it, done strengthening, taped it etc...still goes tight. I finished so slowly the marshall tried to direct me for another lap! Still a time many people would love but for me it's frustrating because I want to go quicker!!!
The next day I got back to doing something I've REALLY missed. Riding with my friends from C&D Cycles.
I met with Andy, Marcus and Amy in Geddington for one of usual off road adventures. We were having a lovely ride until we entered a ploughed field currently in the act of making Weetabix. The recent rain had turned what was a bone jarring lumpy surface into a claggy muddy mess. East Northants has the world's toughest mud and it promptly ripped off Andy's derailleur. The rest of us pushed and carried our bikes though 3 horrible fields until we reached firmer ground!
waiting for international rescue
clagged up mess
The rest of the route was much nicer. We went up Geddington Chase rather than down it which is a good training climb! The rain held off for most of our ride but came back towards the end.
Marcus falls down the crack
I was merrily meandering home when a phone call came from my long suffering wife. Where are you? Oh nearly home...we're supposed to be at you Mum and Dad's for dinner...oops I better hurry up then!!! Luckily my MUm saw the funny side and was happy to delay dinner for a bit for dopey old me to get there!
Time to clean the bike
On the 1st of August Sam took part in his 3rd TT and I did my first. I've always thought I'd hate TT but having followed Sam a couple of times I just felt I should give it a go. My only ambition was to get in under 30 minutes. I did that and now I have a PB to work on. I also set up my Propel for Sam to use. I felt he deserved a go on a quicker bike. I went back to my trusty Forme Longcliffe.
On Saturday I went to Kettering parkrun. I did okay but the hamstring still isn't right. It's still a great event and it was good to catch up with some people I haven't seen for a while.
ouch!
I'm going to persist with parkrun for a very good reason. Mrs Lindsley has started couch to 5k and is building towards taking part in parkrun herself. Just like supporting Sam with TT, nothing is more important to me than helping Lee on her journey with running. Not only that, we are training early in the morning!
On Sunday morning...after my C25K run with Lee I went over to Andy P's house at Denford to join Uncle Bob, Justin and Marcus for another Sunday off road ride. No ploughed fields were planned for this ride!
This was a great route with only long grass and the occasional deadly bramble causing us an issue.
surveying the terrain
Andy demonstrates a perfect bionic remount
On the trail
In the vegetation
Scone
Sponge
Picture dedicated to Mark Coleman
Just like the ride yesterday I'm running out of steam towards the end of this blog. All I can say is we went to some beautiful places, poured scorn on an historic lump of rock leighton stone and arrived back at Andy's to be treated with marvellous hospitality. I really needed the cake, scone and tea! Justin and Marcus were glad I had spare room on the bike carrier so they could get a lift home. They were less impressed when it tipped over on Thrapston Bridge but hey we rescued the day and no bikes were harmed!!!
So that's it we're all caught up...
Two things left. The first is that I've decided I need to be realistic about my cycling activity. Last week was a real case in point. I could have gone cx training on Monday, raced Tuesday, gone to Muddy Marvels on Wednesday, TT Thursday, FNSS MTB race Friday, parkrun Saturday and longer off road ride on Sunday! That's too much! I was actually stressing about getting out of work on time so I could get to each event. It's also not fair on my family. In the end the universe decided to save me by not having a working CX for Monday, weather calling off the Tuesday race event, no bikes at all by Wednesday for Muddy Marvels, I did TT on Thurdsay, I decided to give FNSS a miss even though it looked a great event. I feel bad about that because it was for charity and it was Dean Barnett's 50th birthday but for me it was the right decision.
Finally a big shout out to Andy and Chris at C&D Cycles. I have had three bikes in the shop for various repairs. Andy has tirelessly worked away at that troublesome rear brake on my Forme Calver and right now it's the best it's been. I've also had work on my propel and some tweaks to my Forme Ripley. All of this cost me about £60. That's an absolute bargain. It's reassuring to know my local bike shop is there, that they're highly responsive and they care about value for money! Fantastic service - thanks again!
Okay that really is it!
Happy Pedalling
