The Hobbit's Tale

like waiting for a bus!

2011-12-18T18:27:00.001Z

None for ages and then two in quick succession.

Dave's blogging...

So apart from being a waste of space for the last few weeks, I've still kept busy with work and even managed to do some good clinical consultancy work. I felt a bit of a fraud having to ask the professionals I was working with to do stuff for me; but I'm basically a lazy person so could put up with the strain.

The result was that we saw 3 or 4 perfect representations of the reasons people like us do the jobs that we do in healthcare: a smiling face on a patient!

It made my year, guys. Thanks.

Just before Christmas I got bored with my Turbo so was managing to get out and run off road with one of my dogs for about an hour or so each night. It's probably really cycling specific as all the hills are steep, and I'm really enjoying it.

The downhills are another matter.

The North Face have been brilliant over the last year; investing time and effort when I give them the puppy dog eyes. So when I couldn't ride my turbo (boredom and some pain) or row on my ergo (proper pain, stupid idea: idiot) due to the shoulder surgery, they dug deep and sent me some running kit.

Biomechanics is my thing and I could wax lyrical about shoe design, but that would be boring and pretentious. But the TNF single track shoes are great on the rocky terrain I run on and their vortex and better than naked kit is, well, unnoticeable in use.

The weather has been minging and the kit has been well used and very well appreciated too!

This means that we will really have to push the boat out for them in 2012 to pay them back for their help and understanding.

We were planning on that anyway but don't tell them.

My little dog, Tilly, had cataract surgery just before Christmas, so we won't be eating for a while at Hobbit's Towers. But it was worth it as she can see and, more importantly, cause trouble.

spot the collar

Obviously, my arm isn't working properly yet, even with loads of physio from "her indoors". Even though my deltoids don't do much of any conviction or determined use, it does feel much better than before.

The incessant ache I had is gone; I can rest my chin on my hands without shoulder pain and it's just, well, less painful. I didn't realise it at the time but it hurt like hell for years. I still can't get my head around it being in such a state for a long time.

So I'm going to keep running until my orthopaedic review in a week or two...

... But I miss my bike!

Which is nice.

I wish you all the best for 2012.

If you were as lucky as I was in 2011 with friends, support, shoulders to cry on and threats of what would happen if I stopped then you can't fail to have a great year in 2012.

Friends are the important part in any venture

Happy New Year

Christmas Rush!

2011-12-18T12:16:00.001Z

There hasn't been one: A Christmas rush, that is.

In November I started cross training with Jo, and this included going swimming with her Tri club, of which I am now a fully paid up member. It was many years since I had swum last and I was never very good at it. This is compounded by the fact that my shoulders are half the width, bulk and strength, they used to be.

When I was a student and boxer (training in Salford's Oliver's gym in 1995/6), I had big shoulders. Circuit training, climbing and any other fitness orientated activity led me to look "deformed" as Jo likes to put it. Folk called me Skeletor (probably because I was pale blue, too). But, after various fractures, rebuilds, bolting, chopping, grafting and whacking, I now have wimpy little painful shoulders. But like us all, I just get on with it, because if I whinged as much as I wanted to, I'd soon get a smack in the face from Jo.

So we got in the pool for the first time in 8 years or something and I was worried that I might swim like a concrete flipper...

There is something a helluva motivating about getting into a pool...

...and not drowning.

I did ok, really. I could breath and everything! I couldn't take a proper long stroke with my left arm, but I was doing ok. It was a little painful though.

But for the past 7 years, my shoulder pain had been there, on and off, all of the time. Core training was getting a bit more difficult and sometimes press-ups and chin ups were out of the question as I got a searing pain in my left collar bone. This had been broken in 2003, plated and then the plate was removed once healing seemed complete.

So we swam for a few weeks, and trained on the bike and on the Turbo trainer. The shoulder got "quite sore." Actually, something was flaring up big time. I don't know if the swimming caused a flare up, as I have a feeling it might have been happening anyway, but you never know.

The next day I saw my Consultant. He was kind enough to fit me into his private clinic, as he's been a close working colleague for periods in the last 7 years or so. He's also done both my knees, both my shoulders (lots of times) and helped me out in work, umpteen times. I'm kind of lucky to know him.

In I go with my arm in a sling. (Paraquotes follow)

Me, "It feels like something is very wrong. I've got pain running all the down my arm and it feels like it's on fire. If I didn't know better, I'd say that it feels like it's broken or something. That was what the pain was like when it flared up, but I was only lying in bed."

He, "We'll have an MRI done tomorrow, but I think we might find that it's just some inflammation that might respond to injection therapy."

The day after the MRI I get a phone call.

He, "You need a bit of work doing."

Me, "So I wasn't being a hypochondriac? I was worried I was being a jessie."

He, "Nope, your shoulder is broken (non-union) and you need some other surgery to stop the pain down your arm. It must have been very painful for years."

Me, "Bugger."

He, "Snigger."

We're a bit confused, here at Hobbit's Towers. How on earth did it not feel more painful? How did we manage the 24hr solos and The Hobbit's Tale with a bust shoulder. Surely that's not right?

I don't get it.

Thinking on it though, I did have to stop wearing a certain brand of mountain biking backpack because it really hurt my shoulder. The only ones I find comfortable nowadays are The North Face ones, luckily.

SO!

my shoulder, last week

A few days later, I was in the local private hospital (I'm not posh, I have insurance) having two procedures done on my left shoulder. The orthopaedic guys that set this hospital up are almost all cyclists and an incredibly supportive bunch, so I like them! In fact 3 or 4 of them have been an inspiration for a few things for me, but I wouldn't tell them that.

I had an open reduction and internal fixation of the clavicle, with a nice shiny and expensive titanium plate and screws, just like my Hope Brakes. After that he went into the end of the shoulder using an arthroscope (keyhole) and performed a sub-acromial decompression. This is where a bag of fluid (swollen in my case) is removed to prevent further damage to the underlying musculature. It normally takes a bit of getting over.

Within 2 days, I was in much less background pain than in past years. I can now put my elbows on a desk and lean my chin on my hands without getting searing pain in my shoulder. I didn't even realise that I couldn't do this...until I could. The surgery bit hurts a bit, but it's improving quickly.

A few more weeks and I'll be back on the bike but, for now, the turbo is having a right old beating!!

But today, I had to miss a ride with the Santa Cruz Syndicate's Steve Peat et al, and most of the Santa Cruz team riders because of my shoulder. That is rather upsetting!!

And I don't even want to own up to the stupidity of burning my hand a couple of weeks before that. A and E and many hospital visits followed for that too!

I'm an eejit.

Endurance within

2011-11-28T16:31:00.001Z

Rob Lee has been around for a long while.

Take a chance to read his view of the world of Endurance Cycling by following the link below.

I have and I think I might quite enjoy it.

He better have put my name in it, tho!
:)

For reference, when I posted this he was a 42% of his funding target.

Ride out with new friends

2011-10-08T11:35:00.000+01:00

Whoaaa, the media thing continues...

...All we did was one wee ride. It was a good'un, but it was one ride. I'm recovered from it, after about 5 months with various wee musculo-skeletal ailments, colds, flu, stomach issues and renal problems.

But it was one wee ride...

...I'm not doing it on purpose, but it's doing me lots of favours, that's for sure...

...Keep an eye out for more "Dave is a media whore," soon.

You have to look after your sponsors, and the friends that spend time keeping you on the straight and narrow, so some of the next few months worth of media stuff might come from slightly different directions than you might expect. Paradoxically, "looking after" your friends seems to actually mean asking them to do something for you.

Anyhoo. I'm at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Congress, showing my wares, and being nice to people. I got chatting to this chap about my constantly niggling achilles tendon injury which hasn't really improved in the last few months, even though I've done all the evidence based rehab exercises on it. He suggested that I let him wire me up to his "pain control machine."

The sensation of being electrocuted at about 30Hz for 6minutes, with my toes bouncing all over the place was...interesting.

The result?

No pain.

I can't get my head around it, but I'm popping around for another treatment in a minute.

Back to bike stuff...

Last weekend I took some new friends out (from Essex) for a mountain bike ride. They were in the area and wanted to be shown a few new trails. They spent a day at Afan Argoed, tuning their skills to the hills that we have around here, drinking coffee and the odd beeer, I believe.

I took them to a local area that is reknowned for it's technical challenges, mud, rocks, and STEEP hills. During the morning I steadily raised the bar on the difficulty rating of the trails we rode, and noticed their reactions by the increasing amount of "wide-eyed" moments that they experienced.

This was going well, and they were enjoying this new type of trail. The skillset required was obviously a bit different to what most of them were used to using but they were coping really well, and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Early on in the day, I hadn't fancied doing one of the steep drops. It looks bad but is actually pretty easy. I just didn't feel like I wanted to do it...

...Out came the TiC "Tyres" excuses, but I soon owned up to not feeling up to it for some reason. I always pay attention to these little mind games that we play with ourselves; so I didn't do the drop. I never feel a berk if I back out of something like that.

We steadily increased the tech nature and scary score for the bits we rode, and I started to feel quite good on the bike.

After a few hours the guys were starting to get a bit tired. So I guessed that we might not cross the road and head up Machen Mountain. This is a HUGE climb, and I can tell that, Doc, Rich, Paul, Paul and Matt weren't that keen on much more climbing. I don't blame them.

So we did the classic descent in the area, which Rich Todd of Ergon once described as "Riding down the front of a cliff and mountain." It was a bit wet, and it's hard enough in the dry, as you snake around on the edge of traction with your bum on the back wheel, over roots and rocks.

Marvellous!

And it lasts for about 1Km.

We had an over the bars: quite a nasty one: and some slips slides and lowsides. But they all managed to get down it one piece, and completing the challenge was met with a general reaction of, "Crikey, that was extreme!"

It is.

They survived, as did I on my "wrong tyres."

Thank God!

Then I took a couple of them to do another, slightly more risky one. They loved it.

Next time they come back, I'm dragging them up that mountain!

It's been a while comin'.

2011-09-11T09:40:00.002+01:00

I'm getting slack on this blogging lark, sorry.

Training has been ok, and I'm getting quite quick again, and not really feeling much in the way of "the burn" when I'm spinning away on my bike.

Nice.

The energy in/energy out balance needs to be addressed though, otherwise I will never fit into one of those ridiculous skinsuits, next year. I promise not to do that to your eyes and scar your memory.

I've got a couple of new training routes, near my home, with which to work on my techy and climbing skills. Each lap provides 500m of climbing in 10Km, and the descending is rooty "seat of the pants" and "edge of traction" stuff.

Heh heh!

This route is also the new testing ground for the Dueller Dropper Post Prototype that we at LocoBMRacing have been playing with for a while. This is a great piece of functional and shiny kit that you should keep your eyes peeled for. I couldn't do my training route without it; that's how steep my playground is!

Last week was holiday time. Jo, Me, Tilly and Rufus (our, ahem, kids) went to the 7 Stanes for some fun.

The plan was that we rode on our own, whilst the other looked after and walked the dogs. And do you know what? It was really relaxing!

Our time was spent riding the trails at our own pace, without waiting for each other, and with a flow that you don't normally get when you are with a group.

The upshot of this was that we both surprised ourselves with how quickly you can actually get around some trail centres, just by being smooth and consistent. No need to go anaerobic.

Which is nice.

This wee trip also gave me the chance to fiddle with our POV camera, and it resulted in this video made up of 3 second interval shots, and music by Vitalic.

Kirroughtree, September 8, 2011 from Dave Buchanan on Vimeo.

In other news; and I'm really happy about this...

...You may remember that I'm indebted to lots of sponsors and supporters for the riding that they allow me to do. Have a look on the sponsors and links pages and you'll see just how lucky I have been.

You will also possibly remember that when I did "The Hobbit's Tale" in May, I was lucky to have a load of my friends help me out and keep me going.

It was tough. In fact it was the toughest thing I've ever done. I'm quite proud of myself- but more so of the people that made it possible. Whenever we mention the ride, you see that haunted look of tiredness and, possibly, signs of the odd mental scar in the face of the supporter you are discussing things with.

It was just as tough for them.

You know who you are. Thank you.

So...

...It's your fault that I just had the Guinness World Record for "The Greatest Distance Achieved on a Mountain Bike in 48hrs" awarded and recognised.

The year has been disjointed, after the ravages of the ride but, ultimately, it's been worth it!!!!

Next year is our focus now!!

Time to start preparations!

Reunion and the power of money

2011-07-25T22:30:00.004+01:00

I've been training well, lately, but have also had a couple of weeks where work has had me travelling many, many miles. Travel wears me out, so training has taken a back seat at times.

There have been two reunions, lately. This has caused abit of melancholy and reflection, so although I don't normally cave in to such things, please bear with me.

"The older I get, the better I was."

The first was meeting up with a few of the guys that worked together on RAF Mountain Rescue, back in the 90's. We are all a bit older, maybe wiser, but still seem to like to hammer out a nice hill day...

...Well, they did. I'm a cyclist now (did you know that?) and was quite happy climbing up Snowdon whilst waxing lyrical about how mountain Rescue had seen me through the hardest bits of my life.

Scouse saw me through some of the very darkest times, when my body and mind were ravaged by the chemicals that turned all of the veins in my arms and across my chest and shoulders, black. It may be hard to believe, but I was a boxing and climbing skeletor impersonator then, with big muscles and gynmastic physique. I had veins all over the place, so it wasn't a pretty site.

We had gone up on an exped for a week in the Cairngorms as the team prepared for a Himalayan adventure. I was a right pain in the arse for the whole week, and Scouse put up with me. Everybody put up with me, and nobody slapped me!?

When I was diagnosed with cancer in 1993 (I think), it was only about 3 weeks after meeting Jo. She stayed, and didn't do a runner, so she's a keeper.

At the same time, I was out almost every weekend with M.R. and it seems surprising now, but they let me stay active as a team member and party leader. They did, however, ask me to slow down a bit, as I had a tendency to overdo it then, as now. Dan (The Boss) ended up banning me from the hill,and insisted that I just went climbing. I was a rock jock, and loved climbing every day, so this was heaven to me. My grade went up from that point, and this was close to the point where I did my first hard extreme route, only 2 or 3 weeks after my surgery. I took Dan climbing a few times and helped to push the grade of some of the climbers of the day, like Brendan, too.

That was a good summer, and the winter season of climbing was kind of great too!

Some of these guys were out with us this weekend, which was nice.

M.R. looked after me, let me tour the UK with them, teaching rock climbing craft and also getting in lots of new experience. I was fit and strong but, ultimately, I was baggage that they didn't really need.

I did solo my first E5 and E6 that year, but it was a few more before that became more normal.

The banter kept me going then, and it kept me going now as we turned around at the top of Snowdon, to start our descent...

...My legs were killin me! Cyclists are strong, but we only ever work concentrically. Try lengthening a muscle under strain (by going downhill) and it causes pain. Lots of pain.

We walked past the money post- which never had money in it in "my day" on both the climb and the descent. We got a photo of Paddy's boy next to it, shrouded in mist, but it's probably best that I don't show it as he's a minor and I haven't asked.

I couldn't walk straight for days. It was great fun!!

Another reunion was when I managed to get a room at the hotel and Fitness club where I used to teach circuits, 13 years ago. The same faces were there, and it was like I hadn't been away- except for the fact that someone else was doing all the shouting. We met in the bar afterwards, and caught up properly.

The Y-Club in Manchester is almost a spiritual home nowadays as I (and Jo) had some really good times there.

I'd rather do the shouting, mind you.

Could I walk properly after the circuit session?

Could I heck.

I'll get my own back. One day...

2011-07-06T20:15:00.005+01:00

Sporadic riding has been the norm recently as I got over the hole I dug for myself after Bristol Bike Fest.

Obviously, it was nothing to do with "The Hobbit's Tale."

Ahem.

Anyway, after a weekend of helping to teach stuff and things to people from around the UK, I decided to try and ride my bike. I started off by leaving the course venue in Londonshire, and my next port of call was Grimsby, and I really fancied a nice bike.

I called Steve Heading, to see what he was doing, and he offered to escort me on a ride around his local area...

After the first climb, I had ask him for mercy. He was killing me!!

I didn't feel daft asking for this, as he's dug himself a few holes after major events in the past...

...As has his brother...

...And sister!!!

He's part of a family of nutters!!!

So, mercy sought and bestowed we carried on for 3 hrs around the Peak District, on the flatter, more normal roads that I'm used to.

I was still knackered, but we saw some nice sites on the way.

Chatsworth House at the weekend

Another couple of rides have been done since then, and they have actually been decent enough to call training rides.

Hopefully, this means that we are on our way back to a semblence of fitness.

Watch this space.

I'm going to get my own back on Steve, though, one day.

The funny noises continue

2011-06-26T10:53:00.002+01:00

Let's face it; it looks like getting carried away at Bristol was a mistake. My tiredness has continued, along with seemingly inexplicable leg and lumbar pains and the near return to the weight I was prior to "The Hobbit's Tale."

It was bloody good fun though!

I've had a couple of runs and a short bike ride in the last week or so, but haven't really enjoyed them, so have concentrated on professional commitments a little more than normal. Things are improving though and as I type, one fingered, I feel ready to go for a gentle spin.

Tuesday night, just gone, turned out to be another experiment investigating my ability to metabolise small amounts of alcohol. Well, it started as small amounts, but Rory Hitchens, Josh Ibbet, Ian Leitch, Phil Hodgkiss and Frazer Clifford had other, more sinister, ideas...

...At 2am I was walking down the sea front making funny noises and giggling at myself.

Beer isn't good for me and I'm going to have to accept this sometime soon. It's Sunday now, and the swollen belly has just about returned to normal. Pah!

In other news, "What Mountain Bike" is out on Wednesday this week. We've heard, here at Hobbit's Towers, that there might be a big old article in there about someone we know, written by the Editor no less.

I wonder what it will say?

Will the interviewee look like an eejit?

...

Rest, That's what!

2011-06-10T14:30:00.004+01:00

I've felt ok since my ride, apart from Flu, Conjunctivitis and a cold sore the size of a plum on my top lip, which then exploded into a mahoosive and painful spot as it healed.

So in the first week after our wee ride, I rode my bike most days for short periods with friends.

I fell asleep in my friends dog bed after one of the rides, and they got a photo, but I ain't showing you.

My numb feet settled very quickly as did the pain in my shoulder that Jo had taped for me during the ride when I was at around about the 28 hour mark.

All in all, I felt ok really. No real bouts of debilitating tiredness, or anything really. We even managed to run a big old barbeque for the support crew of The Hobbit's Tale to say "Thank You" for going through hell so that I could put myself through hell, twice.

I drank beer...

...I swelled up and made some funny noises.

We tried the same thing the next night with cider (just two drinks)...

...Puffer fish time...

...Funny noises.

Alcohol is bad for me at the moment which, considering I was looking forward to letting my (greying) hair down a bit, is a bit of a kick in the man jewels.

However, I have managed to spend some time with my friends, having the odd interview done ready for release in "What Mountain Bike" on July 26th, for National news and local/regional newspapers. Being given the opportunity to have a wee interview on the Bristol Bike Fest 2011 Video was a great honour for me, and my bike (The sexy bike with rotor rings on it at the start).

It's been a time where strong friendships have gotten stronger and I've made some new friends, too.

Before the Bike Fest, Jo and I spent two weeks trying to gather up and collate all of the information required for the Guinness World Record authorities. It was 12-18hours of work daily, with only slight respites to take dogs for walks, have a wee bit of exercise or to eat. Stressful doesn't quite cover it, but it had to be done to be sure that everyone in our group gets the recognition that they deserve for helping out in our record attempt.

There is no doubt that I hold the unofficial record for the longest non-stop mountainbike ride, and the greatest distance achieved on a mountain bike in 48 hours. I'm also the first person to ride from South Wales to North in a non-stop coast to coast stylee in under 24 hours. I just messed it up by turning around and riding home, that's all.

But the unofficial record won't be good enough (in our eyes) for our friends and supporters, so the GWR(tm) took lots of work to get the correct data presented. All we can do now is to wait and see what they say.

I'm kind of hoping that , "The man from Guinness; He say, Yes!"

So Bristol...

I raced with my old friends "The Miggly Moos" in the 12hr team event for the "old Gits" (Vets).

We did well, and rode consistently, had a giggle and came third.

I was in absolute tatters, and haven't felt like training all week, but I'm not going to fight it. Tiredness is an important sign of being, well, tired, I suppose.

I have good reason, don't I?

Whilst we did the 12hr, Jo my luvver did the 12hr womens solo. Bear in mind that she hasn't trained for 2-3months because of the involvement in my selfish and self-centred project...

...She came third. She rode her heart out and came third, but she was in a heck of a state that night. I was her valet until gone midnight when she finally started to feel a bit better.

Scott popped his 12hr Cherry and came a hugely respectable 12th in one of the toughest (pedally) solo races there are, and Bm's Zoe came 3rd in the 6 hour on the Sunday.

Results!!!

Bristol is just Fun. Fast and furious fun at that!

Now what?

2011-05-17T16:44:00.006+01:00

After years of planning and countless hours of forgiveness from my partner, Joanne, "The Hobbit's Tale" has finally been completed.

I'm kind of tired, but happy.

Feedback has assured us that a high level of satisfaction has been achieved by all in the huge support crew: those who kept me going through the very hardest moments of my life. It would sound a bit theatrical if I tried to tell you just how bad these times were, but I was a brave wee man, and if Scott hadn't been there...

...The ride was all done under my own steam, but it just wouldn't have happened without the guys from LocoBmRacing, Loco Tuning and most of the Cardiff mountain biking massive.

I also had help from Nick Shenston, who has been a friend since my very first days in South Wales. That's nearly 25 years now, and he still talks to me.

Mark from Reset Films also seemed genuinely impressed with the way the event ran and how all of our friends pulled together to help me, to have fun themselves and to heckle the trail riders on the final downhills back to the Centre in Coed-Y-Brenin.

I missed all of this as I was on my bike, riding with the designated support and safety rider. Thank goodness for them. They kept me occupied with chat and updates from Twitter and Facebook. They made the time fly.

My diet was, as ever, powered by the cleverness of Infinit Nutrition and was perfectly executed. I had a range of light (protein free), caffeinated , non-caffeinated and different blends of carbohydrates as mixed by the guys for me in the UK, to keep me going and prevent my tummy from rebelling. I did have stomach issues a couple of times, but that was because I had tightened my winter tights up too much in the waist in an effort to stop the rain getting to my delicates. As soon as I loosened the waist cord, all returned to normal.

This stuff is a potent mix of flexibility, top notch carbs and tailored flavours, strengths and blends to suit everyone. I couldn't even consider going anywhere else for sports nutrition. It would be daft. I'm prone to stomach ulcers and I had no problems at all, even after drinking 13.5 gallons of the stuff (apparently). Perfect.

Even with a solid headwind and some bad weather, we made it to the turnaround point before the 24hr point. This meant that I only had another 224miles and 11178m of climbing to ride home. I felt really fresh so had a quick seat in the back of the car drank some fluid and got out of the wind for a bit.

However, the weather was even worse on the way back. Wet firetrack reduces my own average speed by 2km/hr, but at times they had over an inch of water on them...

...As Mike Hall and I started to finish the traverse through the hills and rivers between Machynlleth and Nan-Yr-Arian, his shoulders and head dropped.

"If this doesn't break you, nothing will."

I was quite happy in my "The North Face" Paclite Goretex Xenon jacket and was still on a mission. In fact, I wore all of my North Face kit, with the guys drying it for me in the car in between uses in the minging weather.

You really can tell the difference when outdoor kit is made by outdoor people.

It turned out that during the weekend, the weather system that was causing me hell and sapping me of energy had been termed "Dave's Cloud" on the social media, since everywhere I went, the bad weather would follow.

Now it may take a few weeks to collate, but I am sure that we have all of the information required by the authorities at The Guinness World Records(tm).

And, in the meantime, I have the following list of people to thank. If you are not on here and should be then please accept my apologies.

Joanne Evans
Paul "Mugs" B.M
Jim Calder
Huw Thomas
Scott Hodgskin
Mark Deacon
Zoe Frogbrook
Andrew James
Matt Page
Loco Simon
Nick Shenston
Matt Cope
Rob Khoo
Tim Press
Mike Hall
Mark Huskisson
Jon Shergold
Rich Holmes
Dave Evans (The in-Law)
Rob Evans (The brother in-Law)

In addition to this I also have to thank the group of Cardiff and South Wales riders that waited along the route from North of Merthyr Tydfil to escort me back, thinking I would be knackered and slow. But I wasn't.

We'd stop to pick someone up, say hello, and then ride at a sociable pace so that we could chat about what was about to be completed. In the end, we had a huge group of folk riding into the Bay Area of Cardiff, behind me, and all with their lights on (95% of which were Exposure lights).

We came around the corner infront of the new Opera House, and headed for the Celtic Ring.

I then realised that the rest of everyone I knew in Cycling in Cardiff were there too!!

Awesome.

A quick speech to say thanks, and then I was handed a bottle of Champange to open. My hands were numb, but I managed after a while.

We haven't managed to round up the photos yet, but it may take a while anyway, but I will get access to some as soon as we can manage it.

Thanks for reading. I hope you've enjoyed The Hobbit's Tale as much as enjoyed having it try to finish me off. In decent weather, I would do it in under 48 hours, as the southward route is easier by a little bit.

Next time, maybe.

For now, I'm tired. But...

...What next?

The Hobbit's Tale

2011-05-11T11:28:00.002+01:00

On Friday May the 13th 2011 at 10am, Dave Buchanan, Syncros and Santa Cruz sponsored rider and racer on Loco Suspension Tuning’s BM Racing Team, will take on the biggest ride of his life.
In 2009, Dave was the first person to ride solo and unsupported through the length of Wales, non-stop. But now, he will be the first to ride from Cardiff to Caernarfon, over some of the toughest countryside and trail centre terrain in the UK, and once he’s done that he will turn around and ride home to Cardiff, on the 2009 route.
It’s hoped that this ride will be completed in 48-52 hours of non-stop riding.
“The Hobbit’s Tale” has been validated by The Guinness World Records(tm) as “The Greatest Distance Achieved on a Mountain Bike in 48 hours.” But more than this, it’s a ride being done for charity.
Due to his own medical history, Clic Sargent is the charity of choice for Dave and the race that got him into the world of 24 Solo riding, Clic24 is the focal point for any funds that the effort raises.
All information relating to the ride and how to contribute to the funds raised are available on www.davebuchanan.co.uk . You can even follow the links to the Facebook and Twitter pages to register comments about the ride as you follow his progress on the satellite tracker page.

Time goes on

2011-04-25T07:57:00.003+01:00

Life has overtaken us at Hobbit's Towers, lately.

Organising the ride and the logistics has been in a state of finalisation for a few weeks, and I'm lucky to have a couple of close friends helping me out. Rich Holmes (fellow WC2C rider) and Paul Mugs (he's just nuts) are helping me by burning the midnight oil and planning who will be where, when, who will be driving and who will riding with me.

Their help is a major boon. You don't argue with these guys when they project manage.

I'm funding the whole project from personal funds, so that the money raised for charity isn't impacted upon. I may be eating bread and jam for a few years, so if you could try and help make it worthwhile, then please visit the Virgin Money site and donate, if you can afford to.

Two weeks ago was time for a good ride to see how fit I was feeling. So I planned a 12hr route, based on my speed in March 2009, when I did the first non-stop WC2C. I completed the route in under 9 hours- at 48hr pace. Dry Trails, and bogs, make such a difference.

I'm fitter, too, though and my bikes are faster and lighter than that I used in 2009, so all is looking good. I'm heavier though: It looks like I will lose about 2stone during the ride, so I'm not getting any thinner for obvious reasons.

I have a new major sponsor in the form of The North Face and their cycling and outdoor kit. It's lovely stuff, and I'm very happy to be associated with them and SantaCruz for 2011. A photoshoot is due to follow in the kit and a final press release for "The Hobbit's Tale," when I manage to get to spend some time at home and have some free time.

In other news, Steve Heading has done the new WC2C and it looks like he might have enjoyed it. Well, there are a couple of long climbs that he has used in Polaris events in the past, and he wasn't too keen on knowing what was coming. But there is a reason for this...

...Steve rode from his home, bivvied, then set off to ride the route in a bivvy style where he would stop and rest.

He forgot to stop.

Apart from having to stop to navigate (He's the first person to do the route blind and without recce or pre-ride information) he only really paused to unload his broken pannier rack at Coed-y-Brenin. This he did before stuffing and hanging all of his bivvy kit, including the pannier rack, into and onto his rucksack and carrying on.

Look at the crack on the rack. Pretty terminal?

Rucksack, bivvy kit, cooker...

...That's not a set up designed for speed.

How very dare he finish in under 26 hours?

How can you forget to stop?

Then, at Cardiff, he bivvied. The next morning he started the ride home to complete a total riding time of 53hours and 850Km.

The Celtic ring at the end of The WC2C

Look out for him at the Colorado Trail Race. This guy is a machine.

Sort of.

2011-03-28T10:37:00.006+01:00

Training has been going well as the weather has been excellent, motivation high, and friends willing to hammer me on the bike.

Brilliant!

There are a couple of new sponsors to announce in the next couple of weeks, and I must say that I'm a lucky, lucky, lucky boy.

The planned attempt on the WC2C (mark 2)by a friend has been postponed due to injury, but he'll be back!

Last weekend was a mix of 3hrs Fast Friday, 5 1/2hrs long and quick Saturday (with Huw) and then 3 1/2hrs easy pace on Sunday. It was a good weekend of sociable(ish) riding with a good base of training built in.

So I did it agin this weekend with other team members...

Friday was a fast and furious 3hrs around the steep riding that we have around our locale. It scares people that aren't used to it, but it's all ok, really.

Saturday was actually a bit of a plum of a day. I started late, on my own, and not feeling that great about the ride to come, after a late night socialising and abstaining. Motivation had been waning all day which I should have taken as an omen. Anyway, I went out and did some steep climbs, but my heart rate wasn't responding as it should, so I sacked it and came home. My Chronic Training Load might take a dip, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm glad I did sack it, as Sunday was a great day!

Mark and I repeated my climbstravaganza of the other week, but we also added another climb and xc section since we were making REALLY good time. This section was inadvertantly christened by my mates from Rush Cycles (Bridgend) as we rode it one day a few years ago. Des, Colin, Ade and Jase all termed it it "Clucking Bell!" (well, that's sort of it's name) as they hurtled down the slope in which you HAVE to hit a berm to help you control your speed. Kate went head over heels, all the way down the slope, Matt did the same and then nobody else would ride it. So we call it "Clucking Bell" (sort of). :)

Machen and Sirhowy miles are hard miles, especially when you are taking in the nadgery technical climbs and descents. So after 3 1/2 hours of climbing and fear, when I was looking forward to some easier climbing, we arrived at Cwmcarn and did a quick loop of that. We were flying.

This was a good day!

An increasingly gentle ride home left us back at my place and ready for cakes, biscuits and being waited on hand and foot by my long suffering lady, Jo.

But, Jo had just got back from an offroad 1/2 marathon in which she had done a significant PB.

No cakes. So we all sat down and drank coffee and muesli bars whilst we waxed lyrical about the massive array of riding (and running) terrains available around here.

We are lucky people.

The perks of the job!

2011-03-16T12:06:00.003Z

I might spend a lot of time travelling around the UK, trying to be nice to people and bestow them with the knowledge that I've been taught. I might not see home that often. Maybe I work too hard and burn the candle late into the night with business plans for this; education seminars for that; and other stuff...

...But I get to do my riding all around the country, with the diversity of styles that that entails.

Today was a recovery ride around a lovely city in Cornwall called Truro.

I'm set up for a long day in work now.

New friends and arguments

2011-03-13T18:38:00.010Z

Woo! Things have been busy at Chez Dave.

Last weekend I had to spend two days presenting complicated stuff about biomechanics and carbon fibre to my professional colleagues and general hecklers. It went well (thank goodness) and I managed to ride my bike one morning and evening and then go out for a run on the Saturday.

A night with the kilt on, dancing and pretending to drink and I was ready for a big day on the hills of The Yorkshire Dales. I'd looked on a website that was built around Yorkshire and mountain biking, and managed to get a load of routes downloaded for use in my Satmap. 3 were grafted together on my desktop mapping software a few days previously, so I set off for 5 hours out on the rocks and mud of Settle and Skipton, with a visit to Malham Cove and a few other places. The Satmap is Brilliant.

All in all it turned out to be a great day. Yorkshire has some superb stuff for the mountain biker in us.

Two things happened on this day. I met a group of 5 guys out for a ride, as I held the gate for them as they got to it just after me and from the other direction. I told them about "The Hobbit's Tale" after their asking me why I was on my own.

"I'm on my lonesome, as I'm up here alone, but I struggle to get riding partners. I'm Billy no-mates."

"Where are you going today?" They asked.

I told them.

"No wonder you have no mates!"

They were good guys. I met them later on as they rode down a bit of the Short Settle Loop, whilst I completed the Long Loop.

"You still going?"

:)

The second thing that happened? Well, I did have an unfortunate conversation with a "Professional Driver" in Settle, though. The following is taken from my facebook page, for a giggle.

Funny Conversation with a BMW Driver today after he cut me up on the bike in Settle.
"What's your problem?" shouts he, right in my face as i followed him to the garage, after he beckoned me.
"You're the problem, you nearly knocked me off my bike. You only left me 3" of space between my arm and your mirror."
"I left you plenty of room!"
"It's not your job to decide what plenty of room is; it's the Highway Code's." Says me , calmly. He looks confused.
"I'm always courteous to bike riders, I'm one myself."
"Well, you're not doing a very good job this time, are you?"
"I left you plenty of room. Do you know what I do for a living? Do you know what I do for a living?" He shouts again, right in my face. I don't move away, but get slowly off of my bike.
"Honestly, I'm not the best guy to be aggressive with. Don't be aggressive." Says me, for some reason. I'm off my bike now, ready for a big fat punch off of a scary bloke.
What does he do for a living? Is he a rozzer? This could be bad.
He pipes up, "I'm a professional driver."
"I would drop the 'Professional', if I was you. And why are you acting like this? You're the one that cut ME up!"
"You flicked the bird at me as I drove off."
"No, I put both hands in the air, asking God what on earth you were playing at. I might have considered flicking the bird, but your driving was so bad that I didn't have a chance to think of it."
He faces up close to mine. I don't move. This is me at my most beligerant (parp).
Uh Oh, here it comes.
"AND, you stink of alcohol!" I piped in.
He got in his car and drove off very quietly.

Tuesday saw me in Exeter, so I went for a recovery ride on my roadbike. I headed from a little town, towards Princeton.

It nearly killed me, but the scenery was lovely.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday saw me riding around Bristol with a new friend. I had a great night getting lost around the streets, on a recovery ride, and the next night was spent riding around Halham with Matt.

It was great fun, and was followed by pizza and another evening spent with friends and associates. Work can be fun, sometimes.

Matt has a biomechanical and musculoskeletal problem, and I unleashed my new design of cycling specific bespoke insoles. They've taken a lot of development, but are almost certainly a bit special. Keep an eye out for some talk about these.

Here's hoping.

Friday morning was an exercise in biomechanical re-assessment, whilst Matt rode his bike to work, in Bath. The insoles seemed to be doing the trick. It was a nice ride back along the old railway, and they've put some nice little arty features in the old stations and on some old junctions.

Saturday was 2hrs, of Endurance.

Sunday was 5hrs of Endurance on the mountain bike and consisted of the following, generalised, route...

Home, top of Sirhowy; Bottom of Sirhowy, Top of Sirhowy, Top Of Machen Mountain, Bottom of Machen Mountain, Bottom Of Rudry, Top of Rudry, Bottom of Rudry, Top of Rudry, Bottom of Lower Machen, Top of Machen Mountain, Bottom of Machen Mountain, Bottom of Cwmcarn, Top of Cwmcarn, Bottom of Cwmcarn, Sirhowy Valley, Home, wash bike, shower, Lasagne, chips, coffee, TV.

I also had ice-cream.

At the end of it all, we walked the dogs and, as usual, we fitted our Exposure "Flare" light to our nuttiest dogs collar.

It's awesome. See for yourself. It fits by using the standard rubber band and bracket.

We are never going to lose him!!

More fun

2011-03-01T08:34:00.002Z

In the last 2 weeks I've ridden my bike all around England and Wales.

One day I rode from Croydon to Kent and back. The next was from Dudley to Bridgnorth via Wolverhampton and back; and then the Peak District. I've also ridden The Monkey Trail, Follow The Dog, The Red route at Sherwood Pines (a recovery ride)and then a long day at Coed-y-Brenin.

Hang on, I'm not finished yet.

Then it was back to South Wales to ride a new 5hr loop (to me) in the Rhondda, which was superb; followed by an assault on the newly flattened Gap ride in the Brecon Beacons (twice).

The Gap ride got me thinking...

...The WC2C was originally going to be a 24hr (ish) route, and I was concerned that I might not be able to complete it in under 30hrs. So, I went for the firetrack option to try and make sure it stuck as a good solo ride.

But, now that Rich has done it in just over 20hrs, and even faster riders are now planning on doing it, I wondered if we might be able to improve it, whilst making it slightly tougher/slower/longer. We had to change a bit of it around the Epynt, and this has improved the route quality, so perhaps we should do a bit more?

I asked Rich Holmes, and Mike Hall (who is planning an attempt in March) if they felt that my idea was appropriate. I was worried that it was too close to the attempt date for Mike, but it turned out that he hadn't recce'd the area in question yet.

Both guys were well up for the change and keen to make sure that the WC2C is the best 24hr(ish) solo route, and that it remains fully immersing for those that do the four day ride. It'll still go for sub 19:30 in the summer at some point.

Well, it's done.

Mike will be the Pioneer of the new version of the WC2C. The new Epynt re-route should take around the same time, and the tramway ascent up the side of the Tal-y-Bont reservoir and down into Dol-y-Gaer might be about 20minutes longer. It cuts out about 6km of road and replaces it with scenic bridleway, with rocks that require true mountain bike skills to negotiate when you're tired.

Take a look at Maps 21 and 22 on the WC2C Gallery page on the website.

Come on Mike! Do us proud!

I'll probably end up giving it a go next year, but will wait and see. It's quality, so would be a shame to miss it out. Maybe I could do the first solo, unsupported, naked ride on a fixie whilst wearing roller skates and boxing gloves? That's appropriate, surely?

It's ready and it's simple

2011-02-08T07:11:00.004Z

After a weekend spent in mud, wind, sweat and gears, I can announce (again) that the new version of the WC2C is complete.

All I had to do was reroute 12-15km around the SENTA and ride it a couple of times. The navigation is easier, there is less road and publicising the original route in the future was looking a bit dodgy, escpecially considering the reports in the Guardian paper this past few weeks.
Guardian article

As discussed in the article, the Original WC2C used only tarmac road in the training area and was therefore legal as covered within the local Bye-Laws. But the MOD were obviously concerned about it's use encouraging people to venture off of the road into dangerous areas. I'm still glad that the MOD informed me of the problems, since it has prevent potentially larger issues in the future.

So, the next attempt will be the Pioneering attempt and will be done by a friend of mine. It should actually be about the same length/time as the previous route.

The maps will be up on my website gallery in the next few days: big enough to navigate from.

Give it a go! It's a great route.

New singletrack

2011-01-31T11:53:00.005Z

I had an unfortunate email from the military who look after Sennybridge training area (SENTRA) and if I'm honest it ruined my week. But it was good of them to tell me, rather than turn folk around whilst they were on their biggest ride ever, probably. A lot of the officials at SENTRA are cyclists and they are planning to ride Land's End to John O'Groats this year, so this was probably hard for them, too.

The long and short of it is that access across Mynydd Epynt is now looking potentially questionable for various reasons, and we needed to try and find another route around it. Like I say, I was glad for the contact, it was good of them.

The WC2C has to be slightly modified to maintain longevity of access. Here's hoping that the Welsh Forestry Commission stick to their promise not to sell or lease off their land, otherwise we'll be well snookered.

In 2011 there are 2, possibly 3, attempts planned for hitting the solo record. One of those, at least, is aiming for the winter title. The winter title is based on the "Fall Back, Spring Forward ideal as it relates to the clocks and daylight saving. One of the other attempts is probably going to be the summer one, and he'll be too quick by a long way.

This weekend was spent trying to put right the problems that are becoming probable at SENTRA. So Mark (LocoBM Racing) and I went for a recce ride up the East side of the Epynt and along parts of the Epynt way.

The route will be better for this deviation. It might be slightly tougher, and take 20mins longer (at a guess) but it is well worth it. It runs in an area that I originally tried to avoid for reason I can't remember, but now it's been checked out it has proven itself to be more worthy of being part of the updated WC2C.

It has a CRACKING descent down to Brecon, which was an absolute pig to climb on the outward journey. There is also a lot of attention concentrating singletrack and a bit of sheep dodging.

Enjoy the video clip, I'm new to this technological stuff. Once I sort out my computer I might be able to add some music.

Now that will be a treat! :)

A New Year!

2011-01-20T09:32:00.005Z

This is my first Blog in a while as work has been a little (more) busy. But cross-training and cycling training has been going well, and it's now time to hit it hard with more specific work on the bike.

Unfortunately we lost Kipper, one of our dogs, in November after a long and repeated illness. This put me off training for a little bit, obviously. RIP, you were special.

I'm now riding for my friends at LocoBM Racing and this will be reflected on the website over the weekend. It's going to be a good year.

The Hobbit's Tale is on for the weekend of 13th May 2011, but may be put back or brought forward for a week or two if the weather is poor as the simple addition of wet firetracks and heathland will cost us about 100 miles over 48-52hours.

Some new friends must have felt the need to help warm us up for the coming season of sore legs, long days in the saddle and focussing on racing weight by submitting a report on their multi-day attempt of the Welsh Coast 2 Coast. They rode a slightly different route by climbing the Gap climb in the Brecon Beacons instead of taking the easier option of Five Mile Climb as used in what I feel might now be better termed "the solo route." I had originally intended to leave the Gap climb in as part of the solo route, but it's a killer and everyone told me not to be so stupid.

Let's face it, I didn't make the route. I devised it using the help and experience of lots of my bike racing friends. But it's really nice when someone takes an interest in something in which you invested a lot of time and effort. So here is the write up that Trevor and his mates did after riding the route. I think they liked it and I'm incredibly touched by their positive comments.

Hi Dave,

Many moons ago you very kindly sent me a gpx of the WC2C route. I just wanted to let you know that myself a crew of old(ish) cronies undertook the challenge successfully. It was actually last June that we did it.

Wales was unusually kind to us in terms of weather, in fact it was actually a bit on the hot side! We planned it to take place over four days, stopping overnight at Dolgellau, Pontryndfendigaid and Brecon.

Great fun was had taking in much Welsh beer, the trail centre challenges at Coed, the Cli-machx and Nant-y-arian, huge breakfasts, the occasional crash (a truly spectacular face plant by yours truly), the sight of Ian attempting to plow through a "shallow" puddle that came over his knees - and making it - covered head to toe in mud, though), red kites, the slate quarries, smoke coming off Alan's brakes coming down into Abererlefenni, soldiers cleaning weapons in Sennybridge......it really deserves to be one of the classics.

The only variation to your route was that we went over the Brecon Gap which I have to say was really the high point of the final day.

Alan, Richard, Jon & Ian - Top of Brecon Gap

Jon, myself, Ian & Rchard - Cli-machx Trail

As you can see from the photos, none of us are spring chickens or designed for 24 hour challenges but we all enjoyed ourselves and completed it intact...apart from my nose.....

So thanks again for the route and best of luck in the coming year for the Hobbits Tale.

All the very best,

Trev

I will be including a link to the variation on the 4 day C2C on my website in the next few days, so give it a go!

Infinit Nutrition

2010-10-27T21:12:00.002+01:00

infinit nutrition from Dave Buchanan on Vimeo.

Some friends and I have been around Scotland lately, having a play and eating and drinking too much. It was a small celebration of a necessarily short season for me, but it's still been fun.

Have a look, but don't take it too seriously.

Spot the food baby.

Next year will be good.

A dirty weekend away

2010-10-17T21:06:00.002+01:00

Hi All!
Work has been daft of late, but I love it. Spending whole days talking about the evidence behind this orthosis and the efficacy of that intervention really floats my boat.
Anyway, last weekend Jo and I returned from what is developing into our Annual pilgrimage to all that is the 7Stanes.
I tried to surprise Clive by popping into Mabie, and after a quick chat with the lasses in the Shed when they recognised my racing kit and bikes, I realised that the little sod was on the other side of Scotland. He was teaching people how to ride bikes with MTBSKILLS.EU

Dammit.

So Jo, Zoe, Scott, Mark and I plodded off and did our own skills sessions. Passing on what little knowledge I have is something I really enjoy doing. Seeing the way people can quickly develop when they learn how to turn a bike properly (for instance) is a great buzz.

Jo, Mark, Scott and Zoe all came on really well, until I go to the point where I thought, "Hang on, they're going to start making me look like a novice soon."

Jo was doing all the drop off's and rocky steps that she had never managed before at Kirroughtree. Zoe was carving beautiful turns using the tyre camber and not simply hoying on the steering whilst Mark was floating his 29'er (freak) over some gnarly stuff and making it look as if it was all dead smooth. Scott was the biggest handful though: He started following me along The Qualifier, The Slab, The Terrible Twins, and any other scary stuff we could find.

So I stopped teaching them. (I didn't really)

We had the best long weekend of riding that I, personally, have had for a long time.

My luverrly little Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon had a great time, too. She did all the on-piste and off-piste stuff that I ever did on my 6" bikes, at the same speed or faster, and kept coming back like a daft spinger spaniel; begging for more.

She was soooo good, that I was always the first to get ready in the morning to get her out on the trail. I was also the first to realise each day that I had forgotten to put my body armour on, again.

Oops.

We're going back in a few weeks. :)

The Macmilllan Afan Monster

2010-09-26T20:41:00.005+01:00

Colin Wakefield and Andrew Bates are good friends of mine. I've known them for a long time.

Colin has had the opportunity to apply his cheery disposition by laughing at me when I broke my collar bone and has seen me through 23 years of "growing up", and Andy has pushed me on every ride we ever go on. Gael is the other partner in crime and she's harder to keep up with than the rest! Good guys, and part of Rush Cyles' Sunday morning shop ride.

This group knows the ins and outs of Afan Argoed like the backs of their hands and this weekend was their opportunity to show this knowledge off, with the blessing of the local arm of the Forestry Commission.

The Macmillan Afan Monster is a 75Km and 100Km enduro, which ran for the first time in Autumnally perfect weather. It's been bandied about that it is possibly the toughest enduro in the UK.

I believe them.

Luckily for me, I have ridden all but one piece of singletrack that was used in this event. The piece that I hadn't ridden before was on the 100Km route. Basically we descended for what seemed like 20mins on loose, rocky single and pseudo double track, with the bike bouncing all over the place in glee. This was the weekend where I felt that my Mojo had returned fully as I was pinning every downhill and REALLY enjoying myself.

I was pinning *most* of the downhills, except the whole of The Wall: Rory (Rush) wouldn't let me past and told me, err, where to go when I asked politely(not realising it was him). So, to try and get my own back at the bottom, I asked if he had a puncture, or something. He got it and laughed at me, but I will have him one day!!! :)

Not so lucky for me was the 3 times that Huw and I stopped to try to get my rear tyre to seal after I tore the sidewall slightly on one of the whacky rock sections on the top of the Skyline, near Hirwaun. On a couple of these stops, Huw had a couple of things to take care of, so I wasn't too worried as he's kind of cool about these things.

After the third stop my tyre started to go flat again even more quickly. My sealant couldn't cope; but it was a big ask for it seal the sidewall in any case. I started to lose touch with Huw, whom I had been riding with as he pushed me on the climbs and I got my own back on the downs and flats. I didn't have the heart to say that I had to stop again, as he would probably have stopped too.

I put a tube in, then rode down the steps on Skyline. I was a bit unsporting and tried to sneak in front of a rider as he came around to the top of the steps; just as I was getting on my bike. In my rush, I forgot to pump my brakes to make sure that my pads were in the right place...

...That'll teach me for sneaking in. I had no brakes and made a right fool of myself as I went for a good old Burton down the hill to the side of the steps, apologising all the way, to the guy behind me, for being a git. He laughed, thank goodness.

A few minutes later I pinch flatted, so had to repair the snake bites. Then, one of the patches blew off so I had to repair AGAIN.

That's 3, plus the three stops earlier.

Never mind.

I finally get to the bottom of The Skyline descent, with a nice bit of arm pump, and met Gael, one of the Rush riders.

"You're doing really well!"

That made me feel a lot better, so I got back on the gas.

What followed was the Caves climb. This has always been one of the climbs that would normally constitute the main climb on a Sunday morning ride. But today was different as it was about the 6th(?)of the route so far. This is a big day out, and I'm glad that we avoided the last part of this climb where it rises to meet the Black Run, because it is a granny ring lung buster- just like the rest of the Monster!

Upwards and onwards and I eventually get to the third waterstop, to give my number so that they could record riders progress, and carry on. I only went and gave them the wrong number. I was 59, but had it in my head that I was 56 for some daft reason. It turned out later that everyone was looking for 56 because they hadn't checked in.

Oops.

As I hit the bottom of the first looooong rocky and loose downhill into the 100km "extension" I remember how scary it had been when I did it last year. My back end had been jacking me all over the place as I was scrubbing speed. None of that nonsense now though, as Clive's skills have really worked for me.

Brakes...

...Off.

An awesome and, up until now, secret singletrack. The riders in The Monster are quite privelaged to have seen this stuff.

After a bit of a climb out from there, past Colin and Dibbs, you hit another scorcher of a downhill. It was sort of narrow doubletrack, but was strewn with boulders and rocks for the whole width and length of what seemed like a 5 minute descent down the fall line. It was actually quite a challenge to do this quickly, but the quicker you went, the less you got brake jack, and the smoother it was.

After that was about another 15Km of firetrack, followed by THE TOUGHEST climb of the day. When I got to the top, it felt like I had started it a few months ago. Absolutely relentless and around 40 minutes of steep climbing. At one point, when I thought I was nearing the top, I passed Dibbs again as he marshalled the cross over point on the 100Km bit.

"That's a *&%%$ big B%^$$£% of a climb, Dibbs!" I was in the need of a little venting. Honestly.

"Aye! And you're only about 60% of the way up!"

How I hated that smug grin, for a short while.

To finish off, we rode the final 15Km back to base, and went around the top of Bouldersville (scary place) and hit the back trails which lead to the top of the Wall final descent.

Funnily enough, it was uphill!

Well, I tell a lie. It was actually a nice sweet singletrack forestry descent, which I've done loads of times, where you get to manual through and bunny hop over streams before turning sharp right, through a little stony gully and onto the road...

...Psssssssssstttttt!

Yip. Puncture. Less than a mile from home.

I fixed it, and could have sworn that it was going flat when I crossed the line.

6hrs 24min by my watch, including all of those stops. But do you know what? I'm happy! Huw kept up his blistering pace and rode home in just over 6hrs (just).

I rode my biggest ride since Bristol (which was a bit of a bad one for me) and came out feeling that I could ride my bike again! Mojo came back a few weeks ago, but now his brothers and sisters are joining in, too!

This winter is going to be a good training season.

To Colin, Andy, all those at Macmillan and the others who marshalled or helped out in some way: Thanks for setting up such a great local event. It's the best 100Km I've ever done, because it's tough. It all seems to head uphill, but the downhills are techy and fun.

Cancer is something quite close to my heart (and other bits)- and I'm sure I said this recently somewhere else, so sorry. Thanks to all for allowing us to enjoy the day so much, whilst raising funds for a worthwhile charity.

Thanks also to all of the riders who were so pleasant...

...Except Rory. I'm gonna get you!!

Dusky Valleys 12hr Race

2010-09-10T14:43:00.003+01:00

Rob had started on his X1 End to End a few days earlier; I was watching with baited breath, as he rode up through the country with some of his closest friends in support.

Jo and I, on the other hand, were packing our car and Gnarlavan (caravan) for a new race in the Welsh Valleys. It was time to see if I was getting over the affects of the chest thing that has been keeping me off of the bike for swathes of time, until recently.

We pull up to the event in Parc Bryn Bach and start setting up our base for the weekend. There isn't anybody there that has a bike at this point, and we're starting to get a little nervous, but we carry on getting our pitch sorted and settle down to a nice cup of coffee and the last part of our carb loading...

...Salty, cheesy and salt'n Vinegar crisps, with a couple of big packets of sweets. I love carb loading.

At 2 O'Clock, Zoe and Scott turned up and tried to find the waymarked course. It wasn't yet marked, and this along with the lack of numbers was really getting us worried.

Are we here on the right day?

Hope so.

We chilled out until Huw and Mark arrived (The Bike Mechanics), then Luke and we drank more coffee.

More sweets.

Feeling a bit bloated now. Oops.

During all of this lolling around in the Gnarlavan we discussed what we thought the course was going to be like. From the description one of the organisers gave us, it seemed that it might be a trudge up a road hill, a struggle through moorland and a bit of a family gravel track to finish the loop.

"Oh well," we sort of said together. "At least it will be enjoyable for people who don't ride technical terrain." To cut a long story short, which is a major achievement for me, more people turned up and the course got marked in plenty of time for some practice laps.

It was a small event with about 70 riders or so, and we were all doing it to support a local hospice. As many of this type of event often are; this was supported by the local community and this made it a proper "feel good" event.

The Local Mayor turned up!!

At 8pm the racing started, after a good briefing, and off we shot up the hill. I didn't feel too bad, and kept the leaders in sight for almost the whole lap. My pulse was under control and I could breath without coughing and wheezing.

Superb.

Now the course was on moorland for part of it's circuit, but this was South Wales Moorland. So it had little rocky bits, fast ruts, a couple of scary fast rocky corners and then a couple of bombholes, too. This was all before you entered the normal family cycling track, and rode it the wrong way round.

I don't know where Mum and Granny go riding normally, but if this is their normal track for riding with the family then I'm Impressed: It was good fun. Swooshy (as Jo would call it) tight singletrack with some jumps and steep berms hit you for the last few minutes of the lap.

This was a good course, and we all enjoyed it. A lot.

Jo was riding well, even though she hasn't trained much lately, and we raced on a 3 lap strategy: She did three, and I whinged about having to go out again.

Only Joking!

We were doing quite well and riding at our limits, really. My lap times for 3 laps (1hr6-8min ish)were about the same as the leaders of the Male pairs (Huw and Mark) on their single lap strategy (22-24mins). I wasn't far off anyway, but time was being made up because we only had to change our ankle chip a third as often. There is no way I could have done single laps all night, at my present level of fitness, and Huw would have been a right handful!

The problem was that we were the only mixed pair and as we started to get tired, our resolve waned a little. We'd "won" anyway- obviously that doesn't mean too much.

About 6 hours in, lots of people were starting to cough a lot due to the cold damp air of the night. It seemed to have everyone in it's grasp and is just a natural part of riding at this time of year, when you should really be in bed. But,I got a bit spooked. I lay in the van for a while waiting for Jo to come back and I had a small coughing episode. My throat went a bit tight and my chest seemed tight, too.

At the next changeover..."Jo, I need to stop because I'm worried I'll go backwards with my chest. Do you mind?"

"Thank goodness for that!" she said. "I'm knackered!"

It seemed she had been pushing a bit too hard, so it's no wonder her lap times were quite quick.

I dicussed my decision with Huw, Mark, Scott and Zoe as they came through in stages, just to make sure I wasn't being silly. But they all agreed I was doing the right thing.

That made me feel better.

So we spent most of the rest of the night making folk coffee, bolstering them with support, and kicking them out into the cold again. It was really rewarding.

Oh, and I did a bit of mechanicing on Zoe's bike.

The guys were superb, my chest settled quickly, and they kept going for the win(s).

Zoe was 1st place Solo Female.
Huw and Mark won the Male Pairs, and also beat the 4 man teams!
Luke won the solo.
Jo and I, err, won the mixed pairs.

This is a great event which everyone there hoped will grow to the large festival that it could be. The site has everything needed for a good weekends racing.

Well done, Parc Bryn Bach.

After the presentations, Jo and I drove home. I was happy in the knowledge that I can now push hard on the bike and not suffer with my chest. I'm flat as a pancake, but the motor is still running strongly underneath.

Jo was just happy that I wasn't brassed off due to contiued problems.

That was the best result we could have hoped for!

After unloading, I went and spent the day with Rob as he rode through Wales from Bristol to Telford, offroad, on his X1 End To End.

Busy weekend!

Rob Lee and The End to End

2010-08-30T20:12:00.003+01:00

Syncros Endurance Team Manager Rob Lee has announced the date for his attempt at the X1 UK End2End offroad. The route, which travels the length of the country connecting the traditional UK end to end locations of Lands End and John o'Groats, covers some 1200 miles and follows the most obvious 'spine' of high ground running up through the country.

The X1 route is available for anyone to follow (from the CTC) and is the most commonly used End2End offroad route for Lands End to John o'Groats. The route can also be viewed HERE Most people tackle the challenge over the course of 23 days although some have covered it in as little as 17 days. Rob will be trying to complete the route within the window of 10 to 14 days although acknowledges that this may be pushing the limits of his riding ability to it's extreme. To put the attempt into context it is the equivalent of attempting to ride the Montane Kielder 100 repeatedly for ten straight days!

This ride will be the 7th, and final, ride in his Seven Deadly Spins project (7ds) that aims to promote ultra-endurance mountain biking in the UK. Other rides in the series include the West Highland Way Double, the Welsh Coast to Coast and riding all of the 7Stanes Red Routes in one hit.

The attempt will start on Wednesday September 1st 2010, to coincide with the release date of cycling film 'Find' which features the second ride in his Seven Deadly Spins series, and Rob hopes to complete his ride some time before the 14th of the same month. Find is the second film from Reset Films that focuses on UK riders and their exploits (the first being Home) and will be available from September 1st directly from www.resetfilms.co.uk It features riding by riders from all different backgrounds and disciplines and includes: Rob Lee, Rowan Sorrell, Clive Forth, Steve Peat, Hans Rey and Danny Macaskill.

The attempt will be covered by live tracker, regular Twitter updates and a daily blog which can be viewed here. As part of the challenge Rob hopes that he can use this opportunity to raise £1200 for children's charities.

Bally souper! (Balleymaloe)

2010-08-19T21:18:00.001+01:00

On Monday, I sped my way around the country to do my work thing. Monday morning saw me in Grimsby. Monday night in North Wales, ready for a ferry to Ireland in the morning.

Obviously I took my bike, so had a spin around my old temporary stomping ground of Valley and the hills on the mainland. My chest behaved itself and I came back to the hotel all set for a nice meal and a good kip.

Tuesday came and a big trip across to the west coast of Ireland followed, whilst I also had another chance to ride the bike. The chest behaved nicely (that's 2 days in a row) although I had another problem. For some reason, the rear derailleur cable pinch bolt decided to shear off at the head, meaning I couldn't select any gears. Never mind, I just single speeded it and worked through the small and big front rings. It was "fun" when the hills got really steep, but I nearly survived and made it back after 2hrs for tea and medals. Actually, it was Guinness and seafood as I slipped back into work mode until about 2am; talking , teaching, planning.

Then I headed back South East, for a Ferry home. But in the meantime I spent the evening with Nick Hand as he rested from his mammoth ride around the Irish coast line. This is a 5 week trip where Nick stops, takes in the scenery, interviews people with special skills and publishes it on his site. The people he's met are really interesting, and the whole, appealing, project has provided me and many others with masses of inspiration. Selfishly, it's made me think differently about my next project. It's also shown me how it's possible to do a great and challenging ride whilst actually enjoying yourself with stimulating surroundings, people and their stories.

Nicks bike is a bit special as is the pannier system. I'm quite jealous...

I was also able to join him for a ride in between work stuff. Imagine the sinking feeling in my chest as we ride out into the rain, heading for a school?

But this was no ordinary school: it was the best cookery school in Ireland. I kid you not when I tell you that we were treated Royally. We had the full guided tour of the organic farm, dairy and cheese making room. The 2 acres of glass houses held delights in the form of vegetables, herbs and a cute little Jack Russell puppy. Rory even went and found some "Holy" or "Thai" Basil for me to try, as I had never been able to find it for my own clumsy forays into cooking.

We even got to pull tomatoes off of the plant and compare different types, back to back.

Marvellous.

We then spent a while touring the busy kitchens and talking with students on their 1 week intensive course. Without exception, they used words like "exceptional", "brilliant", "superb" and "fun" to describe the experiences that they were having there.

Next up was food time, and we were invited to sit and share the food that had been grown, picked, foraged, fished and cooked fom the farm or a mile offshore (a mile from the farm).

Heaven.

Absolute heaven.

I've already spoken to Jo, and I think we're going to book a place at Ballymaloe Cookery school soon!

I kid you not and we can't wait.

SSUK

2010-08-19T19:25:00.008+01:00

Last weekend was my best mates chance to shine: Matt Page and his Fiance, Nia, had spent the last few months burning the midnight oil in an attempt to organise the Single Speed Uk Champs. They were helped on this task by Andy (ex Trek Team 69er rider)who now works his magic at Hotlines. He, Andy, used to work with another close friend at MMA, who are one of my personal sponsors. It's a small world, isn't it?

So on Friday night a group of us, including Jo, pulled up at a farm near Llandovery and set about having one of the best weekends we've ever had. The group we were with was the old faithful bunch of lads and lasses from Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. This is a "crew" of Professionals from all walks of life (which includes some of the fastest riders in Britain) who's main aim is to mountain bike, enjoy it, and to support friends and their families through anything that they may need help on: Somebody moves house and half of the crew will help. Somebody decides that they have a cupboard full of beer that needs drinking? You got it; we are a sociable and supportive bunch.

These folks are very important to me, and I think it's fair to say that we all feel the same way about the group.

I'm going to cry! :)

So, we all got drunk on Friday night.

It was our job to wear the Morvello t-shirts designed for the marshalls at this event. You could tell that we were marshalls because they were a very distinctive bright green with the words "Responsible(ish) Adult" emblazoned on the back.

Huw and I went for a ride around the moorland for a couple of hours before he race and at one point we stopped because I was coughing so much I nearly barfed. Huw looked worried, but then we realised that we had done a 2hr route as done the previous day in the dry in 1.5hrs when it had rained all night. We got carried away, my throat played up a bit, and then we descended back to the arena to prepare for our responsible(ish) duties.

We got farmed out to our marshalling positions after arranging some bikes (hiding them) to make the start more exciting. Singlespeeders expect this (and beer) during a race. Nutters.

I did, however, find a bike that had gears that weren't disabled and took a little delight in the fact that when I had finished with it, the guy could be seen struggling to get it safely out a trackside tree as all of the others came by on their "Le Mans" start.

SSUK 2010 Start Line Carnage from Rob Khoo on Vimeo.

The racing started, and it was great to watch. Mark Spratt, Melanie Alexander (Spratt), Rich Lansdowne (Scamp), Pippa Lansdowne and lots of others that we knew raced like their lives depended on it, and got the results to show for it. Only 2 people climbed the "Climb", and only one of those managed it twice (Mark Spratt). Rich Lansdowne was the other. The above are all members of our local group.

Johnny Pugh (KCNC) pushed until he had a good lead and seemed to really flow on the downhill (which is great fun). Mel won the Womens race and Pip was 2nd.

Simon Smith, however, road past asking for more beer! (local group member- raise eyebrows and sigh)

Afterwards, we all got drunk again, and ate more of the good food in the "Drop Off Cafe Bus."

As I was getting slowly enebriated, with Huw, we watched as Jo, Mark, Pip, Scooby and Scamp (Rich) all played on the Tug O' War in a couple of teams. I honestly didn't think that I would enjoy this, but 10minutes into it and I was joining with all of the shouting and cheering coming from the throngs gathered around. It seemed that the whole campsite had come to watch.

How can a bit of rope do this to people?

The best fun we've had at an event for years, or ever, in fact.

Well done Matt and Nia. It was a real treat.

Fingers crossed

2010-08-11T08:48:00.005+01:00

Ok, so the return to form didn't last.

What followed was a bit of a battle with the Health Service and their waiting times. I asked to be treated privately but was told there was no need. I was due to have functional tests for exercise induced asthma, but that would take a few weeks and in the meantime I had another chest X-Ray to rule out any lingering infection or other problems...
A chest X-Ray, yesterday
...My lungs had "stopped working" again the day after my PB at Cwmcarn. I was Ok walking around and working, but 10mins after I got on my bike I started to cough and wheeze. It didn't happen on the couple of occasions I mustered up the energy to go to an indoor spin class in hotels I was staying in.

Rich Holmes could see (as could everyone around me) that things were getting a little tiresome, so he did some asking about. Then his Girlfriend, Jan, did some asking about, too.

2 days later I had the results of a spirometry test, done at a local University, in my hands. It said that my lungs are still 23% bigger than the norm, and that they work fine: No asthma.

Phew.

I originally went to the doctor with my chest infection and a request to upgrade my hayfever meds since I didn't think they were working.

Back to the doctor: "You've got asthma."

"No I haven't," and I show the test results.

The chest X-Ray was clear, too.

"Well the only other thing it can be is acid reflux."

"Your notes should tell you that you've been treating me for that for the past 3 weeks, and it's made no difference."

"Oh yes, so we have. It must be hayfever."

Imagine my head bouncing off of the desk, 4 times in frustration. It's taken nearly 3 months post chest infection to get to this point: the same point I talked about with them 4 months earlier when I had the infection.

10hrs later, after taking my new medicine?

No cough.

The G.p's have all been great, but the notes systems let them down badly.

So 4 months wasted; fitness lost and weight gained.

But it seems like my new "prescription only" hayfever meds are working a treat, although I'm loathed to get too excited for now. Time will tell.

Wish me luck.

Last Friday was the Premiere of Reset Films' "Find." It's a gently tempoed celebration of all forms of cycling and includes our Rob Lee, Danny MacAskill,Peaty, Hans Rey and local Hero Rowan Sorrell.

It's really funny in places and the audience seemed to enjoy it. I did.

It was slightly ruined by the fact that Rob and I did the film intro, along with a little presentation on the 7DS. I felt a bit of a fraud: I'm not in this film (but am in the extra scenes, being grumpy) and we were stood there "lecturing" to most of the other guys on the film- and the audience. When you see these guys ride and realise that Rob and I are XC queens you'll see why I felt this way.

But we were very well received, or tolerated, so that's ok.

Buy the film, it's great.

Alongside all this other activity, someone else has done The WC2C! It was a group from VC Melyn in North Wales and they did it over a few days. Initial reports from Justin say that it was fun and that they really enjoyed doing the route as it was actually intended.

To add to the excitement, two friends (Rich Holmes, and Huw Thomas) did Twentyfour12 with some great success. Read about it on their blogs. They have now become officianados of "The Christmas Pudding Chamois" preloading trick, which reduces friction to such an extent that you don't need to change shorts at all during a dry race. It also helps reduce ingress of mud and stones through the chamois. Rich Managed 20hrs in mud, in one pair of shorts!!

Huw being the clever type, realised that adding a coating of anti-monkey butt powder on top stops the clammy feeling you can get in hot weather with the preloaded chamois. Everyone says it works! We have the happiest bottoms on the scene!

I could give up cycling now, happy in the fact that someone has done the route and enjoyed it and the "Christmas pudding chamois" works. But I'm not going to do that, I've got "The Hobbit's Tale" to prepare for if coughing and chest allow!

Bike Radar and a return to form.

2010-07-18T12:57:00.002+01:00

The new website design is up and running. The Blog is a little behind, but it will soon be back. It pays a certain level of homage to the pseudo superhero that is "Indiana Jones" and Lucas Films. It's also a fairly well concealed (ahem!) micky take of the dynamism I try and portray of myself by writing in a self promoting stylee. It's all show as I'm just like everyone else. I sometimes lack confidence, I get scared; but diffidence in others confuses me; procrastination sends me into orbit. You know what I mean.

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that I was taking 2 weeks off of training. Nothing, nada, nought, nil, zero...

..Except when I was bored in a hotel and felt the need to do a couple of little sessions on the cross trainer. I just couldn't stop totally, but it became apparent that I was ill as I couldn't even keep up with Jo on the bike: She was going at an easy pace and I was breathing out of my ears!! Time to have a talk with oneself.

In the meantime I did my interview at Bike Radar Live, with John Stevenson of Future Publishing. He's the big boss. The audience was small but it was well worth it as the hit rate on the site has gone up considerably since then. John was also the consumate professional, thanks.

Then, on Monday, I started light training again under Chris Eatough's guidance as usual. On my first ride I struggled to get my legs going, Jo was still waiting for me a bit as I was also suffering with a bit of bronchospasm and was coughing and phlegming again. I started to feel a little worried. But as the days progressed and I completed my 4th training ride of the week and was starting to have less and less coughing and feeling more human.

Saturday came and it was time for a quick 2.5hr ride at just under XC race pace (85% of max effort). So I rode with Jo down to Cwmcarn and was surprised to see that she was struggling to keep up. (Jo is riding really well at the moment, too.) It was then time for a couple of 85% efforts around the track with 10min at endurance pace for a "rest".

I'm amazed. I took nearly 4 mins off of my PB (which was a lungs on the bars type of ride) and I had a relatively easy few minutes as a rest. But I'll be the first to admit that I probably didn't do the resting phase properly, but hey?

It's time to work. Maybe I can make my PB a competitive one by the end of the year? Jo also beat her PB by about a minute, so tea and medals all round?

Bike Radar

2010-07-07T20:16:00.003+01:00

Sorry, reader. I've been a bit quiet. Work has been a little consuming.

This weekend is a busy one. For some reason I've dropped myself in "it" and agreed to present (with Rob) at Bike Radar about our rides and our reasons for developing the 7DS.

What am I going to say? :)

I've had a bit of time to think about it though, as I have forced myself to take 2 weeks off of the bike. It was taking me too long to recover after my little chest infection and my speed endurance was really suffering. This was highlighted to me, rather forcefully, when I failed to finish a 12hr training ride. I managed to get to just short of Nant Yr Arian in 8hrs from Cardiff on the Northward part of "The Hobbit's Tale" route, but my legs just fell off and I stopped...

...Dead

Jo had to come and get me, and we had frank discussions all the way home. It turns out that everybody could see how poorly I was doing, but were scared to tell me.

So I had a long chat with Chris, the coach, and he reset my head ready for resetting my body to new levels of fitness, after a good rest.

I start training again on Monday, and I must say that I'm more than a little hungry for it.

See you at Bike Radar?

"The Hobbits' Tale" Guiness World Record(tm) Maps

2010-06-12T20:05:00.002+01:00

Follow this link to see the mapping for "The Hobbits' Tale" Guinness World Record(tm). Hopefully this will enable people to follow where I am riding, and perhaps turn up to support or encourage me.

Anyone is welcome. Just bring a friendly face and if you would like to ride along for a while, then feel free. Anything to ease my "burden."

Hopefully some of the Guys from Cardiff, Vorb, VC Melyd, and MTB-Wales Mid-Wales residents will manage to get along. It will be really nice to put a face to a name and would mean a great deal to me and everyone else involved in the route and ride planning.

Please also have a look at "The Hobbits' Tale" Facebook Group.It contains details on dates, and will also have approximate timings for landmarks closer to the event.

You are free and welcome to join in.

Thanks for reading and I hope to meet some of you soon.

Bristol Bike Fest 2010

2010-06-07T19:52:00.006+01:00

Well, at least I know my endurance is there.

Saturday morning came so Jo and I set up the Syncros E-Z up, dumped all of the kit in there and went to the briefing.

The Briefing from Paul Newman (precis)...

..."I shout go, you run like hell, and then cycle for 12hrs."

So we did.

I got to my bike and was breathing out of my back end! Scott got caught up in the start, but I got away relatively cleanly and apart from the initial course cutters the first lap was pretty uneventful and reasonably quick.

My normal "plan" is to do a couple of quick laps until people spread out a bit and then settle down to endurance pace. Lap 3 finished almost to plan but I had to stop and have a go on the inhaler. We thought it was the dust, but it patently wasn't: my chest infection has gone and I'm recovering well but am still suffering from Bronchospasm when I exercise intensely. Unfortunately, as a result of this my pulse was flying high, my legs started to cramp after 3hrs and things weren't really going very well. When I got back on the bike 2 weeks ago, I had hoped to get on and ride for 12hrs solid at 12hr pace? Now that I was in the race all sanity seemed to drain away and it was a case of me expecting my body to perform flawlessly.

Eejit!

12hr pace nowadays is highly replicant of XC pace: It hurts, but it's a nice kind of hurt as it's only 12hrs. Now I feel the need to slap myself for using "only" and "12hrs" in the same sentence. Sorry.

The riding speed wasn't going well but I knew my head was good for a bit of punishment, which it duly got in large helpings. My body, along with everyone elses got a right kicking too due to the rocky, lumpy, bumpy, fast and fun singletrack.

9hrs later and the cramps were still there, but I had managed to deal with it. I might not have powered myself along quickly, but I was hammering it along the singletrack and really enjoying it. However something else which I am really glad about, was also happening. I usually struggle to take on more than 600ml of sports drink per hour, no matter what the weather or temperature. And I've tried all of the makes, too. I either get a big bloaty stomach after 6hrs, or I start to Jam Tart all over the place (not lady like)and pee like a trooper. Today though and in stark contrast to previous experiences, I gave my Infinit it's first REAL test of the year in less than ideal conditions and it passed with flying colours.

Everything was going wrong for me, but I should have expected so really. I got really tired, really quickly and my legs ran out of push after 3 hrs, so I just kept grinding along being headstrong and taking puffs from my inhaler at the transition point every 3hrs or so...

...AND DRINKING 1 LITRE OF MY INFINIT PER HOUR! That's nearly 550 Calories an hour and I have NEVER been close to that. As it cooled down I decided to drop down to 600 ml per hour for the last few laps as I didn't want to be up all night, peeing. Endurance athletes will realise that this isn't normally possible. During hot weather we ALWAYS end a long race like this with a bit of dehydration.

I peed a few times in the night, and I ony drank a can of coke before bed and that was it. Infinit is the word, so don't forget to try it by using the code "24ormore" for a £5 discount. Hopefully you won't be disappointed, and to prevent that possibility you can phone them and they'll design the drink for you, as you speak!

Brilliance.

Bristol Bike Fest is a top event arranged by Mike and Paul. Fun, fun, fun, and some beer with a band make it a true festival. The finishing times were fantastic with James Lister blasting around and having a giggle as he went. He made 5 laps on me and blasted everyone else at the same time. Good lad. I had hoped to limit it a 1 to 2 lap difference this year with my huge gains in fitness, but never mind. Craig Dolwin whipped my booty in the vets race and I can't find the result for 2nd Vet at the moment. Scott had some nutritional issues but managed to pull a fourth out of the Open solo on Saturday, too.

All of our local friends seemed to come along from Cardiff, and they had a prime spot in the trees from which to heckle, watch and participate in the racing. You'll remember that these guys are the ones that held a surprise 40th for me, so they're kind of special. They range in abilities from Spanky (fast) and young, to older and more sedate, but they all love to congregate at various events, gatherings and weekly rides to drink beer, spin yarns and rip the mickey out of each other. They are proper mountain bikers and no question and their results were good too.

But, even on the first lap there were people trying to cut through the course to "save time" by inventive gamesmanship. I actually shouted at a couple just then, as they tried to miss out all of the initial singletrack by taking the smooth line (that wasn't the course) that ran alongside the wall-for miles. One of them came back but the other just kept going. Another place where the signage seemed like an option rather than a rule, was the bombhole. Most of my laps saw me feeling the need to remind people that the left arrow didn't mean "ignore this and avoid the course at this point." Team kit and the identifiability that goes with it didn't prevent some of the cheating going on and that is a lamentable issue.

It ruined a small part of an otherwise brilliant event. Why cheat, or make navigational errors, lap after lap? I know that some of my close friends saw the same thing and are being proactive about it, so let's see what happens next year.

Sunday was the 6hr event and it was Jo's Turn to shine again. She puts me to shame, I tell you. Her and Kate were doing the ladies pairs and to be fair, they hammered it. Lap times were incredibly consistent and they finished a lap ahead of Second place without needing to go out for a final flying lap. Each time they came in after their respective double lap, they looked calm and cool. Jo's nutrition was bang on and they looked fresh as a daisy when they finished. Awesome.

Rob looked fresh too, after he rode a blinder on his Santa Cruz Blur XC LT Carbon to a win on the solo race. He looked like he hadn't tried! Waster.

A great weekend with lots of plus points. My head is strong, friends rode really well, and the remnants of my chest infection will clear fully in another couple of weeks. The end of July will see me peaking for "The Hobbits' Tale" which is getting scarily close.

But it'll be 'avin it!

Set2Rise

2010-05-31T11:31:00.007+01:00

Meet Jo
The first thing we feel we must say about Set2Rise is this. If you want to ride the best course in a nice friendly atmosphere then you MUST put this in your calendar for next year.

The course is fantastic and in the dry, all of the quality singletrack would be termed as "sick" by my more astute riding friends. Swooping bends on sharp climbs, sweeping berms, small log jumps, roll-ins, bombholes. The race itself was soaking wet and muddy, but the course was still really good, even on summer tyres.

Oops. Logistics? FAIL. Not really, I had taken to heart a blog entry by Jenn Hopkins (top lass,rider and endurance scary lady) where she extolled the virtues of sticking to the same tyres all season. If I remember correctly she had mentioned laziness as a factor. I'll go for that one, I think. My own fault.

A marvellous course and vibe; Drop-off Cafe's mini catering unit serving the best homemade burgers on the planet; the coffee van (who's name I forget, but the coffee is top notch); a shop and pa system supplied by one of my personal sponsors: Bertie Mafoons Bike Shop and a load of people out for a good time. What more could you ask for?

Well, good weather would have been nice but this was a May Bank Holiday so it rained it's socks off and we raced through the night on mud. This is where I was a bad boy.

Ahem.

I couldn't decide if I was going to be safe on the tyre set-up I have chosen for "The Hobbits' Tale" Guinness World Record(tm) ride, so I "persuaded" Jo to go out first on her slightly chunkier summer tyres to see if I would be ok. She says I made her do it, but I refute that as I thought she was happy doing it. Honest!

She did the first two laps in fine style, but on the end of the first lap she told me to change to my spare bike with it's crossmark tyres, or I'd die. Crikey. I was stood with old friend Rich Todd from Ergon and he laughed when he saw the state of Jo and linked that to the fact that I had "sent" her out first.

"She volunteered, Rich." I lied. It was only a little lie as Jo rises to a challenge and she is always at her best when things stack up against her a bit.

At this point it started to rain hard and a lady asked if we minded if she stayed under our Syncros e-z up. Of course this wasn't a problem, and we continued our chat about how I was a git for sending Jo out first, and "look at how muddy she is!"

Someone mentioned the pairs race, and the girl's ear pricked up. "Are you racing pairs? What's your name? We are doing pairs too. It's my first time and I'm a bit nervous."

Rich and I said that she shouldn't be nervous and should just enjoy the course and the atmosphere if she could...

...as Jo comes by, telling me to change to my other tyres or I'd die.

"So what's your name?" She asked again.

"I'm Dave and this is Richard."

"Dave Buchanan?"

"Yes that's me and we are racing pairs, too. Jo and I."

"I recognised your name! You're really fast aren't you?"

Rich laughed his arse off. He knows me really well and could see I was slightly taken aback by this comment.

Ant White, Ian Leitch, Ian Payne, Rich Rothwell and Matt Page would have had a friendly pile up on me if they had heard that. Their laughter would have resonated up and down the valley!! They know me, too.

"No I'm not quick, I just dig in hard when the ride gets long and tough. I'm pig headed but not a quick rider."

We managed to steer the conversation away from that one, and chatted about the state of everyone else coming past on the start finish straight.

This was also the first outing for my new Syncros Kit as designed by McFall Studio and manufactured by Luma Probody Gears

Eventually my turn came to ride, and I was dreading it. The first two laps went reasonably well as I only slipped off the bike twice, caching my man jewels on the back of the saddle. One of those times "winded" me quite badly, but I was a brave little soldier and fought on. I hope I get to keep the swelling.

After our first couple of laps each we were in third and about 10mins behind first. This gap had seemed to grow for some reason but Jo was riding well and I was going reasonably well too, given the fact that we have both been on inhalers for the past week due to a stupid chest infection or cold or something. The doctor had given them to us so that we could train without the bronchospasm that had affected us for the past few weeks. We had a full lung between us but it didn't seem to slow us down too much.

But at this point I got uncharacteristically competitive, and Rich found it really funny. I decided that it would be best for us to go onto single laps as my 1st lap times were a couple of minutes quicker than my second one. Jo's were rock steady and evenly paced.

I left Jo at the transition saying that single laps was how I wanted to play it and that Rich would tell her why I had made the "executive decision." Later feedback suggested that she wasn't too happy about this as she had done one lap more than me. It didn't really matter though as my first single was far quicker than intended and Jo wasn't ready when I got there, so I had to do another anyway.

In between rides we had been handing out Infinit Nutrition discount cards. People seemed to be genuinely interested in the bespoke nature of liquid nutrition- for everybody. It's a superb concept and works a treat for me, so I hope you can give it a go and get the same success as I have. Just use the code "24ormore" and you will get a £5 discount

When it was time for me to do my last laps or thereabouts, Jo had said she was tired and I would have to do 2. She had looked all pro to me and I didn't know she was tired.

Dammit. I was trying to look all calm, collected, professional and recovered. But my legs were screaming as I had been riding in oxygen debt for the whole time (as had Jo, obviously).

"I'll do 2 laps." I said as I filled with what must have been adrenaline.

"You don't have time." Jo said.

"I'll do 2." I can be a beligerant sod if I want to be, sometimes.

I did my lap and intended to come back in an change quickly before going out for the final so that I could finish very close to the cut off time and be in cleaner clothes.

"You don't have to go out again," Jo told me. "The others are finished because they can't catch us before the cut-off as we are a lap up."

We always struggle with this bit. Do we go out and trust to hope that the timing system is right and that the riders have actually stopped?

"I'll go out anyway." But Jo was having none of it as she was keen for me to stop so that I had all of my energy for Bristol 12hr solo the next week. She was, of course, right but I'm still worried about my ability to ride for 12hours at the moment. Let's give it a go though.

The podium was nice place to be except that I nearly fell off as I got on it. I had to grab Jo and the chap on the third step for security. Thanks for the hand up, as always. Doesn't Jo look good in my Infinit T-shirt?

A good end to a poor month

2010-05-31T10:29:00.005+01:00

May has been taxing, to say the least.

I got over the cold, that accompanied me back from Germany, at the end of April. Then it was time to start riding a little again to get my legs working as they should.

That seemed ok and recovery was following the lines you would expect. But then I had to go back to Germany...

..."You can't take your bike on the flight as the connecting flight in Germany has no room for it, even though it's booked on."

Great.

So we get there, all happy and ready to enjoy the wares of the biggest Orthotic and Prosthetic trade fair and expo in the World, bar none, in Leipzig. One of the walking aids I had built as part of my training on the previous trip was on display and everything looked absolutely marvellous. I was feeling quite proud of myself since it is many years since I was "hands on" in a workshop: My work environment is purely clinical so this was a trip back to the days when I built aircraft, but less oily.

The Reciprocal Gait Orthosis
I made this!

I'm proud to be part of the Otto Bock Family and what it represents.

The photo above is of a humungous silicone foot, designed to showcase the rapid technological advancment in silicone cosmetics. It also happens to look like a good emblem for "The Hobbits' Tale" Guinness World Record(tm) ride. But I'd best ask first. That's my Polar Heart Rate Monitor there, providing some scale.

Then I popped over to the part of the stand that my career is based around.

The E-Mag Active

This is a brace designed around lighweight, high-tec components which allows people who need it to walk faster and longer than before. It's a new project and I'm excited by it, to be honest. We can do great things with this.

A couple of nights were spent in Leipzig Town, but one of those was spent in an Irish Bar as we were late getting out and the town was stacked to overflowing.

I nearly ordered the "Authentic Irish Pork Curry" and instead went for "Authentic Irish Schnitzel." What a saltfest German food seems to be?

The night after that, we moved to Teistunging on the old Iron curtain border, close to the Headquartes of Otto Bock and where I had previously ridden. There is some nice singletrack at the back of the Victor's Residences Hotel, trust me.

I had planned to book a hire bike for the week as they were cheap to book and were quality bikes as supplied by my friend Andreas in Bi-cycles but I had developed another cough and thought it would be better to hold off for a day or so.

The next morning was one of hacking, snotting, sodden hankies and aches all over the body. Everyone else (who had also been to Leipzig) seemed to have the same affliction so about 30-40 of a 150 strong troupe were doing the same animal impressions as I was.

No bike riding for me. I was ill AGAIN!

Harumppphhh! Grumpy.

Another 2 weeks off of the bike and ending up on antibiotics for a cough that seemed to last 5 weeks and and inhaler since I couldn't get my breath.

Jo ended up with the same thing too and I hope it wasn't me that gave her it.

On Sunday I finished my antibiotics, but on Saturday Jo and I did Set2Rise 12hr race as a mixed pair, since she had entered initially as a solo rider. She knew she couldn't do solo so we sweetalked the organisers into the change an they were fine about it.

We won!

I was a bad boy, but I'll tell you about that in a bit.

Race report to follow.

Rich Holmes and the WC2C

2010-05-11T18:50:00.002+01:00

Look out for my good friend Rich Holmes as he gives the WC2C a beating this weekend.

He's younger, slimmer, got big legs and can ride a bike well: But he ain't as good looking as me.

The ride will start at 6am on Saturday morning (15th May 2010) and he will finish in The Celtic Ring in Cardiff bay a "few" hours later.

Wish him luck and follow his progress on Clicky

His mate Rick is also doing Rich Rothwell's crazy English Coast to Coast at the same time. He will have a spot messenger tracking page too, but you'll have to check on his blog.

Wish Rick luck too!

Bummer! You can't outsmart Mother Nature.

2010-05-09T18:53:00.004+01:00

Well, I've been back from Germany for a week or so, and as soon as I did get home I developed a full blown (GmbH) cold that I thought I had managed to hold off.

Never mind. I managed to do some light training once my throat had settled and I stopped coughing so much. This gave me a chance to go and ride with an old mate, for the first time ever. This is the guy that we used to go next door to visit, or lift fence panels out so that our dogs could play together whilst we barbecued food and drank ourselves silly. Crikey, we ate some cheese between our two houses and the "parties" that ensued.

Jim and I met at Cannock Chase and rode around the new "Monkey Trail". It's a lot of fun, but I refuse to take my carbon wheeled bikes there again. It's trail bike country with lots of air, some tight twisty nadgery singletrack, and some really clever rock constructions. You gotta try it.

I felt better after this ride, so I decided that I would go and do some riding at Clic24. This is the race that started me on my 24hr solo career, and "The Hobbits' Tale" is geared to raise money for the coffers of Clic24 and then straight to ClicSargent. So I was there to increase awareness of what I was doing, and why it was Clic24's fault. I was due to solo the second 12hr hours and say hello to like minded charity collectors

It was a good idea, but it all went wrong. My cold was still active as I started at midnight. I didn't know it was there until I was on my 4th lap out of a target of 14 laps in 12 hours. My pacing was perfect, and I was within 30secs either side of my target time and just warming into the ride when my throat got all tight and I started to hack and cough everywhere. I turned into a little sputum factory in the space of about 10mins. People on the course were asking if I was ok since they could hear me coming up behind them from miles off.

I must have sounded like a right manky pig, sorry.

That lap was finished right on schedule, but my breathing was getting a little difficult as I felt myself having a wee bout of bronchospasm. Even using my buff over my mouth to warm and moisten the air as I breathed in didn't help.

End-ex.

I made my apologies to Neil and his crew and went to bed, to cough and hack all night.

Clic24's course is a lot of fun, you should give it a go one day. I reckon that it's possible to do 30 laps there in the dry in 24hrs. I'm not the one to do it (27-28 would be my max), but we all know a few who could do it. Now we need to persuade them to come along!!

However, this weekends solo effort was marvellous. A guy called Stephen was about to manage to do 24 laps in less in than ideal conditions. I hope he managed it, but will update this blog in a couple of days to reflect the result.

Awesome!

Thanks for supporting me Rob, but sorry it didn't work out.

Civilisation changes quickly

2010-04-25T09:53:00.014+01:00

Well I've had a busy couple of weeks!!

At the present time I'm in the Hotel Zum Lowen (Loo'ven) in Duderstadt: a beautiful town steeped in history and still comprising many 400year old buildings. Most of the High Street is at least this old.

The ash cloud from Iceland has caused all sorts of logistical issues for training that I had to undertake for the new job I started a few weeks ago. There were flights booked for me to travel to Hannover and from there I would travel by hire car to Duderstadt. The stay was supposed to be for a week whilst treating a British patient with a new all singing and all dancing orthosis which provides the ability to stand and walk more normally: using electronics and fancy biomechanical application.

Biomechanics (sports, diabetic, and lower limb) are my main interest in work and this new job means I get to wallow in them full-time. Groovy.

Anyway, my flights were cancelled but I had to wait until the airport told me so, before deciding to drive over (with my bike of course). This meant that I arrived in Duderstadt to start working in Otto Bock...

...at 5:30am. 1 hour of sleep later and I was in work with bloodshot eyes and the trademark Buchanan Bullfrog Eyes surrounding them.

The ash cloud maintained it's hold on the airline regulatory authorities and my charge never arrived from the UK.

The upshot of this is that I've had to stay in Germany for 2 weeks and have used the time well, professionaly, for cycling and socially. I have been treated like a family member and been entertained every night. It's been great, but I need to get back to my normal diet and weightloss when I get home!

So, the bike came with me and I've been trawling up and down the old East/West border looking for places to ride and get my training in. It's been easy as the place is covered in forestry and cycle tracks.

The boys from Bi-Cycles, Duderstadt
Museum

The defining point this week was realised on Saturday (Yesterday). I have befriended the local shop owner (Andreas of Bi-Cycles)and he and his friends have looked after me too. After going for an 80-85Km ride in the morning, I met up with them at the shop in the afternoon feeling a little tired. I was sort of expecting a short ride as I only had 2hrs left of a 5 1/2hr day to do. We ended up shooting off into the distance and covering another 4hrs worth of riding. This ranged from firetracks to Machenesque steep ground which was really enjoyable.

And the defining moment?

At the end of the ride we traversed the museum area of the old border, with it's helicopter gate guardian and heavy steel sliding gates made out of girders. After this we rode along a section where the minefield, killing grounds, watch towers, lights and trenches remained untouched (apart from actual mines, I hope). It was an eerie place and I found it slightly disturbing to think about the things that could have happened just where I stood.

One of the guys on the ride (Tony) told us of how his family had been split by the border and, also, how just up the road was a smuggling passage where his uncle(?) had tried to smuggle a little pig across to his family. This was a corridor used mainly for cigarettes and booze and the guard wasn't bothered when he found the pig, so let him through.

A big day out in many ways.

Although I must admit to a slightly tongue in cheek giggle when my i-pod seemed to know where I was and started playing Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Two Tribes".

Today, I went back there and rode along the concrete road remains of the borders and some cycle tracks in between with a 15Km deviation into some of the towns of "East" Germany. I was looking for an Imbiss as I was starving, but they were all shut. I managed to get another (hungry) 3hrs out of the bike today in the scorching heat and slight breeze.

It's a nice area and I like it, so now I'm off to try the local speciality: Carbonara Ice Cream would you believe?? Whilst there I will ponder a new route I found on the internet: "The Iron Curtain Trail." I wonder how long that'll take?

West Highland Way Double Attempt & Endurance Film Announced

2010-04-13T11:44:00.001+01:00

Live Tracker Page: http://roblee7ds.blogspot.com/p/live-event-tracker.html

Live on-the-ride Twitter updates: @RobLee7ds

UK endurance mountain biker, and Team Syncros Endurance Team Manager, Rob Lee has announced that he will attempt to ride the full length, and back again, of the West Highland Way later this week. The West Highland Way is Scotland's premier long distance route and runs from Milngavie, on the outskirts of Glasgow, to Fort William which sits at the foot of Ben Nevis. The route itself is 96 miles (154km) and so Rob will undertaking a journey of some 192 miles (308km) through some of the most scenic off road wilderness in the UK.

No stranger to such undertaking Rob was the first rider to take the South Downs Double record without a support crew, back in 2008, and has ridden a double version of the Pennine Bridleway, and linked all of the 7Stanes Red Routes, in his following rides, as part of his Seven Deadly Spins project.

This ride will be the sixth ride of that series and looks likely to be the hardest one yet. Having recently returned from filming and reconnaissance rides of the route Rob had this to say about the upcoming challenge:

“The route is really special, it goes through some amazing countryside and covers some really tough trails. I particularly like the way that it regularly changes and throws up so many variables that kit and bike choice are a really serious consideration. Looking back on the other rides I’ve done of this type this one is by far the toughest. The distance is no higher but the terrain itself is much harder to pass over at any great speed. I’m in fantastic shape at the moment, having worked very hard with my coach over the Winter, but even so I think this challenge is going to take about 32 hours to complete. This time I’m going to go supported; it makes sense really as we are producing a film about endurance mountainbiking so there will be a crew following me. I think this ride is hard enough as it stands so why make it harder? Whatever happens it’s going to make for some very interesting viewing. The scenery is so good and Mark (from film production company Reset Films) has a real eye for capturing visually stunning, and inspirational footage for the movies he makes”

This season Rob is working on a joint project with Mark from Reset Films – the makers of acclaimed mountainbike move ‘Home’ – to produce a new film that captures the spirit of the ultra-endurance adventures these riders undertake. The crew will be following Rob on this ride and gaining footage from trail, air and water as they search for the best vantage point.

The ride is scheduled to start at 11am on Friday this week (the 16th) from the southern end of the trail and Rob hopes to be finished some time before midnight on Saturday! As with all his challenge rides online viewers will be able to track his progress from the live tracker page, on his blog site, as well as following live updates via Twitter.

Tracker Page: http://roblee7ds.blogspot.com/p/live-event-tracker.html
Twitter: @RobLee7ds

West Highland Way Double trailer from ResetFilms.co.uk on Vimeo.

A ride with a mate

2010-04-05T21:11:00.003+01:00

I'm not taking many photos at the moment since I've been using a little video camera to try and make a short film on the points of interest on the Welsh Coast2Coast and "The Hobbits Tale."

Unfortunately my camera work is shocking, and the final product will look more than a little "Blair Witch"...

...If I'm lucky.

The week's recce that I have been doing during this "filming" (loose term) has brought up a few interesting points:

1. The bog of death has been drained and is now 99% rideable. This really enhances the route, as the two rivers seem to have been dug out and bridges built over them. It was horrible beforehand.

2. The Bridleway at Brecon is 100% rideable, if a little slippy.

3. A new sign has been erected by "The Arch" forestry section. It's next to a little pseudo quarry and tells you that you can't go any further. Luckily there is only about 50m between the start of the "quarry" and the finish, and there is a footpath that you can carry the bike around on. Permission will be easy to get for the firetrack though, as there is no quarry, and no works. It's just a small pile of rubble by the side of the firetrack.

On Easter Sunday Rich Holmes (the next WC2C soloist) and I went for a ride from Brecon to just above Llynn Brianne and back again. Of course, we followed the WC2C route in both directions.

Sennybridge Training area looking to Pen-y-Fan

It was a great day out and it was nice to ride with someone who had a similar endurance pace to my own. We chatted, rode, got excited and a bit quick; and then started telling each other to slow down as the excitement passed each time.

The weather was cold, windy, sunny and with blue skies. The ground was sopping wet and we were riding through slush just above Llynn Brianne.

Marvellous!

UK24solo Champs

2010-03-29T13:29:00.002+01:00

We've been in Scotland filming recently with Paul and Sara from SIP events.

These guys are switched on- If you want to try a solo, then this is the one. If you want to be British 24solo Champ, then...

...this is the one.

Some of the results of the filming is viewable in the form of the new trailer for the event.

I have to admit to being the guy with the bullfrog eyes and one ear sticking out: It had been a busy week riding and filming on the West Highland Way. Rob, da manager and Mark Huskisson of Reset Films had had us out filming in the dark the night before, and got us up at 5am to film in the morning light, too!

Enjoy.

24hrsExposure from ResetFilms.co.uk on Vimeo.

Sleeping Beauty (sort of)

2010-02-28T16:38:00.006Z

Life has been a little busy and disjointed over the last couple of months and it felt like things were getting on top of me, so I took a rest week. This allowed me to get lots of small things around the house, work, and bike stuff sorted out whilst still allowing me to get 14hrs of sleep a night. I kid you not and it was Brilliant!!

I didn't feel ill although I was a bit sniffy, but really thought that I had lost my edge as I couldn't concentrate and sleep was difficult. Luckily, I think I'm quite good a listening to my body. When you've spent your life pushing things (mums call it overdoing things)in various disciplines, you learn this: if you're lucky.

No matter what's going on in life, we have to make sure that we don't dig ourselves a hole in overtraining(or poor recovery). Typically, athletes will feel really guilty and get agitated since they feel that they *should* be pushing hard all of the time...

...I eat pizza, guzzle fruit and drink red wine at this important time.

Oh, Yes!!!

That reminds me; I need to go turn the pizza oven on.

My new bike frame came and it's lush!! A lovely Red Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon frame with the new RP23 with boost valve.

It'll be built up with top line finishing kit from Syncros in the next couple of weeks and will include carbon wheels, xtr, hope, and my favourite Reba WC forks. It is going to be a bit special and I'm very excited.

So, Saturday came, and I felt ready for a day on the bike. Jo thought it would be a good idea for us to go and recce a bit of "The Hobbit's Tale" just to see what it was like at this time of year. At about 11am we set off from Pontsticill car park and made our way up to The Gap descent in the Beacons and on towards the climb that takes you along to Sennybridge Training Area.

The Gap descent is one of the parts that I had to get onto the Northward route. It's part of one of the most iconic and photogenic rides in the UK. It's also a superb downhill and starts with plenty of drop/roll offs and ends in flat out gravel and rock gardens which a downhill rider would enjoy. You can do it as a climb, but I don't know anyone who has managed to complete it in one go. Someone will prove me wrong, though, I hope. I thought about having it on the WC2C but if you can't make a climb when fresh, you are highly unlikely to do it or remember it fondly after 19 1/2hrs in the saddle.

The Gap held some challenges this weekend,as you can see

But it just goes on and on...

I drove up this once when I was in Mountain Rescue. It seemed that the Team Leader wanted to see if I could drive a V8 Landrover. We made it, but I never volunteered again. It scared the pants off of me.

Next off, we headed along the Bridleway from Brecon to a tumulus and Mynydd Epynt, beyond. This is the same Bridleway that was being repaired when I did the WC2C last March: the same one that was 6" deep in mud and hoof prints. Well it's still muddy, but is far better drained than last time. It will be easily rideable in the summer, and was only boggy now due to the amount of rain and snow we've had lately. It took me about 20mins to trudge through it last year so it should be about 15mins quicker on actual attempt.

Speaking of attempts; two of my friends are having a go at soloing the WC2C this year. Steve Heading is doing it, with a twist, and he will annihilate my time. Even with the "twist" he's a faster and more experienced rider. He doesn't look like he's going fast, but he is. Trust me.

Rich Holmes is the next guy who's having a go, and when he does it in the summer he'll be quicker too. A strong rider who is coming back from some protracted illness so he needs to prove things to himself. Nobody else, just him. Awesome.

His mate, Rik, is also going to do Richard Rothwells' English Coast to Coast at the same time. That should help them get some good publicity, eh?

The WC2C (and EC2C) will then exist as current challenges for others to get excited about.

Anyhow, back to our recce ride. We turned around and headed back to Brecon for a posh plate of soup and a coffee, and then followed the original WC2C route back to Ponsticill.

It was the first time I had been on 5 mile climb since March last year and the 1st WC2C. Funny, it felt just the same, and Jo didn't seem to enjoy it, at all.

Back home for Tea and Medals, and a fly bit of trifle.

Lush.

Cold Knees and The Boss Who Knew Me.

2010-02-14T20:58:00.005Z

Training has gone very well this month as I follow Coach Chris's Training Plan. The way he manages rest and quality training with no wasted effort or hours is only becoming evident to me after a year of massive improvements.

The "daft" little things that he says to you that get you out on your bike when your resolve wains, and the way he makes sure you rest well just sets you up for improvements.

Try him, or one of his pre-written plans. He's even written a new one for 24 soloists. You guys doing your first solo, not sure if a full coaching program would suit you; this could help you out.

So this weekend whilst I was enjoying my continued endurance gains, I decided to ride my Mountain Bike to North Wales.

Yip. I did.

I didn't quite get as far as I'd hoped due to a nasty headwind, but I got to Oswestry before Jo rescued me with the car and picked me up. I was freezing cold as I had thought I would be clever and time my cooldown perfectly to end as she arrived.

I floundered about a quiet carpark, out of drink and food, trying to stop my legs and back from seizing in the cold due to the 40 extra minutes I hadn't counted on...

...Oops.

We were on our way to Denbigh to see friends, for me to get tipsy and for Jo to do an offroad duathlon run by Uberfit Events at Llandegla. The organiser, Dave Quartermain, is an old friend of mine who used to come to the circuits I taught in the "Y" club in Manchester. In fact, we used to do the circuit together and beast each other mercilessly before the customers came for their piece of the action. They were popular classes, and it's one thing I still miss.

The circuits was the mainstay of our reflective conversation, but he had a job to do in running the event. We'll continue the catch up again, sometime soon, I hope.

As Jo was buying coffee for Wyn and I in the OnePlanet HQ, a chap came up to talk to me about my Welsh Coast To Coast and The Hobbits' Tale. I tried to appear intelligent and articulate as we had a conversation, but the truth was that I was a bit flustered. I didn't even do the introductions thing, so I don't really know who I was talking to. How bad is that?

It was probably the Boss at One Planet, but I should have asked. I feel daft now.

Jo did well on her runs, and blistered past folks on her mountain bike, and finished the event looking strong but muddy.

Wyn and I drank more coffee, after Jo started her race. We then whipped around the black and red runs toute suite, and got back for more coffee, cake and then off to Maccy D for a "meal".

Nice!

No photos this week, sorry.

Charity Page

2010-01-29T12:17:00.003Z

The Hobbits' Tale is being run to try and raise funds for Clic Sargent cancer charity as it's something that's obviously close to my heart.

Clic24 is the race that got me into soloing, so I have teamed up with Neil Wilkins of Vipermarketing (and the Clic24 organiser) to try and present some form of coherence in fundraising between the two events. Neil is a marketing magician and knows how to get money out of folks, so I'm hoping this gives him an excuse to do what he does best- get inventive.

With that in mind, I now have a virgin fundraising page and we hope to start seeing pledges arriving soon.

Wish us luck!?

ALL soloists should do this, except me.

2010-01-25T20:38:00.005Z

I just got off of the phone to one of the organising authorities of the UK 24 SOLO CHAMPS.

Dammit, I can't do it due to "The Hobbit's Tale".

The amount of preparation that is going into this solo only race is absolutely phenomenal. New soloists will have support on tap- That's awesome! And the big boys can go at it hammer and tong in a field of fully like minded racers. This means that soloists will(for the first time)get all of the recognition they deserve for pushing themselves well beyond their preconceived limits.

I'll be there, because I don't want to miss it, but I'll be mincing and supporting.

It's been a good week, capped off by a great weekend, too.

The weekend started with us driving down to Weymouth for a dirty weekend away. Well, a dirty shoe and legs weekend away.

Jo was doing the Weymouth EnduranceLife Coastal series marathon: the idiot.

We got a nice early bed (11pm) and were up at 6 am so that she could have her first breakfast, followed by more roughage free food at 7am. She looked quite cool and ready for action.

I took my bike so that I could ride around the road and catch her at various points on the course. It would be nice to just ride around for 3 1/2 hours at endurance pace.

Mistake.

The race was around Portland and every road goes from one side of the island over the top of it. I managed to get a few photos of the race, but it turned into a 4hr climbathon that saw the "endurance" focus of the ride flying well and truly
out of the window.

The road climb to the top was heart wrenching and then I was met by this...

26 miles of this?

downhill to the lighthouse

I missed Jo at the lighthouse as she had beaten me there as I did some more "efforts" on the hills around the island: Up and down, up and down, up and...you get it.

So I photographed someone else at the lighthouse.

I met Jo on the shingle beach, which she had to run about a mile on, twice. I was in agony from walking about 1/3rd of a mile once. I was impressed with these guys.

Nutters.

She finished it in really good spirits, and with no blisters on her feet (due to the clever insoles I made her specific to running) and immediately wanted food. KFC had a good beating, I can tell you.

Sunday and it was my turn again. 5hrs on the road bike with cold feet and watery eyes because I forgot my glasses, followed by some food, a glass of wine and a cuddle on the floor with my dogs.

Jo stayed on the settee in muscular agony...

...She couldn't get down onto the floor.

Syncros Endurance comes alive!!

2010-01-12T13:05:00.007Z

MBR magazine have been their usual supportive selves, and are helping with the coverage of my main challenge for 2010, apart from racing.

"The Hobbits' Tale" is basically a Welsh Coast2Coast out and return. It's approximately 410mile long with 22-23000m of climbing, non-stop.

In May, June or July 2010, I will set off from Cardiff and ride to Caernarfon, before turning around and riding back home. I might stop for a wee, but hope that that will be all. I'll be waiting for a weeks dry weather so that the bogs are a bit easier to cross in Ffair-Rhos.

The route runs from Cardiff and follows a similar route to the WC2C, except in a northerly direction. Highlights should be the incredible vista offered as you crest The Gap descent in the Brecon Beacons, riding more singletrack at Nant-yr-Arian, The Chute in Machynnlleth's Mach3, and Coed-y-Brennin singletrack.

When I get to Caernarfon, I'll hopefully still have my full entourage of support crews and I'll turn around and ride the actual WC2C in it's entirety: This includes the stupid steep climb up to Castell Coch on the way into Cardiff. It's a little sting in the tail that makes the last few miles a bit more entertaining as your legs scream at you.

As noted in MBR this month, I'm hoping to be able to have this ride ratified as a Guinness World Record, but this is actually more difficult than it sounds. As far as any of my colleagues know, internationally, this will be the longest non-stop offroad ride ever. Sheesh! It may have to be termed something like "Longest distance covered in 48hrs", or something like that. If I'm not finished the route, I'll bag the record (with luck) and just keep going 'til I finish the double. The double might take a little longer than 48hrs, but I'm not sure.

This is a challenge and a half.

I'm getting sweaty just typing this.

So when it's done, you'll be able to choose to do a WC2C Northwards or Southwards as they will both be defined routes.

Now, to the bikes.

This season we at the newly named Syncros Endurance will be riding Santa Cruz Blur XC carbon bikes finished with top of the range Syncros kit. I'll have two of these beautiful bikes each with slightly different kit on them, but they will both be sinewy speed demons in the racing world.

Most of our other sponsorship deals will remain the same, otherwise, but the websites will change a little to reflect this in the coming weeks. I'm also lucky to have a couple of additional sponsors to announce, but not quite yet.

A new beginning.

2010-01-09T14:23:00.005Z

It took me a full week to get over the jetlag from a recent trip to San Francisco and the surrounding areas of North California, including Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Cameron Park.

What I found was the best mountain biking areas I've ever seen. Summer, up high around Lake Tahoe will be superb, and the riding carries on all year down in the foothills. And there's a couple of 24hr races in the local 100mile radius.

Hmmm.

Anyway, it's back to reality. As soon as I got over my jetlag and started feeling able to train properly; it snowed. It froze.

The country shut down, and it hasn't opened again yet.

That didn't stop me training, though. Kipper did.

I'd had a couple of good rides and training sessions, but one night when I got home Kipper had funny little speckles on his gums. Jo took him to the vet who immediately admitted him.

He was seriously ill with an auto-immune disease which left him at critical risk of haemmohraging internally. It was New Years Eve, icy and the world had given up on trying to transport itself around the country.

Two days later, his platelet count dropped to 1000 per unit. It should be 375,000 (within a fairly wide range of normalcy). His red blood cell count had also dropped by over 50%.

He was in trouble. The vet tried to hide the urgency, but the fact that she told us that they needed to do a blood transfusion within an hour, but there was no blood available anywhere, kind of impressed upon us the nature of the challenge before us.

The upshot of it was that we found a local dog, through the hydro pool that swims our other dog weekly, who was able to donate for us in the timescale required. We took Errin along with her mum to the vet and the miracle was carried through to fruition.

Kipper was out of danger.

The next day we went to visit Kipper, to find that my car had had it's window wipers bent and twisted by a member of the low life in the local area. I made it work by applying judicious bending and twisting, and we got to see our fella, Kipper.

He looked better.

Three days later and his red blood cell count had started to rise. In addition to this his platelet count was up to 300,000.

Woo hoo!

He's on large doses of immuno-suppressants and steriods and we hope that he will stabilise soon, so that these meds can be reduced. He's not out of the woods yet and Evans' Syndrome can be intractable. But we'll keep a close eye on him.

He's home now, and looking much more settled.

Fingers crossed.

It's been hard to do any training but I've gotten by on my treadmill and ergo. Short, sweet and high intensity.

Nice.

In other news, I'm nearly 40.

Jo asked me to come out with her to a work doo that she couldn't get out of.

As we got to our other car we noticed that some artistic scumbag had run a key down the full length of our brand new four-wheel drive. We weren't happy. We've put up with a good few woes lately, and gotten over them, but this was starting to feel like it pushed things too far.

We stomped around a bit, phoned the rozzers to report the crime (the 2nd car vandalism within less than a week) and then drove to Jo's doo.

Imagine my surprise when I turned up with Jo to see that I recognised some faces in a darkened restaurant. I stood there thinking, "That's Lou. What's she doing here? That's a bit of a coincidence!"

The lights came on and then they all started dinging "happy birthday" to me.

I only clicked then!

Jo had organised a surprise party for me in THE BAY LEAF restaurant in Whitchurch in Cardiff. Almost all of my closest biking friends in the Cardiff area were there.

We had a great night. The best night.

The day after a boozy and sociable night, Coach Chris has given me a load of Killer Turbo sessions for the period that the weather remains icy and snowy.

I'm fed up with my treadmill.

Mr Beans' big day out.

2009-12-14T14:33:00.006Z

Looking down from the top of the Chute to the WC2C route

We had quite a nice weekend at our gaff.

It was the start of the Christmas festivities, with Jo and I going out for a "few" drinks on Friday night with all of our friends from the MTB fraternity in Cardiff. Jo and I were clever: we went out for a posh Italian meal prior to the beer, and it worked a treat at keeping me sober(ish). Jo did a great job at seeming to be sober since all she drank was fruit juice.

Quite a few of the others had forgotten to eat, or so it seemed. Jim was quite drunk and looked like the Japanese comedian/magician who does some scary things. He didn't fall over once!!

I got drunk and Jo drove me home, as I told her I loved her...

...300 times, apparently.

Saturday and it was Jo's turn. She got a lift in, and I had to pick her up about 1am from the nightclub that her young blood colleagues dragged her out to.

She didn't tell me she loves me. :(

Saturday was a waste of a day for me as I was writing a presentation for an orthotic knee system, and got so excited (sleepy) that I didn't have time to ride my bike. I went for a run for an hour instead, which hurt.

Sunday, and I got up at sparrow's. It was still dark, and I was struggling to open my eyes after picking up the beautiful but drunken bombshell a few hours earlier.

I had been super organised around midnight the previous night by making sure everything was ready just to be picked up as I ran out of the door. What could be better!?

So after apologising to the Forstry Commision man at Nant-Yr-Arian because I couldn't pay for parking and realising that I didn't need the waterproof bag for my phone as it was still next to my fridge, 100 miles away, I set off on my ride.

Dope.

I was recceing again, but this time it was for "The Hobbit's Tale". The plan was to ride along to Machynlleth via Anglers' Retreat, and down Mach3 and the Chute into town. It was sopping wet and really slow going, but I made it quicker than I thought I could. So I kept going and ended up on ClimachX.

The 2nd longest climb on the WC2C, goes right up into the glare and on to Nant

The ride home was another trudge since I followed the original WC2C route and it was soaking and spongy.

Horrible.

I was quite impressed with myself: I had done a ride that I thought would take me all day, in 5 and a bit hours. It had been a bit of a struggle, since my food was sat next to my phone. So I managed on gels and drink.

Boring.

As I pulled up to my car, I saw a nice looking four wheel drive. "Hmm, that looks just like ours", I mused. But I was cold so I got hurriedly changed, jammed my bike in the car and ate a couple more gels just to stop me being "too" hungry.

The Red Kites were doing their thing in the air and it was great to see them enjoying themselves just after having been fed by the RSPB man. They are seriously cool birds.

What you looking at?

One actually looked at me as I took a photo of it! It's a pity he's too far away to be clear on my little camera, but I hope you get the idea.

Anyway, It was time to go home. So off I went.

Just over 2hrs later I got a call from Jo, and there was a certain edge in her voice.

"Where are you? Did you have a nice day?"

I think something is amiss. I'm in trouble.

"Err, Yes, thanks. I had a great day."

She comes back at me, "Did you enjoy the Cafe? It is very nice in there."

"Err, No. I forgot my wallet and phone....and food."

"Didn't you notice the car next to yours in the carpark?"

Oh, Oh! I'm in doo doo, here. But I didn't quite click.

"Yes, it just like ours..Hang on!?"

Jo was quiet.

"That was you wasn't it?" I asked timidly.

"Yes, it was. My dad and I brought you up some food, your phone and wallet and timed it so that we could watch the birds being fed before you got back. You did say that you wouldn't be finished til after dark!"

I finished my ride early, even after extending it. Remember?

They had been watching the birds, as I photographed a few, when my other car was sat right next to me.

Dozey pig.

Not so long ago, I'd be running off of this with my wing above me. The entry to the top of the chute

And I best not tell you that I did the whole ride with only a front brake due to my forgetting to replace the pads. The Chute was quite interesting with no back brake. I spent most of that section trying to limit the production of skidmarks since that wouldn't have been very good, with all that loose and wet rock lying around.

Ahem.

I'll get my coat.

Relight My Fire!

2009-12-06T19:21:00.004Z

Brecon steam railway. It gets it's coal from Russia now!

Well, things have been tough during this last few weeks. Let's just say that I don't bother shaking the Doctors' hand now. The only greeting he gets is me dropping my tweeds, because he's going to ask me to do that anyway!!

Medical tests are part of daily life, now and again, when you've had a complex little history going on in the background.

None of the tests are avoidable, really, as they have to be done.

They just get in the way.

I've not been comfortable on the bike for weeks, so have been doing some runs and cross training. On the back of this I even bought a pair of offroad running shoes, and Jo dragged me around the singletrack at Cwmcarn. I can blast around there, with my lungs hanging out, on my bike, in about 45 minutes or 58 minutes at 24hr pace. It took me an hour and a half to "run" around there and Jo was howling at me with laughter at the end- I hadn't run in years and it was quite unpleasant and painful.

Stupid idea.

The next three days were the most painful I can remember for years.

Jo kept laughing.

I hated her for a while.

I'm now on "Old Man" medicine for the next few weeks, and it's REALLY helping. So this weekend I trained properly.

It was brilliant!

On Saturday I drove up to Coed-Y-Brenin for the day to do a bit of Recce for "The Hobbits Tale" which will be ridden in 2010. It's going to be a bit special, I hope.

Once I'd done that an old friend, that I haven't seen in 7 1/2 years, came over for a wee ride.

Johnny T is a really important part of my history. He was there in the bad times, and helped me back to fitness. He was also the one that I did battle with in circuit training or out on the hill, for years, in between the times when we were training Prince's Trust students.

We have a bond, it's fair to say.

He's now a boss in an RAF Outdoor Centre and was a contestant on the original Gladiators TV show, too!

More importantly, he also let me drag him up some hard climbs, and then gave himelf a good thrashing trying to lead them himself. He trusted the climbing gear, sometimes to destruction. I still have pictures of him struggling on a short steep climb, seemingly throwing himself off every few seconds and falling on my new Camelot (a posh and expensive bit of kit designed to stop you falling to the ground). This man has no fear.

Or so I thought.

So he turns up with his 1993 Muddy Fox rigid mountain bike...

...and the biggest, daftest, strongest and best natured American Labrador you ever saw. He was attached to a lead, and at the other end was John, and his bike.

You know what's coming, don't you?

John's a big lad, but he's not big enough to stop a big doozer like this dog from pulling him ALL OVER THE PLACE. Shrieks of fear, disdain and resignation were the order of the day for next wee while as John rode along at an average 45 degree angle of lean with a taught lead stretching back towards a distant squirrel, rabbit or bit of stick.

Johns eyes were on stalks!

He feared for his life!!

I kept out of the way, and laughed myself silly. It was a picture of utter chaos, infront of me.

Jo and I will going back next week to do a bit of work around Machynlleth, so I hope to have another episode of entertainment.

A two minute gap in downpours allowed some hasty photos of the Beacons

So Sunday arrived and we glanced out of the bedroom window. You couldn't see anything due to the rain and leaves flying around. I went back to bed whilst Jo did a 2 hr run- weirdo.

Ponsticill Reservoir, pointy brick thing. What are these for?

She came back and I set off then to recce (well, to remind myself what it looked like) from my house up to the North, near Brecon, and then back home. This was the best ride I have had in a long time: actually since I peaked at Torq 12:12.

5 hrs of effortless, fast, riding in 'orrible weather.

It's going to be a good year. I'm on fire and ready to train hard.

Just need to get rid of the medicine.

The Real Ale Wobble

2009-11-15T17:05:00.005Z

What a filthy, wet and windy weekend that was!

Marvellous!

Some friends and I had booked some Bed and Breakfast accommodation in Llanwrtyd Wells for the Real Ale Wobble. So a bunch of 10, or so, of us pulled up on Friday night and started on the beers.

Not being a beer drinker, I stuck to good old fashioned lager. Everyone else was throwing back the Festival Beers and seemed to be reveling in the various aromas, tastes and tar-like consistencies on offer. One of our crew was on the cider for both nights, and I don't think he'll be touching it again for a few millenia. He was hanging drunk!

The ride on Saturday was, erh, interesting. I hadn't changed out of my mud tyres since I was feeling a bit lazy in the week leading up to it. So I "managed" with a crossmark on the rear and an ardent up front, through the muddiest and wettest ride I had ever been on. It was good fun though.

Huw? He fell in a river and got totally submerged. Keiran fell in during a bonus river crossing that Mark thought it would be funny to drag us through. Dan and Wanger nearly lost their bikes at this point in the day, too, as the river tried to sweep them away.

Brilliant.

We had to drink beer at a few "checkpoints" and then continue on our way, trying to keep warm. The ride was completed by a sign in and then a few more beers in the school hall.

The tyres worked well enough for the whole ride, except for the odd slip and slide in the deepest mud. This was also the first time I had used my new Polar G3 GPS. It was faultless and gave me a new insight into what my watch can do. It's so clever!

In the evening after washing, scrubbing and warming up, we all congregated in the Beer Tent at the back of one of the pubs. A few other people were obviously having the same sort of problems as I was having with the unfamiliar drinks racked up along the 15m long bar.

Lots of unfortunate aromas were following some uncomfortable looking people.

I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Piecing it back together

2009-11-08T20:30:00.002Z

I had a scan this week, and all appears fine. That means more tests, but I'm used to that so it doesn't worry me. I'll have 2 or 3 days off of training at the end of the month for scope investigations, but that's fine too.

But I'm starting to feel a bit better now and managed to get out for some exercise this weekend.

I don't run because my knees are older than me. But I fancied a little run in my new offroad shoes, so Jo took me around Cwmcarn on the singletrack. The climbs were great, but I forgot just how much the downhills and the eccentric loading caused by that were going to hurt...

...Jo laughed at me!

In fact, she laughed at me for the rest of the day as I hobbled around the house, in pain.

She laughed even more at 7am today as I struggled to get up and get down the stairs.

Laughed like a drain, she did.

So she took me out for a ride with our old friends from Rush Cycles in Bridgend, to suss out part of an enduro that they have planned for next year. I was ok on the bike after about 30mins and after an hour I could stand up without wincing at my quads pain.

3 1/2 hours later and I felt great. Then I got off of my bike, and all of my abject and painful misery returned.

I made it to the cafe. The council cafe in Afan is the best around there and it was nice to have a proper milky coffee. Afterwards, I struggled to get to the car.

Running is a stupid idea.

But I enjoyed it!!

Just get on with it.

2009-10-25T22:45:00.005Z

This last 2 weeks has been kind of slow. I've hardly been on the bike as I've been trying to recover from both Relentless24, and a touch of jaundice that I suffered after the race.

I did do a cyclo-cross race today, though, and got thoroughly trounced. They go scary fast right from the start. It was superb fun and I'm hooked. I'll never be any good at it, but hope that it will give me a quicker start in long events that I prefer to ride.

Must buy a bike.

Time to reflect...

... My body is a bit of a wreck and shows some scars. But cycling is now my lifeline as I can do it, quite well, without pain or problems unless of course I do a 12 or 24 solo. They hurt, no matter what.

In one of my old jobs they used to call me "The Highlander" because they reckoned I should be 200years old to gain the experiences in life I have had. I liked that.

Since my illness (at 23 to 24 1/2), subsequent recovery and rebuilding, I've done more than my fair share of sports, pastimes and Higher Education and they have taken a fair toll on my body. I was busy before that, but there is nothing that gives you a "live each day like it's your last" attitude than getting close to the day where people worry about your longevity, to increase your need for experiences.

Applying yourself fully to various things can make Mr Average look a bit bigger than he may be, but he is still Mr Average. It took me a long time to "find" cycling, and this is where I'll stay.

I loves it.

Would I change anything in my past? The Illness? The multiple surgeries? The Chemo? The sports?

Nope. It's made me who I am, and I think I'm doing well now.

Well,I suppose I could do with having my nice shoulder and arm muscles back, from my earlier days, but then I'd have to lug them about on the bike!

Now all I need to do is get over this wee sporadic illness which I think may see me having surgery, again.

Hopefully it'll be quick, as I have training to do.

That's a pretty melancholic entry, but I'm in a reflective mood.

You really gotta try CX!!

The season finale: The monkey on who's back?

2009-10-12T12:33:00.014+01:00

2 Butts' HQ
Well, that's the season over.

It's been a bit quiet on here, of late, but we'll get to that later.

The date was the 10th of October and it was the final time that the team would get together, officially, this year. Josh and I were racing solo 24 and were greatly looking forward to it.

Relentless 24 was on!!

This was Josh' first ever solo attempt and I must admit to being worried about him, and what would happen to his future, if it went wrong for him. He's slain a lot of demons this year. I knew he could do it, physically, but worried if he had had too many changes in his life this year for him to prepare properly for the mental torture that only a solo 24 can deliver.

We needn't have worried.

I, on the other hand, had a bit of a mare for a short while. It became apparent that the team weren't worried about my ability to finish and I'm glad about the fact that they had faith in me.

The venue was the Nevis Range Complex at the foot of Aonach Mor, and the World Cup Doonhill and XC tracks. There is some proper lumpy and gnarly stuff there, and it looks great. It's just a pity that we couldn't play on it.

Next time...

No Fuss Events had organised Relentless24 amongst their other classics like 10 Under The Ben, 10 More at Moray, and the ridiculous Ben Nevis Triathlon. My mrs wants to do that one, but I've banned her from it until her tendons catch up with her sports specific muscle gains from the increased running she's doing these days.

So, Jo, Rich, Rob, Tim (Josh' Dad), Zoe, Doug (from Nevis Cycles) and I pitched up and got everything ready. Clive couldn't come due to prior arrangements, but he was in my head, shouting at me. I must ask him to stop.

The team, except Clive

Josh and I lined up at the front of the start and got ready for the onslaught to follow. We were counted down, very very slowly, by Frazer and eventually got into our 300m run to the bikes. We both had a good start, and got away without being held up anywhere.

The weather (from solo memory- so not the most dependable, by a long chalk) was sort of non-descript for the first few hours. It was chilly with a blank grey sky and a little bit of wind. It would have been nice if it had stayed like that but that doesn't happen in the UK, especially when you are halfway up one of it's biggest hills. I always remember the Grey Corries seemingly being the first to drop into good winter condition and the ice tools coming out there first.

After a few hours it started to get windy and rainy and the temperature seemed to drop like a stone. Then it got dark, colder, and windier for the rest of the night, with the addition of quite a bit of rain and some sleet thrown in for good measure. It was horrible, but that didn't matter as it was the same for everybody.

Sheesh! It got cold and really quite muddy. I ran a crossmark front and a monorail rear which both behaved superbly and are my new favourite combo.

The race itself was incredibly well natured and run. Everybody was there for a good time and everyone was really polite. Most folk were Scottish, so what did you expect?

8hrs in (again from failing memory) and my stomach backed up.This is the point where my metabolism usually kicks in and I settle in for the long race. But I'm not used to this gastric distress anymore, as my nutrition hasn't been a problem for a good while. There is a good reason for it, which I tried to force my way past and which meant I shouldn't really be racing, but never mind. I had demons and back hugging monkeys to slay due to SITS this year. Nothing was going to stop me.

My pace slowed a bit but I kept going like a brave little soldier: My mum used to say that to me.

In hindsight, I had planned to lap at 1hr (or so) after a fast first lap to get out of the way of the crowds. I went a good bit quicker than that, and suffered the consequences later.

At one point in the race, I came in feeling resigned to the fact that I was going to slow down even further. Rob came around, and was all understanding about my plight. He's been there a hundred times himself. He said to me, "Just walk it, mate. You'll still be doing 4 miles and hour or so".

He wound me up, and he knew it. He knows what he's doing.

"Stuff that!" I thought. "I'll ride my bike, that's why I'm here."

So I silently stood up whilst finishing my cuppasoup, which was helping my tummy a bit, and walked up the first climb. At the top, I got on and stayed on. My lap times stayed a little slower but a slow lap is better than no lap.

The feeling you get when you know you've overcome something quite so deeply sabotaging, as the misery when things are going wrong in a solo, is one of complete satisfaction allied to a certain relaxation. All the stressors, intrinsic to your present plight, seem to evaporate and leave you feeling stronger.

That was a bit of a mouthful: it's empowering, that's all!

This is what we aim for as 24hr riders- apart from the win, of course. I was a lucky boy, really!

Me looking sexy after the race. Hmm?

I was also lucky to have Jo and the team waiting each time I popped around. They cheered me up as I wasn't very well.

The guys thought that I only had to do one lap more so I set off and was quite quickly caught by Josh (ex-wash) who I couldn't catch, obviously. So he finished the lap with me, until we got to a lone figure stood in mud at the bottom of the windy and open downhill. It was Rob, and he shouted out, "You have to do another lap, sorry, Dave Powell is catching up."

Dammit.

So I stood up and peddled a bit harder. I forgot my discomfort and just kept going as quickly as I could. It wasn't very quick though. My 21st lap was finished with me wretching and coughing my empty guts up, but I managed to smile for the camera!!

I smiled shortly after the finish, honest

Josh won the senior solo and I was second. It's one of my worst performances but has more plusses to be gained from experiencing my mental strength at it's most potent (and most needed). I'm quite happy.

Josh still had the energy to act like a monkey!

I'm still not sure that I should have been there, though.

That is real pain etched on my face. Rob MADE me bend my legs!

There may have been monkeys on the podium background, but there were none on my back.

Thanks for following this year. It's time to start the preparation for next years' BIG ride: once my doctor starts talking to me again.

It could make your eyes water

2009-09-01T22:09:00.005+01:00

The week away in Morzine was good for the soul and also my legs and skills, it seems.

Chris hadn't been too bothered about my performing at my best (peaking) for Torq 12:12. This is a 12hr race in The Gorrick area.

It was actually held and based in the same field and surrounding areas where I did my Royal Engineers Basic Training in Gibraltar Barracks, 22years ago. I felt a bit old, but somehow revitalised.

Memories of creating an ambush in a gully, and getting a kicking when we got it wrong.

Happy days.

Right; the race!

It had been a busy week for me with work and home life, and my telling everyone to buy this month's MBR because they printed a lovely piece written about me by a Lady called Alexandra. They also used WC2C Pap, Matt Cope's, photo's.

Major result! Great thanks to all involved.

Why are these experiences always humbling?

So, back to the race, again, and I only got there on Sunday Morning, in time to set up my bikes and for Rob (Da Manager) to finalise the pit in his bid to keep me going strong.

The course was great fun, and there were some real comedy offs, and some painful ones, in the dusty conditions. It actually rode like mud since it was so deep and the track was probably about 80% singletrack.

It was going well and I was keeping a steady pace, passing team riders and fellow soloists. One guy kept shooting off when I rode up behind him. Then he'd slow down and I'd catch him up again, so he'd shoot off. I pushed a wee bit and just sat behind him, as he seemed to ride a little raggedly when he got excited.

Poor guy went over the bars at one point, and I felt a bit guilty. I stopped to check he was ok but he wasn't much for conversation, so after a couple of cursory words in which he proved he was ok, I left and carried on. He must have hurt himself because I lapped him as he lurked at the end with his mate, 2hrs later.

At about the 4hr mark I had a bit of a problem: my favourite and oldest saddle snapped! I was only 10 or 15mins into the lap. So I picked the saddle up and jammed it in the front of my skins, and clipped the saddlebag around my wrist.

The next 30-40mins were done in "stood-up" mode and my pulse was way too high. Joolze got a photo of me, and I had to shout out, "It's a saddle, I promise!" My eyes were starting to water a bit.

It took probably around 3hrs to get over that because my legs were killing me for that period, but the lap times stayed consistant.

In addition to the seat, both of my bikes had problems with seatposts slipping, no matter how tight I had the seat tube clamp. I managed to get my saddle bag undone, extract my multitool, then tighten my seatpost after pulling it up a few millimeters; WITHOUT STOPPING! I was all over the place, mind you. I stopped after that to tighten it up, because I scared myself the first time.

My bikes are going to have a liberal treatment with degreasers this week, because it cost me around another 15 minutes over the race period. I know what the problem was, but can't own up to it quite yet.

No matter what happened though, my times were consistant.

Nutrition? Perfect!

Mental status and preparation? Bang on!

I've never ridden so fast for so long. I think I found another gear!

My coach is the business!

My support and Nutritionist support (Zoe) was awesome too.

5th place, which could easily have been improved upon.

Happy days!

Unfortunately, I have no photos as I was a bit busy.

2 races to go and then it's back to preparation for a BIG ride, next year, as mentioned in MBR.

Holiday time

2009-08-26T21:30:00.003+01:00

Been a bit quiet, of late.

That's because I've been on holiday hammering downhill and xc in Morzine.

Eating cheese, sausages and lots of posh food was my task in hand. I did it well.

We also managed to do a few high quality training rides, at stupid o'clock in the morning befre spending the day out on the hills with Jo. This was hard because the bed was very comfortable.

One training ride was 2 times 20mins up an 800m climb in granny gear front and rear. So I did it 2 days in a row, then spent 6hrs riding.

Priceless.

Posturing, Pestering, Peering and Humbling.

2009-08-10T10:42:00.019+01:00

Sleepless turned out to be quite a race, but I wasn't really a part of it, this year.

A tight twisty course, with plenty to keep the mind occupied, and some passing places just where you thought there weren't any.

Jo and I pulled up on Thursday night and set up camp.

Friday was a chilled out day- she went to buy a car and I kept well away. I just did my practice loop and fiddled with bikes, listened to music and met up with some friends.

Friday night and the other racers started turning up, all eager to impress and also to check out the competition.

James Leavesley popped in for a coffee and a good chat. But he was digging, cheeky boy. "How much training have you done?" etc.

"Tonnes."

He then told me how he's 10 years younger than me. Do I still like this guy?

I'm not sure he saw me as a threat as such, but he was checking me out. I found that to be a bit of a confidence boost, as nobody was ever bothered about me before, really. Well, no, that's wrong. James has always been interested and supportive.

Rob Dean turned up too. He's a big bloke, and recently completed the South Downs' Double in under 20 hours. He WAS a big rival. He was a bit like me, keen to say that he was here to win, but nice and non-threatening if that makes sense. Exposure lights have sort of taken him under their wing, so I knew he'd be ok.

Saturday morning and one of my inspirations turned up for a wee chat. Steve Heading is a monster mile muncher and well respected by all who know him. He doesn't stop riding, he doesn't have to. He just keeps going, super steadily paced and annoyingly quick. He gets it done, whatever it is.

Keep an eye out for Steve and his input into cycling progression.

So I pop my head out of "Blanche HQ" (my gnarlavan) into the solo area, to view the delights before me. Most of the "threats" were hanging about each other, and sort of applying friendly posturing techniques during their pre-race conversations. Invisible heckles were being exhibited purely in the body language. These guys were going to go out and knock hell out of each other. I could just see it happening.

Jo then remembered that our team name hadn't been on the start list, so I asked her to make sure that Vince Cox the commentator had some details about me and the team so he could say hello as I rode past.

Vince is going to ride around the world, next year.

Gulp.

How's that for inspiration? What's more is that he's planning on arranging a race around the world, to finish at a point that coincides with the Olympic Opening Ceremony in London.

Wow!

I wonder if I could get 5 months off of work...

Anyway, Jo went up to talk to him and tell him about...

...He knew all about me, the 7DS and had followed our progress before and after the rides. He knew about the 7DS. He knew I'd been I'll. He knew more than me.

I'm not used to that sort of thing, and although we sing and dance on these blogs, in a self-obsessed manner, about what the human machine can do and what we plan to do, you are never sure if anybody is actually listening.

Vince was genuinely interested.

The reasons for the 7DS came flooding back to me: If one person has found any form of inspiration from what has been done on this website, or others, then we're doing the right thing.

When Jo came back to say what he had said, I was humbled. I really felt like, I don't know, a very minor ambassador for the sport or something like that. It made me feel somehow how smaller, but with the possibility of a growing presence within racing.

We are all ambassadors when we don a team jersey but I felt out of my depth, a bit.

Never mind. Back to the task in hand.

15mins before the start. Pre-load drink in hand

Line up on the start line. Right at the front.

There are a lot of photographers about, try not to look too nervous.

Looking back, all the solo guys are behind me, and James winks at me as if to say, "You're in for it."

"Ignore it Dave, ride your own race", says Coach Chris Eatough in the back of my mind.

Vince looks at me and starts to talk about the Coast to coast over the Tannoy, to all the folk that came to watch the melee that is the start of a 24hr race.

He walks towards, me.

I smile, and shrink behind some other guys on the start line. If he had been coming up for a chat, which I doubt, he changed his mind when he saw the fear on my face.

The hooter goes off, and the run starts. James runs past and pinches my bum! I had planned to follow him on the run anyway, so that I got the right pace as the last time I did a Le mans start I was 2 stone heavier.

Jo Reckons we were back with the first 20 runners.

Crikey.

We race off on the bike and up the first climb. I let all the solo riders rip off, and watch as they keep looking back at each other to make sure that they stayed in front.

I sat back, and let them push on. I had time to work: 24hrs to be exact(ish).

At the end of the first slippy downhill, there were bodies everywhere. Then one of the solo riders rode past and smiled at me as he shouted, "C'mon! This is the easy bit!"

I let him go on too. These guys seemed to want to race right from the start, and I only know 2 or 3 people who can actually do that. James is one of them, and I'm not.

The hours run on, and the gap grew between me and them for about 4hrs or 6hrs. Then it started to shrink, and people in front started to drop out. At 8hrs I was 9th, I think, and felt well and truly settled into my rhythm. I was keeping my lap times to within a minute of each other and was reeling them in, and enjoying it.

My nutrition was bang on. I'm a liquid diet man, on a bike, and it was working nicely. I had no stomach issues, so my pace was just about bang on, too. The long haul was upon us.

At 12hrs in (lap 14?-I'm not sure how many I did) I slipped on a root and had to put my foot down to stop me falling. There was a little twinge in my back. It was the only discomfort I had had at all up to this point, which is a major plus, so I kept going and ignored it.

15mins later I got to the stupidly steep second to last climb and walked it as I had done for most laps, to keep my heart rate down. My back felt a bit tight.

Rode back to the pit, and the feeding zone. I couldn't get my bottle out of the holder and so I said to Jo, "I'll keep going around to the solo lane, I may have a wee problem."

I was 4th and 12mins behind 2nd, who was the main concern for me. 1st was going too fast, I hoped.

Jo and Rich Holmes, a good friend from my local mtb community, were there. I stopped, and nearly face planted. My feet were stuck in the pedals.

Concerned looks.

"I'll ride to the caravan, but I think you may have to catch me, there."

I stop at the predetermined place, and Rich grabs the bike and helps me get a foot out. I try to stand up and immediately collapse against our car, in the shape of a bike rider. I was stuck.

Pain.
Hmm?

I'm sure I didn't swear, but my back and leg/glute hurt a lot. Where was my right foot, and had I wet myself?

They dragged me to the inside of the awning, bike shaped, and lay me on my side with my legs bent at 90 degrees.

Luckily, Jo is a physio. So she started trying to bend and knock 10 bells out of me and get it so that I could move my legs and back out of the shape I was in.

She gave up after 20mins, and decided to try and get me into the bed so that I could lie straight and flat.

It took her about 30mins to lift and assist me into the caravan. Rich had had to go to help his mate on his own solo ride.

At one point, I had jo's pink and girly hat on my head, and was being pushed along the floor of the caravan with my arms stuck under my body and face rubbing on the floor. The hat had been pushed down over my eyes, and I couldn't do anything about it.

My bum was still hanging out of the caravan door and was stuck up in the air as if it was a bike stand.

"Park HERE!"

Jo asked me to look at something as I was being moved.

"I can't see anything, Jo"

She saw my predicament...

...and fell about laughing.

After I got over the shock, and agony, of her dropping me I saw the funny side and sort of joined in. But it hurt to laugh, so I laughed some more.

Obviously I didn't get out again, but once on the bed I was able to carry on with some gentle mobilisations and she also got the dreaded tape out.

With my back taped up and supported on a proper bed, I returned to Earth from my low orbit.

That is not my foot, promise

All I could do was mull things over and keep relatively still.

In the morning I could just about stand, but I couldn't reach my knees. Jo got the flannel out and helped me clean myself.

"No, I can't reach below my waist sorry, Jo..."

I had a look around, got dizzy a few times, felt sick, and then came back to the van to do more mobilisation/stretches and extensions. Things were easing slightly.

At the end, I was lucky enough to watch Rob Dean ride in for his first ever 24 solo, as the winner!

He was the number 2, that I felt was a real threat. Number 1 did stop, but I'm not sure why.

Lots of positives, one piece of bad luck.

A humbling but fulfilling weekend.

And a free flannel wash.

And Rich's rider, Rik? He came 4th after a stunning upping of his game at solo 24!!!

Feeling naked and the Christmas Pudding Mk11

2009-08-02T19:25:00.002+01:00

It's been an exciting couple of weeks. Jo raced, and my mate Julio is now an Age Group World 24hr Champion!

Jo was riding like a demon at Twentyfour12 and was leading 2nd place by 40mins or so by about 11pm. She looked awesome, and was getting quicker. But her head wasn't right: Mayhem was only 5 weeks ago, and she put herself through it at Eastnor...

...She pulled in and decided she'd had enough. I persuaded her to do another lap, but she just wasn't up for it. She came again in and went for a sleep.

She got up 5hrs later (or so, it's a bit fuzzy)and started again. The interesting thing is that she unlapped herself a couple of times, and was lapping 20min quicker than anyone else in her solo class. She came 4th!

So I've spent the last week coming to terms with this, and using it as a learning experience: Your head needs to be straight for a 24. Period.

SITS is just around the corner and it's time to focus.

Since 24/12, my training has been good though. All remnants of "The Bug" have gone and my legs are going well too. The bikes are sorted and it's time to pack!

There is just the small problem of a blown turbo and needing a car to get us and all of our kit up to SITS this weekend.

All of my kit is laid aside, so I had to train this weekend without my team colours on. It's the first time I've done it in ages, and I felt naked.

Cwmcarn was busy...What's he lookin' at?

Got home, washed the bikes and gave them a quick once over. Done.

Time to relax and spin for a week.

So the time comes, again, where I prepare my chamois for the onslaught to come.

3 pairs of shorts and skins longs are hung up in my dressing room with a couple of tubs of chamois cream stood alongside. Each day, I pop my head in there and smear the pads in cream. It sucks it up over the next 24hrs and you end up with a silky smooth and shearproof pad within about 4 or 5 days.

The Christmas Pudding Chamois, Mk11.

It's rumblin' time, and I think I'm excited.

Wish me luck.

Busy Boy

2009-07-20T15:10:00.005+01:00

I have been quite busy of late...

...Never volunteer to do anything for anybody: My new motto.

The next few months is going to see the challenges of 24hr racing and also some from a Boss that realises I can do some grown up stuff other than just the clinical work I'm employed to do.

I wish he'd found out in the winter time.

This weekend was my chance to verify my endurance base after the, err, weight loss I suffered a few weeks ago. This has meant rescheduling to race at SITS instead of 24/12.

A 5 hour ride is generally a tough ride, even at endurance pace. My legs had been stiff all week after I had the daft idea of trying to ride 100miles in 4hrs 30min in the Welsh hills on the Sunday. I did it, but it nearly killed me. Happy days!

So I started with fairly dead legs after a week of easy spins and some intervals. My legs had been really painful due to the ride on Sunday and it took about an hour for them to wake up. After that I was spinning away happily.

At the end of the ride I had consistently taken 5 to 7 minutes off my lap times for the same ride last year, when I was bottle fed. This year I was carrying 6hrs of fluid and all of my gels, so I was heavier.

This was a good ride. I finished strong, and happy. I had ridden quite hard, at 24hr pace and lapped Cwmcarn in just over 55min. Not fast for the "Big Boys" but a real improvement for me.

My next big training ride will be 4 weeks before Relentless and I hope to do 9 Laps in just under 9hrs.

Bring it on. It's my home training ground and good practice for Relentless.

Nathaniel and Big Philth

On the last lap around Cwmcarn I met up with my little mate Nathaniel, and Big Phil; one of the guys that got me into Mountain Biking. The Young 'un was on my Elan, as he is visiting from Canada for a couple of weeks. He looked a bit tired; the bike is a proper downhill rig and not for the fainthearted to peddle uphill. But he wanted to try it, so who am I to turn him down?

He loved it on the downhills, mind you.

Sunday morning and he popped around to borrow a lighter bike. :)

For me, Sunday was a big day in terms of my resilience. I had to look after the birthday girl, and then try and find a window in the Biblically proportioned rain, to get my last ride of the week in.

It was absolutely torrential. Cwmcarn had a river running down the singletrack: all of it.

At 5pm, I had had enough waiting. So I went for it.

The rain got heavier. It was awful. But once you are wet and warm, it doesn't really matter. What does matter is the Cwmcarn Grit, but I won't divulge any more on that sensitive subject.

Normally on a ride the day after a long ride, I feel tired and have to think about reigning it in slightly. No such rubbish today. I warmed up and just got faster through the evening. After finishing at nearly 9pm, I got off and washed my bike before slinking into the utlity room to derobe and give the washing machine a bit of abuse. Poor thing.

My fitness is coming back. SITS should be a good ride.

Here's hoping.

I want my bike back, Nathaniel.

It's good to come home

2009-07-06T10:04:00.007+01:00

It's been a bad couple of weeks.

Never mind.

Since Jo did her solo at Mayhem, I had had a bit of a dicky tummy. Nothing too bad, just a little bit grumbly.

So we went on holiday for a week, to be with our friends in West Wales, and "a little bit grumbly" turned into full blown nastiness. Nia had it too, so we didn't spend a whole lot of time together with our friends, at all.

It was also the hottest week of the year so far, with temperatures and humidity both very high. I was worried about dehydrating as I couldn't keep any fluid down (or up) for the whole week.

To compound the issue, I had committed to a couple of photoshoots during that week, with Seb Rogers. Nice guy.

Monday was at Cwmcarn and at the height of my dehydration. It was so humid that Seb was mopping his brow before every shot, so he didn't dribble on his camera. I had an egg for breakfast as that was all I could tolerate, and then we were out on the trail for about 5 hours. Luckily the water was staying down.

"How are your freeriding skills, Dave?"

"I dunno? Ok, I s'ppose?"

"Do want to ride down that?"

Long pause....

It was a sneaky way straight down into the tunnel on the corkscrew in the freeride section. I would never have seen it as a line.

"Hmm? That's quite steep and rocky. Yes, of course I'll do it."

Seb says, "You can drop your saddle a bit if you like?"

"Thanks!" sort of sarcastically. Now way was I going down there with my saddle up. No way Jose!

I think I looked nervous.

So I did it anyway, about 10 times, and ended up using the left side of the tunnel as a berm to fire me across to the normal exit berm, thereby missing the big hole in the bottom created by folks dragging their brakes.

It was quite good fun, but the forks were making a funny clunk and had lost all of their rebound damping by the end of it. Lucky it wasn't my bike.

The second Photoshoot was over Sebs' neck of the woods, and near the Clic24 course. But this was for a triathlon magazine and was a test of a few roadbikes. I liked them all, and would have had any one of them.

That was another 5 hours out in the sun, on an egg and 2 bananas.

I did one other ride around Brechfa in the fortnight, but had to stop because I came over all funny. Such is life.

Yesterday I rode my bike properly, at solo pace and slightly above. I felt a bit out of sorts, but not too bad. Where I had been doing 20+mph average on a 3 hr ride, I managed 16 or 17 for a 2 hr ride.

It'll come back, but not in time for 24/12.

So Jo said (with quite a bit of glee) "I'll do it!"

So I've lost my place to her, but it's for the best. I'll do SITS. For 24/12 I need to be right on my game; more so than ever before, and that just isn't going to happen. It's questionable whether or not I could actually finish a 24 solo in 3 weeks, so I'm not taking the chance.

Jo can enjoy it, and I'll give SITS my best go, now. It's not how we planned it, but it'll have to do. My weight can come back back up as I recover, and I'll hit the August race as hard as I can. Here's hoping!

Whilst I was feeling dejected, I decided to do something about the problems I have had with my training computer. I haven't gotten on with it at all, because it doesn't have a big red button to aim for. This causes me problems when I'm tired and press the wrong buttons as I always seem to default to looking for the big red button. That's probably because prior to my present monitor (of 1 year) I had been on Polar since 1992.

So I contacted PolarUK and asked them for some help.

2 days later one of these babies turned up!

A couple of training and play sessions with it, and I'm hooked.

I need to update my sponsor page on the website now. Maybe tonight.

It's good to come home to Polar.

How do you beat that!?

2009-06-23T13:04:00.005+01:00

Mountain Mayhem 2009.

Jo, my long suffering other half and our mate, Matt were on the solo race list. There were also lots of other good names there, just to make sure that the racing was exciting.

It didn't fail to impress...

...and I'm knackered, still. I didn't even ride my bike.

Matt won, after a proper nail biting final 6hrs, but it had been A tense race all of the way through since the lead kept swapping back and forward as he made sure he knew what strategy to use in the end. It worked, enough said. He was awesome, and inspiring.

Jo?

Well, she was awesome too. Stalwart pig headedness saw her let some of the "fast" folk shoot off, fall back and drop out.

She also managed to show me up with respect to the amount of food that she can put away during a race. She still surprised me with her ability to eat hotdogs at 16 and 20 hours into the ride. I wish I could do that.

Jo was 2nd, and now has a lovely pair of Crank Bros Cobalt wheels to show for her toils.

I like 'em. I wonder if she'd notice if I swapped them over.

Rob turned up after work with Matt from Certini and brought the new Team Lights. Maxx2Daddy and Joystick Maxx2. 6 sets!

Jo used them all, we just kept changing them every lap as she filled her face. Full power; singeing the trees. Marvellous. She didn't even notice us changing the lights over! Miss Focussed, or what?

The Exposure lights that Rory has sorted out for us are well blinged up. Chrome ends, with our names in place of the light designation. Mine are the Maxx2 DAVE.

I like those too!

After the race, I went up to "Rory" in his South Downs Racing shirt, and said thanks for the lights, and that they were superb. He looked at me funny. I said, "I'm Dave off of the Ironhorse-Extreme Team." His look remained unchanged, and I heard him say, "I've never seen him before in my life."

I kept digging, "You even sent me a text to congratulate me on my C2C."

It wasn't him. It sort of looked like him, but was blatantly not. I felt like a right weapon. The South Downs Shirt denoted the guy as coming from around the same area, so that just confused me at 30hrs into the day without sleep.

Oops.

I tried to find the real Rory, instead of this imposter and usurper of my devoted thanks, but he had disappeared.

Training hasn't been great this week as I have a little bug. But before it hit me I managed a 3 1/4hr ride on the roadie, with stupid one sided road pedals, and managed an average of 20.5mph.

So this will be a light week, and weekend, just to make sure I am illness free.

Dave

The Dragon Sportive

2009-06-15T12:01:00.005+01:00

Another great weekend, followed by creaky knees and sore glutes on a Monday morning...

It's only the third time I have ridden my road bike this year. Could have been a mistake!

Saturday night and I got invited out for a meal with the team from Jim Walker, the Title Sponsors of IronHorse-Extreme. We had a lovely bit of Italian grub, cooked for us by an avid cyclist who was also due to ride the next day's Dragon Sportive.

It was a well chilled out night with like minded and friendly individuals. I didn't want to go home.

A bit more strangley though, was the fact that I was sat opposite a guy that I did my apprenticeship with (20years ago!) Hiya, Neil Craig, the bike shop owner from Llantwit Major.

I used to rip the mick out of him for shaving his legs, but how things have turned around...

Ian, John, Jaco, et al had the nicest bikes I ever saw, and my jealousy shone through as pure lust. I had time to look at them closely because they managed to get me right to the front of the start with them and other VIP's.

It felt good, but scary with 3000 riders behind us.

The hooter blew and off we set. At the first roundabout one of the marshall motorcyclists pulled off and turned left off of the roundabout. He did this at just the wrong time, and everyone followed him...

...in diametrically the opposite direction to that of the route.

One guy fell off, because he got a bit excited and pulled over onto gravel. Ouch.

So we turned around and got back on the course, laughing at the jolly jape that the marshall had caused. Of course we were all sheep and kept following him, and some other riders, off of the course. Idiots.

I had had a fantastic idea on the previous day. We knew that it was going to be warm, so I froze my camelbak.

It was still 1/2 full and frozen when I got home that night, and had sat high on my back like a rigid sail for the first 15miles.

Camelbaks don't defrost that quickly-- Note to self.

We got to the first climb and I caught up with one of the Jim Walker boys, but was quickly breathing out of my ears as he sort of cruised off. I would catch him up on the flats and the downs, but lose out on the climbs. This happened for 4hrs and I was starting to get a bit disheartened by it...

...Maybe my legs are still shot from the 12hr solo at Bristol last week? I feel rubbish, my legs feel empty. Why are these guys just riding off and leaving me on the hills?

I tried to stay in a group of 10 or so riders, but struggled to keep up as it was surging and stalling and not holding a steady speed at all. I lost them, and entered the above thought process again...

...What's going on?

I waited for the next group to catch me up. Same again. They dropped me and my legs started to feel like they were turning inside out. Then something funny happened. A guy called Rob Lynne (I remembered his number and checked up on him) passed me after Fan Gyhyrych. He has these big scary, veiny, muscley legs and a little body. A switch flicked and I managed to follow him all the way to the climb that takes you to Glynneath which was probably a distance of 10-12 miles. The average speed went up to about 22mph, and my body seemed to wake up and decide it wanted to cycle--4hrs in.

Thanks, body. Next time, set the clock properly.

I said to him, "I'd love to take a stint in front, but I can't, you're killing me!" He laughed and said not to worry. Thank goodness for that!

When we got to the climb, he left me at a heck of a rate of knots.

I caught up my 2 peletons, and worked my way through them. I took my stint on the front for about 2 minutes and looked back to say I was peeling off...

...They were gone. I'd dropped them.

I'm feeling better now. Everything changed from that point and I could manage to stand up and run on my pedals, passing people that had passed me earlier, and their groups. I was on my own though, with no groups to follow or get assistance from.

Billy no-mates, me.

I think Jaco, from Jim Walker was 4th place finisher. Crikey! He wants to come out mountainbiking in my local area, so I need to think of some excuses to get out of it. He'll kill me!

I can't wait to see the photos that Ian's photographer got!

Obviously I have none. I was a bit busy.

Cheers All!

Whacky Races!

2009-06-08T18:37:00.003+01:00

My favourite photo of the year. Thanks Jo!

Three of us did the 12hr solo at Bristol Bike Fest.

It's always nice to have a foreboding weather forecast and everyone was expecting a mud bath. They got it!

Rob, Josh and I lined up for the fisty cuffs "Le Mans" start in the wet grassy field. There were hundreds of us aiming to get away and pick up our bikes on a doubletrack 300metres away.

The hooter went, and the friends that I had been standing next to dissapeared as I got engulfed in blood lusting, baying animals.

I didn't see them again and I got to our bike monitor (Josh' Dad) to see that mine was the only one left, so I took it and got going.

This was going to be a proper muddy race. Some bits did dry out and some dry lines developed, but other parts stayed just as, if not more, slippy. It was chaos on the first few singletrack sections as normally happens at these events, but the mud compounded things.

People were falling off, usually due to the mud, all the way through the race. It was full of comedy value, but you knew fine and well that some of these guys were hurting themselves. Someone would slip on an off-camber sections as you rode around them on the outside (on a few really wide sections) and you could hear the air rushing out of their lungs as they got the smackdown treatment.

"You ok?" Well, you have to ask.

gasp, wheeze, splutter...

"Yes, keep going."

So I did, about 150 times.

I'm so glad that I can handle a bit of mud and slime, because the bike hardly went straight for the whole of the race. Well, to be clear, it hardly went straight for the bottom 3rd of the course because it stayed wet and "exciting."

Marvellous!

I was drinking too much for the temperature of the day and was stopping to pee every lap, so I revised my plan and drank a bit less. Perfect.

Hour 5 and my right foot felt all floppy. I stopped to have a look and was surprised to find that my cleat was loose. Really loose. I was close to losing it. 5 or so minutes later and I had fixed it back in place, rounded one of the allen bolts off and muttered a small and silent prayer that it would stay in place.

I've finally found my pace. Having talked to my Coach last week he had suggested a pace that I should aim for. But it made me ride ragged, and my legs hurt. So I dropped my pace by a bit and settled in. It was my 24hr pace, it felt good, and I got stronger throughout the race. At 8hrs my long distance gaze started- I was in the mode!

At 11hrs 30min (the race was started late due to traffic issues) I was just about ready to keep going for another 12hrs. Well I would have been if my upper body hadn't been battered to pieces by the course.

Josh was 2nd solo, Rob was 2nd singlespeed solo, and I was 4th in the solo.

I think that I did 17 or 18 laps last year in the dry and superfast conditions that prevailed then. I did 17 this year, and that "could" have been 18 if I could have fished about 10mins back during the day, but hey!

Well chuffed.

Dragon road race next week. I'm not too great on a road bike, but it's good training.

After that, a few weeks solitary training and then 24/12!

I think I'll be ready, just don't tell anyone else.

...and she showed me her knickers!

2009-06-01T10:24:00.006+01:00

Life has been a busy of late, and I just realised that I've missed a week or so of blogs.

You could probably do with a break, anyway.

This weekend was a good one, having done the 100km open at "The Big Welsh Weekend" at Margam Park. I missed the entry to the Championships, but that would have been a lost cause, anyway.

Also, I have finally fully realised that the grumbling knee problem I have had since my coast to coast is "nearly" gone. I feel it but it doesn't trouble me, but I am super sensitive to seat height variations at the moment. My tape measure is coming out, and I'm going to write this down, keep it and use it.

The weather was Scorchio! I'm pale blue and Scottish. Heat doesn't agree with me. It's, surprisingly, the first 100km marathon event I've ever done and I have to admit to being a bit nervous both about the event and the heat.

As it turned out, it was good practice for next weeks 12hr solo at Bristol, because I only really felt comfortable at 5-10% above my 24hr pace. Any more than that and my eyeballs started melting and I lost control of my heart rate; which was high all day anyway, for some reason. The heat?

My aim was 6hrs at a steady pace for the 100Km, so I was happy to come in at 5hrs 19min. My pacing is good at the moment...

...for me.

At the top of Margam we entered a rutted downhill and a guy had a proper, dramatic, off infront of me. His bike had buried itself somewhere quite personal and he was sqealing like a stuck pig. I got off and helped him out, but nobody else bothered their backside. I was surprised by this, since he was making a lot of noise and lying straight across the track. People had to work hard to get past us.

Thanks Guys. I asked a couple of folk for help to get him off the track, but they were obviously going for World dominance (in the mid-pack).

Anyway, I sorted him out by extricating the bike from him, and realised that he was just winded. At that, he started to move himself around and stand up. After a while and making sure he wasn't going to flake out I got going again.

It was pretty uneventful up to the mid point of the race then. A guy got out of the way for me on a little steep offroad section at the top of the last climb. He was perched kind of precariously above a steep slope but had left plenty of room for me to get past...

...His right pedal turned out to be in my way, as I cycled past and my foot caught his on it's upstroke. The contact between our feet was quite momentous, as it launched him and his bike down the slope.

Oops.

He was fine and shouted at me to keep going. I think he laughed, but I felt really guilty.

Another thing that will stick in my mind, apart from the 10 or so riders I watched toss their used gel wrappers aside on the trail and the subsequent detritous, is feeling moisture speckle my face on a downhill firetrack. It was quites pleasant, until I looked up to see what was happening. A guy that I was catching up because he wasn't peddling had his old boy out and was peeing over the top of his shorts, on the move. Spray was going everywhere, and I had to change position on the track to make sure I stayed dry.

Personally, I'd stop if I wasn't in the top flight of riders there; which we weren't.

I bet he smelled nice afterwards.

Then a member of the RAF was running down the hill with his bike in one hand and a front wheel in the other. He'd lost his pump and had a pinch flat. I reckoned he would catch me up again, as he had been in front anyway, so I stopped and gave him my posh little pump. He had other problems though and had to quit, so he waited for me at the feeding transition in the arena and gave it back to me as I rode through for my final lap. Good lad.

I started to feel right in the groove on the last lap: I had "warmed up" now, and was entering "the long ride zone".

Was I fast? Nope. Could I have gone any faster? Probably not in that heat, maybe slightly faster if it was cool. Was I happy with my performance? Yip.

My feeding and fluid strategy is working well although it seems like I still have one speed at which I can do reasonably well--24hr pace. This 2-6hr xc stuff is too quick for me and I'll always be an "also-ran" but it's fun! However, my long distance endurance pace is getting higher. I have to keep reminding myself that I came into this game late, and didn't follow the more normal route of xc racing followed by enduros and then 24's. That's why I have only one speed.

Sat with our friends later in their van and eating all of their food, Kate seemed really pleased that she had Snoopy knickers on. She was so pleased that she showed them to us!

Nutter.

The Recovery

2009-05-20T12:35:00.004+01:00

This post is late, sorry. I thought I had published it...

What a week and weekend I have just had.

Recovering from my snot monster impersonations, I waited until Thursday and Friday to do my efforts. Recovery and endurance rides were the order of the day so that I didn't stress my lungs and cause another bronchospasm attack-- They ain't nice.

So I did my efforts, and didn't feel too shabby. The work done was quality, and I realised that my core work has paid off. (Functional movement training- I hate the term "Core" as it's sooo last year now). It's now easy to maintain a motionless upper body even at 100% effort on a hill climb with your legs, glutes and stomach muscles screaming at you to stop.

I love it.

Friday night, and I drove up to Morpeth to provide transport and last minute mental diversion for Julio. He was doing his English Coast to Coast attempt on the Saturday.

Like mine, this was unsupported and Alpine.

The poor little entertainer only weighs about 2stone wet through, and he had to carry all his kit on his back and in the crevices of his bike.

So, Charlotte (his suffering wife) and I dropped him off in St. Bees head.

The wind was Howling, and it was in his face.

I would have thrown the teddies then, but he didn't.

Off he sets at 12pm, with his back tyre on back to front: I didn't tell him, because that would have messed with his head.

Into the headwind, and gathering cloud.

We then started my computer to allow us to navigate using my mapping software...

...Broken computer, wouldn't start.

Uh Oh!

Charlotte and I swore at it for a while and then I realised that she was quite a devious Lady.

She knew Rich's log in for his hotmail account.

So we downloaded the attachment he had sent to me: his coast to coast file. We then scouted around the net for a program to allow us to view the file on a mappy thing.

It sounds simple, but it took ages to figure it out, but before doing this we had to pop to Rich's Dad's house to borrow his laptop.

Sheesh.

So we were now able to see where he was going to ride. This would enable us to take gnarly photo's of him for posterity. Well, it would have done, if we could keep up with him.

We saw him once in Shap, and again in the Dales. That was it.

The weather was horrible. He had to push his bike for miles, and carry it up and down some of the Lakeland hills because they are so gnarly.

And wet.

Nutter.

He did it!

With the 10-15mph head wind which was gusty, and the almost permanent rain- he did it in 28 and a half hours.

He still had his teddies when he finished too.

Idiot.

So I dropped them off at home (2hrs away from Robin Hoods Bay) then ate some food and shut my eyes for about 30 min.

6hr drive home.

5hrs sleep all weekend, I think.

Jo had to come and rescue me at Leeds. I couldn't make it home, so she jumped on a train and came to get me.

It was at this point that I was actually losing my faculties, so she saved my life and my sanity.

Monday and Tuesday were a waste of time. But at least coach Chris understood. He's a top coach and affable fella.

Back to full time training now: back into endurance mode after an extensive period of breathing out of my ears on the bike.

I think my mental endurance had a good bit of acclimation this weekend mind you!

I told you I was ill.

2009-05-11T14:52:00.005+01:00

I've had a nice week of snot and coughing.

Like all wanabees, I rode my bike a bit too much and suffered for it, so I gave up. There's no point in stressing about it when you get ill, you just have to deal with it and keep yourself motivate to do other things...

...except mow the lawns.

Jo MADE me mow the lawns this weekend. Grass and I don't get on well. I was coughing and spluttering even more after that.

Anyway. Sunday dawned bright and sunny and I felt able to go out on an easy 4.5hr ride. It was done around the rooty techfest of Rudry Woods after I finally managed to get out with the Miggly Moos for the first time in about a year. Great guys.

They didn't laugh when I cocked up a simple 3ft rock drop...

...much.

I blew my front tyre off of the rim, which is a new one on me. Unfortunately it happened because I fell off and didn't cause the off.

After I finished with them, I met Jo and we rode for another 2hrs whilst we praticed our roots, and sorted out a loop through the bluebells and wild garlic for 24hr practice. She did some steep stuff that she hadn't done for a long time, so we both felt great after that.

Next we rode over to visit Matt Cope and photograper friends. They wanted to practice shooting riders in woods, so we headed up to Gwaelod-y-Garth and spent a few hours being luvvies with a few other friends.

It was turning out to be a good day!

Jo did some more really steep and techy stuff, so we felt even better, compounded by my spending 6hrs 45min on the bike, and my feeling ok.

The lady done good

The shots that the guys took were awesome so I'll have to see if I can get a hold of a couple.

Right then.

It's back to full on training again after a recovery ride tonight.

Rich is doing his England Coast To Coast and I'm going along to provide support and driver duties for before and after the event. He's going unsupported like I did on mine.

Go on Son!!

Not my best.

2009-05-04T09:45:00.003+01:00

I was supposed to be doing a ride down the Taff Trail this weekend for my friends and colleagues from a local forum on Sunday. But, as all hamheads can do, I mixed up my dates.

Sunday was actually a day of racing at the Dragon XC in The Rhondda Heritage Park.

I should have gone on he ride from Merthyr to Cardiff. :)

Last week was my rest period, but I had felt "low" all week and hadn't actually done any riding a all until Thursday night. I couldn't get out of bed in the morning and was in bed before 9 every night. I didn't feel ill, just off.

Thursday night and I got my first ride in and felt "OK" so I felt that I could give it a good bash on Sunday.

We rode the course on Saturday, I did my openers, and all the usual carb loading thing. The course was great, with lots of climbing and loads of steep descents. People were calling it technical, and I believe that there were some issues with some raising concerns over the technicality of the the downhills. It was just a bit steep, that's all. The routes all ran the right way and the mud was sticky enough to stick to the steepest parts of the hill, so it wasn't technical, really. That is just my opinion though, and it only counts- for me.

Then on Sunday I had a really good warm up and felt ready for anything. The whistle went and I got a good start into and around the first bend. Near the top of the long climb I still had the lead groups in my sights and my pulse rate was just at my lactate threshold. I can keep going like that for about 3 hrs on a good day.

Then something strange happened. My breathing got really erratic and I came over all dizzy and bilious. I felt like death, warmed up.

I carried on and did another lap, but it took me 9 minutes longer than my target pace (on a 20minute lap!).

I knew something was up last week.

Steve Corbyn bought me a burger to jam in my dejected looking cakehole, after I stopped. I hate DNF's, but there was nothing I could do about it, really.

Today, my chest is full of loose phlegm, and it's scaring the dogs when I cough (or hack).

I think I'll be sleeping on my own again tonight.

Kielder Avalanche Enduro UK

2009-04-27T20:56:00.003+01:00

If you want to see the best trail riders around, then get yourself to the Avalanche Enduro UK. The next one is at Ae in early May.

Seriously, you gotta go.

This weekend saw my team mate Josh and I going to do the downhill thing in our own XC stylee, on 24 spoked wheels and xc tyres.

It was marvellous!

Saturday was prologue day, so we went to the Kielder Castle area to book in and get some practice for the upcoming qualifier. We were late, and only had about an hour to practice 4 sections that were spread over the local hillsides.

The previous night had seen us arrive late at Rich's (Julio) house and then eat a well deserved curry. I had the best vindaloo, ever, the night before this fun event.

We decided to do a couple of runs on the prologue and then the same on one of the other sections prior to the main event of the day.

Rob (Our Manager) took the safety briefing for us and passed it on on just prior to the start of the flat out run along the peddly but entertaining section.

It was hard work. Josh and I qualified within 1 second of each other, so we were seeded next to each other--Freaky.

I had laughed at Josh earlier for taking a duff line on the prologue practice and gamboling into the trees at the side of the trail. He got to laugh at me as I did the same thing, later. Numpty.

After the seeding run, we went around the rest of the sections and tried to memorise them for the following day. That young gun doesn't know how to go slow, so I had to take him under my wing (or threaten to beat him up) so that he could benefit from a bit of 24hr pace riding to clear the acid from our legs. It was funny; he'd lose concentration on the task in hand, and within seconds he'd be 100m up the trail in front of me. I hate him.

The trails were all very different and seemed to cover almost all aspects of mountainbiking.

We did one which is almost identical to my local loops at Machen, so you'd think I would ace that one, wouldn't you? I was all over the place and kept losing my front end through a lack of commitment in the turns on roots and pine needles.

Another trail was made up of the gnarliest rock jumps I have seen at any trail centre and I have to say how impressed I was with Josh. He was jumping these things with aplomb on his 4" bike, and loving every minute of it. Poor wee bike.

All of the others were mixtures of rocks, loose rocks, roots, berms and jumps.

We had a lot of fun together.

After keeping ourselves busy riding the trails until evening time we headed back to Julio's for...

...another curry!

I was in heaven.

Another late night. We were up again, and out at 7am since the racing started early on Sunday.

So, we got to the start line, and were counted out and off we go, but not into a flat out race. We had plenty of time to get up the hill to section 1. We rode up and chatted whilst at the top we met a load guys that we were destined to do all of the rides with- except the timed stages because we did those at 30 second gaps and alone.

This format means that you get an incredibly sociable ride out with like minded individuals who, after the seeding run, go about the same speed as you do. A sort of camaraderie formed between the nearest five or so riders.

For both Josh and I, the first few runs were a bit of a nightmare. We were "off form" because of all of the driving and late nights. When I jumped on one section I veered off to the right, whilst my bike kept going in the intended direction. So, on the next section, I consciously veered the other way. The bike did it's own thing and I nearly came off. I was all over the place and started to lose my nerve a bit; especially on the bigger jumps on run 3. We kept going all the same, but only felt that we came alive after lunch.

Lunch was, err, prunes, biscuits and Mule bars. I ate tons. We struggled to get to the next stage (5) after our extended break of about 15mins. You definitely have to keep moving, even if it is at a sedate pace.

The last three runs were great fun, and both of us felt that we were back on the gas. But disaster struck Josh on the final run, as he got a flat about a third of the way down. For some reason, I braked a bit when I saw him looking dejected, but I think I still had a good run.

By the end of the day my body felt battered, but both of us had had a superb day.

Next time I do one of these I'm going to use a stronger set of wheels, though. I don't think that the ones I used slowed me down at all, but the thought was there...

Clive, The Force, organised a superb event. I think it was faultless from a competitors' point of view. Absolutely faultless. We're lucky to have Clive as friend and team mate, and I'm going to be picking his brains for speed tips before the next Avalanche Enduro.

I won't be missing it!

The first time I saw him this weekend was as I passed him on one of the sections. He was doing a bit of official stuff, but as I "flew" past him I heard him shouting "He's a 24 hour soloist, look at him go!" and something about speed. I think it was a positive comment. We didn't really get any time to chat apart from that because he was up to his eyeballs in "it". It's a shame, because he's always entertaining to say the least.

I'm cream crackered, but happy.

Who could've seen me?

2009-04-22T20:47:00.002+01:00

I've just had a look around the papers that have done some publicity on/for me. The Herald (Scotland) has a total readership of 850,000, and The South Wales Echo has a readership of 200,000 (plus internet readers).

They are big numbers. Big, humbling numbers.

It's no wonder my website has gone crazy.

Woo hoo!

Thanks guys!

Ouch!

2009-04-19T21:25:00.004+01:00

There I was, riding along on my own on a recovery ride. I was doing about 15mph and was just thinking about the weekends riding that was to follow.

Suddenly, I realised that I was stopping quickly, and my shoulder was starting to hurt- a lot. I don't have the best shoulders after 6 clavicle fractures and nerve damage after various ops and a rather nasty paragliding crash.

What stopped me?

A tree.

A tree that the local "talent" had pulled down and left in the disused railway line that I was using to spin my legs out. I could see all of the branches covered in leaves as they were, in the twilight. But what I didn't see was the bare end of a bough of the tree, aiming squarely at me. It wasn't covered with leaves or fauna, and so it just blended in with the trail ahead.

A tree yesterday

It caught me, in the area under the deltoid, and once the arm had dislocated out of the shoulder joint, it fired me off of the back of the bike and sort of sideways, onto the side of the trail.

I lay there, gathering together my thoughts, whilst my shoulder slipped back into joint. My shoulders can withstand a lot wobbliness, as they have been out of joint more times than Pamela Anderson's Boobs have bounced in slow motion.

After a minute or so, I realised that everything was working well enough for me to pick myself up and start heading home. It was a wee while until I could get on my bike.

Anyway, enough of that!

Saturday, what a day!

We got up late and went to Cwmcarn. I did a few laps, and the efforts that were planned by Chris Eatough, for me. Bearing in mind that I did my WC2C 4 weeks ago, I felt really good. So, at the end of lactate tolerance rep, I felt like I was doing well. A steady, fast and comfortable pace was where I was, so I continued it, until the end of the lap, as a sort of xc race practice (a mild one). When I finished my lap, it was a PB!! All the better, since it was wet and slippy on almost all of the top sections.

I had a sore shoulder though.

Then Sunday.

The training ground

We went to, err, Cwmcarn.

Jo was on a hard ride day. So I hoped I could sit behind her and stay in my endurance zone. It was fine.

So we hammered around for a few laps, and then came home so that I could rebuild one bike's drive train, bleed another's brakes, change some pads, true up 2 sets of wheels and have an ice-cream!

Nice.

Next week is the Avalanche Enduro in Kielder. My mate, Clive, is organising it so it'll be great!

Full travel seatpost

2009-04-12T19:29:00.012+01:00

I love my Mk111, and I've been riding it a bit too much lately. It's the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden and goes like Billy-Oh on the descents.

I love my bike, seat down or seat up.

So, I took as many photos as I could to imaginatively portray the adjustability of the seat post. I'm not very artistic, though.

The seat post is at the "minimum insertion point" in the first photo. I just wish the other pictures would show the seat post going right to the bottom! :)

The post is actually below it's taper point in the seat tube, so that the clamp has no effect on it. If you get a chance to try one, then do yourself a flavour. Try one.

Oh, and we had a great weekend hammering the trails and doing some skills work with our friends. Two blokes hooning down the hill on MK111's is a great sight. It's the only bike Dez has kept for more than a few months, and that says something.

A new start

2009-04-05T21:01:00.003+01:00

Well, I've done the WC2C and it was great fun, actually.

Rob has joined the 7Stanes.

Rich is next...

...and he's rock'ard.

For my next trick, I'm going to have to try to remember how to trail ride, quickly. The Avalanche Trophy, at Keilder is beckoning and I'm getting a bit jittery.

So this weekend, I got myself some new and chunky tyres and threw myself down every hill I could find.

A nice pair of higher volume tyres and the sag set to about 30% and off I went. The Crossmark rear and Ardent front (both Maxxis) is a great combo. It offers tonnes of corner grip on the front, whilst allowing maximum rolling speed on today's dry, rocky trails, with a bit of loose loam over a firm bed. (Or whatever it says on the labels for the tyres). I like 'em!

It's the first time I've worn knee and elbow armour in about 2 or 3 years, and it felt weird. But I haven't ridden so quickly on the Doon Hill either, for about the same period.

The Mk111 is a rocket ship.

I didn't take any photo's because I forgot as I was having too much fun!

This is going to be a good year!

Well, it will be once my foot comes fully back to life.

7ds2

2009-03-29T12:52:00.001+01:00

My mate, Rob, is going to hit The 7 Stanes on Monday and will be joining them all up on his bike in true 7ds style.

You can follow his progress on The 7DS from 10am on Monday 30/03/09

Good luck, Rob!

Quick Report

2009-03-27T22:31:00.005Z

On Sunday the 22/03/09 Dave Buchanan of the IronHorse-Extreme and The 7 Deadly Spins team completed the first Welsh Coast 2 Coast offroad ride.

In line with the latest attempts at other long distance rides, this one was done in an alpine style. That means that there was no support, and he was carrying everything required for the ride. This ride was also tracked live on the internet via the clever little Spot Satellite Messenger system, everyone could watch what was happening at 10 minute intervals.

Starting at Caernarfon Castle, it winds it's way through stunning countryside and multiple tourist attractions, all the way down to Cardiff Bay. The original idea of the 7DS was, and is, to open up mountain biking and the challenges it can hold for everybody, so the Welsh Coast 2 Coast (and 7DS4) was designed to attract tourist riders as well as hardened endurance athletes. Lots of attractions means lots of pubs and plenty of accomodation.

Dave didn't bother with stopping though, and completed the route which stands at 328km and 11178m of ascent in 22hrs 24mins and 49secs- in the winter.

Conditions were good on Saturday when Dave started, but as it got dark the cold from the river crossings started to take affect. By the end of the night he was walking through partially frozen bogs and ice covered moon grass before descending to Brecon to follow the Taff Trail tourist attraction to Cardiff. Two days later and he still can't feel his right foot.

Highlights of the route are visits to some of the world reknowned Welsh trail centres. Dropping into Coed Y Brennin, ClimachX, Machynlleth and Nant Yr Arian helps spice the ride up and make sure it can only really be done on a mountain bike.

His diet was a simple one. After years of stomach trouble Dave has resorted to a liquid only diet. Generally he will use 500-750ml of sports drink and a gel every hour depending on the temperature and sweat rates. Caffeine works a treat in his gels since he normally abstains from it during the week. It's a bit boring, but it works.

Skins are his base layer of choice for legs and torso since he feels great benefits from using them to help protect his arms, for instance, from the rattling shocks that you experience on a harsh downhill. It really does make a difference.

Tyre choice was easy. At the moment, he uses Maxxis Crossmark tyres for every thing except mud. They roll quickly and grip dependably on most things, especially on his super strong 3 bolt hope wheels.

The route is approximately 70% off road where legal access allows it and is a lot of fun!

Ride Statistics

2009-03-24T23:57:00.000Z

Route Length 328Km

Ascent 11178m

The above are taken directly from the Satmap Active10

Ride time 22hrs 24mins 49secs.

And I still can't feel my right foot.

It is done.

2009-03-22T12:50:00.002Z

Just a quick note to thank everybody for the kind comments, and for watching things unfold on the web.
I did it!!
I am the pioneering rider of The Welsh Coast 2 Coast!
Stats to follow, when I recover a bit.

Spot Tracking Link

2009-03-20T19:03:00.002Z

For you guys that haven't seen the link for racking my progress on the Website yet, here it is.

It updates every 10mins.

Tracking Link

Remember that I start at 10am on Saturday 20/03/09.

Gulp!

Christmas Pudding

2009-03-20T10:23:00.003Z

I have packed, packed again and repacked. If I pack it again, it'll start to wear out from all of the handling.

Nothing to report here except for the perfect preparation I've had for this event.

Just finished preparing my shorts in a christmas pudding stylee: Instead of pouring alchohol, I have been adding chamois cream every day for the past few. It is well and truly moisturised.

For future reference, I have my spares list herewith:

2 tubes- not lightweight for reliability.
Loads of patches, glueless and glued.
2 spokes and nipples.
Rear Hanger.
Spare XTR rear derailleur (I have snapped these, usually before damaging the hanger, in the past).
Spare 8 links of chain.
2 full Sram Quicklinks.
1 set of hope pads, in case I lose the backing off of one. (It's never happened with hope pads, but has done with other makes on different brakes, so better safe than sorry).
1 Duct Tape tyre boot.

The time is nigh

2009-03-18T21:42:00.003Z

I am proud to be involved in this 7Deadly Spins project and the resulting WC2C ride that has emerged from it.

It wouldn't have been possible to get this far without the team, never mind rolling up to the start line on Saturday morning. But if it hadn't been for the help of a good few contributors then I wouldn't be in nearly as good a position as I am now.

So...

Rob Lee and the team: Thanks for the help, the encouragement and the mickey taking. It helps.

Sean Wratten (Bertie Maffoons): Thanks for supporting me so infallibly, and for keeping forgetting to take my credit card details. :)

Jim Calder (Powerspike): You set my website up and helped people find out what I, and my friends are doing. Give him a try, he's very, very good at his job.

Spot Satellite Tracker Systems : Thank you for stepping in so quickly and providing us with your invaluable service and equipment.

And to all of the sponsors on the web page, thanks for your belief in me and the 7DS Team.

Time will tell!

Keep a look out on my website or The 7DS site and you will see a link where you can follow my progress as I ride. You can post comments as I go, on Twitter by looking me up as Daveblanche and also via RSS. Who knows, I might get to hear some of the comments as I ride past our photographer time and again. There are direct links at the bottom of the menu bar on my web page to save you faffing about. The map link is to follow, but will be there.

Wish me luck, and if you live local to Cardiff, you will be able to judge my arrival time at "The Celtic Ring".

I may buy a few beers, but will probably not ride with my mates that day!

Bike build

2009-03-15T21:00:00.006Z

So, next weekend I plan on doing my WC2C ride from Caernarfon to Cardiff.

As a reminder, it uses route 8 in North Wales, before diving onto Black runs and Skull and Crossbone sections at Coed Y Brennin. Next "stop" is the ClimachX Final downhill, after a big climb and river crossing. From there on in is some Mach routage and all of the "connecting" Nant Yr Arian singletrack leading down to the main road.

You get the gist, but it finishes inside "The Celtic Ring" in Cardiff Bay.

At 214 miles and loads of climbing, I have my work cut out.

I can't wait.

Talking about weight...

... My bike has been fitted out with all of my hope kit and new running gear.

I started with a bare frame and forks, and then added the wheels. On these were my tubeless converted Maxxis Crossmark exception tyres. They are quick rolling and can be ridden surprisingly aggressively.

Supervision was enforced upon me, all day.

Next, I put my new crankset from KCNC, xtr changers and derailleurs, a titanium seatpost and scandium stem. Add to that my Hope mono mini Pro brakes, and you have one seriously bling bike.

I have no idea what it weighs, or how much weight I have saved. But the bike rides better, and it fits me like a glove now.

It should have been built and run in 3 weeks ago, but supply problems rule all of our plans.

If it hadn't been for Bertie Maffoons , I wouldn't have gotten any of this stuff. Meeting Sean, the owner, is like meeting an encyclopaedia of cycling. He knows everything about bikes and components and bends over backwards to help. He's just that kind of guy!

Right, that's enough for now.

Wish me luck on the WC2C. It's happening this weekend!

Tune up #3

2009-03-08T19:15:00.002Z

All the tune ups are done.

There are definitely no photos for this weekend- The weather was awful. I took my camera, but I didn't dare to take it out.

Saturday was cold and sleeting, with low cloud and a howling wind. It was horrible, but I'm good at toughing this stuff out now.

After the re-route, I think we saved around 3km of road, but in it's place we have some nice, scenic little bits of bridleway around a Tumulus in Brecon. Well, it's nearly all nice and scenic...

...Except for the 2km that the National Park Authority is revamping with drainage and a new go faster flat surface. It will probably be go faster when the un-rideable mud has dried out, and the grass has regrown. It was such a quagmire that I got bogged down and had to carry a bike with mud-locked wheels.

I'm hoping that it is dry and ready for early April. If not, I'll just "ride it" in whatever state it is in and lose some time. It would be selfish of me to cut it out just because it was newly done and a bit slippy for me. It will be a nice little track when it's finished and bedded in so it stays, for the future of WC2C.

Get me!

I also managed to find a route through Brecon and alongside the weir, that I hadn't had time to sort out previously. That's a wee bit more cut off of the road. I'm hoping that there is an ice-cream van there when I get there during the route (at 4 in the morning).

My climb and ride continued so I could extend my training time. Up and into the Beacons on the Taff Trail, I went. This is part of the route, but it had a different character today. The higher I got, the more cold and wet accompanied me on my passage.

By the time I got to The Gap, the Beacons were hidden in a thick veil of clag. I could have sworn they were there previously. Navigating through next to zero visibility using my Satmap I started on my way down to the bottom. About 40mins later I was in Brecon again, and I was absolutely freezing. All of my clothes had migrated from my bag onto my body, but it made no difference.

Even my hill efforts didn't warm me up.

Back home, for tea and medals.

Sunday was more of the same. I rode for miles and got even colder than yesterday. I hadn't learned anything from yesterday and dressed in the wrong clobber. I didn't have enough clothes.

Coach Chris had labelled my ride today as one with "minimal stops". Too right it would be! If I even stopped for a pee I got almost irrecoverably cold. So I kept going.

The next few weeks are just training rides. The WC2C is ready!

Distances and ascent remain as posted a couple of weeks ago.

The rules will be posted in the next week or two.

Bring it on!

Trail Tune-up #2

2009-03-01T20:25:00.005Z

This was the end of my recovery week. So I did 3 1/2 hrs on Saturday and 4 1/2 on Sunday. This was after a particularly satisfying fitness test on Friday night.

Before my ride on Saturday, I picked my bike up and decided that the rebound definitely wasn't working properly on the forks. They had felt like they were "packing down" last weekend and my arms and hands were getting sore. I never get arm pump, but I did last week.

I'd ordered the stuff I needed, but hadn't been sure if I was going to service them for a few weeks- Spare time being a rare commodity and all that. Tim Flookes had sent the stuff out the previous day. He must have been holding onto the postman by the neck as I phone him at 5 to 5pm, as I got the bits the next day! Awesome.

2hrs later and I had stripped the forks off of the bike and partially serviced them with new oils and lockout cable.

So I rode from my pad to Cwmcarn and did a couple of laps. I then rode home for tea and medals.

It was strange having forks that work, and work properly. It was heaven!

No arm pump or hand pain.

Result!

Today (Sunday) was trail tune-up day #2.

I went to Machynlleth and tried to rid myself of 3km of road. Well, that was the plan but it didn't quite work out that way.

The route I had worked on was going to be harder because it had a lot more climbing in it. But it was climbing on boggy Bridleway and extended puddles of sheep poo on the various feeding stations. This was not fun. It was really slow going and very smelly in places.

I then realised my mistake in not spending enough time perusing the map properly, which is not like me.

The mistake?

I ended up at the BOTTOM of the chute. This is a huge and fun downhill, which runs on a bridleway and on loose slate. It's a great downhill, but a seriously bad choice for a climb. It took me about 20mins (I think) to carry and ride to the top. it wasn't fun.

Of course, I still had to get to my turnaround point for the day, and it was miles away.

Lesson 1. learned: 3km of unwanted road, is well worth it in this area.

I got a spurt on so that I could get over to Nant-yr-Arian and change a part of the route. This would save me 2Km of road.

The change of route actually provided a much better trail which proved to be much more exciting. The only problem is the big puddles which take a fair bit of navigating around, or riding straight through.

But let's go back a bit...

...The ride, wound up and over towards the top of Mach and where it becomes Nant-yr-Arian. It's more of a concept than a geographical point, but I'm sure everyone would have a similar idea if they were at the same place and going the same way.

This is where we have a bit of scary singletrack, and it's on the originally planned route. You are riding along a valley side on a rutted trail with a drop off on one side. It was all fine today, until I caught my pedal, stopped dead, and teetered on the edge of losing my balance in the direction of the valley floor.

The valley seemed huge and steep!

I survived.

Next was the first of 3 river crossings, which all see the water reaching well above the axles. This is the one that I carried my bike through about 5 weeks ago.

I got just as wet riding it, as I did when I walked it.

Lesson 2. Your feet will get wet and you WILL enjoy it.

Each river crossing was done twice, out and return. Although the others were narrower, they were just as deep.

The weather has been good, with no rain for the past week, so these are the water levels that I can expect from Mid-April to Mid-May when I plan to do the WC2C. I just need to decide if it's worth riding through them, or walking; with respect to maintaining the bike as serviceable for the whole route.

Hmmm?

So, by the end of today's ride I had gotten myself covered in sheep muck and mud, and washed it off (6 times). I had also managed to wipe 2Km of road off of the route around Nant.

The 3km of road around Mach is staying. That's enough trail tuning for this area.

A good weekend.

It's back to full training loads again, tomorrow.

...What he said.

2009-02-23T10:38:00.008Z

I just read my mates (and manager) blog, and it is kind of topical for me. It's about weight loss and racing weight.

I'm not experienced enough to know what my race weight is, but each time I have been lighter, I've done better.

There is probably more to do with experience gain than weight loss in there, though.

Take me now, I've put on 2kg in the last 2 months, but my belt has gone down another notch, and my made to measure suits that I had done last summer when I felt posh, don't fit me any more. My skins arms are getting slack and the legs are getting tight, too.

I raced at 76KG last year, and I'm 80kg now, but have veins popping out where they really shouldn't be. I'm riding loads faster than last year, already, and feel great on the bike.

With all the long hours on the weekend that I do, I think I will naturally lose some weight, and muscle bulk. But after reading Rob's post, we'll just weight and see. (see what I did there?)

If I have good food, and don't eat late, that'll do for me...

...Anyway, this weekend.

We had mutiny at HMS WC2C, so I had to change my plans and do an out an return on Sunday, after a different out and return on Saturday.

My mate, Punchy, had asked why the route didn't stop at "The Celtic Ring" in the bay. I made something up, but the truth was that I didn't even know it was there. Shame on me. So I went to have a look, by riding there, and doing my efforts on the way home on the steep side of Caerphilly Mountain.

I never, ever, thought I would hear myself say that Caerphilly Mountain wasn't big enough, but I ran out of road, and had to start right down in Caerphilly town to get 10mins out of my effort.

I digress...

...What follows, after Saturday's re-recconoitre is this: The route will now finish at "The Celtic Ring". It's easier to ride to, without playing dodgems with civilians hell bent on blockading you. It's also easier to find, and is within 10 feet of the water. I think it is also a more photogenic area, so making me look good should be less of a hardship when I'm all haggered and smelly after my ride.

Thanks, Punchy.

So back to the Mutiny. I ended up riding from Llandovery on Sunday morning, out to Strata Florida and back, but this time I found a couple of natty bits of single track and the last piece in the puzzle: A water point. I had been struggling to find one in this area up to this point, but that's settled now.

Riding outbound was awful. I was getting blown to a virtual standstill every minute or so, and maxxing my legs out to keep moving. I though about re-routing to stay out of the wind, but Chris's voice rattled in my head,"Supertough, you know what you need to do."

I had a little whimper, swore at "him", and kept going.

On the way back, I tried a bit of singletrack that Ian Barrington had shown me on a map, that he uses often, and is freely and legally accessible with opening gaits at either end. It was nice, then sketchy, then rocky, then wet, rocky and sketchy!

It's part of the route now, and it adds nothing to the distance.

Also, near Llanwrtyd Wells I found another little bit of rocky, rooty and muddy Bridleway that's been chewed up by horses and then crosses a REALLY rickety bridge. After the bridge of doom it goes up a rocky and wet pseudo riverbed, and past our water point.

The chicken wire is all that's holding this thing together

A quick ride back to the car and the weekend was done!

Sign says, "Caution, One at a time." They ain't joking!

I'm sure that there will be a few small tweaks undertaken on the route in the next few weeks, but small is all they will be.

The totals are in!

2009-02-18T21:00:00.006Z

I've just done all the maths for the missing bits of the route distance and ascent.

Obviously this is open to a bit of error. I have counted on approximately 5% error on the short side, due to the way memorymap shortcuts the route when plotting it's waypoints and smoothing. So, I have added 5% to the recorded length to make up for the inaccuracies of the track recording intervals.

The ascent is open to errors too, but I believe that it is within 500m. I have had such problems with MemoryMap...

So

Here it is.

Distance 345.5Km or 214.5 miles

Ascent 8356m or 27427 feet

Crikey!!

Bing it on!

Who's going to have a go after me?

It's just a jump to the left!...

2009-02-15T22:05:00.013Z

...And then a step to the right!

I'll tell you about that later though.

Today was the first in a series of dry runs: Straight line runs from one end of the WC2C running linearly for 5 or 6 hrs at a time. Each week I'll pick up where I finished, and carry on.

We got up at daft o'clock again and drove from the Cardiff area to Caernarfon. Jo acted as my taxi and then went and did her thing at Coed-y-Brenin.

I started at, well, the start by Caernarfon Castle and headed south. It's a lovely place to start, poised betwixt castle walls and the sea, with it's swing bridge and noisy seagulls.

This was only a practice, but I was nervous!

That's my nervous face

I'm tucking myself in in this photo, it's not some strange soldiers' pose, promise.

It was also going to be an opportunity to remap the the early stages and their ascent. I'd had problems with my Memory Map software not picking the satmap ascent, or being able to calculate it's own. I'd guessed at 300m.

Jo took a few photos, while I stood and froze. I was itching to get going.

She's always looking down on me

And they're off!

Off I went, and made good ground following the Sustrans Route 8 to Porthmadoc, where I came across a farmer with his two boys walking down a lane and going in the same direction as me.

I so dislike bells on bikes. They are supremely impersonal things that "announce" your presence to all, with out so much as a "by your leave?" I'd rather coast slowly up to somebody, at about walking pace and say, "hello" and ask if they could let me through.

This family guy was so engrossed with his kids that he didn't hear me saying "hello" as I came up behind him (slowly), repeating myself a few times.

He did hear me the last time as I sidled up to him.

He jumped out of his skin, and did "The Time-Warp" dance! He jumped up and to the left, arms waving all over the place, as he looked to see his kids were safe. He landed square on both feet with his hands dropping onto his hips for some reason. Then he thrust his right foot to the right, and in front of his closest child in a protective manoeuver (hands on hips).

It was the best Time Warp I had ever seen. All that was missing were the stockings, suspenders and camp make-up.

That reminds me, I need to call Rich.

I laughed myself silly, whilst apologising profusely and promising to get a bell. As a parting gesture I commented on his superb disco moves, to which he laughed again.

It's a good job he saw the funny side, he was twice my size.

Anyway. I finished the part of the route that I didn't have ascent data for. Remember that I thought it would be about 300m?

1750m!

I thought I was getting sweaty.

There is something nice about pulling off of Route 8 to do the single track finishes for "The Beast", including the skull and crossbones section, pop pickers. It's a mountain bike challenge,and it needs it's fun bits, after all!

Carrying on by following "The Dragons Back" until you cross the river back onto Route 8, just fills the time and makes sure that you can actually ride a bike on the rough stuff.

The day ended between Dolgellau and Machynlleth with 3600m of ascent, in under 100km!

We've only just started the hills at this point.

I suppose we are a designing a "Lasting Challenge".

I think we've done it, too.

More Snow

2009-02-08T20:46:00.006Z

North Wales was put on hold today because my mate, who lives up there, said that all the Bridleways and trails were still snowed in.

So instead, I stayed south, and revisited some of the Taff Trail and to avoid the North Wales snow...

Oops!

I did 120km in that, and boy did my feet feel it, afterwards!

Proper hot aches followed this photo. Aaargh!

I felt superb all the way through, because I'm aiming to be supertough! The coaching is making big differences already, I'm sure.

My kit worked a treat, especially my Azure, which I've developed a real love for in the past 5 or 6 weeks.

A WC2C free weekend!

2009-02-01T18:46:00.005Z

All I did this weekend was train, and rest. I also now realise how good Coach Chris is at reading people, their athletic abilities and mental profile.

It's spooky, if you ask me, but he has revolutionised my training and recovery. But, you'll have to find that out for yourself. :ob

Saturday, and we got up at late o'clock, which was nice. The dogs normally wake us up about 5am by stomping on my tender bits or "singing" at us. Alternatively, one dog manages to weavel itself onto the bed without being noticed, and you wake up looking at it's chocolate starfish. Either that, or you feel the draught of a little love puff, from the same place. It's never the best way to wake up, but it works!

Today, though, they slept all the way through.

After multiple breakfasts, and a chilled out morning, we got ready to ride our bikes. The afternoon was spent on local trails and we rode to, around and about, and home from Cwmcarn. It was kind of cold, but it was a good day.

5hrs later, I was washing our bikes in the dark.

Food, telly, fruit, more recovery drink and I was in bed before 10pm.

This morning was more normal. We were up really early; too early for the dogs, who stayed in bed whilst we got ready.

We arrived at Afan Argoed and had finished our rides by 2pm.

It was Baltic, and my Camelbak froze. In addition to this, I had ridden a bit too hard yesterday and subsequently, my legs were killing me. It took 3hrs for my legs to feel like they had any life in them.

The ride was excellent though. (Supertough, remember.)

Part of the day followed the whole of the recently marked "W2" trail, from "The Wall" end. I have to say that I really enjoyed this route, because it mixes up some of the best singletrack around and jiggles the way you would normally do it. It's like a figure of 8 route that splices the "The Wall" and "Whytes Level" together and it's a good day out on it's own, I think. The best bit is that you can start it from Glyncorrwg or Afan, and still cover the same ground.

I've never been down "The Wall" descents so quickly (on any of my bikes), so I must really have the MK111 well dialed in now. It's also quite surprising how hard you can push Crossmark tyres.

It snowed for a little while.

Blimey it was cold.

A new sign seems to have appeared at the top of the Whytes climb. It's new to me anyway, because I've never noticed it before. It's the answer to the question that goes through most peoples' minds on the way up the relentless (but fun) climb...

Hmm? I'm not sure about the spelling

Next week is easy. Saturday is a short day, but Sunday will be the first in a series of one day rides where I join up all of the stages of the WC2C, so that I know it inside out.

One "Rule of engagement" for the WC2C challenge that we've decided on is that it's going to be a litter free ride. I (and hopefully any subsequent riders) will have to carry everything they consume into the ride and out of the other end. So any used wrappers etc will have to be carried to the end and accounted for. It's a small statement, but it's quite important to myself and most of my friends.

This excludes water, of course! 20KG of water is, well, 20kg. I don't know about you, but that would kill me off!

I have had some great ideas for rules provided by my close friends, but I can't print any!!

Children. :)

See you next week.

Camera Shy

2009-01-25T22:41:00.009Z

Well, that's it.

The route has been ridden in it's entirety.

It's all logged, memorised and rideable. Well, apart from 1km of walking on a rutted 4wd track (on a Bridleway) bog which may be a bit better after a week of dry weather.

It'll be nice to get off and push the bike for a bit, anyway.

I stayed in a Hotel (The George Burrows) in Ponterwyd, so that I could do two out and returns. The first would be out to Machynnleth and back, and the second would be to search out the way to Strata Florida and back. Strata Florida, that is, without the 14 river crossings.

Saturday always starts too early. I left home and was riding by 10:45am.

I started up the road from the car park, in warm-up mode, and got overtaken by a guy who I recognised from his posh yeti bike, his face and his SITS 2008 buff. I looked at him as if I should be polite, and acknowledge that I recognise him. He just looked at me funny, as if I should be going quicker. :)

Am I the only one who warms up on a bike?

The route that I had satmapped flowed well, until it got to a big river, and pointed me straight across it. I'm sure that the little gadget was egging me on, and looking at me funny because I wasn't immediately following it's lead. It was 3 or 4 degrees at the time (judging my my numb feet) so I ran away, to find another route...

...10 minutes later, I'm up to my knees in another river. Two minutes after that, I'm walking back through it with my bike on my shoulder and muttering inanely about the bridleway that had stopped dead.

I found my way into Machynlleth and popped into "The Holey Trail" to meet Tegid. He had given me lots of help by email over the route I had chosen.

It's important to thank people for their help.

"That river you said was ok is massive!" says me, after conivivial introductions.

"Nah, It's fine. We've never failed to ride across it. It might be a bit higher now, after all the rain," came the reply from Tegid.

Cash exchanged hands for some overshoes, because I had a feeling that my feet were going to get even colder on the way back.

I rode back along the intended route and straight to the river. It looked really deep.

Standing there, nervous about the cold, I thought about going another way. This was especially true after I remembered a picture of Matt Carr, carrying his bike above his head and chest deep in water. But Chris Eatough's words of coaching wisdom "I want you to be super tough on the bike," bounced around in my empty and cold head.

It's about now, that you would normally expect to see a photo of the river- But my camera had frozen with the iris half open. You'll just have to take my word for it.

I picked the bike up (to protect the bearings) and walked through, up to my knees. That was a pleasant surprise since I thought it would be up to the body parts that tend to climb rapidly away from cold water.

This water was COLD.

I had done 4 river crossings already, and this was not my favourite.

Twenty five minute later and after a 6 hour ride I was outside my Hotel, looking forward to a big Lasagne. The food was excellent, and they are bike friendly, with storage.

Sunday was a surprise too. Looking out of the window at first light, it was hailing harder than yesterday but was also blowing sideways. Great.

"...supertough..."

Damn.

Breakfast done, I got out on the bike and the sun came out. It stayed out and I had a lovely ride.
WC2C goes over those 3 peaks

Four or five times, I tried to take photos of the Kites, searching out the lift band on the ridges that they were soaring. They would fly directly above me for a few minutes, resplendent in their go faster stripe plumage. They looked like they were enjoying themselves.

As soon as the camera came out, they were off. Every single time. Do they know something, about the quality of my pictures?

The un-rideable bog came next. It's only 1km long, and it's reasonably easy walking, so that is fine by me. It'll be a good time to stretch out the back.

Again, I had to re-route using my satmap, since I had to navigate away from the bog as it continued for a few Km more. It took 2 minutes and was as easy as you like.

A long climb 22/32 or 34 all the way

At the top of the forestry, about 4km South of Strata Florida, I met up with a few Enduro riders. They were complaining about cold feet. They had Motocross boots on! My feet were frozen, but I didn't want the discussion to turn into a Monty Python conversation about how we had it worse than you.

They were all impressed with the Satmap, especially the route sharing capabilities. I think they may be buying a few between them.

Right, job done!

I rode back. That was another 6hr day done.

Tonight, I can't sleep, and it's no wonder.

The route is 336 km plus about 10% due to the way that the log cuts corners whilst recording. So I reckon that the whole distance is going to be around 370km or 230miles. It's a guess at the moment, but I feel that the climbing will be around 8000m or 26,250ft or thereabouts (software problems- my memory map is playing up).

Kit update

2009-01-22T07:56:00.002Z

I'm a lucky boy as I'm very well sponsored for the WC2C and Rob Lee's 7DS. The kit that I have been provided is getting a proper hammering, because that's what it's designed for.
I couldn't do the challenge without the support of the many philanthropic individuals who have taken a keen interest in the projects. So, as a result, I feel that I should be telling everybody about how their equipment works and eases my passage and development.
To this end, my website has a page which is inventively labelled "The Kit" and runs through my impressions of it in use.
Have a look, and if it raises any questions you can contact me via the contact link on davebuchanan.co.uk
Thanks guys. Here's looking forward to a good weekend.

Windy Weekend

2009-01-18T19:19:00.004Z

We didn't make it to North or Mid-Wales this weekend. The weather warnings put us off.

But we still rode for the whole weekend. And it was very windy, and wintry. Very.

Not one to waste an opportunity, I rode the last part of the south end of the route and found the formal end of it.

On the way to Cardiff I passed Castell Coch- which was shut, but people were still trying to get into it. :)

The Welsh Assembly Government front steps will be the end of the ride, just where they slip into the sea. Hopefully this building will be there for a very long time, so the the final focal point of the ride should be permanent and for any future attempts... I hope it doesn't change at all, but you never know.

I wonder if the Senedd will be there as long as Caernarfon Castle has been?

Today (Sunday) was just a training ride, but it brought my ride distance up to 270km since Friday night. Friday was a 50km road ride, but the weekend has been muddy!

I learned something tonight

2009-01-14T22:14:00.003Z

I went out for a 1.5hr recovery ride tonight. It didn't go well.

The plan was to ride about 20miles on my spare mountain bike, and to do a bit of my route again, in the dark, so that I knew I could navigate when I'm cream crackered.

I found the route alright, but so did the Council man who locked the gate behind me and obviously rushed 3 miles to lock the gate I needed at the other end of Pontypridd Park. I was stuck and had to try and find a way out. I ended up climbing a big old fence whilst trying to carry my bike at the same time.

It took me 2hrs, and I was meant to cook my birthday meal for us both when I got in- That didn't happen.

I got home home and polished off the rest of my birthday cake. Lush!

So, my ride has it's first scheduling requirement. Looking ahead, I need to be in Bute Park by 7pm in Mid-April, to give me time to get through the park and fix any problems, should they happen (or walk through). The closing times there are 30mins before local sunset time, which is nice and easy for for everyone to understand. Not

I'm back!

2009-01-11T19:45:00.006Z

Well, the man flu is gone and I'm starting to feel humanesque again.

This weekend was another good one. On Saturday, Jo and I went to Cwmcarn via a circuitous off-road route, did the xc loop, and rode home. 5hrs. She was moaning at the end.

Saturday night and I got an early Birthday present: A new camera, and a posh one at that! It seems that Jo was brassed off with me saying, "Quick Jo, get a shot of that!" or "Can I borrow your camera today please?" It's 12mega somethings, and is black and shiny.

Today was my day for a ride. I made my way from North West of Brecon and headed home via route 8 (The Taff Trail). It was relatively slow going because of the 20 mile and hour (plus) headwind. But it was still a nice day out, even though I nearly got blown to a stop a few times. I was moaning to myself at the end.

The route passed Pen-Y-Fan, Cribyn and the rest of the Beacons

Then I skirted past an old Paragliding site; Tal-Y-Bont

Past a still frozen Llyn...

..and on to the pub where Jo and I met, 146 years ago. It's now shut down and a bit of a mess. Maybe we are jinxes? :)

I was also lucky enough to locate another local water point in the Brecon area. We just need to find one around Strata Florida, and we're all set!

This has concluded the southern end of the WC2C.

Happy Days!

I managed to take some photos, although it was a gray and windy day.

Mid-Wales next weekend to tie up the Mach and Strata Florida bits. I was meant to go this weekend, but it didn't happen.

Oh, and I have a new coach. Nothing wrong with my old one, but I had an offer I couldn't refuse! Check out my website, if you're not already on it.

See ya.

PAAH!

2009-01-08T22:20:00.001Z

I've had a flu like bug and am brassed off.

Never mind.

The weekend will be fun!

All is Quiet, On New Years' Day...

2009-01-02T09:37:00.018Z

...Unless you go to bed early, and drive for 3hrs to ride with your friends in Coed-y-Brenin first thing in the morning. The best New Years' Day ever!

Bloomin' marvellous. We woke up at zero something o'clock and left the house at 7.

Ten o'clock came and we were sat in CyB cafe having a coffee and a big cake.

It turned into a 5hr skills day for me. The ice was everywhere, and it made the going more than a little sketchy in places. No one else seemed too bothered by it? Probably because they let me go off in front and watched me slip and slide.

We rode the route, photographed the rhyme ice formations and idyllic scenes that that and the clear blue sunny skies offered...

...and ate more cake. Oh Yes!

I love a bit of cake, me.

The day was finished by me riding along route8, through Dolgellau and up the far side towards Mach, as planned. It's a good route and easy to follow. You just ride the Dragon's Back route to where the MBR route crosses over the river on it's return leg, and keep going south. Easy. And it's quick too.

My bike riding is also something I love, in addition to cake. 2 years ago it was a grind to get out in the cold and put some miles in my legs to get a good aerobic base. This year is different. I have a decent base allied to an inspirational project, and now feel at home on the bike, doing my thing. I can put the world to rights whilst I am peddling along, taking in the scenery, and there is so much of this going on when you are recceing the WC2C that you don't want to stop. So I find myself with big hours and feeling tired, and don't remember any trauma getting there. I just remember the day via the photos we (Jo and I) managed to take on our limited stops.

Lifestyle, with a bit of structure. Lovely.

Enjoy the photos, because we have. Well, all of them, except the ones of me, anyway.

Happy New Year!
The WC2C Team.

Christmas doo 4, The Miggly Moos.

2008-12-30T11:45:00.015Z

It's the 5 Layers of clothing, not the Turkey and Chocolate. Promise!

My last Christmas doo, was with the Miggly Moos and was a drunken affair in Caerleon with a food fight in a newly decorated Indian restaurant thrown in for good measure. I was "lucky" enough to be awarded the Ebeneezer Scrooge award, for paying my subs all year and turning up to collect them at the party because I hadn't spent any of them. This year has been worse than most: I only managed 2 or 3 rides with these sterling blokes, so the flowing beer was a good aide to catching up with news and events; and falling over.

I still managed a few hours on bike the next day, mind you.

Stalwart, me.

I think.

But...

My last week of training hasn't been great, hours wise. I didn't realise how much time I would relish spending at home, eating chocolates and doing the family thing, whilst it was bitterly cold outside. I should have had Christmas week as a rest week, rather than 2 weeks previous to that.

Hindsight is great, isn't it?

We still rode for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs a day, though.

So, I've had two easy weeks this month. It's not worth getting stressed over, because there were other things that had to be done. Christmas is a no go for big hours next year.

I managed to get only one cycling related pressie from Satan: A nice big drybag/rucksack thing for commuting the expanding 22-35mile each way trip with my clothes, towel, smellies and laptop. The rest were annual necessities like socks, jumpers, toiletries, and a game for my DS.

Maybe I'm regarded as a stinky computer geek?

The DS game has been played two or three times by myself, but charged twice a day since Christmas. I can't get near it, because it's always in someone elses grubby little mitts. :)

On Saturday, Jo and I went for a wee drive up to Nant Yr Arian to check out one of the routes and to see where my route would best run through this area, from Machynlleth. 3/4 of the way there, all of the windows were suddenly opened as we were doing about 70mph, in minus plenty degrees, accompanied by the immortal words, "I feel sick, slow down!" She said it as if it was my fault, but she had been playing MY game for nearly 2 1/2 hours!!

We rode the Pendam red route in about 50mins and ran away. It was freezing! I really wish I had some winter boots- Out of stock until, er, March '09. :?

Well, we didn't run away really. We stopped to watch the Red Kites feeding by the Llyn and then hit the Cafe--- HARD!

You can see the birds, just, if you click on me.

This was a great spectacle. 40 ,or so, birds swooping and screeching as they fulfill their role as carrion scavengers, picking up the bits of meat and stuff thrown out by the Warden. They are huge, graceful birds and (funnily enough) quite a vibrant brown/red colour with a go faster stripe along the underside of their wings.

Chavs.

The scenery around Nant Yr Arian is absolutley fantastic! Compact, green and steep sided hills and valleys seemingly criss-crossed with Bridleways, and beautiful views as far as the eyes can see from the summits.

Now, scenery means hills, means trails, means bikes!!

One thing about the Mk111 is this: When you drop the seatpost you can really ride it like you stole it! It's a different animal with a low seat, to be sure. Whilst I have been prattling on about it's long distance abilities, I hadn't even tried it in "doon hill" or trail mode.

To verbally illustrate my point; when you start to crawl all over her when she's bouncing down the hill, goading you to go a bit faster, you realise that you're going fast. Very fast. It's testament to the thoughful design that you can drop your weight right back in an instant, without it going all wallowy, or you can shoot forward over to the bars and she stays completely composed. She doesn't rebound off of jumps taking you by surprise, as so many seem to do once the air can gets hot. Everything works and works well.

The bike stays composed, but I'm not sure if I do.

I love her.

The next ride for route planning, will be at Coed Y Brennin. We'll do the Beast on New Years' Day and then I'll peddle south to Dolgellau and up to the Foxes pub area to get the link started towards Mach. All I'll need to do to finish the far north is link Porthmadoc to CyB on route 8, on a warm day. That will be a fast stretch, and I'm avoiding windchill at the moment.

The stage after that, the next weekend, will be to link the Foxes to Mach, via ClimachX. That should be a fun day!

The northern end of this route is going to be a lot of fun. Actually, it's all shaping up quite nicely. It'll be hard and totally epic, but with lots of different positive reasons for each sections' being uniquely memorable.

I hope Christmas has been kind to you and your loved ones.

Have a Happy New Year!

Dave

A good day's work, and Chrismas doo no.3

2008-12-21T09:44:00.007Z

No photo's, sorry. Today was a mileage cruncher and it was dark for most of it due to the weather.

Friday night was my third Christmas doo. My colleagues and I went to Brecon, from Cardiff, for a meal and a good old chat. It was a nice but late night. Gail, Lindy and Tom are good company, I've decided.

Anyhoo. Up and out at first light. God, it's early and I'm feeling it. It's been a couple of busy weeks with sporadic early (and late) nights where I have been up at 5am every morning. It's my Team Boss, Rob that keeps me on track with pep talks when I'm struggling. Cheers, Dad!

24hr riding and preparation is a lifestyle and it involves your whole day, and then some.

I arrived at Sugarloaf Halt, in a howling North Westerly wind and headed north in the rain on wet silty fireroads. Heading around Llyn Brianne on the East side on a very hilly road left me breathing out of my ears and other orifices quite quickly.

Progress was quick. Well, it was relatively quick when compared to my speeds over the last few weeks in Rhayader. What was slowing me down was the dead feeling in my legs from 20hrs of training this week. 20hrs, up to the point where I plopped my sore hamstrings on the front of the saddle this morning. I tried to find a way of stopping all the cold, stiff bits in my legs and back from complaining, but failed.

Today would be a good indicator of my potential speed in the middle of my unsupported non-stop ride from Caernarfon to Cardiff.

I had one episode of moon grass, but due to the info supplied by Numplumz, I knew that if it didn't get any better then I could turn around and find a better track. Maggie (the Mk111) and I turned around 30mins into bog trotting, after disappearing up to our knees and axles, and having to use the bike to drag myself out.

So, we then headed off, together and in a Westerly mood, until we joined up with a track that would eventually lead, both North and South, in exactly the direction that I was actually going! Result!

To cut a long and windy story short, I ended up in Strata Florida. I was tired after battling with the headwind for the whole 50km or so (with detours).

No messing, here. I turned around straight away and headed back on the "new route" (Cheers Jack, Matt Page and Ian Barrington for the help) and skirted the West side of Llyn Brianne on a fire road that eventually took me over the dam at the end of the reservoir. The track is not identified as a "right of way" but there is an open gate (people sized) at one end to stop cars and totally free access at the other end. It is accessed on this ride from the totally open end and I know that this route is used by local mountain bikers with no issue- So it stands as part of the route (so far). In any case, most of the trail goes through Forestry Commission gravel tracks, which are fully and legally regarded as accessible at the moment- so I'm ok.

I got back to the car via the same route, at Sugarloaf Halt, which was hard but uneventful. My watch said that I had burned 4000 calories so I dropped into a sweetshop in Llandovery and spent a small fortune. :)

Maggie is turning into a real mileage bike. She's super efficient and and comfy. I couldn't have had a better bike, even for this area where there are lots of fire roads. But I will definately need all of the travel when it comes to skirting and riding some of the Coed-y-Brennin, Climachx, Mach and Nant-yr-Arian trails on my way to Cardiff.

This morning, Sunday, I woke up late (7am) and got out of bed a little gingerly. After downloading my watch and calculating my training stress score for the week, I realised that I had gone over my score with a day to go. Tss of 900 when I should have ended after today's work at about 750. Recovery day today, in case I over reach.

I'm happy with yesterday's ride, and the fact that joining up to Nant-yr-Arian will be straight forward, so I'm not stressing about not having reached there this weekend.

Going Christmas shopping now.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Dave