Newport 200

Ali gave me a lift over so it wasn't too early a start. Once there I bumped into Shona and Rick from Keep Pedalling before grabbing some toast. I set up just behind the group as I was messing around with my bag but it didn't take long to catch them up. After a while I was riding with just Rich and Shona and we spent the day together. On the way out we had snow on occasions but fortunately it didn't stick. Getting to Newport we went to Costa to avoid the queues in the cafe, a great call. I was pleased to find that although it was windy on the way back it wasn't the strong headwind that had been promised. About 10k from the end I managed to throw my chain, somehow it twisted and I couldn't work out how to get it back on. I was feeling like a bit of a numpty and had to get Rich to help, fortunately it did take him more than two seconds so I didn't feel quite as bad!

Got back to lovely soup and Ali waiting to take me home thanks to Endomondo.

Less muddy Morley miles

Another Garage Bikes girls ride today, Sarah hasn't been well so I'd offered to lead it for her. Ali kindly gave me a lift over so I could get there early enough to pre-ride the route. With it being so cold the usual mud was frozen and it was fast going. Although the second half was muddier.

We set off waving goodbye to poor Sarah. There were ten of us out in total. The weather was cold and it snowed a bit. Getting back to the shop there were cream eggs, dougnuts and cakes to be eaten.

Another lovely ride.

Mr Sparkle's Dark Un

Thanks to sportsunday for the photo

I'd read about this last year as lots of people I know from twitter ran it and Mr Sparkle the organiser is someone I know from mountain biking and I had thought it sounded interesting. But me do a fell run? Anyway I have been trying to keep up my running and I've mainly been running off-road so I decided to give it a go. Ali fancied it as well and we decided to stick together. I knew a lot of the course from riding in the area and it was fun to run. The ground was very hard with just a little bit of ice which the marshalls did a fantastic job of warning us about. In fact the marshalls were amazing the whole way round, cheering and guiding us on. We both finished with big grins on our faces and now I'm thinking of doing some more fell races!

Hit the North 2013

Well what is there to say about this race except how much fun it is. I had been looking forward to it as I have been over to Phillip's Park to ride the new trails a few times recently. I however knew I wasn't particularly fit and had rode home over Parbold Hill on friday since it was such a nice evening. So with the excuses out of the way onto the race!

Ali didn't fancy riding over so we drove down, I kindly put her bike on the car so I would have a spare! Once there I was chatting away so much I was nearly late to the start, oops! Lining up with friends it was only as we set off I noticed it said Elite start. We headed uphill and I worked as hard as I could, still a fair few people went past me. Into the Berms and it was hard work with so many people around me but I held my place, then back up the hill to do the Berms again. I couldn't help but smile my whole way round. Even the Field of Despair didn't reduce me to tears as I knew the Berms were straight afterwards. In fact my only problem was the race was too short, I wanted to keep riding.

Thanks guys for an amazing race!

I finished 4th female and 95th overall.

Early morning risk assessment

I found out I'm leading a ride this Friday on Monday. Although I've done the route before it was last summer so I knew it had to be checked out. Looking at my schedule for the week this morning was the only realistic time so I was on the train from Bolton at 6:15am. Riding up the loop line it was so cold, I definetly had the wrong gloves on, but it was also lovely. I forget how much I love early mornings sometimes.

Geeky Sleep Graphs

Recently I've been playing with sleep apps on my phone. Somehow they tell me how much deep sleep I've had. But what I really like is the pretty graphs. As you can see on Monday night I spent most of the early hours of the morning nearly awake.

Commuting this week

The rota this week had me working quite far away. Ainsdale, Wythenshaw, Southport and Maghull. Unfortunately previous plans to run on Monday meant I got the train with Colin, we rode out along the Coastal Road only after we were riding for a while did we realise the road must be closed as nothing had come past us and normally its busy. Turns out that it was closed for flooding but it only covered part of the road. The ride took longer than expected due to Col's bike feeling odd. Turns out the wheel he had built had gone baggy!

Tues was Wythenshaw and the slush and hail. I covered five miles in an hour! Nightmare, the roads were practically unrideable and I got really cold. Train home!

Wednesday once again was train as I was night riding in the evening. Thursday I wasn't working so that just left today. 58miles in total and perfect weather. I was glad I had spent time yesterday cleaning kiwi, putting new brake pads on and sorting out the chain tension!

EEG

Today I had an EEG, I've had them before when I was younger but I don't remember them. It was a bit of an odd experience, first the electrodes are attached to my head then I had to lie down, first with my eyes open, then with them shut. Then I had to do some deep breathing and then it finished with a flashing light, first with my eyes shut, then open and then open and shutting them when asked.  In total it took nearly an hour, no idea if it showed anything abnormal but should get the results in a couple of months apparently.

More fun

After a leisurely morning eating Bacon Butties for breakfast we realised there probably wasn't enough time for the Dales ride and Al was keen to ride the Hit The North Trails. Lots and lots of smiles as we flew round Berms and squealing from me in the mud! I even got to wear my cool birthday socks!

(Not so) Muddy Morley

I was out early on Saturday morning to ride to Rochdale to get the train over to Morley for another garage bikes girly ride. It was a perfect morning, blue skies, cool and crisp. I made it to Rochdale in perfect time and the train was ontime, perfect. Getting to Morley it was a bit of a climb to the shop but that only warmed me up. After a bit of bike fettling and we were on our way. Sarah once again led a fab ride, for once the mud was more frozen than slippy, a fact I was glad of with my worn tyres! Lots and lots of smiles and we were back to the shop for sandwiches and cookies, thanks Vikki!

After a lazy afternoon it was time for squash, five of us two courts for an hour and a half. Ali managed to beat everyone even though she hasn't played in years! I started doing better when the others got tired ;-)

Then to end a perfect day we had pizza, what a fab day!

Thanks to Sarah (MrsGarageBikes) for the picture.