Christmas Ride

Hannah came over for a Christmas Ride and Pizza, she said 50miles was too long, I did suggest 49 and she didn't seem to bothered. But with Pizza to be eaten I led us on a slightly shorter ride. We even found a Christmas Tree to complete the ride.

Zoom Zoom

Ali wanted to have a go on the Phillips Park trails so after collecting her bike from Cooksons we had a quick blast. 7.5miles my shortest ride in a long time but lots and lots of fun.

Cake and Berms

When I found out my friend wasn't working on Thursday I invited her over for some fun. The day started with lunch at Slattery's, lots of chocolately goodness (we did have 'good' food as well.

After that it was over to Phillips Park to try out the new trails in Hit the North land. Wow they are lots of bermy fun, I had a huge smile on my face, one section was so much fun we rode it three times.

Lovely way to spend a Thursday.

A long run

Running is something you should build up slowly, injuries being much more likely than biking. I obviously am rubbish at taking my own advice! After my couple of morning runs and then two Monday night runs (which were a big step up on their own) I agreed to meet Ros on Sunday for a 13mile run in the hills. Ali shaking her head at my stupidity offered me a lift over so that I didn't completely kill my legs.

It was a perfect frosty moment and most of the boggy bits were pretty solid. There was a little bit of ice dodging on the way over Winter Hill and Great Hill but on the whole nothing too slippy.

I was flagging near the end but had a great time. We got back to the smell of bacon and two little boys who wanted to get all their toys out.

Now to keep this running up.

A muddy Morley Ride

After a bit of comparing diaries we came up with a date to go and ride over with our friends in Leeds, they warned us that it would be muddy so I knew it would be a little different to our local riding. We were there before ten but had the all important second breakfast before heading out.

The route was fantastic and yes very mudy, I failed at some hills and blamed my lack of singlespeed legs but actually I think the mud monsters grabbed my wheels and stopped me moving!

There was even a teeny-tiny stream crossing, the others sailed through it, I took three (maybe four) attempts and eventually did it. Not sure why I kept stopping I didn't want to walk it and get wet feet!

The turn-around point was an ice-cream farm. They had lovely waffle baskets where you chose three flavours of ice-cream! After that it was the best descent of the day, a little chilly due to the water flowing down it.

Then all that was left was more mud and more smiles before the best part of the day. Sarah had made an amazing chocolate cake! She even sent me home with extra. So now I need to ride with her every week for cake.......

Running off-road in the dark

Ros and Vikki keep inviting me running so after doing a few morning runs I decided to give it a go this Monday. Turned out it was just me and Ros as Vikki is injured. We ran from Ros's so it was straight up the hill. Along a bit down a bit, more along, more up. It was muddy in parts, slippy leaves over rocks in park. But most of all it was lots of fun. Going to try and make the effort to meet up more often.

Taking a moment to enjoy the view

Working in Liverpool today, its ages since I've been over so I was looking forward to the commute. Used my muddy shortcut past Carr Mill in both directions. On the way it was misty over the water so I stopped for a while. On the way home I sat on the wall and watched the red sky sinking. Sometimes its important to stop and appreciate the world.

CX Training

After being inspired by last weekends cross training I was determined to practise my skills. So today I headed out to a local park with Ali for support. I started off with practising dismounting, over an obstacle and remounting. I'm still having to think about it but it is feeling easier. After that it was time for dismounting, shouldering the bike and carrying it up the hill, I would say running but it was more like shuffling. But I was managing the getting off my bike and getting it on my shoulder without stopping moving.

I finished off with practising starts. Ali counted down and we raced to the other end of the football pitch, obviously she beat me everytime but hopefully not everyone can sprint as well as she can!

The next women's session is next saturday at Townley Park in Burnley, I can't wait and hope there will be lots of people there.

A Saturday spent Geocaching

Originally when I got up on Saturday it was foggy and not looking promising out but once Ali got up the sun came out and we decided to go and tick off some more local geocaches. It was a perfect Autumn day and reminded us how pretty it is near us and how we can have mini-adventures from home.

I managed to find a rope swing and couldn't resist.

We discovered some local history.

Enjoyed our cake with a view.

Watched Ali try and dive into a muddy puddle.

It was a lovely day, we finished it off by going out for dinner in the evening.

Today I went Cross Training

I've done a few cross races over the years, sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it but the one thing I don't have is any cross skills. I'm not too bad at descending due to mountain biking but anything that involves you getting off your bike and everyone streams past me. When I saw that there was a women's cross training session being organised in Burnley I realised this was the perfect time to learn some skills. So this morning I headed out into the fog. By the time I got to Burnley they weather was lovely. About eight of us gathered ready to start our training.
First I had a slight mechanical, trying to let some air out of tyres I let too much out, oops. But then pumping it back up the valve broke in the pump, it took a lot of pulling to get it off, but once that was done and a new tube in and I was on my way.
I'd just missed remounting but we were on to dismounting. It was explained well and then we had to practice. I surprised myself and after a bit of practice I was confidently doing it without having to unclip the left foot before I even thought about it. Then it was time to put it together with a little hurdle. The first time I forgot to pick my bike up I was so concentrating on getting off my bike, oops. It's great what a bit of practice can do and I was almost feeling smooth at the end. Definetly something that is worth me practising as I lose lots of time at any hurdles.
Then we looked at how to carry our bikes, my water bottle was in the way and it was nice to hear I had come up with the right method for the three peaks. We also practised picking up and putting the bike down, another skill to practice that will definetly save time.
After all this we went for a ride, got ourselves muddy and finished with some descending.
It was a really useful and enjoyable session so thanks to Mark and Alan. There will be another session at 10am in Townley Park Burnley on Saturday 24th November, any women welcome you don't need a cross bike just something you can ride off-road.
Mark is also organising the only round of the NWCA CX league to have a women's only race. That is on the 15th December in Waddington, it'll be great to get some good numbers and show that there is demand for women's races.