More gardening

Friends over and they brought their power washer so after some geocaching, a spot of lunch at Eyam we came home and started on the garden. The difference was amazing, already it feels a lot lighter! I think it probably needs a few more goes to get the years of stuff off it but loving how nice our outside space is going to be!

We stopped as we thought we'd fused the power washer, turns out we'd tripped the electric in the house as the extension cable was full of water, oops!

A fab day with friends, we promise we won't make everyone who comes to visit garden!

Mountain Mayhem 2013

A bit of rearranging of my weekend work and the manager at my new work arranging for me to have a couple of days off after the event meant that I could race at Mountain Mayhem this year. I had been meant to ride there solo last year but then broke my collarbone. After last years mud-fest it was at a new venue so I had no idea what the course would be like. We were also were unsure we had everything we needed as we still haven't got everything unpacked and organised after our move but Ali as always was a star and had basically packed everything herself. We arrived on Friday night and got ourselves set up in an ideal spot, tent and Gazebo up just in time for the rain.

The short story is that everything went better than expected, I lasted the 24hours and amazed myself by winning the event. Trophies were presented by HRH Princess Anne as well!

So back to the race, the morning was spent getting everything set up and before I knew it I was lining up ready to start the run, the start was at 12noon which I much prefer as less hanging round but also a 12noon finish the next days. I started near the front of the run and just took it easy on the way round so people were streaming past me but hopefully I didn't lose too much time but also didn't kill my legs off too much! There was some queuing on the first lap and I came over the line in second place, behind the current European Champion. It had started raining at this point so I grabbed a waterproof and headed out again, I was already spending a lot of time pushing as the course was very up and then down. I was finding that it was hard to eat or drink on the lap. It was during this lap the girl in 2nd went past me and I was down to 3rd, it was early in the race though and I was more worried if I would last the 24hours as I haven't done anything apart from my ten miles commutes recently. I also saw a number of crashes, one guy who obviously had concussion and I crashed on the first descent which left me covered in mud.

Fortunately the rain stopped and the course started drying out, I had swapped onto Ali's bike and her tyres seemed to work a bit better in the mud. I had taken to walking the first descent as I had scared myself when I crashed! In the next few laps I moved into first and started pulling out a small gap. I came in to swap bikes, back to mine as it had lights on and it was going to get dark soon. Al and Sarah from Garage Bikes had arrived with more supplies and to help Ali with support.

During the night I had a couple of bad laps where my eyes kept closing, including having to walk a long section of singletrack so I didn't fall into the lake. My support team were fab and kept me going, force feeding me and making sure I kept drinking. Sarah seemed to really involve bossing me around! The gap to 2nd was staying pretty steady but I was struggling, I was glad when dawn came which sped me up a bit. At some point I got myself a lap lead so I was able to lurk at the end although I was keeping an eye out just in case we had got that wrong. I crossed the line just after the 24hours to be met by Ali, another true team effort as once again she worked as hard as me to keep me going.

(c) Joolze Dymond

I couldn't have done it on my own, lots of people to thank:

• Ali who is the other half of this team, I have a lot of respect who do these events self-supported as I'm not sure I could!
• Garage Bikes who not only got my bike ready, help me out with kit etc also came down after a busy day in the shop on the Saturday to look after me and my bike.
• Work for letting me have the Monday and Tuesday off to recover even though others were already off.
• Cooksons Cycles who helped me so much over the years and helped with getting me and Ali the Superfly's I used during the race.
• All my friends for all the support and putting up with me being 'Amy' and all the fun rides.
• The organisers for an amazingly organised race and the marshalls who cheered and encouraged me throughout the race.

Friends out to Garden

Catching up a bit as there has been loads happening, mainly fun stuff and making the most of where we live. After a day working in Manchester on Saturday Hannah and Norn were down for some gardening. First off it was time to eat so we had Curry and then someone suggested a walk so I took us straight up the hill so Ali could say hello to her friend Patches

As we were about to leave the farmer arrived, it turns out Patches is called Spot and is getting bottle fed so me and Ali and I got to feed him, a lovely end to a lovely day.

 

Then on Sunday after attacking the brambles in our Garden we went off to Eyam, as we passed the lovely Octagonal Church in the village and it was open. It's amazing inside and lovely to see.

 

At Eyam it was lunch and a wander round the historical village. On the way back down the hill we could see the difference we had made in the garden.



Cutgate

Ali had given me a pass out and Hannah, Sarah and Al were playing out. We decided to meet at Langsett and I plotted two routes over, one on the road and one off. As the weather was nice I decided on the off-road route over cutgate. I was 500m from the house before I was off and walking, not a surprise since I was heading up what we had been riding as a descent. Then it was over to Ladybower Reservoir and up to Derwent Reservoir. Then it was cutgate time. I ended up carrying my bike up the first section!

Once riding again it was a lot of trying to chose the correct line and there was lots of dabbing but the views were amazing. The descent into Langsett was lots of fun and I arrived at the car park to find Hannah had brought me an iced spiced bun.

Meeting up with the others we headed back up the hill to then descend the last part of cutgate again. Then it was across the road to climb a nightmare climb, although not steep the ruts were such that you caught your pedals and the grassy bits were very narrow. At the top we decided to head back to Langsett and to the café where it was time for toasties, cake and ice-cream.

Then it was time to wave goodbye and head back up cutgate, it was a lot more rideable from this side but I still had to push a little bit. I had wondered how the descent would be but I rode most of it, just the odd dab and one stop to let my hands recover as I was holding onto the brakes for dear life! Then back along the reservoirs and home.

An evening ride with the girls

The NWMTB girls were riding from near Chinley in the Peak District and as I now live nearby I thought it would be silly not to join them. Leaving what I thought was loads of time I forgot to account for the headwind and the fact I didn't have quite the right location so was a little late. Fortunately I was able to catch them up. We headed down Roch Clough and I remembered just how rocky it was out here. I walked one section where the drop was too big for me but otherwise managed okay. Near Hayfield we headed over to Cracken Edge where the views were stunning before returning by Roych Clough.

After a fab ride and just as it got dark I headed home, following my Garmin I ended up off-road and was beginning to worry I was going to end up going down Cavedale, which I knew to be a very technical descent. As it was it was nice easy riding and I came out on a road I knew.

A late night but worth it. 37miles in total and felt strong on the climbs.

A sunny Sunday

Waking up to a lovely sunny day we knew we had to get out so we set out to find some of the local geocaches. At first we weren't successful but soon we were finding them and enjoying being out in the sunshine. Getting to Eyam we had ice-cream before returning home via another two caches.

After lunch I headed out on my bike, Ali was tired and decided to be sensible and do some work. It was amazing out and I was really happy with the route I had plotted. When I got back I was about to wash my bike when Ali said it was too nice a day and she wanted to ride the route as well so I headed back out with her. It was getting a little cooler but it was still a lovely day. She was flying today even jumping on a rocky descent, unfortunately this led to a puncture which I got to fix!

In the end I had ridden 26miles and walked about 4miles, not bad for a sunny Sunday.

Riding my mountain bike from the new house

Hannah came over to see our new home and brought her bike so of course we had to go riding. Ali helped me plot an eight mile route and we were lucky with the weather after days of rain it was clear. After a very short road section it started with a climb which had us all off and walking. But once up high it was a series of short ups and downs, before a fab descent to Calver. Then one last climb to descend a track we had walked down the week before. It was techy and fun but showed me I have lost some descending confidence and skills. Still its a great place to practice.

Local walks

We've been out a few times on little walks from our house, an hour at most. I think we're going to love it.

First bit of off-road

With us both now working and loads to still sort out, all our stuff is still in boxes, we've not had a chance to ride off-road yet. But when I left work on Friday I decided to ride a slightly different way home. I started following where my garmin wanted to send me and when I noticed a bridleway heading in the right direction I followed that. In the end I did three seperate off-road sections, linked by a couple of road bits. Great fun and makes me want to do more.

New Commute

As lots as you probably know Ali got a new job in the Peak District so this weekend we moved. Today I started my new job, although I've loved teaching Bikeability I didn't fancy commuting into Manchester everyday and spending half my life on the train. So today was my first commute, it was a perfect Summers day, its a little hiller round here but stunning. On the way home I stopped to watch the paragliders.

We've also made the most of our surroundings by going for evening walks....which has slowed down unpacking.