What is it about walking?

I am learning to be patient with my knee. On the wise advice of a friend I'm not getting frustrated by the hills I have to either avoid or walk (I'm not allowed to ride anything that requires me stand on the pedals), and instead making the most of the swoopy corners and briefly sunny trails that I can ride. I've gone back to the pool and am loving swimming early morning laps and that lovely feeling you get when you minutely adjust the angle of your hand and immediately go faster for no extra effort. I know it makes me strange, but I don't get bored with counting tiles. And in the absence of allowed running but the need to get out of the house when I probably shouldn't be forcing the knee through more rotations for a second day in a row, I've even been (whisper it), walking.

I can't deny that I have enjoyed the ease that comes with just grabbing a jacket and being out of the door in ten seconds flat. I have loved getting reacquainted with the contents of my Shuffle (I know some people listen and ride - I can't), tracks from compilations dear to my heart, old favourites, sentimental stuff. (We shall not speak of the spontaneous dancing....) It's even been fun striding through the rain. But despite all of this, and even though seeing an hour's window of opportunity this evening I dashed out with what felt like enthusiasm, I reckon that I still really really don't like walking. Can anyone explain?

Minx

Time trials on 16 inches

Been a bad few weeks and my legs are twitching, not in a good way.

On the face of it starting a "proper" job that entailed being in an office 9-5 , 5 days a week didnt seem so bad. Until that is I realised quite how much riding I used to squeeze in when I "worked from home"...

Having crashed & burned quite badly on my first sprint race of the season I realised something creative had to be done.

Until its light enough for me to actually want to get up at 5am and cycle from Crowthorne to Old Street where I work then my chosen mode of commutership is a season ticket and a Dahon Curve folding bike...

....in Red:-)

I'm a girl... colour is very important and lets face it for £3oo there isnt going to be much of a "spec" to get excited about!

So now my days in the office are punctuated by two time trials trying to shave seconds off my commute at either end of the train journey without getting squished by a taxi, bus or white van man... although i have hit two pedestrians who just stepped onto the cycle path either not looking or not quite appreciating the speed one can get up to in top gear on a folder...and i get to spend a good 10 minutes a day practising track stands.... which are really not easy on a fold up bike. I always thought I would hate to commute to London everyday & when i thought i'd like to be able to ride everyday, this wasnt quite what I had in mind. But when I throw my leg over the two spindley stalks that pass for a stem and a seat post at 7am every morning I actually smile...

And then attempt to set a new speed record over speed humps on 16 inch wheels......:-)

Elaine

Walk this way

I did a LDWA (Long Distance Walk Association) Challenge today, the 18 mile Two Crosses event. As part of my marathon training I entered as a runner, not a walker, but seriously these LDWA types could lure me into abandoning running shoes or bike wheels in favour of some good old fashioned red socks and leather boots. They truly know how to lay on a good do! The first check point had a marquee, containing a buffet, more sandwiches, cake, jelly, hot soup, pies, biscuits and sweets than I knew what to do with. Further round the route another checkpoint had salted nuts and a selection of alcoholic beverages. The wobbily navigation following the wee dram of scotch was purely coincidental! Upon completion there was even more food and gallons of hot tea. Might be the only time I run 18 miles and end up in calorie credit.

If you fancy doing something different to your usual weekend activities and are looking for a way to have a fun and challenging day in the hills you could do a lot worse than look up your local LDWA and eat your way round a few miles of countryside.

Vikki

Updates

Fi writes:

Two substantial things have happened since I last blogged. Firstly, I went to Sierra Nevada for a week of gravity-loving, cactus-dodging, boulder-grazing madness. I can't describe the exhilaration of taking to the network of 'Danger-of-Death' rides, including the Extreme Towpath and Elephants Tail each morning after a three course breakfast.

It could actually be described as more of an eating holiday punctuated with cycling breaks. The food was amazing! And i learnt to ride steep twisting steps as we plunged down the mountainsides through little white villages desperately clutching to the (often sliding) landscape.

The other event of note was a wee running race I took part in on Friday night, starting just before midnight. You may have seen the news about Sir Ran Fiennes crashing his car in Stockport on Saturday lunchtime? Well he did the same race as me. The High Peak Marathon - 44 miles of bog, snow, mountains, rocks, icy flagstones, home made flapjack, luke warm hot chocolate and a sun rise that turned the snowy Pennine Way slate grey then bluebird blue.

Because we like drama, we settled on a sprint finish with another mixed team to squeeze in under the coveted 11 hour mark (by 9 seconds!) leaving them stranded another 19 seconds after...

What remained of the weekend was an interesting mix of mashed potato, sausages and gravy, sliding down handrails to ease the searing pain in my quads and making plans for next year (to go nearer 10 hours, obviously!)

A snowy Kinder Scout at dawn. If you haven't seen it, make a plan...

social.

Cheated by the weather forecast, we struck forth for the Dales regardless. Friends of easy company, skinny tyres and grubby bar tape, a brace of tea stops and just enough climbing to stay warm. Well, I thought so, anyway.



Bimbling home alone at dusk (the friends living on the other side of a substantial hill) there are curlews looping over the fields and the sort of light which hints at summer evenings to come whilst sending you deeper into your collar. It's not been a fast 70 miles but that doesn't matter, not at all; a lazy average means more time for catching up and being cheerful, feeling lucky and loved in equal measure, more time for coffee and cake, the things that sometimes matter and mean more than going fast.

A quietly good day.

j.

exhibit a

who needs enemies when you have friends who will take you out on a 'rolling' 3 hour road ride in the first spring storm of the year and then send you home with red velvet cupcakes for tea?

:)

j.

By the book

The book said 30 minutes and 3 spanners worth of difficulty. 3 days and 3 bike shop visits later to buy various missing or mangled bits and the task is complete. The sense of satisfaction as I successfully test rode up and down the street........... priceless.

Vikki

hills.

i'm sure i've written before about not being a natural climber, but just to recap: i'm not one.

however, i've been living in the land of ups and downs for a year now and something has changed.

partly through necessity: the only flat road for miles around is the valley road and in its usual traffic-choked, pothole-ridden state it's just not a very nice place to be. so the options are up, and then down, repeating as required.

and i've found myself coming around to climbing.

the rhythm is there, the ability to spin, to tune the noise out, all things i was lacking which have flourished im their new habitat. there are a few places i've not yet dared to go on my standard double: mytholm steeps is one of them (and as matt said, it's been magicaly de-steepened in that picture). i figure that any road steep enough to scare you all the way down it should definitely be avoided all the way up. however, i am feeling strong(ish). i put in a nottooshabby time on cragg vale last week with all sorts of excuses to convince me it could have been better and i think the time has come to see just what these legs can do.

once the snow melts, anyway.

j.

Viva Espana

This little Minx is going to Sierra Nevada tomorrow morning for a week of dry dusty trails, swimming in the pool, chatting with mates and running in the mountains.

Just been for a very muddy run through the woods. It has started raining now. I am very cold. I am very much looking forward to some sunshine!

Fi

Safe and sound

They only slept a few hours in 7 days. They trekked, mountain biked (at one point 13.5hrs non stop), the kayaked in freezing seas, trudged over mountains thigh-deep in snow. They swam across a freezing river, towing their kit. They worked well together, bit the bullet, dug deep.

They are the first team in history to win two editions of the Patagonian Expedition Adventure Race two years in a row.

They are now sleeping and eating, safe and sound, at the end of the world in Chilean Patagonia, swapping stories of their heroics with the other teams who trailed in their wake.

I am so proud.

F

gentle reminder.

it's coming.

won't be long now.

but it's still not quite as warm as it looks. yet.

j.

Patagonian Expedition Race

I have to share.

My boyfriend is racing for Team Helly Hansen Prunesco in Patagonia in the 10 day non-stop multi-sport expedition adventure race. They'll be trekking, mountain biking, kayaking, climbing and other stuff like coasteering and obviously navigating themselves through the wilds of Patagonia. There are 6 checkpoints in 10 days. They'll barely sleep during the race and return to England a battered over-exhausted mess of broken bodies and adrenalin-fuelled sleeplessness.

Last year they won the race in 6 days. Will they do it again?

I am, needless to say, a nervous wreck. I am on twitter (I had to learn how to use it) constantly to check their progress (currently second). It is so exciting.

Adventure racing is so much fun... www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com

Come on The Prunes!

Brass Monkeys

Last Sunday was the last of the Brass Monkeys winter Enduro series and the first time I have actually had a roast dinner during a race!
The event series was organised by Gorrick & The Army Cycling Union and sponsored by Merida. Riders had to compete in all 3 events to qualify for the series points and each event was about a month apart. The courses were all in new locations and the trails were a good combination of short sharp & interesting and technical enough to be an advantage to local riders. Round 1 was a freezing monsoon of sideways eardrum piercing sleet, Round 2 was bright, cold and very icy and the final round was sunny day, perfect trails and lots of smiles.

Round 1, at Rushmoor Arena, was just a war of attrition and only the really stubborn or stupid survived. Post bike maintenance was quite painful on the wallet & I took out a razor blade thin brake pad backing and threw away a nearly new chain.

Photo Joolze

So having entered the first one in the 4 hour solo class meant I then had to do the other 2 in the same class….pants…. I nearly froze my butt off on the first round and was still so cold by the time I got to the pub that I had to hold my pint with both hands!
So I was quite looking forward to Round 2 at Ash Ranges waking up to brilliant sunshine on the 28th December. A fast rolling course along with the new set of rubbers I got for Christmas and I did get a bit cocky on one particularly icy corner and slapped a knee down onto a frozen ground with a wincing thwack.

In between Round 2 & 3 I contracted the obligatory winter girl flu (much worse than man flu, we just don’t go on about it) and wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to ride. A couple of menthol inhalations and a really good blow later and I was talking about just doing the one lap to qualify for the points to get 2nd in the series. I had never ridden Parkhurst Hill before and it was a really great trail, lots of climbs to ensure I hacked up the remaining lung and some tail twitching descents to make sure I didn’t fall asleep.
Sadly the lungs were not happy to convey the oxygen to the legs as they usually do so I just did the two laps. Stopped and chatted to a few friends along the way and then went to the pub for Sunday lunch and a pint and got back just in time for the presentations to pick up my 2nd place series trophy! Now THAT is the future of racing for me……

Elaine

red white & blue

back in the USA.

working this time, in international falls, minnesota. they call their town "the icebox of the nation" with good reason. coldest place i've ever been and so dry the snot freezes in your nose before it gets a chance to run.

trying to avoid:

a) coming home with a fatback
b) planning too many long holidays (thus far discussions have covered the ultimate snow race roadtrip [arrowhead, susitna and iti all fall conveniently close to one another], ctr, td and raam).

tough ask.

j.

Cheeky nightride

So yesterday lunchtime I ran home early (literally) to greet the plumber (who never showed), and then snurled up (a combination of snarling and curling) in front of the fire to read some dusty Marketing tome for the rest of the afternoon in preparation for next week's lecturing. Next thing I know, some purple cows ran past me and the sun was shouting encouragement. And my mother was riding a bike which as shiney and new and she was popping the raddist manuals I've ever seen!

At which point I woke up, realised I was getting nowhere and checked my phone or sign that the outside world still existed. "Oooh, a text"... ANY1 4 CHEEKY NITERIDE? 6 @ USUAL PLACE.

Oh yes. You understand, I had to check the new bike was running smoothly in preparation for my weekend race. And I was asleep so its not like I was achieving anything. Right?

Kit on, lights clicked in, swung out the garage door to weave through the traffic and hit the dry(ish) trails with the TNC (Tuesday Night Club). Pleasure reconvened.

I did finish reading my chapter later that night, but was in bed by 9!

Fi

Spamtastic

A big ol' sorry to anyone that regularly posts, we had to activate the word recognition thing in the comments section because we were starting to get a lot of the weirdest spam. And frankly you don't want to wade through that stuff. OK, so the pretty panties link might have been an exception for any number of reasons, but that's what Google is for - go and find them if you must, Minx will have no part of it:-)

I have been the worst blogger of them all recently. Mainly because I've been struggling with injuries so there either hasn't been much riding or it's been confined to rehab pootles round the lanes. But I met up with Vikki (yes for the first time ever!) a couple of weeks ago and both made a pact to write more, even we aren't quite as hardcore as the rest of the Minx bloggers. (Although Vikki's reason for not riding so much at the moment is that she's training to run a marathon- so that would just be me that's not hardcore then.) But I figure there might be riders out there that will be reassured that it's not all racing, grrrrrr and freezing miles on a road bike, plus of course I make the other Minx girls look good....

I will try not to whine too much on the road back to fitness.

Minx

begin again

Tonight, I have been writing. Putting together the plan for the spring and the summer, scribbling in the calendar, filling entries, doing sums.

Hit the North 1.5.
Downhill races in Wales and Scotland.
110km audax (two tea stops).
Yorkshire summer 'cross series.
Bristol Bike Fest.
Brighton Big Dog.
Megavalanche and Passportes de Soleil.

Yup, I think that's all the niches covered.

(I'm going to need a lot of shorts.)


But, truth be told, it's been a little hard to focus on all of that. Because I've been reading, too.

It's been a slow start to the year. Last year was slow, too. Plugs dead. Spark gone. Happy to potter. Lately though, I've noticed it coming back. The desire to get to the top of the hill first, when you're riding on your own. The determination to be smoother and neater, to leave trails that switch and carve. The pleasure to be found in riding in the rain and the wind, knowing it makes you stronger, the pleasure in the pain.

The onemorehillism.

It's back. I'm happy. But I'm taking my time.

j.

Dragging it up by its hair

I'm talking about my fitness. This week has hurt a lot. I am trying to draf my fitness up by its hair, kicking and screaming. Last year I coasted, played and generally let my fitness and speed drift slowly away. Now I need it back and have to start again. And it hurts!

The week was long and semi-tough. Then Friday arrived I rode for 100 miles in the pouring rain and blasting wind. Not at all fun! A heavy bag on my back with sodden merino meant my shoulders were aching and still are, two days later. I collapsed by the fire on my return and was asleep in seconds. Not a pretty site.

Yesterday I could barely stagger around the flat so stayed in, warm and dry, and worked. Today I was out at 7 for an hour of swimming followed by 3 of running. Aching quads running down the final descent, shoulders still sore and chafed arm pits. Toes have turned a nostalgic black.

Do I want to be fit this badly? Yes, I reckon I do. To be honest I have loved the last week. It has reminded me of what life used to be like, before I got a proper job, when all I had to worry about was who was coming on the next epic ride and whether I had enough change for the cake shop.

Sport, as Howies so succinctly put it, is simple. And it makes everything better. And running today in the sunshine of the Mendips, chatting to (and in fact overtaking) mountain bikers and horse riders) made all of us feel silly, childish and utterly indulgent. And incredibly happy.

Fi

Athletic

Eighteen days in and I have managed my first ride of the new year. It was a seriously athletic endeavour, the pub and back for lunch with Trio. Even with the perma-drizzle it was a fab trip out and I'm already looking forward to next Monday.

Vikki

The Cycling Brand... what does it mean to you?

Fi writes:

My research team at the University of the West of England are just getting going on a massive project investigating the 'brand' of cycling. Brands are clever marketing tools which are really just a set of associations people have with something (and they are often signified with a logo or visual material in some way). So, a 'Gucci' bag means so much more than just 'bag' because the Gucci brand has a set of associations. Same goes for Howies, or Gore Bike Wear or Swobo. The brand adds value.

We are interested in whether cycling has a 'brand' and whether one can be created which people can build a relationship with and which will make the whole act of cycling so much more appealing to non-cyclists. We are really targeting those folk who 'could' but don't. You know the type - rusty old bike in the garage from former days, easy 3 mile trip to work, they do it in the car (spit) and are fit enough, or at least could be, to pedal there in stead.

I have a challenge for all Minx blog followers. Can you tell me in a few sentences what 'cycling' means to you.

I'll start:

Cycling is the core of my life and permeates through everything I do. I stand tall and shout from the rooftops, 'I Am A Cyclist'. I commute, road ride and race, and ride mountain bikes. The linking threads through my cycling consumption are 'fast' and 'fit'.

In advance, many thanks.