We've finally managed to drive out the valley! The roads have been pretty bad since the snow fell on Sunday morning.
Yesterday P and I left just after 11am to see how far we would get on mountain bikes to work. P was a fair bit quicker than I on the slippy, slushy, icy roads, but we both got in. It took me nearly twice as long as normal! There was a bit of traffic getting in and out but most of it was delivery vans, the coal man, the gas man and the post van! The ride home (early) was better, and much more tarmac was visible. I had a much better ride home, having thrown the toys out of the pram on the way in. It was bitterly cold, but beautiful, even in the snow showers.
This morning things were better again, and as long as you didn't venture too far off the vehicle tracks it was an easy drive to the main road. Who knows what its like to the south though! We will find out later.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Monday 21 December 2009
Snow!
Been having some fun times in the snow that's fallen since sunday morning! Had to spend Saturday Christmas shopping as I've left things late as usual. Sunday morning we woke up to heavy snow, which just kept on falling. It was obvious that going anywhere in the car was a bad idea, so we headed out mid-morning up towards Whin Rigg to see what the tops were like.
Walking up through the Japanese Gardens was beautiful, all the bamboo and rhododendrons covered in a good inch or two of snow. Snow showers kept coming cross, and as we reached the top of the forest on Irton fell, we also found the wind. Seeing we we've been up Whin Rigg many times in much better conditions, and in some as bad, we decided not to bother. Spin drift and strong winds didn't appeal, so we descended down into Latterbarrow forest and the road near Nether Wasdale, making a snow troll in the woods at the bridge.
We then walked back via paths and the road (only passable with 4x4's). The sun came out towards the end of the walk, for a brief respite before more snow showers. Its the most snow we've had since we moved here, and certainly makes it all feel much more christmasy!
We were both supposed to be at work today, and left a little late on our bikes to see if we could get in. There was certainly no way we would get out with the car, so tried with the ice spike tyres. P got further than me along the road, before realising that it was pretty pointless. The tyres were great where it was icy, but a lot of the road was also slightly slushy frozen deep snow, which they didn't cope with. It made riding very difficult, and with just over 4 miles to the main road, it was too far to go. So a day off - again due to the weather.
We headed out for a walk up the valley by the river to Boot, and then back over the tops past Blea Tarn. A very black and white landscape.
Walking up through the Japanese Gardens was beautiful, all the bamboo and rhododendrons covered in a good inch or two of snow. Snow showers kept coming cross, and as we reached the top of the forest on Irton fell, we also found the wind. Seeing we we've been up Whin Rigg many times in much better conditions, and in some as bad, we decided not to bother. Spin drift and strong winds didn't appeal, so we descended down into Latterbarrow forest and the road near Nether Wasdale, making a snow troll in the woods at the bridge.
We then walked back via paths and the road (only passable with 4x4's). The sun came out towards the end of the walk, for a brief respite before more snow showers. Its the most snow we've had since we moved here, and certainly makes it all feel much more christmasy!
We were both supposed to be at work today, and left a little late on our bikes to see if we could get in. There was certainly no way we would get out with the car, so tried with the ice spike tyres. P got further than me along the road, before realising that it was pretty pointless. The tyres were great where it was icy, but a lot of the road was also slightly slushy frozen deep snow, which they didn't cope with. It made riding very difficult, and with just over 4 miles to the main road, it was too far to go. So a day off - again due to the weather.
We headed out for a walk up the valley by the river to Boot, and then back over the tops past Blea Tarn. A very black and white landscape.
Friday 18 December 2009
christmas begins...
Have been trying very hard to avoid all chocolates, mince pies and cakes at work with only limited effect. This culminated in a works christmas party with more drink than I'm used too and lots of food!
P, I and a few friends went out on tuesday night for a night ride. It was a beautiful night. It started with a light shower of sleet but cleared to a starry night. We covered 18 miles on the local roads, tracks and trails. I even surprised a tiny mouse as it scuttled across the trail in front of me. It must have been very cold!
Thursday was again very cold and clear, with more icy roads. Again my ice spikes were brilliant. It snowed on the way home, that hard pellet type of snow not the soft fluffy stuff, and made to roads a wee bit interesting! Unfortunately it was short lived, and didn't put much down.
Not been running for over a week now, and I'm chaffing at the bit. Tomorrow is christmas shopping, but I may get out afterwards. Sunday looks like it may snow, so we shall see.
P, I and a few friends went out on tuesday night for a night ride. It was a beautiful night. It started with a light shower of sleet but cleared to a starry night. We covered 18 miles on the local roads, tracks and trails. I even surprised a tiny mouse as it scuttled across the trail in front of me. It must have been very cold!
Thursday was again very cold and clear, with more icy roads. Again my ice spikes were brilliant. It snowed on the way home, that hard pellet type of snow not the soft fluffy stuff, and made to roads a wee bit interesting! Unfortunately it was short lived, and didn't put much down.
Not been running for over a week now, and I'm chaffing at the bit. Tomorrow is christmas shopping, but I may get out afterwards. Sunday looks like it may snow, so we shall see.
Tuesday 15 December 2009
ice spikes
After last years long cold snaps, we both got very frustrated not being able to ride to work and back due to icy ungritted roads, so in anticipation P and I bought some ice spike tyres, him for his commuting road bike, and me for my old hardtail (neither of my road bikes have the clearance!). And yesterday was the first icy work morning since we got them. Absolutely brill. The roads were very slippy out to the main drag and I wouldn't have stayed on if riding my road bike. Definitely worth it, even with the added drag of the tyres on tarmac and the unique sound!
It was also timely, as its been in the back of my mind that my commuting bike needed a bit of TLC, and in starting to strip it down, my worst fears where confirmed. The rear rim disintigrated as I took the tyre off - so it was dished then! and the rear hub free wheel is going, very little rear brake pads, rear deraillieur stiff to the point of immovable, twisted pannier rack, and its filthy! Time for some nice shiny new bits!
It was also timely, as its been in the back of my mind that my commuting bike needed a bit of TLC, and in starting to strip it down, my worst fears where confirmed. The rear rim disintigrated as I took the tyre off - so it was dished then! and the rear hub free wheel is going, very little rear brake pads, rear deraillieur stiff to the point of immovable, twisted pannier rack, and its filthy! Time for some nice shiny new bits!
Monday 14 December 2009
sunshine & frost
P and I had been paying close attention to the weather forecast, and booked Friday off work. We headed over to Shepherds Crag in Borrowdale, and had the crag to ourselves for the whole day. It was a glorious day, and actually not that cold, despite the sharp frost on the ground, frozen puddles, frosted white grass and the long shadows of mid winter. We were both feeling a little rusty on trad climbing - me inparticular, as I reckon its May since I did any trad climbing. The crag was also quite damp, north butress was dripping. We did Kransick Crack, one of the Brown Slab easy routes and the VS at the right hand side of Brown Slabs up the corner. A beautiful day and one to remind me that I do enjoy climbing in the winter!
Saturday, the roads around us were very slippy, and we slithered the car up to Wasdale Head, for a walk. I wanted to check out the direct line between Styhead and Great End, so we walked up the main path to Styhead, and took the easiest line up to the summit of Great End. The ground was frozen solid and was fairly icy in places. The sky wasn't quite as clear as we had hoped, with cloud boiling up to the east and spilling up over the higher western hills. We mooched onto the Pike, and dropped down towards Mickledore, stopping for lunch above Pike's Crag out of the wind. We then returned to the car down Hollowstones. Despite the cloud it was still a beautiful day, with good views around the Lakes and beyond.
Sunday, we had originally thought about going up to Heron Crag for a look see, with the back up plan of Bell Stand if the wind was too much or the crag was too cold. Overnight there was a very sharp frost and it was bitter. This put us off heading up that way as it was soo cold (three nights of accumulated frost!) So we decided to go bouldering on the local stones at Fisherground. Again a lovely day, although a fair amount of high cloud was around which took the edge off the temperature. We stayed until dark, watching the sunset behind a thin bank of cloud out to sea.
Late on we walked up onto Fell End to watch for meteors. Fortunately we seemed to be in a hole in the clouds, with high cloud to the north, east, south and west, but our sky was clear enough to watch a fair number of shooting stars. It was a breath-taking sight. Wanted to stay for muh longer, but eventually bed called at the end of a busy weekend.
Saturday, the roads around us were very slippy, and we slithered the car up to Wasdale Head, for a walk. I wanted to check out the direct line between Styhead and Great End, so we walked up the main path to Styhead, and took the easiest line up to the summit of Great End. The ground was frozen solid and was fairly icy in places. The sky wasn't quite as clear as we had hoped, with cloud boiling up to the east and spilling up over the higher western hills. We mooched onto the Pike, and dropped down towards Mickledore, stopping for lunch above Pike's Crag out of the wind. We then returned to the car down Hollowstones. Despite the cloud it was still a beautiful day, with good views around the Lakes and beyond.
Sunday, we had originally thought about going up to Heron Crag for a look see, with the back up plan of Bell Stand if the wind was too much or the crag was too cold. Overnight there was a very sharp frost and it was bitter. This put us off heading up that way as it was soo cold (three nights of accumulated frost!) So we decided to go bouldering on the local stones at Fisherground. Again a lovely day, although a fair amount of high cloud was around which took the edge off the temperature. We stayed until dark, watching the sunset behind a thin bank of cloud out to sea.
Late on we walked up onto Fell End to watch for meteors. Fortunately we seemed to be in a hole in the clouds, with high cloud to the north, east, south and west, but our sky was clear enough to watch a fair number of shooting stars. It was a breath-taking sight. Wanted to stay for muh longer, but eventually bed called at the end of a busy weekend.
Wednesday 9 December 2009
Tankys Trog 2009
Well that's another Tankys over with for this year. I wasn't sure what to expect this year in terms of time as my fitness was not where I would have liked it to be. Although locally and in short races I've been doing well, or at least better than this time last year, there has been a definite lack of long runs in my schedule, and I hadn't run over 18 miles since June sometime. So I was really quite pleased to finally break the 4 hour mark! I came in 3rd lady, in 3:56. A pb by 12 minutes.
I found the peat bogs really hard going this year, I think due to the lack of training on this kind of ground. Since we moved up to the Lakes from the Peak, I've become much better on steep rocky ground and lost ability on boggy tussocky ground. The weather was not too bad, despite what seems to be the general opinion. 2007 was much worse, as were the streams, but still it wasn't all blue sky and still air!
It had rained heavily overnight and was still raining 30 minutes before the start in Marsden, but the forecasters predicted it would dry up soon after dawn, and with dawn being after 8am they weren't far off. They were wrong in predicting it would then stay dry though! It wasn't raining as we set off, but on the first climb up Wessenden the rain came in again rather heavy and cold, so my cag came out again having been hastily put away before the start. I took the climb up Wessenden steadily and was surprised to reach the style across the road in 2nd place. I knew Nicky wasn't far behind, and so kept the pace up but steady on the flags across to Black Hill. They were very slippy in places, but it looked like my choice on Montrail Highlanders hadn't been a bad choice as I was sticking to the flags a lot better than others (mostly in Innov-8's). Nicky passed me on the last part of this climb, but we kept on passing each other across the top into a sharp strong south-westerly, this was probably one of the most unpleasant parts of the day. I managed to pull ahead coming off Black Hill down to Crowden, and we went our separate ways on the south side of Torside Reservoir.
I headed up Wild Boar Clough, while I think Nicky went Lawrence Edge way, which proved decisive as by the time I popped out by the rain guage near the Snake she had over hauled me by about 2 minutes. The route up Wild Boar Clough went really well, and seemed to much more relaxing in terms of navigation than the 'old' routes via Torside. I had popped out on Saturday to walk up Wild Boar Clough to check it out, going up the left hand side and coming down the right. It had seemed a great line then and so it had proved. The worst part of the Bleaklow traverse was a nasty hail shower as we passed over the top of Bleaklow down to Alport Low. The run down the Snake really hit me hard, as I was dehydrated and running low on energy! Luckily an old club mate was with me here and his wife had some spare energy drink for me which really pepped me up and meant I could push on to the finish!
The climb up Seal Stones was painful as always, and so was the 7 minute crossing. My calf muscles started to cramp in the bogs on the crossing which slowed me down slightly. I couldn't run through them with abandon as you would normally and had to pick my way around them in order to avoid cramping. At last the end of the crossing came into view, with P and his Dad stationed there waiting for me. P shouted encouragement and said I had 15 minutes to the 4 hour mark, so I plunged off the side of Kinder and gave it everything I had to the finish. This was where the Montrails weren't so great but I slithered and slid my way down and ran as hard as I could to the finish tent.
As always a great race and a great atmosphere in the village hall afterwards. There was a pair of smartwool socks and a limited edition Tanky's mug for a prize. My big toenail is now very black and bruised and its only a matter of time before it comes off. I just hope it doesn't stop me running too much in the next few weeks.
I found the peat bogs really hard going this year, I think due to the lack of training on this kind of ground. Since we moved up to the Lakes from the Peak, I've become much better on steep rocky ground and lost ability on boggy tussocky ground. The weather was not too bad, despite what seems to be the general opinion. 2007 was much worse, as were the streams, but still it wasn't all blue sky and still air!
It had rained heavily overnight and was still raining 30 minutes before the start in Marsden, but the forecasters predicted it would dry up soon after dawn, and with dawn being after 8am they weren't far off. They were wrong in predicting it would then stay dry though! It wasn't raining as we set off, but on the first climb up Wessenden the rain came in again rather heavy and cold, so my cag came out again having been hastily put away before the start. I took the climb up Wessenden steadily and was surprised to reach the style across the road in 2nd place. I knew Nicky wasn't far behind, and so kept the pace up but steady on the flags across to Black Hill. They were very slippy in places, but it looked like my choice on Montrail Highlanders hadn't been a bad choice as I was sticking to the flags a lot better than others (mostly in Innov-8's). Nicky passed me on the last part of this climb, but we kept on passing each other across the top into a sharp strong south-westerly, this was probably one of the most unpleasant parts of the day. I managed to pull ahead coming off Black Hill down to Crowden, and we went our separate ways on the south side of Torside Reservoir.
I headed up Wild Boar Clough, while I think Nicky went Lawrence Edge way, which proved decisive as by the time I popped out by the rain guage near the Snake she had over hauled me by about 2 minutes. The route up Wild Boar Clough went really well, and seemed to much more relaxing in terms of navigation than the 'old' routes via Torside. I had popped out on Saturday to walk up Wild Boar Clough to check it out, going up the left hand side and coming down the right. It had seemed a great line then and so it had proved. The worst part of the Bleaklow traverse was a nasty hail shower as we passed over the top of Bleaklow down to Alport Low. The run down the Snake really hit me hard, as I was dehydrated and running low on energy! Luckily an old club mate was with me here and his wife had some spare energy drink for me which really pepped me up and meant I could push on to the finish!
The climb up Seal Stones was painful as always, and so was the 7 minute crossing. My calf muscles started to cramp in the bogs on the crossing which slowed me down slightly. I couldn't run through them with abandon as you would normally and had to pick my way around them in order to avoid cramping. At last the end of the crossing came into view, with P and his Dad stationed there waiting for me. P shouted encouragement and said I had 15 minutes to the 4 hour mark, so I plunged off the side of Kinder and gave it everything I had to the finish. This was where the Montrails weren't so great but I slithered and slid my way down and ran as hard as I could to the finish tent.
As always a great race and a great atmosphere in the village hall afterwards. There was a pair of smartwool socks and a limited edition Tanky's mug for a prize. My big toenail is now very black and bruised and its only a matter of time before it comes off. I just hope it doesn't stop me running too much in the next few weeks.
I have been resting for the last two days to let the toe swelling go down, but was back on the bike today. Strangely I felt strong and it was a lovely morning if a bit damp on the roads itself. Looking forward to the forecasted good weather coming up!
Friday 4 December 2009
awaiting tanky's
just been relaxing before tanky's on Sunday. Felt a little bit frustrated last night as it was a beautiful evening, the moon was nearly full and shinning brightly, but I was busy packing for the weekend and also didn't want to go out as I have been feeling a little tired. If I felt fitter I would have gone out regardless, but I haven't run over 20 miles since June, before I injured my shoulder. While I have no doubt I'll be OK on the day I want to give myself the best chance I can, and doing to much this week didn't seem sensible.
But I have dug out a couple of photos taken from 2007 Tanky's, just to remind myself that even in appalling weather it is still FUN!
But I have dug out a couple of photos taken from 2007 Tanky's, just to remind myself that even in appalling weather it is still FUN!
Thursday 3 December 2009
double ? speed session
Didn't fancy a long or high session last night, but felt the need to get out and do something, partly to see how the toenail felt! Popped over the hill to Miterdale and did a sort of double speed session, so after warm up did a 200 m flat sprint followed after recovery by a 500 m uphill sprint, jogg back downhill to the beginning for recovery and repeat twice. Total mileage 5 miles, Total Ascent ~800', with 3 x 215m, 3 x 500m.
I felt a bit cheated by the weather as when it was dusk it had been clear, and I was excited by being out with the full moon, but by the time I headed out it was cloudy. Mustn't omplain though as it was dry and relatively warm AND not windy! Toe was a bit sore by the end of the run, and will probably casue me so pain on Sunday.
I felt a bit cheated by the weather as when it was dusk it had been clear, and I was excited by being out with the full moon, but by the time I headed out it was cloudy. Mustn't omplain though as it was dry and relatively warm AND not windy! Toe was a bit sore by the end of the run, and will probably casue me so pain on Sunday.
Wednesday 2 December 2009
not much
Had a quiet couple of days after the weekend. I don't want to do too much this week before Tanky's but at the same time need to do something! Unfortunately the race on Sunday bruised my big toenail and it was quite sore on Monday so I gave myself the day off (and my legs felt heavy!), then yesterday was icy on the roads around ours so I didn't head to work on the bike, then the evening became taken up with a few chores that had been put off for longer than reasonable! Hoping to get out for a gentle run tonight though, it may stay dry?!
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