A Change of Scenery

So after some crazy months and a strange set of events I'm now living in Edinburgh!

 

Snake Lane 10 - 2019

Snake Lane 10 today. First proper race of 2019 for me, 10 miles of winding Pocklington roads.

This may have been the first race of the year for me, but it felt an important one after unexpected doing it last year and doing really well, I wanted to top my performance this year.

 

My New Baby

So after months of planning, discussing, refining and eventual building my bike is ready.

I introduce to you my 2019 speed weapon.

 

West Yorkshire Winter League

This year I decided to enter the WYWL after being bugged, hounded, and bullied into running for the club.

Overall, I hated it. I've come to the conclusion that running trails is for fun not for racing for me. After doing Pennistone Hill Race last year and having the nasty fall I'm scared to descend, which means I end up overtaking people on the up-hills (and occasional flat), but then frustratingly lose so many places while I walk down the technical descents.

I shan't be doing it again next year.

UPDATE: overall position within the league was 35th out of nearly 500. Not too shabby.

Wales, Great Orme, Fun!

Sometimes just need to escape and spend some time away where you know no one. Little trip to North Wales, got out on the bike along the coast and cycled around Great Orme which was pretty damn spectacular!

Humble Pie - Story of an Olympic Athlete

So today I had a very strange experience - I'll start by saying that sometimes it's easy to get trapped in a cycle of complacency when you're a fast runner; I mean I can turn up to a marathon, not try, and still come 28th.

Well today I was driving home for Christmas and decided to stop off and do Markeaton Parkrun in Derbyshire.

Bridlington - Again!

So I visited Bridlington the first time earlier in the year as a recovery day after running Manchester Marathon, and I always fancied coming back and cycling along the coastline. Well, that's exactly what we did today!

Tan Hill and Bike Porn

What a day!

Went to look at some bike porn and found my 2019 race bike, going to be an expensive new year and I really will have 0 excuses for not making the GB team with my new speed weapon.
 
Cycled to Britain's highest pub and ticked off another of the 100 (or 200) climbs; started a little later than I'd planned and weather was grim so didn't manage my beer and burger, but will no doubt be back. Raynauds kicked in towards the end and I'm going to have very sore hands and feet tomorrow... 

 

Masochist? Masochist!

Pretty sure I'm a masochist - I love pain. One of my favourite climbs is Holme Moss in the peak district and no matter how many times I do it it still makes me suffer in a good way.

Today I decided to shake it up a bit and take a quieter but significantly longer and harder route there.

Suffering With Friends

So outside of racing and training it's nice to do sessions with friends - that's exactly what we did today; hill reps around the Otley area. The concept is simple - a nice slow spin out to each hill, then attack with everything you have, regroup at the top and move on to the next hill.

 

Leicester Marathon 2018

Ok, so I'm not going to make any excuses for my stupidity on this one... 2 nights before the big race we (at work) released a product we'd been working towards for some months, my day started nice and early (in the office for 6am) and ended in various pubs and clubs - when the company you work for puts a nice ~£1000 tab behind the bar and you demolish it in the space of 6 hours you know it's going to be messy.

Anyway, I wasn't hungover the next day, but my legs did ache from the hours of dancing, my head was foggy, my sleep pattern was destroyed and basically it was never going to do me any favours.

C'est la vie.

Getting Out Of That Dark Space - The Art Of Going Long

The single hardest part of racing endurance events is that little voice in your head that tells you to slow down, to walk, to quit and call it a day.

Penistone Hill Race

So today I did the Penistone Hill Race...