The End

There's an inherent danger when setting up a goal-orientated blog like this, that unforeseen obstacles will prevent you from reaching that goal. Which can be pretty embarrassing, when you look back at the high hopes with which you started.

We've reached that point.

My personal obstacles have become insurmountable. The cause of my breathing difficulty is a mystery to my (very supportive) GP . If it's asthma, it's highly atypical, as my response to asthma inhalers is erratic, and my overall lung capacity is a mere 80% of predicted - something you might see in someone who's got damage from pneumonia. Which I haven't.

I'm awaiting blood test results, and probable referral to a chest physician. Generally I'm feeling pretty under the weather and can manage only limited rides every few days.

And so, with heavy hearts, we have accepted that BCBR isn't going to happen. Not for us, not this year.

On the plus side, Dear Reader, that means that 2 race entries for the most amazing, 7-day, singletrack endurance race On The Planet, are up for grabs. Our entries are fully transferable, just not refundable, you see. If anyone from our international readership (!) would like to relieve us of our entries, generously discounted, we're open to offers!

Check out http://www.bcbikerace.com/ to get inspired. Believe me, it looks amazing.

Please let anyone know if you think they might be interested.

Hopefully I will join Michael in some enduros later this year, once I get this thing beaten. And then maybe (only if we recoup a little of the entry fees from this year), just maybe we'll be crazy enough to book BCBR next year and can trustingly dust off this blog and start again.

For now, this blog is, sadly, obsolete. "Are we nearly there yet?" Couldn't be further away...

Thanks for reading. And good luck in your own training / riding this year.

Treat

On Sunday we drove to Hampshire (or maybe Surrey, we were on the borders, so it was hard to be sure). We joined sometime Torq rider and Spain room-mate Viv, plus her man Clive, to take in some of their local riding. We were spoiled. Not only did we get another welcome spin around the Trolls' stomping ground, but we had a special excursion onto the apparently little-known, and unexpectedly other-worldly, delights of Ash Ranges.

We forgot the camera. Again. It was a shame in particular not to be able to capture the contrast between the earthy tones of the mist-shrouded heathland, and bright biking jerseys. Fast trails in panoramas worthy of a section on a mtb DVD / bike mag photoshoot - but you'll just have to imagine, sorry... Think we need to a return visit to capture it - hint hint!

[Ash Ranges on a sunny summer's day, apparently]

The others graciously accommodated my torturously prolonged warm-up period, and my early decline - barely scraping 3 hours riding. Oddly enough though, I always seem to have the energy for some more singletrack [insert winking sideways face composed entirely from punctuation marks...] and there is a fabulous smorgasbord of singletrack round there. Show me a steep climb however and my lungs can't gather enough breath. To my shame, I had to walk up the last 2 hills, with rests en-route to catch my breath. Of course after 3 weeks of minimal riding, undoubtedly lack of fitness is now a factor too.

However, despite all that boring wibbling about mememe, it was a really enjoyable ride - thanks to Viv and Clive for a memorable day!

Downs link epic

Last Sunday myself, Alex, Gez and Jim rode both the North and South Downs....and the bit in between.

Gez and I got a 7.15am Hove train (thanks to engineering works making the faster Brighton line impossible) arriving Dorking 9.35, but not before a train-gap at Gatwick facilitated a rather large and unhealthy full English fry-up.

We grouped at Wescott Green after a 3 mile road ride and set about climbing to Leith Hill Tower.  Despite the volume of miles ahead of us we created a wiggly route that would take in plenty of fun trails.  By the time we hit the downs link at Cranleigh we had 17.5 miles and 2850ft of climbing under our belts via Leith Tower, bomb holes, split tree, quarry, greensands way, Holmbury top, yoghurt pots, reservoir dogs, the see saws, bkb, christmas pudding, pitch top, the evil drop to windmill and speedy flowing trails through winterfold wood.

The ride had been really nice and continuous with just one scheduled stop at Peaslake stores for 20 minutes.  The plan from there was for maybe a half hour lunch stop at a pub half way along the downs link but things went a little wrong. Jims brakes, Alex's mech and semi-effective slime tube, my puncture & bitchin' tight rear tyre...and lovely cool beer on a gorgeous day, meant that by the time we left that pub (Bax Castle, about 32 miles into the ride) we had amassed disappointingly huge stoppage time.

We were having a great ride though and it got better with the sight of Jo coming the other way towards us, looking full of beans.  She doubled back with us and easily kept our pace, her ride finishing on the flat before the South Downs at a 34 mile total for her.  Great considering her current condition.

We took a 1o minute break here, bolstering ourselves for the 450ft Truleigh Hill climb that spanned the next mile....quite a sting after 48 miles!

That was the worst over and with a final grind to the radio masts and then the devils dyke pub our ride was over.  We timed our beers perfectly in order to leave just enough time for Alex and Jim to miss the next trains at Brighton, but no one cared because we had 4000 calories in the bank, along with 56 miles and 4130ft of climbing.

I'm up for trying this again in a few weeks avoiding the stoppage time.  We'd stop 20 mins at peaslake stores at about 13 miles, 30 minutes at Bax Castle pub about 32 miles in, and allow 20 mins of 'lost' time. That would give a target total time of 6hr50 at the same ride speed as this week and would yield an average overall 8.2mph

Now lets put that target in context. Skyline, Whites, Wall & Penhydd = 61.56 miles and 7973feet.
Matt Page did it in 5 hours 57m:47s
The really funny bit.....that included 3minutes49sec stoppage time...see here http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7666661

Saturdays would avoid the train pain, will come up with a date if anyone interested.

M

Jail Bird

Just lookie at what arrived in the post: two cylinders of stretchy man-made fabric that make me smile - please give a warm welcome to Sugoi's 'Jail House' arm warmers.

There were many things I lacked in Spain last month -- fitness, ability, appropriate bike, I could go on - but arm-warmers were the thing firmly next on the list. Probably because, let's face it, out of that list, they were the easiest to achieve.

Of course these circles of heaven were the only items not on sale on the whole interweb. Still, to me they are things of beauty and such things are deserving of my cash.

Bliss - nearly

I begged Michael to accompany me on a piddly ride yesterday. Ever since my last night-ride 2 weeks ago, I'd been pining to try out the new trails in daylight. I'd found the ride nerve-wracking with 50% of it new to me and some challenging obstacles - props to the Brighton MTB guys for all their hard work over the winter! I wanted to get it into proportion.

Plus I was going stir-crazy in our urban jungle and needed some time immersed in nature, however slow the riding. Michael was initially reluctant - he's in a group riding the Downslink back from Dorking today, covering about 50 miles, so he wanted to conserve energy. I assured him that, at the pace I'd be setting, it would count as a recovery ride for him. And he had to lead, as I didn't know how to find all the trails.

Oh, it was glorious. Deep in the woods, I sucked in all the springy-ness - buds unfurling and tiny flowers everywhere, rabbits breaking cover at our approach, slanting sunlight, trail conditions perfect, us doing slaloms amongst the saplings (! Spring is a time for 's' and 'sl' words it seems). Virus or no virus, I couldn't have missed it. I loved all the trails and stopped to repeat anything I didn't breeze over/through first time, so at least I got some trail practice.

As if that wasn't enough, Michael kindly supplied a comedy interlude by demo'ing to his apprentice (me) how to do a drop-off 'properly', and failing nearly every time. Luckily for everyone I pressed 'record' too late on my phone trying to video it.

Forgot the camera...not sure this snap conveys the wonders of nature!

He also excelled himself by not getting lost once. ;-)

But I was tired before we got back to the car, and oozed onto the sofa on our return home. My riding muscles are a bit achy today and I'm not as sprightly as I'd like to be.

If yesterday had an ulterior motive in checking whether I'm better yet, the answer is clear...

Rattling

I'm too impatient to wait for my body to sort itself out via the simple age-old remedy of Rest, so my daily routine is crammed with as many potions, pills and procedures as I can google:

- 1000mg vitamin C x 2 daily
- 15 drops echinacea in water x 3 daily.
- Milk thistle tablet (helps liver process toxins) x 2 daily
- Contents of iron sachet in fruit juice (in case my haemoglobin is low).
- Peak flow meter reading, preventer inhaler, Ventolin. More peak flow readings for comparison. All entered onto chart. x 2 daily.
- Magnesium, B6 and zinc tablets (good for breathlessness AND sleeping difficulties. Bargain).

Now I CAN see the humour in this.

I'm single-handedly keeping the whole supplements and alternative health industry afloat. Just when poor Michael briefly, blissfully, forgets he's living with a neurotic hypochondriac, ta-da! I reveal another potion from my magician's cloak aka eco shopping bag. The house looks more like a chemist's than ever.

Can't stop though, I'm off to the acupuncture clinic.

Backwards, fast

No change - I'm still wheezy on any effort. The GP has now added steroid inhalers to the ventolin, so I seem to be officially asthmatic again (I haven't had an inhaler for 13 years).

The GP reckons there's a virus lurking still as well. So I'm reduced to piddly slow rides, walking, core stability work. Not an exercise regime that'll get me across BC come June.

Shonky knee and now this? Barring a miraculous recovery or a lung-transplant, decision-time seems to be looming about my ability to take part in BCBR.

Wish this was an April Fool's post. Trying to find the humour in the situation. Failing.