Autumn has arrived...

howling gales and driving rain on the drive down to Penrith from Carlisle this morning......and the leaves are coming off the trees. Its actually quite nice to be out in weather like that sometime; although I went for a walk along the River Eden tonight and there was a decided chill to the air....

Bouldering...

a style of climbing small problems usually very close to the ground.....reliant on a bizarre mix of brute arm power, finger power, balance, technique and friction...

Had a very pleasant hour at Carrock Fell tonight - nice to be back on rock for the first time since the trip to Italy/Belgium. Although I like bouldering I am pretty rubbish it - footwork is not a massive issue and my cycling/walking gives me large leg muscles that are no use...however it is good fun and I did 3 problems tonight that I had not done before. None were remotely hard but it was nice to get out into the fresh air and see that autumn is starting to come to Cumbria...

3:40:33..

no its not an obscure maths problem I have encountered at school; but the time it took me (and Arjuna) to do the 57 mile short course of the Cumberland Challenge on Sunday gone.

The return from Garrigill to Brampton (largely on the A589) was about as good as I have ever ridden. With good tarmac for the wheels to run (the roads in North Cumbria can be pretty awful) and short; steep climbs into which you could carry speed and power over the terrain definetly suited me and the bike. With the gearing on Arjuna I either prefer long gentle climbs such as the ascent to Tan Hill on the Etape du Dales and the climb up Hartside or very short climbs I can attack at speed.

The actual route itself was really good and I would hope to go under 3:30 next year. The descent of Hartside towards Alston was a nightmare in a strong cross-wind (which was behind us for the section on the way back) and I would reckon to gain 3-4 mins on this alone. It was interesting though that, despite being a poor descender, no-one went past on that descent - only a total idiot would have rushed down that.

So, tight legs on Sunday night and no Claire to massage them as she is on holiday in Ireland for a week......am taking it easy this week with it being the first week back before starting to crank the autumn training into gear.....

Now on Skye....

which allows free Skype to skype calls...even video calls...

search for simon_ash71...

yes I know there is lots to blog on....am trying to find the time in between the lots of other things I have to do....