marvin lives...

with new brakes; went out for a 17mile ride along the Solway coast - twas good to have him back and I actually enjoyed riding him very much...the first time since October and the Trans-Atlas; which I really must get round to blogging about sometime.

Dumfries and Galloway...

Claire and I went there on sat...an hour's drive from Carlisle to lovely village called New Abbey which is actually SOUTH of the Mabie Forest 7stanes mountain bike area.......very impressed and finished off with an ice-cream...

Fishers Folly...

Luke on top of the tricky and technical first pitch of Fishers Folly...

It was a glorious day in the Lakes yesterday; and was still pretty hot when Luke and I got the bottom of the climb at about 6pm. This was Luke's first VS lead attempt of the year and was a great performance coming back from his knee injury and not much climbing in the past month. He did climb down to work out how to get past the crux; before dispatching it in fine style.

My pitch (although also graded 4c) was probably easier although with decidedly less protection on it. It also proved to be quite tricky for me with my height as the move over the overlap is quite out of balance and arkward for the tall....although placing the gear was easier for the tall...as Luke will tell you when he tried to get it out!!!!! All in all a good evening...

Saturday - The first ring of Shap...

was a walk I did last weekend - an organised LDWA suggested by Mum. It is part of a 100km round that they do; which involves doing all 3 of the rings. The 'ring' that I was attempting began at Shap and headed up Branstree via Wet Sleddale and Mosedale cottage before dropping to Swindale; Truss Gap and a slightly circuitous route back to Shap....

I did the walk primarily to try and get some mileage under the belt as I gear up for the 50 mile challenge at the end of July....

I got round in 4hr 35 min with a slight navigational mishap (due to carelessness on my part) with a mix of jogging and walking....I did start to flag a bit at the end but I felt ok in general....was quite stiff at the end so adjourned to Claire's for some tlc - and a gentle spin on the bike yesterday.

Weather is set fair - hoping to get out climbing tomorrow with Luke whose knee seems to be getting slightly better day by day....

Of 10km's and training...

did a second 10km on Saturday...if the course on Wed was flat and conducive to quick times (shame I ran so conservatively...) the one at Bendrigg was NOT...the last 1km was pretty much nearly all uphill with a truly sick finishing hill; known as Hamburger Hill....

Here the multi-sport athlete comes into his/her own...whilst the runners with the upper body power of a jelly are walking up the hill the multi-sport athlete repeats the mantra of 'arms drive the legs' and runs up..passing about 3 people on the final hill who could no more throw down a pitch of climbing than fly to the moon unaided.......oh yeah!

I ran a much better race running consistent 5min km's for the first 5-6 km and speeding up for the last section of the race. I do not know my exact time as of now; however it was around the 49 minute time (certainly under 50min) which is pretty good on one of the sicker 10km courses around......

Went running tonight...managed a couple of semi-intervals up the long climb from the Langwathby road to the top of Beacon Edge...not sure how fast I am running really; just don't seem to have the 'oomph' to push it whilst training on foot compared to the bike...I feel the same when I climb on a wall as opposed to outside...speaking of which that is tomorrow if the weather holds, which it should. Not sure what the problem is running as I am going to have do some specific speed training to get under 45min on hilly courses....or maybe I just need some more races and to practice a little Vegard......

48:13

This was the time for the 10km road race I did last night. This was very much a spur of the moment thing - I didn't even know it was on until a couple of people at the school who were doing mentioned it. It was with some trepidation that I even took to the start line as I was not at all sure that my knee would survive 10km on the road - despite wearing the knee brace.....very pleased that it did and IMMENSELY encouraged by the time which was done on the back of almost zero running training at all and NIL speed work of any kind. Looks like I shall have train a bit; find a flat(ish) race and try and get under the elusive sub 45min...

Hitting the wall...

luckily in a metaphorical sense....

was hoping to go out and ride before breakfast today; with the ascent of the Hartside Pass being my top target. Not a great nights sleep due to the heat and an early start from the people doing roadworks in the council car-park across the road.....so elected to do one of the easier spins around Greystoke and Ullswater....

Another lovely morning but also a wind - as per usual when one is road cycling it turned into a headwind...and my word was I feeling it after the last few days in the heat.....

Turning down a minor road into Dacre I was confronted with a lovely 12% hill for about 300m - it felt like climbing the Ventoux...not good....

Still did manage about 16 miles at a reasonable rate and have got some fresh air into the lungs and some spinning into the legs.....

Another stolen climb...

got back from climbing last night with Luke; who's knee is giving his some grief; and found an advert on the UK Climbing Forum from someone looking for a partner for some routes today..

..a rendevouz was fixed and a couple of routes on Raven Crag, Langdale were done.....this is a good thing and means I have got out into the hills in some form or another every day this week....

..off to get a shower and do some jobs/shopping etc now....will be out on the road bike tomorrow morning and then climbing again on Saturday....

pictures...

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.bigair

It might be worth bookmarking this link....

The night walk that wasn't....

This is the view up the Gatesgarth pass and is one of the sections on the 50 mile challenge that I am attempting in July. Given the holiday for me I decided to recce some of the route; and also decided to incorporate a late start. This was partly due to the weather but also taking advice from Mum and Peter, both very experienced at ultra-distance walking who advised me to get some practice at night walking - given that the walk starts at noon I am likely to go into darkness....so at 5.30 I locked the car and started up into a gloomy late afternoon.

Arriving on top of the pass after a rapid and breathless climb I was

confronted

by this......NOWHERE on the 50 mile challenge (or probably anywhere else for that matter) will I yearn for my bike as much as this....the 3mile descent into Long Sleddale and the farm at Sadgill. Mind you, I can't complain as it was not blowing a howling gale; throwing it down with rain that would not disgrace a monsoon and visibility was more than 2 inches - conditions that confronted us the last time we did this walk (the other way round.)

Rather gingerly (and I was using the knee brace) I loped off downhill - not especially fast and half jogged and half walked down the pass....

One good thing abo

ut arriving at Sadgill was this....the sun. To say this was an improvement on the rest of the day's offering would be an understatement....away went the coat into the pack where it stayed for the rest of the walk.

The bit I really wanted to check was over the Sadgill pass in Kentmere itself and that is a lot more obvious than the route description suggests...and will be runnable on the day itself as well. It took 1hr 40 to get to the church (the turn round point) and I'll aim for 1 1/2 on the event...so back up the endless Nan Bield it was to be.....this fellow had the right idea so I took my cue from him and munched a cheese sarnie...

When I eventually got to the top of the pass I found a couple of tents there....a nice spot but a little odd as there is no water. Another tent was pitched lower down on the outflow of Smallwater which would also be a nice spot...I managed to jog almost all the descent - especially the less rocky lower sections and got back to the car 3 1/2 hrs after setting out...a round that is probably 11 miles or so with a reasonable amount of ascent...quite chuffed; shame about the lack of night walking though...:-)