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....

Sorry for lack of updates....

had an interesting (very wet) time in Italy in which we did not get as much done as we would have liked.....am now back and trying to do lots of things at once in respect of spending time with Claire; working on the flat and trying to get courses etc sorted for 2011 - not to mention actually getting some rest....will be around in due course.

Added to this I decided to enter the 'short course' of the Cumberland Challenge on the 5th of Sept; which is only 57 miles on the road bike. Looks like training for this will be impossible so am just going to have to rely on the base fitness which failed so spectacularly 30 miles into the 50 last month!!!

Hers in !

About to leave for Italy....

and two weeks in the Dolomites.....will post whenever possible as Luke will no doubt be armed with a huge amount of Apple gadgetry (as will I but he knows how to use it!!!) and we should be able to get a GPRS signal out there....

The Lakeland 50...

twas about a week ago but things have been very hectic indeed with an interview at York I proceeded to make a mess of and trying to get stuff sorted for the Dols trip - not to mention trying to get the roof sorted; spend time with Claire etc....

Anyway; massive thanks to Mum and Peter who came over to support and assist and that started on the fri night when they picked me up from the flat and drove down to Coniston to register. The much vaunted kit check which was supposed to resemble an MI5 investigation was nothing of the sort really - something to remember for next year...also something to remember for next year was a 6am start; drive to Coniston for the briefing and an awful coach ride back to Dalemain for the start....given that the briefing did not add to my sum of knowledge and Dalemain is about 5miles from my front door a new strategy for next year is emerging - don't go....!!!!

More to follow...

So, where we we? oh yes hot and bothered at Dalemain having endured about 90mins in a very hot coach to get us there; not much time for a warm-up and no idea about the first section of this walk at all...about to go a LONG way further than I ever have done and with a mind full of interview stuff for two days time....apart from that I was raring to go.....and then we had the first 100 yards!

The mass start for the 4 mile circuit of Dalemain is a neat idea....having a single stile that nigh on 200 people have to cross after 100 yards ain't a great idea at all - in fact it is SERIOUSLY stupid....

..to be fair its not a bad circuit of Dalemin but surely having it the other way round would be better so one starts with a gently uphill mile jog which gives the field time to settle down and thin out.....

So; having taken 15mins to go 200 yards (literally), which had already thrown my estimates of the first 10miles out (to Howtown) I plodded on. Pacing wise I seemed to go ok - gently jogging the descent to Howtown; refuelling at CP1 and keeping a good pace on the long climb up to the High Street ridge. I made a minor error at the checkpoint in putting an orange energy lozenge into the water bottle - too fizzy and it gave me hiccups :-(

Anyway; the cloud kept just high enough so one could see where you were going and I climbed well....I remain convinced that you can recce out this route to the nth degree; you can lay down 50miles on the Surrey downs for a warm up - you cannot get used to the big climbs of Lakeland (at least by English standards) without living here. It was, I must confess, gratifying to pass a lot of people who had whizzed by me on the way round Dalemain and on the endless descent to Howtown....

speaking of endless - the path along Haweswater...low on water (actually refilled at a strea)..into the wind and rain....grrr.....and that took me to CP2 at Mardale..