I've never quite understood why travelling is so tiring. Spent the best part of yesterday sitting in various trains, but wake up feeling exhausted. It's not helped in any way by still having a mass of stuff to get down to meet this deadline for Monday. The day starts with warm and with clear blue skies but my head is too full of demands to be able to properly enjoy it. It becomes a little easier to be at the computer after the cloud builds up, but this is still a day I want to be outside rather than in.
Because of the lack of time it makes more sense to go for a run than a cycle, so M comes over on the bike to join me for a run on the moor. This is just what I needed, and it felt really good to be running in my back garden again. I'm hardly doing any running training at all at the moment, just relying on the racing to keep me fit, and so I've spent very little time up on the moor of late. It was rather wonderful to be reminded of how much I've missed it. Much as though I love the cycling, there is something very special about the remote peace and quiet of the moor, particularly on a warm summer's day. We went out along the ridge to the Swastika Stone and then into the forest for a loop back around to the Buck Stones, to Cowper's Cross and on to the Cairn and home, about 9 miles.
Seeing M cycle back up the hill, I was so sorely tempted to get the bike out myself. It was such a beautiful evening, but I managed to resist somehow, knowing that I had to keep a clear head to work, and also thinking that I should be patient and wait for the Earlybirds ride in the morning.
Saturday 31 May 2008
Friday 30 May 2008
Blobbed
Set the alarm early in the hope of getting out on the bike again to explore a bit more of Fife, but the showers they were forecasting for the morning turned out to be rather steady and incessant rain. The clag was well down too, so feeling very uninspired it was back to the laptop again. I got a lot more done on the journey home, but being summoned to the office for a crisis meeting pretty much meant that there was going to be no opportunity for a ride today. Couldn't really arrive home late after leaving No.1 son on his own for 2 days, to whizz straight out on the bike! Instead it felt rather good to blob with him in front of the TV. I don't do that very often, but it can be a rare pleasure when I do.
Thursday 29 May 2008
Lomond Hills
Up early to get the train to Scotland and the weather is beautiful: still and clear. This is usually the kind of weather I experience when I head on the train down to London, and I always harbour a resetment about having to miss so much of the day on the train and in a meeting. The fact that I am heading north makes it a little bit easier, but I still detect a bit of resentment. I love where I live!
I've still got this silly deadline hanging over me so I have to work through the journey, but I never really mind that. I find the train very conducive to work. I always manage to get a lot achieved and sometimes save something difficult and interesting for such occasions. The time certainly passes quickly that way. The meeting with my new clients, public health doctors and health protection nurses went very well. Lovely people who are all very enthusiastic to start using the software. No real issues come up so I'm happy that it's going to be quite a straightforward implementation. The best thing is that they are all willing to embrace new technology. No technophobes to have to win over! But I digress ...
Get back to Kirkcaldy where I'm staying just before 6pm and I'm straight out on the bike. It's a beautifully warm evening, with fantastic views across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. I only have a vague plan and a torn out page of a road atlas to guide me. Potentially a recipe for disaster! I soon discover that road surfaces in Scotland are no better than in England, if not actually worse. And the same can be said for signs. I'm heading out to the Lomond Hills and want to use the back lanes, but I keep finding myself on the main roads. This is always a problem, whenever I visit somewhere new. From the middle of towns there never seems to be any help to guide you towards the unclassified roads. In Spain I once gave up on such a quest, after repeated failed attempts, and in the end had to ride the route in the opposite direction to find out exactly where the back road appeared. In the end, there was no sign to indicate that it was in any way more significant than any of the other roads I had tried and which didn't lead anywhere. They obviously want to keep the tourists away! I was reminded of that experience here because I kept finding myself entering industrial estates, from which there appeared to be no exit other than from the direction I had entered. Keeping the local roads for the locals. I suppose I can empathise with that.
Eventually I found the turn off to Falkland that I was after and it was immediately like entering a different world. Rural Fife was laid out before me. The climb soon started, and I'm feeling very low in energy, as I have done from the start, so I take it very steadily and enjoy the views and just being somewhere new. I'm passed by someone flying down the hill the other way and amuse myself with the thought that he might be a cyclosport.org reader and soon be reading about himself! The descent down to Falkland seems a lot steeper than the way I've just come up, but still goes on for a long time, so I'm encouraged that my lack of speed climbing was down to it being a bigger hill than I had realised! Falkland is a quintessential Scottish village, complete with its own Palace. It reeks of history and a sense of place in that history. I could understand why they refer to this area as the Kingdom of Fife.
Now in the countryside it is much easier to find the byways and most of the rest of the ride is on quiet roads, with a few more short climbs to enjoy. I've been reminded though that although it is good to see somewhere new, I've missed the continuity of my riding back home. I think that's become important to me. It's been a bit of a pain to have kept having to stop to look at the map and backtrack here and there. And I also have to admit that although it's really pretty here, it still isn't the Dales! I am so, so spoilt. I've asked the question before. Is there any better place to live for a cyclist than Ilkley? Get back to my B&B with 37 miles on the clock and happy to have got to know a little corner of Fife.
I've still got this silly deadline hanging over me so I have to work through the journey, but I never really mind that. I find the train very conducive to work. I always manage to get a lot achieved and sometimes save something difficult and interesting for such occasions. The time certainly passes quickly that way. The meeting with my new clients, public health doctors and health protection nurses went very well. Lovely people who are all very enthusiastic to start using the software. No real issues come up so I'm happy that it's going to be quite a straightforward implementation. The best thing is that they are all willing to embrace new technology. No technophobes to have to win over! But I digress ...
Get back to Kirkcaldy where I'm staying just before 6pm and I'm straight out on the bike. It's a beautifully warm evening, with fantastic views across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. I only have a vague plan and a torn out page of a road atlas to guide me. Potentially a recipe for disaster! I soon discover that road surfaces in Scotland are no better than in England, if not actually worse. And the same can be said for signs. I'm heading out to the Lomond Hills and want to use the back lanes, but I keep finding myself on the main roads. This is always a problem, whenever I visit somewhere new. From the middle of towns there never seems to be any help to guide you towards the unclassified roads. In Spain I once gave up on such a quest, after repeated failed attempts, and in the end had to ride the route in the opposite direction to find out exactly where the back road appeared. In the end, there was no sign to indicate that it was in any way more significant than any of the other roads I had tried and which didn't lead anywhere. They obviously want to keep the tourists away! I was reminded of that experience here because I kept finding myself entering industrial estates, from which there appeared to be no exit other than from the direction I had entered. Keeping the local roads for the locals. I suppose I can empathise with that.
Eventually I found the turn off to Falkland that I was after and it was immediately like entering a different world. Rural Fife was laid out before me. The climb soon started, and I'm feeling very low in energy, as I have done from the start, so I take it very steadily and enjoy the views and just being somewhere new. I'm passed by someone flying down the hill the other way and amuse myself with the thought that he might be a cyclosport.org reader and soon be reading about himself! The descent down to Falkland seems a lot steeper than the way I've just come up, but still goes on for a long time, so I'm encouraged that my lack of speed climbing was down to it being a bigger hill than I had realised! Falkland is a quintessential Scottish village, complete with its own Palace. It reeks of history and a sense of place in that history. I could understand why they refer to this area as the Kingdom of Fife.
Now in the countryside it is much easier to find the byways and most of the rest of the ride is on quiet roads, with a few more short climbs to enjoy. I've been reminded though that although it is good to see somewhere new, I've missed the continuity of my riding back home. I think that's become important to me. It's been a bit of a pain to have kept having to stop to look at the map and backtrack here and there. And I also have to admit that although it's really pretty here, it still isn't the Dales! I am so, so spoilt. I've asked the question before. Is there any better place to live for a cyclist than Ilkley? Get back to my B&B with 37 miles on the clock and happy to have got to know a little corner of Fife.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Revived
It's amazing how a good night's sleep can make all the difference in the world. A full 7 hours of solid slumber and I feel a new man! Hoping to go live with a new release of software next Monday so I had a full day of bug-fixing on the code written this weekend so that we can do another iteration of testing tomorrow. I'm heading up to Scotland to visit a new client, in Fife, and I'm thinking that I will take the bike on the train and squeeze in a ride. I think I deserve it after another very long session sitting here at the computer. I didn't get out of the house at all today until 9pm, getting some supplies in for dinner and to keep No.1 son stocked up while I'm away. It's been cold inside so I put my jacket on, only to find that the damp air was really quite warm. It was quite a surprise. Perhaps the summer is set to return. I sure hope so.
Tuesday 27 May 2008
Exhausted
I've felt exhausted in every way today. Had to be ready for a possible demonstration this afternoon which meant dropping one lot of code and picking up another. Another late night and an early morning, and as always seems to happen when you're up against it, had problems with the internet, both at home and the office. I survived it all but completely crashed tonight in front of the television, blobbing out with No.1 son. No energy even to post my blog entries. It's been a tough few days and you can only push the lack of sleep so far. Just as well it was a rather wet and miserable day. The weather Gods are being kind to me again!
Monday 26 May 2008
Halton Gill
After the exertions of yesterday's trail race and numerous trips on the bike down to the cricket club to catch No.1 son playing in a match in the afternoon, plus another late night working, it required an act of great will to join the Earlybirds at 7am on their Bank Holiday Run to Halton Gill. All the core members were out: El Cid, Cacophony, Gizzajob and Harry Quinn, so it was clear from the start that it was going to be a good ride. I was pleasantly surprised to feel no real after-effects of the two weekend races. Indeed, I felt positively frisky on the first few sharp climbs of the day.
The wind got up very strongly yesterday and the same was forecast for today too. They weren't wrong. As we rode on the Easterly wind grew stronger and gustier, fantastic fun along the stretch from Greenhow to Grassington, where the big lads touched 50mph, although there is always that nagging feeling that you know you will pay the price at some point! We retraced the start of the Etape du Dales route to Conistone, and then went up the north side of Littondale to Halton Gill, opposite to the way the event last weekend finished. It is odd that I've not been up through Litton and over from Halton Gill in many years. For Cacophony it was over 20 years since he's been this way. I always seem to do it in the opposite direction. The climb was easier than I expected, although that might have been largely due to the wind. We enjoyed a fantastic free ride across the tops with fabulous views of Penyghent to the right and north, before descending Silverdale, which seemed to go on and on. It was no wonder, with that Easterly wind, that I struggled up here last Sunday.
We then took the left turn to Malham and joined the White Rose route, which we will all be riding in two weeks time. Things now got quite hard and it was a battle into the wind for most of the way back home. The effects of the running seemed to work their way through to the muscles and I had to concentrate quite hard. There wasn't much conversation. Gizzajob had left us at Arncliffe, feeling the after-effects of a cold and a hard ride of his own the day before, so El Cid and Cacophony, our team leaders, buried themselves on the front, and even then I struggled at times to hold a wheel. I tried to dig in to keep up with them on the very final push up Nesfield Hill, but there was nothing there again. They left me for dead, with El Cid not even out of the saddle. Awesome gentlemen!
It felt great to be back in Ilkley for midday, 4hr 47mins on the road for 73.5 miles at over 15mph, which in those winds today was good going. I wish I'd been able to put my feet up and relax for the afternoon. Sadly, another act of will was required to get back to the computer and carry on working. Not easy!
The wind got up very strongly yesterday and the same was forecast for today too. They weren't wrong. As we rode on the Easterly wind grew stronger and gustier, fantastic fun along the stretch from Greenhow to Grassington, where the big lads touched 50mph, although there is always that nagging feeling that you know you will pay the price at some point! We retraced the start of the Etape du Dales route to Conistone, and then went up the north side of Littondale to Halton Gill, opposite to the way the event last weekend finished. It is odd that I've not been up through Litton and over from Halton Gill in many years. For Cacophony it was over 20 years since he's been this way. I always seem to do it in the opposite direction. The climb was easier than I expected, although that might have been largely due to the wind. We enjoyed a fantastic free ride across the tops with fabulous views of Penyghent to the right and north, before descending Silverdale, which seemed to go on and on. It was no wonder, with that Easterly wind, that I struggled up here last Sunday.
We then took the left turn to Malham and joined the White Rose route, which we will all be riding in two weeks time. Things now got quite hard and it was a battle into the wind for most of the way back home. The effects of the running seemed to work their way through to the muscles and I had to concentrate quite hard. There wasn't much conversation. Gizzajob had left us at Arncliffe, feeling the after-effects of a cold and a hard ride of his own the day before, so El Cid and Cacophony, our team leaders, buried themselves on the front, and even then I struggled at times to hold a wheel. I tried to dig in to keep up with them on the very final push up Nesfield Hill, but there was nothing there again. They left me for dead, with El Cid not even out of the saddle. Awesome gentlemen!
It felt great to be back in Ilkley for midday, 4hr 47mins on the road for 73.5 miles at over 15mph, which in those winds today was good going. I wish I'd been able to put my feet up and relax for the afternoon. Sadly, another act of will was required to get back to the computer and carry on working. Not easy!
Sunday 25 May 2008
Ilkley Trail Race
Another day, another race - but good not to be responsible in any way for this one. Whereas yesterday was very low-key and, as always if DH and I are in charge, a little chaotic, today was super-slick and meticulously well organised. Two extremes really, but there is a place for both kind of events. Working to some ridiculous deadlines this weekend so to save a bit of time I cycled down to the Rugby Club to go get my number early (before they ran out!), allowing me to use the last minute jog down from home as my warm-up. I just managed to sort a problem out before leaving so that my head could be cleared for the race. I hate leaving bugs unsolved. They niggle away at my attention!
After yesterday's race I had a bit more confidence going into this than I would have had otherwise, but the legs felt decidedly heavy on the climb up through Middleton Woods. Nonetheless, being on home territory and very familiar terrain, I was definitely in the mood to race, tired legs or whatever! It is always good to have someone ahead to target and DA (who beat me for 1st V50 last week at the Jack Bloor) was a few yards ahead. I fancied a bit of revenge. As we left the woods and went across the open fields I could feel myself closing and soon caught my rival up just before meeting the road. My plan to tuck in behind for a while before going past was somewhat thwarted by lots of enthusiastic cheering of my name! So, I pressed on and up onto the moorland loop. The legs didn't feel so heavy now and I began to feel more comfortable at the speed I was running. This is where desire comes into play. I could carry on at the same pace, or I could try to push on a bit. I opted for the latter and was soon running on the edge again. This is what gives me my kicks these days, this rather primal man against man contest. At the end of the day it matters not a jot to me, but in the moment I really relish the one on one competition. It's just a great buzz.
Halfway around the loop and I was reasonably confident that I'd opened up a gap in the V50 race. But how wrong I was! It was DA who had tucked in behind me, and as soon as we went on to the Langbar road (instead of using the moorland route as I'd expected), I lost a little bit of application and speed, and he went past me, closely followed by PP. From leading the V50 race, I was suddenly in 3rd place, with the wind taken out of my sails - literally, in fact, because we had turned right into it. I was running on tarmac, which I hate, and I just didn't have the mental fuel in the tank to dig in and give chase. I settled. From there it was a rather gruelling section into the ever strengthening wind. The first lady came up beside me at this point. As a cyclist now, it seemed silly to be running side by side into the wind, so I did the chivalrous thing and suggested she tuck in behind me. I knew there would be Ilkley Harrier ladies in pursuit, but what is a guy to do?!
I was also having a good tussle with SC from the Harriers, but I had to let him go on the descent, and then DC came flying past me - as he always seems to at the end of races. I just haven't got the leg speed on the downhill any more, so it was just a matter of keeping it going and preserving my place - which I managed to do. I finished the 7 mile course in 28th place in a time of 50.25, 3rd V50 to DA who ran 49.05. Although I settled in the end, it wasn't in the legs to run that fast today, but I enjoyed trying and it was great fun to feel like I was actually racing as opposed to just running around. My mate JA is a little bit off the pace at the moment, some 3 minutes behind today and (frightening the life out of him - or hopefully back into him ... eh?) was only 7 places and a minute ahead of M. I've put in an equaliser to make the score 2-2 just before half-time!
After yesterday's race I had a bit more confidence going into this than I would have had otherwise, but the legs felt decidedly heavy on the climb up through Middleton Woods. Nonetheless, being on home territory and very familiar terrain, I was definitely in the mood to race, tired legs or whatever! It is always good to have someone ahead to target and DA (who beat me for 1st V50 last week at the Jack Bloor) was a few yards ahead. I fancied a bit of revenge. As we left the woods and went across the open fields I could feel myself closing and soon caught my rival up just before meeting the road. My plan to tuck in behind for a while before going past was somewhat thwarted by lots of enthusiastic cheering of my name! So, I pressed on and up onto the moorland loop. The legs didn't feel so heavy now and I began to feel more comfortable at the speed I was running. This is where desire comes into play. I could carry on at the same pace, or I could try to push on a bit. I opted for the latter and was soon running on the edge again. This is what gives me my kicks these days, this rather primal man against man contest. At the end of the day it matters not a jot to me, but in the moment I really relish the one on one competition. It's just a great buzz.
Halfway around the loop and I was reasonably confident that I'd opened up a gap in the V50 race. But how wrong I was! It was DA who had tucked in behind me, and as soon as we went on to the Langbar road (instead of using the moorland route as I'd expected), I lost a little bit of application and speed, and he went past me, closely followed by PP. From leading the V50 race, I was suddenly in 3rd place, with the wind taken out of my sails - literally, in fact, because we had turned right into it. I was running on tarmac, which I hate, and I just didn't have the mental fuel in the tank to dig in and give chase. I settled. From there it was a rather gruelling section into the ever strengthening wind. The first lady came up beside me at this point. As a cyclist now, it seemed silly to be running side by side into the wind, so I did the chivalrous thing and suggested she tuck in behind me. I knew there would be Ilkley Harrier ladies in pursuit, but what is a guy to do?!
I was also having a good tussle with SC from the Harriers, but I had to let him go on the descent, and then DC came flying past me - as he always seems to at the end of races. I just haven't got the leg speed on the downhill any more, so it was just a matter of keeping it going and preserving my place - which I managed to do. I finished the 7 mile course in 28th place in a time of 50.25, 3rd V50 to DA who ran 49.05. Although I settled in the end, it wasn't in the legs to run that fast today, but I enjoyed trying and it was great fun to feel like I was actually racing as opposed to just running around. My mate JA is a little bit off the pace at the moment, some 3 minutes behind today and (frightening the life out of him - or hopefully back into him ... eh?) was only 7 places and a minute ahead of M. I've put in an equaliser to make the score 2-2 just before half-time!
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