My brother in law Simon and I set to last weekend on an intensive couple of days’ skimming the lounge. The building work we had done in 2005 left us in a bit of a vaccuum for cash and motivation, but this marks the start of the next phase – i.e., “doing up the bit of the house we had to live in while we were doing the other bit”. In the event, the work itself went fantastically well – the ceiling and four walls we skimmed all look just silky-smooth – it’s such a satisfying process when it goes well. We made a mess of the floor (but that was taken care of by using awhat turned out to be a disposable tarpaulin), and were knackered from the instense experience, but it made pleasant a change from all the training! Thanks Simon – my plaster mentor.
The cyclo-cross season’s back upon us
Ahhh – what a lovely feeling – the nights start getting longer, the mornings are dewey, and two bikes are on top of the car – we’re heading for a small parkland on the edge of a housing estate in Northwich, Cheshire, for the first race in this year’s North West Cyclo Cross series.
I won the league last year (ten races count) but won’t be going for the NW league this year because I’ve got to ride a few more national series races for Wheelbase and Gore Cycle Wear – my sponsors.
So it was a reassuring start to the season when I rode well and won the race. I should have done – on paper – because of who else was (or wasn’t) racing – but still – it’s a really satisfying feeling. Nicer still was the weather – although it was too hot for cyclo-cross racing (you don’t travel much faster than 20mph at the most so you don’t cool down with the breeze as much) it was just right for Katie and Lily to come and watch me – and cheer me on. I’ve only won two ‘cross races before this one – but this was the most special because it was the first with family watching.
Langdale Pikes
A great day out with work – managing to somehow wangle another beautiful day out in the mountains under the name of working – getting to know future colleagues for the impending merger. Yep – life’s tough at times…..
A good day’s work in the north pennines
Had a great day out on the bike with my brother Phil, taking part in the 105 mile Cumberland Cycle Challenge. A challenging but rewarding route with just under 3,000 metres of ascent, based around Brampton near Carlisle. There was weather to put most Belgian cycle classics to shame – including about two hours of hard, driving rain and very strong westerly winds. The event was very well organised (by Border City Wheelers) and I enjoyed riding with Phil all day – a real luxury to spend time like that with your brother and true bonding.
In cycling terms, I was really pleased with how I felt, and it’s the start of my finishing touches to this year’s Three Peaks cyclocross training.
Injured Back
I did my back in on Monday and it bloody killed. You realise how prescious these little bones we carry about are – it affects everything I do and I would give everything to know it’s not going to happen again. I went to see an osteopath for the first time in my life because I was convinced I had done some major damage, but it was quite reassuring to know I’d get through it with a bit of time. Bang goes the training for a bit but there’s more to life. I also found out that my right leg’s a centimetre longer than my left leg, which is quite a difference – and the osteopath told me I’d probably suffer from back problems in later life compensating for that. He also told me that fell running would be better for me than road running in the circumstances because of the wider muscle groups used rather than rpeptition of the same ones. I liked him for that.
Windy Whittle Pike
Had the great pleasure of doing the Whittle Pike race on Wednesday evening. Whilst it’s not a towering Lakeland peak, it’s a classic fell race, incorporating the most formidable steep climbs and descents you could manage on a relatively small Rossendale hill. There was a good field and a had a really good race – finishing thirteenth out of 112. I lost a couple of places after a nasty ankle twisting incident before a crucial ‘brakes off’ descent near the finish, but I’d done a great run and was really pleased with how fast I went. My fitness is still there even though I’m about four pounds heavier than twelve months ago.
ULTIMATE OUTDOORS WHITTLE PIKE RACE 2006 1 Darren Kay Horwich M 0:38:36 2 Nick Barrable Lothian M 0:39:06 3 Steve Oldfield Bradford MV50 (1) 0:40:16 4 Nick Leigh Pudsey M 0:40:36 5 Karl Gray Calder Valley M 0:41:21 6 Jon Wright Tod Harriers M 0:41:40 7 Alex Whittam Tod Harriers M 0:42:15 8 Chris Heys Horwich M 0:42:35 9 Andrew Grenfell Rossendale M 0:42:43 10 Michael Corbishley Rossendale M 0:42:58 11 Ian Greenwood Clayton MV40 (1) 0:43:11 12 Brendon Taylor Rossendale M 0:43:31 13 Dave Haygarth u/a M 0:43:51 14 Stuart Edmondson Chorley M 0:44:08 15 Paul Burnett Tod Harriers M 0:44:44 16 Phillip Taylor Rossendale MV45 (1) 0:44:59 17 Shane Russell Rossendale U20 0:45:03 18 Rick Solman Rossendale M 0:45:17 19 Richard Stott Rossendale MV45 (2) 0:45:24 20 Paul Neild Bowland M 0:46:06 21 Mark Nutter Clayton MV40 (2) 0:46:17 22 Zdenek Mazal Vskmzlubrno M 0:46:20 23 Ken Taylor Rossendale MV55 (1) 0:46:28 24 Tim Court Newburgh MV40 (3) 0:46:44 25 David Ralphs Newburgh MV45 (3) 0:47:07 26 Gareth Jackson u/a M 0:47:09 27 Aaron Kelly Rossendale U18 0:47:28 28 Darren Horner Stadium M 0:48:13 29 Pete Booth Clayton MV50 (2) 0:48:30 30 Phil Bolton Rossendale U18 0:48:47 31 Andrew Lee Rossendale M 0:48:52 32 Michael Soloman Rossendale M 0:49:03 33 John Thompson Newburgh M 0:49:17 34 Mike Moran Rochdale MV50 (3) 0:49:18 35 Derek Schofield Rossendale MV50 (4) 0:49:19 36 Wally Coppelov Newburgh MV45 (4) 0:49:19 37 Peter Nuttall Rossendale MV45 (5) 0:49:20 38 Shaun Jackson Altrincham M 0:49:38 39 Paul Hulman u/a MV40 (4) 0:49:52 40 Chris Standish Bowland M 0:50:02 41 Catherine Wilson Rossendale F (1) 0:50:09 42 Philip Metcalf u/a M 0:50:21 43 Steffan Johnson CFR M 0:50:42 44 Jack Dugdale u/a U18 0:50:43 45 Allan Yeomans Rossendale MV40 (5) 0:50:44 46 Mike Cottrill u/a M 0:51:09 47 Vanessa Peacock Clayton FV50 (1) 0:51:52 48 Andrew Dugdale Clayton MV40 (6) 0:51:58 49 Chris Pender Newburgh M 0:52:11 50 Duncan Pickup u/a MV40 (7) 0:52:14 51 Kieron Ashworth Clayton MV40 (8) 0:52:26 52 Alan Heaton Bowland MV50 (5) 0:52:37 53 Andy Dalton Newburgh MV40 (9) 0:52:50 54 Geoff Hand Spectrum MV50 (6) 0:52:52 55 Eddie Lesniak Achille Ratti MV50 (7) 0:52:59 56 Karon Forster Spectrum FV40 (1) 0:53:08 57 Carole Fryer Halifax F (2) 0:53:16 58 Stephen Bury Clayton MV40 (10) 0:53:29 59 Tom Maden Rossendale U18 0:54:08 60 Neville Griffiths Spectrum MV60 (1) 00:54:09 61 Mick Bull Middleton MV55 (2) 00:54:19 62 Wayne Warburton u/a M 00:54:20 63 Gayle Benson Stainland F (3) 00:54:27 64 Gerry Dewhurst Radcliffe F (4) 00:54:39 65 George Large Northern Vets MV60 (2) 00:54:40 66 Paul Morton Bowland M 00:54:46 67 Trevor Metcalfe Settle MV55 (3) 00:54:51 68 Sarah Massey Radcliffe F (5) 00:55:00 69 Rett Metcalfe Hellifield MV50 (8) 00:55:07 70 Peter Bolton Red Rose MV45 (6) 00:55:16 71 Malcolm Lingard Spectrum M 00:55:17 72 Stephen Symons Manc'r YMCA MV40 (11) 00:55:21 73 Brian Kennedy Newburgh MV55 (4) 00:55:36 74 Debbie Campbell Skelmersdale F (6) 00:56:00 75 Richard Horrocks LFRS M 00:56:10 76 Mark Taylor u/a M 00:56:23 77 Tracy Dean Stainland FV40 (2) 00:56:34 78 John Leary Manc'r YMCA MV55 (5) 00:56:38 79 Simon Bond Rossendale M 00:56:40 80 Heather Parker Rossendale U18 00:56:48 81 Tony Peacock Clayton MV60 (3) 00:56:56 82 Rebecca Avanessian Manc'r YMCA F (7) 00:57:13 83 Sharon McGuire Rossendale F (8) 00:57:27 84 Adam Godwin Rossendale M 00:57:43 85 George Thompson Clayton MV55 (6) 00:58:18 86 John Anketell-Jou Spectrum M 00:59:17 87 Rick Moore Clayton MV40 (12) 00:59:24 88 Davina Raidy Rossendale F (9) 00:59:27 89 Katy Thompson Clayton FV50 (2) 00:59:46 90 Stuart Smith u/a M 01:00:47 91 Angela Leonard Manc'r YMCA FV40 (3) 01:02:02 92 Julie Keys Rossendale F (10) 01:02:10 93 Natalie Murphy Rossendale F (11) 01:02:26 94 Andrew Biddle West Pennine MV50 (9) 01:02:42 95 Gerard Navan Rossendale MV60 (3) 01:02:46 96 Nick Davy u/a MV45 (7) 01:02:55 97 George Corbishley Rossendale MV60 (4) 01:03:28 98 Raymond Johnson CFR MV60 (5) 01:03:59 99 Harry Johnson Newburgh MV70 (1) 01:05:56 100 Alex Miller Newburgh MV55 (7) 01:06:32 101 Mark Taylor u/a M 01:06:38 102 George Arnold Preston MV70 (2) 01:07:07 103 Frank Wood Horwich MV60 (6) 01:07:52 104 Pip Fitzpatrick Manc'r YMCA F (12) 01:09:22 105 David Dickson Rossendale MV65 (1) 01:10:43 106 Diane Waite Stainland FV40 (4) 01:12:03 107 Mary Cowling Stainland F (13) 01:12:04 108 Fiona Pudge FRA F (14) 01:12:04 109 Peter Duffy Northern Vets MV70 (3) 01:13:43 110 Eric Bridge u/a MV50 (10) 01:21:41 111 Darren Smith Manc'r YMCA MV40 (13) 01:22:13 112 Sue Todd Manc'r YMCA MV45 (8) 01:25:13 DNF Lee Shorrock
Helvellyn via Striding Edge
A flying trip up to the Lakes with my colleague Gareth for a long awaited summit ascent. Dazzling weather meant a good deal of people had similar ideas, but we managed to circumvent the queues on Striding Edge largely by jumping over people’s heads and standing on their hands. A lovely dip in Red Tarn rounded things off superbly for yet anohter memorable day in this seemingly endless British summer.
Clitheroe Grand Prix 2006
The Cliitheroe Grand Prix race is on a bugger of a circuit and saps you. This year’s race was on roads wet from torrential rain. I got into the leading group of six and we made good progress – but then I crashed on a slippy hairpin bend whilst attacking the leaders. (I was a few yards off the front so didn’t bring anyone down!) and fought a frustrating battle trying to get back on to the leaders for the remaining 20 minutes. I finished 20 seconds down in between the five leaders and the unorganised chasing group. Loved the fight though.
Boroughbridge Show
Some photos from the agricultural show we went to at the weekend. Just four shots chosen for upload but I love them all.
Three more pics here:
Ouch!
Tour of Qinghai Lake , China, July 15-23, 2006. That has got to hurt.
Colne Grand Prix – hot, hot hot.
A 7pm evening crit after a mad dash from Sheffield (working) and surreal temperatures (still over 80 degrees on the start line). The race itself felt pretty fast (but that may have been the heat) and was dominated (spoilt?!) by Aire Valley RT riders protecting their sprinter and pulling back every move that went up the road. In the end, and the inevitable sprint, I was eigth, which isn’t bad for someone who’s never been able to sprint. Great race. Bitter? Moi?
The Chap Olympics – none of this vulgar sporting tosh.
Some funny photos on the BBC website of the annual event hosted by Chaps Magazine. The opening ceremony includes the lighting of the Olympic pipe.