Iditarod

When I was younger, I had a dream to try and complete the Iditarod Sled Race. Its a race like no other on this earth with each team (of 12-16 dogs) and their musher trying to complete the arduous 1150 miles from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska in 10 to 17 days. Its heaven and hell on earth all rolled into one, with towering mountains, windswept tundra, temperatures way, way below zero, long nights and short days and the dangers which go with trying to do anything in that environment. This years event starts in 5 days time.

So, during my early teenage years I made my own sled and tried desperately to teach our Dalmatians (I know, I know...but they were my parents dog of choice) to pull. It was never going to happen. The fact all our dogs had personality disorders didn't help, certainly not when two of them thought they were cows. So I pulled my sled alone in winter, through the massive Sillyearn forest that ran behind our family home for hours upon hours upon hours. My parents never knew I don't think, at least they never let on or maybe they hoped it was a phase and I'd return to sanity at some point if no one mentioned it - I was, admittedly, a difficult child :) It continued until puberty hit big time and I discovered all the things that teenagers discover around that age. And so, my plans were shelved and before I knew it I had kids, was on my second marriage and was working. I was also winter climbing, snowboarding, running, hillwalking and rock climbing but hadn't gone near a sled in years. Still I dreamed..however living in a part of the world that, really, doesn't see that much snow (she says after having 3 months of the sodding stuff this year!)  - and all the other accoutrements of modern life, jobs, kids etc -  has left me softer, more scared and older and now, I am further from the start line than I have ever been. Whether I can, or if I'm brutally honest with myself want to change my life enough to commit enough of it to training for the Iditarod now is another story.

What age, kids, jobs etc doesn't hamper is my admiration for the men and women who still do it and so, whether I line up or not, I follow it as best I can. Nowadays I can follow online so its much, much easier of course!

This year, I'm also following the Iditarod Invitational which is the human powered version of the classic race. Competitors walk, run, ski or cycle either 350 miles to McGrath for the 'short' race or go the full 1100 miles to Nome. I got interested in this part after following Jill Homers blog - she completed it in 2008 on her bike and tried again in 2009 but had to pull out due to frostbite - and I have to say, its captured my imagination. It starts tonight at 11pm BST (2pm Anchorage time) and so I'll be following it as well via podcasts. If you want an idea of what its like, read her book Ghost Trails - though that's rather like saying if you want to know what it feels like to drop an axe off a grade V scottish winter route, then go buy a book.... but you get my drift.

I wish everyone competing this year in the Jnr, main or Invitational races, a safe race and the very best of luck. I'll follow you from the comfort of my own warm kitchen and use the inspiration I get from you guys to try to keep pushing at the bars with my own paltry-by-comparison challenges.

Cairn mon Earn run

 

Weather: Mild

Todays tune: Folky Gibbon, The Chair

Activity: 10km run, Cairn mon Earn, Aberdeenshire

Comments: Fnnnnrrrrgh

After a lazy morning sat on the floor with maps and books, I made a decision to reconnoitre part of a longer run I'm planning. I wasn't expecting it to be easy. Which was good, because it wasn't. After a "three point one five kil-ahm-eterrs" (you gotta love the nice American lady's voice with RunKeeper Pro on the iphone) uphill stretch, I stopped briefly and wondered as to the whereabouts of my lungs and kept wondering for the remainder of run. I bloody hate road running. Its sore on my ankles (they've been broken many times) and even on single track, middle-of-nowhere roads there are cars. I passed the entrance to Cluny Woods and felt myself being drawn into the trees...Oh to run on something softer! Oh to not have to focus on pace and timings! But, I persevered. I needed to stick between 6:39 - 7:29 min/km which is my easy run pace. Runkeeper says my average pace was av 6:45/km and my Garmin Forerunner says av 6:51/km so fairly happy. 

 

Anyway, enough of this talk of pace! It was a mild day, with low cloud and the threat of rain in the air but up there, there was still a lot of snow. And it was eerily beautiful. Really, really beautiful. I felt like I were the only person on the planet for a while. Its a lovely run too really, despite my moanings. 10.01km and just over 750ft of ascent. 1:07:18

I'm planning to take the bike up there next week if theres been a significant thaw. The tracks up into Durris Forest are still thigh deep in snow so unless Bob learns to float... we'll see, be a cracking outing if it happens.

I'm off for a long, hot shower and stick my head back in Ghost Trails but here, for your listening pleasure...what's been going round in my head all day. Hyaeeeeich!! 

Snow, floods and tempo runs

Weather: Snowing, but not so much. Quite windy. Wet.
Activity: Tempo run then a cool down run back through the forest.
Remarks: Ate a lot, drank even more tea than yesterday. Died of hypothermia in the morning & subsequently unleashed hell on unsuspecting Stagecoach Bluebird driver. Its cold. And miserable.


I look out the living room window towards Braemar and its a white, white world. I see blizzards. I look out the back door towards Aberdeen and I'm overwhelmed with the urge to build an Ark. It is, quite honestly, bizarre. It's as though the freezing point is hovering directly in line with the house (actually, its our sodding bedroom!). The back is stripped of snow and flooding quite badly as is the rest of lower Aberdeenshire. Aberdeen has been hit quite badly. Two roads in Banchory were closed today - one because of the snow, and one because of flooding. In Stonehaven, a smallish town on the coast 15 miles directly south-east of here, part of the old town slid down the hill and 65 homes have been evacuated for fear of further landslides and/or the River Carron flooding them as it did back in November.

The higher parts of Deeside and further north and inland however are really suffering with snow. A mere 2 miles from here, people have been without power for 2 days and 6 to 8ft high drifts are reported. Schools are shut and buses are running only as far down Deeside as Banchory and on a limited timetable (so I found out this morning). Powerlines all across the affected areas are falling under the weight of the snow or being torn down by falling trees. Ballater is cut off completely.

Two pics above are taken by Fia in Upper Deeside.

The storm thats wrought this havoc is moving south and it looks like Edinburgh and the central belt are taking their turn over the next couple of days. We're due a couple more days of sleet/snow and then, I swear to god, I see sun symbols on the weather forecasts!!!

Oh, I did get to work this morning. Still too dodgy to try and cycle so tried for public transport again. I only had to wait a full 65 minutes for a bus today. In a full-on, extremity numbing, soul sapping Scottish Winter blizzard (as oppose to a Scottish Summer Blizzard). Unbeknownst to me, and the rest of the world for reasons I shall explain shortly, Stagecoach Bluebird - who run the big Deeside buses - had reduced their service from Aberdeen to Braemar down to a) 'once every hour leaving Aberdeen at 25 mins past the hour', instead of the normal once every 20 minutes and b) were only going as far as Banchory. This was of course because of the 'weather'. The second point is not a problem for me as that's as far as I want to go but the first bit? If you think they'd notified anyone, like the public for example, you'd be sadly mistaken. Nothing on website to suggest anything out of the ordinary (a bit like Scotrail not telling anyone all trains between Aberdeen and Inverness had been cancelled yesterday..) and when I tried to call the company this morning to enquire as to whether I was in for a futile wait again today, it rang out repeatedly. So, after I was informed by a schoolboy who'd been told by his driver (its a Stagecoach school bus that grown-ups aren't allowed on) of the situation I challenged the bus driver who eventually picked me up at 9.03 am (I'd been waiting since 7.55am) as to the whereabouts of the missing buses, if in fact they were running once every hour at 25 mins past....and what did I get? Nothing. He looked at me blankly. In fact he looked through me and just gave me a ticket. I know they're not supposed to acknowledge foaming-at-the-mouth irate members of the public but I was close to death (at least), tired, hungry and bloody late for work again!

Tonight, after my mate gave me a lift home from work (otherwise I might still be standing there, waiting..), I decided that I really did need to go for a run to assist in burning off the large amount of crap I've grazed on today (I like the word 'graze'..it implies a polite nibbling. 'Ramming everything in sight down my throat' is actually a slightly more accurate but less ladylike description of my eating habits today) and also to try and burn off some of the tension that had been swimming around in my system since this morning.

So decided on a tempo run. Only had thirty minutes till my pre-arranged Skype video-call-thingy date with daughter in Germany so... 2 x 2k @8:00 min/mile with 1 x 1km @ recovery in between. I'm aiming for a sub 50 min 10km in April, which would make me an extremely happy bunny. It was hard going underfoot - slush, snow, floods and for the first 2k I over compensated and went way too fast (07:39 min/mile) so subsequently I was absolutely fecked for the second 2k, even after 2 mins of jogging/heaving my lifeless corpse around at recovery pace so y'know what? I called it a day and ran home the longer way through the forest instead. Sooooo much more fun.

Tomorrow is, stating the obvious, Saturday and I'm not working so with our end of Deeside losing this icy slush faster than you can say JoDon'tEatTheEntireFridgeContents, I plan on getting out on the bike to make up for some of the lost mileage this week. I can at least mountainbike through floods!

Snow day

Weather: Snowing, a lot.
Activity: 4 miles walking/wading, 1 mile cycling/falling
Remarks: 1 book, 1 broken ipod, Several cups of tea and 4 fig rolls. Quite a lot of Twittering.


Well, the fifty centimetres of snow we were forecast didn't reach these parts though we did get a good twenty five or so, knee deep on our track. It came down in biblical style and didn't stop all night. The wind got up at 2am (it woke me up) and it started drifting, so when I woke again at 7am and looked outside, I was met with a wall of white.

I tried to get to work this morning - I open up in the mornings and don't get paid for 'snow days' -  initially by bus thinking (rightly) that cycling on the road would be suicidal and the trail would be as deep under snow, if not worse than our track. So donning full winter kit #1, I waded off along the track, through the wood and onto the wee single track road to the village a mile away and arrived exhausted at the bus stop to be told that apparently the buses weren't running due to the shocking state of the roads and the fact it was still snowing (all schools were shut too and quite a few of the roads) so I walked back to house. I couldn't give in though and so I got into my cycling gear, apologised profusely to Bob the Hardtail who was quite happy and warm in the living room and set off. About 6 yards down the track, despite my snow studs, I slid around like a well oiled eel and had my first 'this is stupid' thought but dismissed it as being a puf.

And still it snowed...

A mere mile down the road after having face planted 4 times, I gave up and went home over/through feilds, catching sight of a bus far away on the main road as I went...Ah ha! So the buses were running! So home once more, dried off, changed into full winter kit #2 and set off walking again. An hour and a bit later and there was still no sign of any buses... my fellow bus users and I admitted defeat and headed our seperate ways. My boss, when I phoned to give her the bad news, was as understanding as a boss who lives near the coast and hasn't got any snow could be. However, when she tried to get over the hill that seperates us and got stuck in her 4 x 4 she conceded I was right about the 'weather'. Incidentally, turns out the bus I'd seen was one that got stuck in Banchory the night before and was heading into town.

So today, I've been housebound. This is not a good thing. This is definitely not a good thing when the mobile mast packs in and the broadband/phone also pack in due to 'weather'. This is a very bad thing when you get a phone call from the driver of a large lorry trying to deliver a large exhaust to us (its for an offshore pump and therefore is the size of a small car..) rings to say "there's nae f*cking way I can git doon yer track, fit div ye wint me tae dee wi yer pallet?"...er...so I arranged with him to leave it as a caravan sales place in the village and we'd pick it up later. This is a catastrophic thing when you realise that your new ipod shuffle is now dead thanks to the 'weather' getting in. Bugger!

And still it snowed.

By this time I'd cleaned the house to within an inch of its life (this is not a Normal Occurance in this household) and it was still only 2.30pm.

Then it changed to freezing rain and turned everything into a cold, icy soup. Well, when I say everything, I mean, anywhere you want to walk or drive. The rest was still deep snow.

At that point I gave up, dismissed any lingering thoughts of even trying to get some more walking in today and fell asleep on the sofa reading a book (Jill Homers' Ghost Trails - true story of Jill - timid, nonathletic, raised in the suburbs of Salt Lake City - and her unlikely route to one of the most difficult bicycle races in the world, a 350-mile epic along Alaska's frozen Iditarod trail). I was woken at 4 pm by the sound of N and Jnr arriving home early (due to 'weather').

Tonight, its blizzarding again so we'll wait and see what first light tomorrow brings but I need to get to work, I'm twitchy...

The things a girl will do for chocolate..

36.04km/22.39 miles
1579ft ascent
3 hrs 53 mins
Snow, snow and more snow

By 9am this morning, as the sun was splitting the alpine blue sky for the third day in a row and the temps were creeping up from -10C,  I had already decided there was no way I was staying in today, rest day or no rest day, iphone or no iphone. Nor was I being hindered by a dental appointment right in the middle of the afternoon. So I cancelled it, stuffed a bagel down my throat, hurriedly packed my biking pack and set off around 11am. My objective was the Hill of Fare. Never been up the thing in my life but thats what Days Off are for. Doing new stuff.

The Hill of Fare was the scene of a battle in 1562 between George, the 4th Earl of Huntly and Mary Queen of Scots, his first cousin. At the foot of the hill lies Cluny Crichton Castle which dates back to Jacobite times though was never inhabited and used primarily as an ammunitions store.

History lesson over....

After an hours ride on back roads over a couple smaller hills, I arrived at the start of the offroad. The track takes you through the woodland at the back of Raemoir House Hotel. Its been messed up by forestry plant recently but is still rideable in most parts. I stopped and had a SiS GO gels (jesus, they are disgusting aren't they?) and a scoof of water and then set off up the hill. Its hard, especially when you're constantly battling to stay upright on the frozen rutted sections but about 45 mins later when you get to the shoulder, about 3/4 of the way up...it suddenly all becomes worth it.

 

My bike camera is rubbish but next time up, I'm taking the D80 and will hopefully manage to get some shots closer to reality. You can see right from Morven, across to Lochnagar, the Cairngorms, Clach na Beinn, Kerloch, Carn mon Earn and across to the North Sea at Aberdeen. I'd left Bob the Hardtail about 1/4 of a mile back next to a little cairn and ran the rest of the way to the summit. I spent an hour up there, perfectly alone, just wandering around, taking photos, glissading down and kicking steps back up. I had forgotten how happy I am when I'm up high.

After a banana, headed back down to Bob and took some more shots (including the obligatory self portrait) and then just let loose on the descent. It took and hour and 10 mins to ride up, and 23 minutes to get back down. I have a nasty elbow and shoulder now from one involuntary dismount but hey :) Alright for a cheap(ish) bike and the more he does and the more I learn, the more I grow to love him and am loathe to upgrade. I don't think I need to right now either...I will one day I guess but right now, me and Bob go everywhere hand in hand :)

 

Amazing few hours. And at the end of another hours ride home...my reward :)

On running early..

Buoyed by my last run and completely ignoring the fact that I should have probably rested today as effectively I ran a race yesterday, or at least race pace, I set the alarm last night for 5.45am. As I have done away with my own motorised forms of transport for the moment, any travel which doesnt involve biking/running is limited to the bus service and I have to leave the house 20 minutes early to get to the bus stop a mile away. Our bus service is second to none. It runs every 20 minutes between Aberdeen and Aboyne/Ballater/Braemar. Well, it does on paper. In reality, it runs whenever the hell it likes and those poor darn commuters reliant on it to get them to their destination on time really do play early morning russian roulette. And God help you if you ever complain to one of the drivers...

And so, not to break the habit of a lifetime, the 7.04am bus failed to turn up at all and the 7.29am arrived at 7.40am. However, with temps down to minus 12 deg C this morning (thats 10.4 deg F to you Bob), I was just glad to be within seconds of warmth again and so clambered onboard grinning wildly and enthusing to anyone who would listen about the marvellous drivers and their magical buses (I thought some ego boosting might persuade the stony faced driver not to take a dislike to my face and throw me off in the wastelands of Crathes or something). Noone seemed to care, or indeed even be awake, and so I spent the next 20 minutes journeytime humming and defrosting my frozen hair.

There is something quite energising about running in the morning I think. Or maybe its coffee. Not sure. Anyway, having already ignored Plan A (rest) I decided to completely and utterly ignore my Plan B too (doing an easy 3 miles trail) and go for Random Plan which involved running up/round/down/across Scolty Hill as far as my remaining 40 minutes would allow. Well, it looked pretty and inviting and comely. So a quick change out of my trackies at work later and off I went, trying to keep pace to 10 min/miles which according to Bob Glover is my recovery pace. It was as beautiful as I thought it was going to be and I was the only one in the forest save two council men who came to empty the bins at the car park and wondered why a woman in tights was hirpling upwards whilst singing loudly to Heartbreak make me a Dancer.

Scolty hill is Banchorys major landmark. Its not very big at all though, something like 981ft if I remember rightly but its steep side is a good lung buster if run from Banchorys main car park at Bellfield, and the view from the top (which I didn't quite reach this morning) over towards the Cairngorms, Clachnaben, Carn mon Earn, Morvern, Kerloch, Hill of Fare and north to Bennachie and the Bin are fabulous on a clear day. Its summit is marked by a monument to General Burnett. Its base and part of its flanks are covered in trees (Forestry Commission) throughout which weave a myriad of waymarked (and not) tracks of varying lengths and 'difficulty'. Its stunningly pretty in the snow. A proper Narnian outing.

 

40 minutes later I was back at work and trying not to die from hypothermia. Work (thats Job A, as oppose to Job B) is in an old butchers shop, up a lane which gets no sunlight, with stone floors, and stone walls and frost thick on the inside of the windows. Until 10.30am this morning, it was 2 deg C inside. Enough to make a grown woman say words she really ought not to know.

Anyway, porridge and a mug of tea later and I was a bit warmer and so checked my emails and hurrah! My iphone is due to arrive tomorrow (my day off...). I've been resistant to the charms of iphones since they came out, doggedly defending my various Blackberry's but I've been wooed by the slimline, app-ready funkiness of the iphone and have swapped camps. So DHL will deliver tomorrow. Well no they won't. They'll do what they do everytime and not want to drive down our track or work past the magical hour of 6pm when they all turn back into pumpkins and so when I check my consignment number online tomorrow night at 8pm (because I'm eternally optimistic when it comes to delivery drivers and am sure that one fine day, one of them will work on  long enough to deliver my parcels on the day they actually specify...), I know I'm going to see that report which has me reaching for the shotgun everytime 'Receiver not in, consignment returned to depot' ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I was in!! I am always in! I take a days holiday if I am expecting something that can't be delivered to work and I wait, by the door, holding in my wee until someone can cover me long enough to run to toilet. Hell, I don't even venture out of the kitchen incase DHL/UPS man knocks in the nanosecond it took me to run through to hallway and get an fleece. Do they really think I want to cycle the 11 miles to the sodding depot only to be told its out for redelivery despite me telling them I'm on my way in to collect..

So tomorrow, it will dawn bright and sunny, with no wind and temperatures oooh, somewhere around -3 or -4 I reckon...nigh on perfection and I will have no work to go to and be hankering to get out and run or bike but I will have to sit. Sit with a steady gaze, eyes never moving from the track, waiting, waiting.....

Fig rolls & the accidental art of breaking ones PB..

 

5k (3 miles) in 21:57, trail run, on snow. 7:04 min/miles. Delighted doesn't even come close to describing how I feel.

I didn't even want to go out as we'd spent the whole day in Aberdeen and Inverurie just messing about and got home about 5pm just as the sun was setting. I was dozy and just wanted to curl up on the sofa with a mug of tea and perhaps a small fajita or eight. Still was a gorgeous night (sunset shot alert!) and about -3C and N forced me out the door saying if I didn't go he might kill me accidentally. Apparently I've been an amusing pain in the arse all day :)

So there we have it. Fastest* 5k I have ever done. Previous to that my fastest* was 27:28 back in March 2008. I'm now hot on the heels of my middle son who ran a 21:06 at Balmoral last year and have just texted him to let him know so he he! (edited: He just texted back to say he's quite proud of me as 'that's quite fast for a mum') I do realise that this is still someway off the world record or even a reasonably fast time but from a girl who thought her sub 30 min 5k days were over, this is possibly the most encouraging thing to have happened to me since I started this malarkey again back in Sept 09.

*fastest in the comparative sense. Faster than say a tortoise or grand piano anyway.

I'm wondering if rearranging my diet to recommended protein/carb/fat etc %/levels has made a difference or maybe I run better in the cold? Maybe I run better at night? Maybe its the extra lbs I've lost? Maybe its wearing my (nicks) lucky cheapo sports watch instead of my broken-down Garmin? Maybe its all down to fig rolls (my new power source of choice :)? Maybe I am just getting fitter? Maybe its a combination of everything (except training which has been woefully slack of late as I've been biking instead)?

Right! Pass me a fig roll, I'm gonna try and break a 20:00 :)

Loch Clàr, Wester Ross. 20/02/10

Loch Clàr, Wester Ross. 20/02/10
Originally uploaded by Douglas Griffin

My friend Doug has a talent not only to bring the NW of Scotland to our lives through his photography, but to make my jaw drop with almost every shot.

This one of Loch Clàr is no exception. You almost feel as if you could reach out and touch the frozen ground..

Quite, quite magical.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas_griffin

James and the Giant Mountain

Today, after a visit to Ballater, our son aged 4 and a bit, climbed his first winter hill - Craigendinnie (1250ft) near Aboyne, just off the Fungle path to Tarfside. Stunning day with wall to wall blue skies and deep powdery snow - knee deep in bits for 1 metre tall midgets. He handled it well with only minor strops at the really steep bits and when we wouldn't let him do the map reading by himself. It took him 2 hours and 15 minutes to get up and down bless 'im :) Yes, we know its not exactly a 4000ft'er but he has to start somewhere and from small acorns do world class alpinists grow...

Theres not much to say really. Its a lovely walk, the views are spectacular and it was nice to do something with N and Jnr. We are, as most doting parents would be, hugely proud of him and have now bought him mini crampons, axes, a full rack and have plans for something on Lochnagar next weekend.

 

You take the low road...

....and I'll make myself puke going up the high road. Well not puke exactly, but a definite sense of nausea and  hypoxia..

1078ft ascent, 27km/16.4 miles - basically as much hillage on the mountainbike as I could find in 2 hrs. Really cold again and lots of fresh snowfall today. Today was going to be the Scolty/Potarch loop but for various reasons, my two compadres couldn't make it so I decided to put my free afternoon to good purpose and do some hill work. Essentially zigzag'd home going up and down the hill/ridge that seperates this strath (shallow valley as oppose to 'glen' which is usually more rugged) from the next. The long uphill (elevation profile from Memory Map below) was really hard work in the spikes but I was glad of them of some of the descents when I kicked off hidden tree roots a couple times and swung out. Overall though, I feel stronger and fitter, which is good. I've got an anti-inflammatory mouthwash now to try and see if that will rid me of the sore throat as doctor is now reluctant to try me on any more antibiotics in case I react oddly again.

Right, I am off to spend some time with my husband and son. Had some news this afternoon that really shook us so time to hunker down.

Just a thought

Been a good day, Jnr had hospital tests and a scan but he got the all clear. Middle son got top marks for his prelims and I had a lovely lunch and catch up with a good friend and bumped into an old schoolmate just back from foreign parts. I'm really looking forward to my ride tomorrow though the details may be changing but tonight I am in bed with splitting headache and a tangible sense of uselessness having watched Kranked 7 (MTB vid) and subsequently reminded myself that I am lower on the talent and ability scale than the five year old kid in the intro. Why do I bother [with running or biking] when I am clearly never going to be great at either. I was beginning to get a bit pissed off - jesus I have tailored diet to specific body requirements, shed extra poundage, made myself sick, broken bits, passed up family events...oh you know yourself, the usual stuff which pops into your head when you're tired and cranky.. (never good to navel graze when alone and sore) Then the below popped into my inbox..Poemhunter seems to be able to tune into my vibes as this is now the third time a particularily apt poem has arrived just in time to kick my sorry backside back into gear.



Richard Cory



"Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean-favoured and imperially slim.



And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,"Good Morning!"

and he glittered when he walked.



And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine -- we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.



So on we worked and waited for the light,

And went without the meat and cursed the bread,

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet in his head."



Edwin Arlington Robinson



I'm still never going to be Good Enough but who cares!?



Not me :)

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Rutsville

 

26.1km, 1192ft ascent in 2hrs 20 mins (trail and forest) today in bitterly cold temps. -11C this morning. The mush - water, mud, ice, snow with deep tyre ruts all mixed together in a chunky soup - left from yesterday had frozen solid overnight and made riding, even in my spikes, bloody hard and I admit to opting to ride on the road for oooh, all of 10 seconds until I realised it was worse and headed back to rutsville. I'm not sure what the gritters were doing last night but it wasn't gritting or ploughing as the traffic was down to 5mph and careering about all over the place trying to avoid the huge patches of frozen meltwater and ruts. I was really ready for breakfast (thats proper brekkie, not the banana I force down throat at 6am) by the time I got to work.

It was still a stunning day when I left and a good bit warmer at 2 deg C, and the majority of the snow had thawed so decided to add a bit of ascent and a few extra km so went home via Crathes Castle. Leg numbing climb (not that steep, just an awkward gradient) to the castle grounds from a side entrance then a lovely coast down through the forest, a few extra loops through it as it was so pretty and then rejoined the trail. I'd planned to hit the riverside but the Estate have closed off the track with a brand new 6ft high spiky gate that I can't get over or round. GAH! So disappointed, I went and treated myself to a Doubledecker at the village shop.

Tomorrow is a no-ride day (erk..) as have an appt in Aberdeen with N and Jnr. That all going well, then its lunch with a mate. Still, it'll give my gear a chance to dry out maybe :)

 

 

Pass me the noodle mate!

Weather: Snowy, with a skin-removing northerly wind
Todays tune in my head: Stay on these Roads, A-ha
24.3km, trail, in snow. And mud.

Today began with a thick head and a definite unwillingness of body to co-operate with what my brain was attempting to get it to do and so as punishment for being weak, I rode fartlek style into work. I'm not sure if one can do fartlek on a bike or wether its known as something different but anyway, thats what I did. And it had snowed a lot. There was only about 2 inches here at the house but once out of the shelter of the trees, there were 3 to 4 inches laying on top of frozen ground (hurrah for being lazy and keeping the spikes on). I rode with a permanently surprised look on my face, due partly to the shock of being plunged into a winter wonderland again after the spring like greens and browns of the last few days - and partly from oxygen deprivation. Anyway, was most definitely awake by the time I got to work. Todays photo is of Bellfield Park in Banchory. I thought we'd had enough of sunsets and country things and so, an urban (as urban as NE Scotland gets) scene was called for.

After work (1.30pm) I had my first afternoon as apprentice bike mechanic at my local bike shop Banchory Cycles Learnt a lot, had a laugh, ogled some bikes, laughed more and learnt lots, lots more. Did you know the little black sleeve through which the cable runs across the brakes calipers is called a noodle? No, I didn't either. I changed brake and gear cables, set up gears, changed tyres, ooohed at the magical 'wheel true'ing' stand and oiled and greased till the cows came home. Peter (the boss) said he'd been hesitant about having a girl in the workshop as he thought I might have been worried about my nails (?!?!?) but admitted he was very pleased I turned out to be 'not that sort' and seemed to be pleased with me. I get to go back to can't have been too bad. Was very good to get my hands dirty again and really, really enjoyed it!

The ride back tonight though was not enjoyable and was in close to the foulest weather I have ever been out in. I was beyond soaked and covered head to toe in mud from the rapidly thawing trail when I got home but once I'd shoved a bagel and peanut butter down my throat and defrosted under the shower, I gave Bob (my mountainbike) an overhaul - yes, I know, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing but hey, now my [disc] brakes are working better and I've adjusted *things* to within an inch of their lives in readiness for Fridays outing.

Its been a great day but I am bushed and off to climb under the blanket with a plate of spaghetti bolognaise and watch the mens 12.5km pursuit at Whistler.

Coasters GB - Round Britain Relay - planned route Cove to Stonehaven

Suggested route for the South Aberdeen to Portlethen leg of the CoastersGB Round Britain Relay.  Kept as close to shoreline as possible without going on the A90.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Above these maps i.e Nigg Bay to Cove you can run along the actual cliff top for most of the way, and of course Aberdeen City should be a simple (in terms of mapping) street run.

Please discuss/add comments on thread here

 

Love it when a plan comes together

Or more accurately I love it when I accidentally do something better than before, like todays Sunday run. Yes, you heard me, I ran again (so hush you doubters!). Alright its been a few days, like 10 or something, since I last ran but I felt I even wanted to run today and so I set off just before 12 noon while N and Jnr went off to collect Jnr's new slide. 4.66 miles along the river and through the woods to near Crathes and then back. In 42:33 minutes. That means for the first time in a very long time, I'm 9 minute mile-ing (09:07 min/mile to be precise - not the 08:55 min/miles I excitedly texted my running mates before accurately converting km to miles..). Felt harder, unsurprisingly.

On the way back I stopped at the main Fishing Hut near Park House (above) to remove a layer and noticed the flood level indicator on the door. Basically, where the lines are, that where the water's been. Now I've read a fair bit about the Muckle Spate (Great Flood) of 1829 on the River Dee (and others, inc Lossie and Spey) and knew that the water rose 27ft above its normal level near Banchory but its hard to comprehend how much water that is. However, when I saw the 1829 levels on the door at just over 13 feet, it really bought it home.

In the photo below, you can see the river and the hut - and the 13ft level on the door is near the roof line of the hut, bad enough! Now add another 13 or 14 ft on top of that and that is what it was like just 4 miles upstream. Scary. You can read more about the Muckle Spate of 1829 in Royal Valley : The Story Of The Aberdeenshire Dee by Fenton Wyness and also the poem by David Grant written in 1851.

So, 9 min/miles and a bit of local history. Alright for a sunday morning :)