On Meeting Mr Right

Weather: Where the hell did all the snow come from?
Activity: 5k/3 mile trail run
Today's Tune: Volare (don't ask)
Comment: "I do"

Yes I know I said I'd not be blogging for a few days but ....

Today I woke to a white, white world. Whiter even than yesterday which was pretty white. This morning was so white in fact that the annoyingly chirpy, laundry obsessed cow from the Vanish adverts was shocked into silence and the world was a far nicer place.

I decided however that it wasnt too white to miss my run so I left the house at 6:35 am. I'm on Bob Glovers 12 weeks to half marathon training plan as I got my reminder email from the Coasters GB coordinator yesterday reminding me it was only 12 weeks until I have to run the 15 miles from Aberdeen to Stonehaven  I promised I'd do as part of the Coasters GB relay challenge. So today BG had me doing a 3 mile easy (hurrah!). I regretted my determination to run this morning by oooh, about 6:38am - it was so windy I thought at points I was literally going to be blown over or killed outright by a falling branch. By 6:41 was all ready to call mountain rescue. I jest of course, a normal ambulance would have sufficed.  Got to the halfway boulder after 15 (.35) minutes (I know...) but the return leg was easier with a gale pushing me along - 12(.76) minutes - so roughly a 28-and-a-bit-minute 5km. Its still under 30 mins despite my slovenly ways of late, so am happy.

Happier even still when I walked through the door at Bike Shop and saw The Colnago. What a beautiful, beautiful bike and when I tried it for size, it was as though it had been crafted by the Gods especially for me - and so light it is as though it was made from feathers and angels own breath. Or something. Every single bit of it was just perfect. I wanted to marry it there and then and I freely admit, if it was possible to snog a bike, I would have. Instead, I've given it my number and told it if it ever gets fed up of its present rider and fancies a drink...

In fact, it was a day for beautiful bikes as when I walked into the back, there was a Specialized S Works carbon  H/T which needed a new chainset. I got to do it but with the warning from Bike Boss to not scratch the frame or I would die. I have never torqued a crank screw quite so gingerly.

But you know what the highlight of the day was? Not the Colnago or the Spesh or even the triple chocolate brownies at flytime. Nope - had this little lad in the shop with his dad who had convinced him he was just coming in to help us out 'making sure the little bikes worked'. They left after we got the wee lad sized up very sneakily. Poor wee guy was so gutted to leave this particular green bike which he had fallen in love with and clung to as only a kid can - but little does he know that his dad phoned us when they got home and that very special Little Green Bike will be wrapped and waiting for him to open on his 4th birthday on Monday :)

I'm not ignoring you

Weather: Pentland....southwesterly severe gale force 7 increasing gale force 9 imminent.
Activity: 560 miles driving, 68 miles ferry over Pentland Firth
Weekend's Tune: Gorillaz
Comment: Highland Park 25yo, a jacuzzi, old friends and the visiting thereof and more history than you could shake a stick at.
 
I'm just struggling to find the time to blog at the moment so think I'm going to cut it down to once a week for the next wee while till I catch up with life. Feeling a good bit better though. Saw a great GP who has referred me to ENT - just waiting for appointment now.

Juggling the childcare between N and I at the moment as schools have broken up for Easter Holidays so no time for lengthy bike excursions - the next fortnight will just be improving on fitness with pre-work runs (yes, am back regularly running again) and trying to shed the 2lbs I seem to have gained over the weekend. It might have had something to do with the alcohol, full Scottish breakfasts, 5 Star meals of an evening and the considerable amount of chocolate consumed. Head down and just get on with it :)

So what have I been up to? Basically last week - work. Little time for anything else. This last weekend though, went to Orkney. Left on Friday, caught the lunchtime ferry across from Scrabster. Orkney is stunningly beautiful. I've been twice before but was hotshotting engine parts to boats in the harbour via airport so this was first time I actually got to see it! Trip up was dead calm, trip back not so but Jnr handled it admirably even when the stewardess screamed as the bow tipped down so far we slid out of out seats. Jnr also never stopped talking the entire trip.....

Anyway, some photos below. I took 572 altogether....

Hoy from our ferry (Hamnavoe)

Hoy

Tankerness

St Magnus, Kirkwall

Stromness

More Stromness

 

Kirkwall harbour and three island ferries

Portmahomack near Tain. Visiting relatives and family friends on the way home.

Tarbatness Lighthouse, Portmahomack

Thats it for just now. I've been home with Jnr today and we've sorted  and shifted the electric fence, baked 4 cakes and 35 brownies, sowed veg (sprouts, cauliflower and french beans - all indoors), quoted for a ROV job, done all the housework and did a months worth of recycling. I'm bushed and off to bed!

See ya'll in a few days!

Random ramblings

 

Weather: Sunny, warm, unseasonably mellow..

Activities: Monday 0634am - 5.5km/3.43 miles trail run - D/W, 00:30:27

Tuesday 0701am - 6km/3.75 mile run, - Scolty Hill (yellow trail +) 00:35:15

Today's Tune: Lazy, David Byrne

Mood: Varying between hysterical laughter, intense tongue-sticking-out concentration and comfort eating my way through a banana cake

This week, the focus is running. Well, when I say running, I mean flopping along like a dying salmon struggling to make it upstream one last time.....I have lost so much form and running-ability its untrue! I thought my lungs were going to exit via my nostrils on Monday morning though lets face it, the combination of 'running', '6am' and 'monday' was never going to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling really was it. I woke naturally at 5.30am thinking it was Sunday (having a short weekend due to working Saturday does that to you) and lay there planning my day and I only realised my plans were useless as it was MONDAY when the alarm went off at 6am. Still, it was a lovely morning and so when I did finally start running, my mood had already lifted. But then by 2 miles in I was so hypoxic, you could have told me every day was going to be a Monday and I'd not have cared anyway.I'm kinda getting this whole 'oxygen starvation' thing...

I miss my bike (and I'm apparently too brain dead/tired to combine both at present) but if I am to have any chance of completing Balmoral in 4 short weeks time, I really do need to start place running training slightly higher in my list of priorities than it has been of late (sandwiched neatly between 'staring idly at ceiling above bed and wondering if that fly is dead' and 'bugger, must remember to put bin out'...I jest I know but if I am to be brutally honest, I'm not feeling overly enthused at the moment. I'm a bit flat, a bit worried (about throat), a bit stressed, a bit emotional, really bloody tired and very, very lacking in any impetus to do anything other than cycle. I don't want to run, I certainly don't want to race but I know Me and if I don't, I'll regret it. So I shall continue and when I cross the line, I shall be grinning. 

I have the doctors tomorrow afternoon about The Sore Throat again. Its now been six months, 4 GP's, 3 courses of antibiotics, one course of antibacterial/anti-inflammatory gargle and one emergency hospital visit (allergy to non-allergenic antibiotics..) since this whole thing started and I am fed up. Tomorrow I demand referral to ENT (mostly politely).

Good things happening too though! Babies arriving (not mine! Congrats to J & J on the safe arrival of Baby R!), friends with hugs, friends with bikes, customers buying bikes, V8 engines, Bike Bosses being pleased with me (despite me eating all the cake), learning new things and most of all, having a lovely husband that just quietly takes the fork out of my ear when I fall asleep in my dinner.

EDITED 10.06pm: Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. So after I blogged, I ate more cake (total cals today 1300000) and sat down to catch up with The Fat Cyclist. Lo and behold, I think I have found the reason for my uselessness....read on

Bike Bum Weekend

A clean cassette is a thing of beauty and so after a trip into town to restock on degreaser and *stuff*, I spent a very happy couple hours sat on the step in the sun-bathed courtyard taking Bob to bits completely and giving him a right good seeing to. He now gleams like a particularly gleamy thing and seems to have appreciated the attention as when I took him out for a test run, he changed up & down with a reassuring purr instead of the almost faltering kerchunk he'd developed over the last couple days. Happy bike, happy me. So.... yeah, um...I'm thinking of slightly pimping him. Just ever so slightly. New forks and a new brake system. I don't know what yet and I don't even know why. He works great as he is but I just feel I need to treat him.

I was working all day yesterday at the Bike Shop so only got the usual commute in (24'ish km). It was lovely though - despite a pre-6am alarm call! Its good craic in there and the day flew past. You can tell it spring now as the roadies have appeared en mass - lots of bike checks, setting up bikes, the buying of spares, more lycra, the hushed roadie spik (way over my head) and the test drives. A lycra clad chap was in at 8.30am test driving one of these.

Wheeling it through the back, I decided I cannot live any longer without one. So light, so airy, so smooooth. So outta my price range :( I half-jokingly asked to Bike Boss how long it would take to pay off one of those if I worked for nothing. Bike Boss Son (good laugh) replied 'eternity'. Boo :( Back to Plan A, sell everything. Perhaps if I get really good at making wheels (my main focus yesterday) I can start a line of traditional Scottish handmade wheels at say £400 a pair for training wheels...moving up to £1899 for the race pair I'll sell you hand etched with an ancient celtic blessing guaranteed to win you every race you enter! (also conveniently the price of a Colnago C50 frameset which I need as well)

So anyway - back to exercise and all that malarkey. Only thing done this weekend has been the commute yesterday. So, if I remember rightly, I've done a commute 4 times this week which equals 100km offroad plus or minus a few. Oh and a 6km run. Hmmmm. 9 hours of exercise? Not a lot really is it. I have a list of excuses - I was ill (short list I know). However, with the school hols coming up at the end of next week - which means me being at home with Jnr 3 and a half days a week for the next fortnight - if I can maintain 100+km a week over that period I'll be happy. I forsee lots of night rides/runs.

Anyway, its been a lovely Sunday - weather-wise and activity wise. After my marathon 6pm to 8am sleep of yesterday, I was determined to use all that amassed energy today and so was up at the crack of dawn and only came in about 9.30pm. Went for a run down the coast this afternoon and I returned to my beach-bum roots in the incredibly warm, tshirty spring weather. Ate fish'n'chips (has anyone else noticed they put the calories-compared-to-pizza on the side of Ashvale chip boxes? Why?) while we watched the Seven Atlantic come in at Aberdeen (she's a very big Dive Support boat - near 145m long), washed the rangie and cried at insurance costs (stupid, just stupid). I'm now off to bed.

And just like that, its Monday again. Sheesh!

And the Shipping Forecast for today is...

Weather: Cromarty....southwesterly severe gale force 9 increasing storm force 10 imminent.
Activity: Mountain bike, 24.62km (trail), 1hr 56 mins in the saddle, 447ft ascent plus 6km trail run
Today's Tune: Couldn't hear it
Comment: More of a 'scream' really than a 'comment'..



It was bloody windy on land too. So why, as I lay in bed listening to panes of glass imploding on the greenhouse and the sound of ducks trying to wedge themselves under the tyre pond, I thought it'd be fine to cycle into work this morning I'm still not sure....it may have had something to do with the bright sunshine beaming positively through the curtains or lack of food/coffee in my system causing brain system malfunction... but I can say, about 5 minutes into the morning commute, when I got to the point I was pedalling hard enough to actually probably take off under normal conditions, I was in fact going nowhere.

At this point I threw down the bike, kicked it, kicked a fence post and screamed.


Forty-seven thigh burning, skin stripping, soul destroying minutes and later I was at work performing my now routine transformation from mud encrusted freak into something a bit more presentable whilst stuffing porridge down my throat like there was no tomorrow. Five hours of food, laughter and a lot of carb loading (snacking...) later and I had, like the pain of childbirth, forgotten the anguish of my ride in and decided a quick 3 mile run was in order. I am after all, in 'training' now. You...you at the back in hysterical laughter...stop it!

More-minutes-than-I-care-to-remember of running into a brick wall later, I fell to my knees 3km from work, kicked a fencepost and screamed.

I ran back, notching up a total of 6km (ye gods I have a lot of work to do!), to the safety of the shop where I was resuscitated by fruit cake and a large mug of tea...but I still had to get home...

It was at this point my brain kicked into excuse mode (years of perfecting and executing my excuses have honed my ability to switch from 'keen' to 'couch potato' in 2 seconds flat).

• If I leave the bike and catch the bus, I only have a mile to walk to the house. Only problem is, then I have to rely on bus in the morning to get me to bike shop where I am working all day. Bus will not turn up, I will be late and Bike Boss will not be receptive to Idea regarding New Road Bike.
• If I leave the bike and catch the bus, walk the mile to the house and then get N to pick up my bike and bring it home then I don't have to rely on bus. But I will be in debt to N. He will use his powers against me and I shall be forced to help him clean out the septic tank or something equally as miserable.
• Phone friendly local chemist/lift share and ask if possibly can cadge lift to end of track. Ah, no, still then reliant on bus in morning.
• Hint at friend (a mere 2 feet away) that I am beyond tired and hope friend offers to run me home (with bike). However friends husband is home and I know friend is desperate to see said husband and I will die of guilt if I am cause of extended separation.
• Stay at work and phone N to pick up from work. Ah, well no, N will not get here until 1.5 hours after shop shuts.

At this point it became painfully obvious I was in for in for an excruciating ride home. True to form, the wind had about turned so was once again blowing against me and any remaining hopes I had of being pushed home by said gale were dashed, along with my shins, against a tree as the wind funnelled itself down the narrow avenue of trees along the river until at one point, it reached such a crescendo that I could hear it over the soulful plinky plonking of Sigur Rós on my ipod. I attempted to fight back with some Prodigy but to no avail. I crawled over the doorstep an hour later, shutting the maelstrom out behind me, and sloped, defeated, into a hot shower.

N returns home 35 mins later and is understandably dubious as to reason for wife on the point of physical collapse as wind has gone completely as is now a very lovely balmy evening..

This evening I have watched all three episodes of Eddie Izzards Marathon Man, eaten half a trifle and decided that I am a pathetic excuse for a human being and have been pontificating and navel grazing for the past 2 months. This will not do. Tomorrow...or possibly Monday, I shall begin my quest in earnest.

Its been 5 days since my last confession

Weather: Spring! Warm! Tshirt!
Activity: Mountain bike, 25.51km mixed (trail and dubs) , 1hr 42 mins in the saddle, 578ft ascent
Today's Tune: Didn't have one
Comment: I need sleep

I'm tired. I'm just plain tired. Its not age (no its not!) Late nights and very e'arly mornings, a particularily nasty virus and general busy-ness interspersed with random and spurious forms of exercise have left me a bit er...flat. I'm not inspired to write but feel I need to so here I am.

It all started on Saturday night when we went to a ceilidh at the Lonach Hall, Strathdon with our friends Sandy & Carol. Clachan Yell were playing. Awesome, awesome night. I am a huge ceilidh fan and regard it as as close to an Olympic Sport as I will ever get and subsequently train for these events with the same dedication and commitment that Ms Bjoergen does for XC Skiing. My 'Eightsome Reel' still needs some work but I can 'Orcadian Strip the Willow' till I'm the last one left standing. I ran/danced into most of Banchory despite Strathdon being some 40 odd miles away. That's the good things about ceilidh's. You can, and will, dance with anyone and everyone. And if you're sat, you won't be for long. Got to (our kind hosts spare) bed via taxi about 2.30am and was home to relieve the babysitters at 7.30am. I am only glad I didn't drink...much. Sooooo.....4 hours of non stop wheeching. Approx cals burnt 28,000.

3 hours after getting home I was heading up north to visit my son, and then my mother/parents for Mothers day. It was a lovely day but its a long drive - 150 mile round trip and I was knackered by the time I got home at suppertime. Aforementioned bug began to take hold later that evening and by Monday morning I was a disaster area - thumping headache, aching head to toe (that may have been partly the dancing..), nauseous and just bleurgh. I took about 4 seconds convincing to take the Landy to work and not cycle. I would have stayed at home and called in sick but with people on holiday, we're short staffed so I had to go in. Tuesday was much the same and I was in bed by 8pm last night.

Today though, I felt a good bit better (hurrah!) and though I had an inner struggle with the whole Landy v cycle thing at 6am, the sun streaking through the curtains meant the cycle was always going to win and so in fabulously springlike temps, I took Bob along the river. It was great and I arrived at work (way too early) with a grin on my face. And half a ton of mud. Riverside ride home this afternoon and stopped for a while to sit by the water and just bathe in the sunlight and enjoy the peace and quiet.

I need some more days like that but the rest of this week is looking seriously hectic. Still, its not long till I'm off to the West Coast with mates for some hills. I cannot wait.

God love you Mr Izzard

Weather: Drizzle, sun, wind, snow, sun and then drizzle again
Activity: Mountain bike, total 24.62k, 300ft ascent
Today's Tune: Blackadder theme tune (don't even ask)
Comment: Eddie Izzard is a god

Last night I took off my Schwalbe Snow Studs (odd name, as they should be called ice studs as studs are no use on deep snow..but I digress) and put on my slicks. Then I remembered where I live and what time of year it was and took off the slicks and put on my spring (mud) tyres.

You know when you've been out all day in the hills with a heavy sack and walked miles and miles and miles and you get back to the car and its dark and cold and miserable and you're mind has turned to mush? All you can really focus on is the prospect of a comfy seat, warm and dry socks, a curry and a very cold lager & lime (I'm a girl!) but you're not actually sure if you'll still be awake by the time you reach civilisation/pub? And then you take off your rucksack and its like being given a massive energy boost and you feel about 15 stone lighter (or you are actually 15 stone lighter if it is my rucksack you have been carrying..) and you realise that not only will you manage a pint and a curry but theres a distinct possibility you might even manage to stay awake for Sticky Toffee Pudding too? That's what it was like riding on spring tyres this morning. Oh my... it was like I had a jet engine strapped underneath my seat. Ok, not a jet engine, it wasn't that fast, but the effort required to be rocketing along was noticably less than I had gotten used to over the winter. I forgot how good and free that felt :) I enthused at great length to my friend Sue (who's husband is a serious roadie so she is aware of the Importance of Tyres) I was *that* happy. I might have to forgo a bit of speed though as I may have ever so slightly over inflated them. I was borderline rising trot over the tree roots....

Spring has also made me think about a roadie again. But do I really need one again (the last was admittedly er...um...thirteen years ago) or is it just pure greed or transient lust? On a bog standard roadie, I can cover the same commute distance in 21 minutes which is fine if I'm late in the morning but bugger all use as a workout. Even 2 x 21 minutes (work and back) isn't really any cop. So I'd have to go the very long way home via Westhill to get a decent daily workout. Which is ok I guess but I think I might get bored now. I've turned very much into a scenery cyclist. On my mountain bikes, even if I'm on a mission but spot a new bit of ground to play on, I'll stop and play. Or chain Bob to a tree and head off up a hill. I listen to music. I am generally just quite sociable if I see other people. I can do this as I ride offroad.

But on a roadie I turn into a grimacing, antisocial speed freak* and a rolling target for any arsehole in a car and so am continually just listening, checking, listening, swearing, double guessing, triple guessing, swerving..you get the idea. I don't actually enjoy the ride that much (its sore) but I do love the endorphin kick-in, I do love speed and I do like covering huge distances under own steam. I do like the single mindedness focus of road-biking. Its the end results I am after. And they are very sexy in a um...carbon frame-y, dropped handlebar, light-as-a-feather slimline kind of way. A bit like dating a superskinny model. Stunningly gorgeous but no use for anything other than their intended purpose.

Or I could buy new forks for Bob, my Boy Next Door mountainbike who is nothing special technically but who has a frame strong enough to handle a nuclear blast, doesn't throw a hissy fit even when you can't see his  paintwork for mud and forgives me when my amateurish attempts have us both unintentionally impacting a tree. I could get him those new wheels and the rest of the upgrade bits I have earmarked in my catalogues too.

Or upgrade the tourer.

Arghhhhh.


Anyhoo, this isn't a decision that going to be made anytime soon. I have things to focus on in the immediate future, like getting back running, which are more pressing. I feel no pain from hamstring even when walking so I am going to try a short run on Monday morning (I am away this weekend to a ceilidh tomorrow in the depths of Strathdon and then going up a wee hill on Sunday with my old hillwalkin' and treefellin' partner!) before work and see how it goes. I shouldnt bloody complain anyway! I've just watched Eddie Izzards Marathon Man Part II tonight and it had me in tears. I am in absolute awe of his single minded determination to complete his challenge (which he did in 2009 - 43 marathons in 51 days) despite never having run for anything other than a bus - with the exception of 5 weeks training -  prior to the challenge . If you are a) in the UK and b) interested then watch it here on BBC iplayer.

God love you Mr Izzard.











*Speed relative to a snail.

Lazy Thursday afternoons

Weather: Overcast and/or raining. 9 deg C
Activity: Mountain bike: total 12.31km, 305ft ascent. Tea and Scones: one pot breakfast tea & one warmed fruit scone.
Today's Tune: Mostly various Röyksopp.
Comment: Three thousand and thirty two....four hundred...Four hundred? Yeah... I'll be right over...


Thursdays come round with alarming regularity nowadays. I know that's like stating the obvious but as each year passes and gets progressively shorter, the weeks seemed to have turned into nano seconds and today, I found myself thinking 'but we only went for coffee yesterday!' to be reminded that actually Jo, that was this time last week.

Holy shit..

This week, we decided to break with routine and head across town (that's not in a New Yawk across town kind of way as Banchory is only a mile across - max) to the recently built cafe/restaurant at the Woodend Barn. The 'Barn' as cool people call it, is a community-based arts venue situated on the outskirts of Banchory and surrounded by the beautiful scenery of Royal Deeside. An extremely versatile building, incorporating the Lang Byre Gallery, originally the cow byre, now an exhibition & workshop space, and a much larger space, originally the hay Barn, which can be used for anything from theatre, concerts or ceilidhs to fabulous wedding parties. The Barn is run by Woodend Arts Association. Bands play there, there are puppet workshops, poetry readings, theatre groups...that sort of thing and it recently underwent a fairly dramatic transformation with the addition of a large restaurant and upgrades to the rest of the facilities.

Woodend Barns brand new restaurant and coffee shop
 
The Buchanans, as the restaurant is named, is run by Val and Calum Buchanan who have their own catering company Buchanan Food. In keeping with the whole Scandinavian'ish look of the building, the interior is very subdued. Very muted. Sackcloth blinds against huge pine framed windows which look out over the Dee valley to the hills and mountains beyond*, biscuit coloured sofas and easy chairs nestle in between mushroom coloured shelving units and communal tables. The floor is wooden, the tables are wooden, the chairs are wooden. Its all so chilled.. The conversation is bubbling but hushed and people in baggy jumpers wander around picking up books and leaflets and the tables mix and match occupants as everyone seems to know everyone else.

We take a sofa facing away from the rest of the restaurant, a sofa with a view to die for. After a few minutes we manage to catch the eye of one of the staff and he comes over to serve us. We'd like a menu please (there are none around) and he returns with a A4 photocopied sheet of blurb and a tatty menu. The blurb is basically an apology for well...pretty much everything. I get the feeling they opened earlier than expected or in a bit of a rush and have printed this off as an antidote to some previous harsh comments. It also begs us not to to frighten the new members of staff with technical coffee requests (?) and if we are to criticise, then please do so positively as 'we are sensitive souls'. It finishes with 'hugs'...

 

Some of the artwork on display

The menu is very appealing. Everything possible is seasonal and at least Scottish, if not local. The Buchanans, who cater for the very best of Deeside, are advocates of the Slow Food movement - which is great to see. But we're here for tea and a scone - the menu doesn't list different types of tea or coffee or the cakes -  laying uncovered between the Hells Kitchen-esque portal into the kitchen and the diners/customers (tsk tsk Health & Hygiene) - and when we asked, the lady didn't seem to know what was available other than Earl Grey, Breakfast or A N Other.

Still, the [pots of] tea (breakfast and Earl Grey) were hot, made with proper tea leaves and large. The scones were fine if a little crumbly. The staff were extremely friendly and welcoming and really, although the whole experience smacked a little of 'new girl at work not sure how to use the photocopier' - you could forgive them quite easily. Forgive is too strong a word to be honest. You almost wanted to go and give them a hand or at least try and help yourself. Just till they got into the swing of things..which I think they are still trying to do. And good luck to them.

 














I'm not sure I'd take my kids in there. I imagine people do and perhaps its a reflection on my own toddlers er... toddler-ness but I would be twitching about him making too much noise or god forbid, staining one of the biscuit coloured sofas. We felt we, as adults, couldn't let go and have our usual laugh either and so we'll be returning to our usual haunt next week but I will go to Buchanans again, probably for a main meal and try out some of this oft-praised cuisine or maybe if I find myself on my own for an hour with a need for calm surroundings, a book and a view out to heaven*.

* Unfortunately, it seems the views will be mostly of Tesco if this little lot gets the go ahead..

A Definite Sense of Something

 

Weather: Still wall to wall blue sky. Temp-5 deg C at 6am to 10 deg C at lunchtime.
Activity: Mountain bike(s), total 39.85km (25.32km trail commute on Bob & 14.53km singletrack thro forest on The Other). Total ascent 1598ft
Today's Tune: Little Lion Man, Mumford & Sons
Comment: Gerroff my sprouts!

This morning while we were all getting ready for work/school - happened to notice an early visitor in the garden..

We now have no sprouts left...(some in this household would argue that is a Good Thing)

Gorgeous ride in this morning but really cold still - though there is a hint of warmth in the sun now and the temperature reached the heady heights of 10 deg C at lunchtime today. After return commute on Bob - mostly on boring trail (but disappearing down along the infinitely more exciting river bank at every opportunity), and having been dumped for a joiner of all things by my friend I was supposed to be going to check running trails out with, I decided that there was no way I was staying inside and so, when I got home, took spare bike (a Scott HT henceforth known as The Other) out for some singletrack action through the local forests and a general dusting off. I felt like I was cheating on Bob (who is a much nicer ride despite being 'lower' spec apparently) and I'd forgotten how crap the stock pedals are on the Scott so I now have a 2 inch gash on my shin where my muddy foot slipped off. I'm pleased to have got a good 3 hours in today and put in some reasonable mileage and I had fun (the important bit) but I do detect a definite sense of pissed-off'd ness about me. Or maybe its a restlessness. Not sure which or why....

Found this little hitchhiker attached to the backside of the Scotts rear light...I think he'd been there the entire ride. I think its a Scalloped Hook Tip moth but I'm not sure?

Reet, am off for lasagne and a soak in the bath (separately). I'll leave you with this old clip that a mate sent me the link to last night - I'll apologise now, 'Extreeeeme' is in the title - and its not so much what they guys on the bikes are doing but more what the camera people do. Heeeeeee!

Back in the saddle

Weather: More blue sky. Very warm. Maybe about 12 deg C!
Activity: Mountain bike, 24.9km trail and 1337ft ascent
Today'sTune: Glósóli, Sigur Rós
Comment: Yeeeeeeeees!

It's been a long, long week since The Injury and I have been, in the words of my husband, a 'bloody nightmare'. I know this to be true as although I started well and replaced the unavailable cardio with thousands of stomach crunches and countless um...minutes of upper body work, it was only a matter of perhaps 48 hours before I started down the slippery slope into the Five Stages of Injury. The Five Stages of Injury are emotional stages one goes through when unable to participate in ones chosen activity or activities. Its a natural progression but its not pretty. It begins with anger, moves onto desperation, back to anger, slides into inconsolable depths of despair and finally the sufferer resorts to constant comfort eating. I could hear myself. It was awful and I tried to stop but when two of the five stages conspired against me and arrived at the same time (despair and comfort eating) I gave in and wallowed. I know it could have been a lot, lot worse an injury but they do say runners and cyclists make the worst patients. And I am both...

Anyhoooo like the Spring that is springing all around us, I am renewed!

Thank f*ck for that.

And so, under yet another blue sky this afternoon (they did disappear temporarily for previous three days) I headed for the forests in front of us and did 24.9km through, up and around them and managing to join three together. Leg felt fine, in fact I didn't feel leg at all till I got off to walk for a bit. I definitely feel a weakness though, generally. I kept looking at the gears thinking I must have slipped into Death Gear (y'know - the one where you are absolutely positive a 25st sumo wrestler is hanging off the back or that you have inadvertently pedalled into quicksand) but no, I am just weak. Its quite scary how much fitness disappears in a week. Erk. Perhaps though its the extra 2lb I have managed to pile on this past week? Some of that is undoubtedly PMS but there's still at least 1lb unaccounted for. Not sure the toasted bannock with butter during my visit to see a mate on the way back helped either. I suspect though it was mostly something to do with the sticky toffee cheesecake that I absorbed by osmosis on Friday..

Whatever, it was really, really good to be out. I got quite emotional as Glósóli came through my earphones as I stood in the middle of a high clearing in the forest, looking down over the Dee Valley bathed in golden sunlight with two buzzards soaring higher and higher into the deep blue skies above me.

So, I think I'll begin the daily cycle to/fro work again -  tomorrow along the Deeside Way, I think, which surely must be clear of snow now. The hills are still covered but even those have darker patches appearing on their flanks...Kerloch has a bald summit now! Hard to imagine considering it was only last Tuesday I was up it, and up to my thighs in snow!

I'm off with a friend tomorrow afternoon to check out some potential hill running circuits - we're walking them first as they are still under a lot of snow and I've been told I'm not to run for at least another week - I'm quite excited about it though . Always good to get a change of scenery.

Its good to be back :)

Test run

Actually, more accurately, a test cycle..
Thanks to the financial generosity of the bank post-4 month cock up, I paid me a visit to my LBS today. Upon fitting my new stuff this evening, I found myself inexplicably {cough} on a short ride. Leg wasn't painful...in fact less painful than walking.

Tomorrow, I ride.....

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A bit of everything

Weather: Blue sky, springlike even at -13 deg C
Activity: Very little due to affliction. I did make a cup of tea. Does that count?
Todays Tune: Eddie Izzard and Pavlovs cats
Comment: Always soak your Linseeds

I woke this morning at 7am knowing full well I wasn't going to be cycling or running or swimming or *insert other form of activity* to work as I knew I had to rest my leg. I was prepared for that. What I wasn't prepared for was the pain when I swung my leg out of bed and stood up. Getting down stairs was a slow process and walking the mile to the bus was even slower. I also wasn't prepared to wait for over an hour again for the bus - the first of which (due at 0819) didn't show, the second (due at 0844) also didn't show and the next (due at 0903) arrived 10 minutes late by which time, in -13 C temps this morning, I was frozen. I arrived at work exactly the same time as The Boss who no, hadn't got my text about my travel issues and was understandably pissed off at me as I stood, keys in hand, outside a closed shop at 9.35am when its supposed to be open at 9am.

The Boss had been remarkably understanding about previous travel issues during the bad snow when the buses didn't turn up for days on end but this I think, was the final straw. I'm kind of in two minds about the whole thing. On one hand I feel guilty because yes, I'm late and I open up and they've potentially lost 35 minutes of sales (not a lot...but every penny counts). On the other hand, its not my fault. I don't have a working vehicle and anyway, even if I could afford to fix it (I can't), I choose to cycle to work for environmental and health/fitness/financial reasons and on the rare occasions I don't/can't due to weather or illness, I have to rely on an expensive bus service along with 30 other commuters. But I feel the pressure (non-verbalised) is on me to have my car fixed and have it on standby, taxed and MOT'd ready to use on the 2 times a month that I maybe need to use it and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've now arranged to lift share on those odd occasions with our very kind Chemist so hopefully this issue is a thing of the past anyway. Unless I have to catch a bus on the days he's not working :)

My friend Sue took me for coffee after work at our favourite tearoom. We like it as they hate us and try to make us sit in a dingy corner at a minuscule postage stamp sized table and so, we rebel and sit next to the window taking up a full 6 seater table. Woo, rebellion...er...yes. I like our weekly coffees, not only for the fact that I get to spend time with Sue and to eat the stickiest, gooiest thing I can find on the sweet trolley but also because its a cathartic ranting and hysterical giggling opportunity. And we take full advantage of it.

Today's session highlight was me showing Sue my new iphones' magical GPS qualities and inadvertently activating the ipod bit of it at the same time. I couldn't get the damn thing to shut up and so for a full 4 minutes - while I frantically pressed and slid my fingers across the screen, died a thousand deaths and tried to muffle it between my thighs - the rest of the tearoom (very full) was treated to A-Ha (I'm in my Morten Harket revivalist period). I could feel the daggers in my back from the 20 eighty year old women in Granny coats with cakes on their heads tutting and glaring and Sue did nothing to help by just falling off her seat laughing.

One day we will be asked to leave.

The walk home from the bus stop was even slower and now my gait resembles the hunchback of Notre Dame dragging his useless leg behind him. I'm well aware that I sound like a moaning, whining hypochondriac (perhaps because there is an element of truth in that :)  but actually I am remaining resolutely cheerful about the whole situation. Its not the end of the world. No its not. No really....I knew I would get an injury at some point and this won't be the last time so I am doing exactly as the sports physio has said (a friend is one) and in the meantime getting through all the paperwork and DVD watching and office-setting-up that I never get round to normally because I'm out Doing Something. My new 'office', which is upstairs, has phone, internet, books, comfy bed, a months worth of books, maps and DVDs. Its like being in student digs again. I feel the need to drink gallons of cheap cider and stock up on baked beans whilst reading Proust and theorising on Incredibly Serious Things ;)

I'm also permanently plugged into my ipod/phone with Eddie Izzards 'Glorious' and 'Definite Article' on. Laughter is the best medicine and at this rate, I'll be cured by midnight.

Ouch

Activity: 16 miles on Bob, ice and snow
Weather: -12C, sunny (again)
Tune for today: Ow that hurts, The Hamstring

Just easy mileage today, well mileage anyway. Put a foot down as the
back wheel slid out of a sodding rut, foot slipped out from underneath
and I felt something go in the back of my thigh. Went very slowly for
the remaining 6 miles home. RICE'ing tonight and didn't run as
planned. If it is hamstring injury then it's only a minor one as no
bruising or real swelling and can walk ok, if a little gingerly. Will
give it a few days of stretching and light exercise and see. I did my
hamstring in a few years back and was out for 6 weeks but this doesn't
feel anywhere near as bad.

Meanwhile am crashed on couch with American Pie 2 trying to decide
between touring bikes. I'm selling my beloved landrover to fund this
next purchase so don't want to rush and have any regrets. I had
settled on one but my attention was drawn to another one this
afternoon at the bike shop. Arghhhhhh.....basically it's come down to
disc brakes or not... I know, I know....are they that important? Disc
brakes I mean, not brakes in general as aware stopping might be a bit
hard without them....Both get fantastic reviews online from testers
and owners so it's not easy.

Reet, bedtime....

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Kerloch, Oreos and blokes called Duncan

Activity: 48.52km/30.14miles (38km/24 miles cycling, rest walking up Kerloch), 2389 ft/724m ascent. All in all 7 hours round trip.
Weather: Sky splitting sunshine, -4 deg C at top, averaging around freezing.
Tune for today: You got the love, Florence & The Machine
Comments: Braw

Am starving and sleepy so to summarise, it was a stonking day. I cycled from here up over Durris, along to Lochton, turned off and headed for Strachan, avoided death by tractor snowplough by an inch, stopping to climb Kerloch - which was just gorgeous, but very, very deep snow and so I left Bob the hardtail near the bottom and waded up on my lonesome. I met a really great older guy on (Finnish apparently) telemark skis and with a huge beard and proper jumper and we spent a while chatting and grouse spotting at the foot of the hill before we went out separate ways. I didn't ask his name but he looked like a Duncan.

After a moment or two overcome by the sheer gorgeousness of it all at the top, I came down, cycled rest of way to Strachan, into Banchory and then home.

Kerloch in the distance...deep, deep snow in the fore...

Duncan, ahead of me for a start because he was sensible and can ski. Whereas I am old skool, and suffer.

On the way up..

Thats about the average snow depth. Thigh killing trail breaking but worth it.

Yours truly at the summit

Views north west

 View north-north west

Summit trig

Across west to Clach na Beinn etc

and west-north-west to Morven

Ski marks on the summit (sensible people...) looking south east

"Now children..You can always tell which way the prevailing wind has been blowing..."

View back up to summit (I glissaded down)

Wind scouring

I can see the sea! (looking east towards Stonehaven)

A hut used by hunters on the way up.

The way up. Yup, a lot of snow. It took near two hours to get up!

Kerloch from where I left Bob. Its 3 miles to the top from here. And its higher than it looks.

Bob, waiting for me.

Lone mountaineers sustenance of choice..

and here...here is my first ever Vimeo video taken from the shoulder on the way back down. The sound is rubbish (it was a bit windy and its just my wee camera)..


Kerloch from Jo Horne on Vimeo.