Love, Valentine and Wham BAM (2/12)

February is the month of love. My lovely wife sent me some caring 'look after your back' information to prove her love to me and we enjoyed a pre-Valentines curry on the 13th. On Valentines day itself, I had a date with Roger. Roger is my blind buddy and tandem cycling partner.

I cycled a solo trip from my abode to Roger's domicile. We then both got aboard his tandem and set off on a jolly. It wasn't long before we randomly cycled past another of his tandem partners (Danny). We stopped to say 'hello' and then the 2 of us became 3, as Danny wished to abandon the group ride he had planned and joined us instead. 

Interesting talking to Danny, as he knew the Head of Health at my work place. The 3 of us chatted bike talk, work talk and usual nonsense for several kilometres. Our stop point was at Aunty Rita's cafe, in Flyford Flavel (I think). We were enjoying a breakfast here when the 3 of us became 4. Randomly again, a chap called John entered the cafe and joined us. He too, was a friend of Rogers. 

After a fill, we left the cafe as a group of 4 and cycled further through this beautiful day. 4 became 3 when John left us near Hanbury. 3 Became 2 when Danny left us in Redditch. 2 became 1 when I left Roger at his house and cycled to my own home, back on my own bike. What an awesome adventure.

BAM 2/12

Everybody knows I love my wife. I think most folk know that I love cycling too. And, just in case you didn't know, I quite love wild camping also. On the 15th Feb, I completed my 2nd month of the 'Bivvy-a-Month' (BAM) challenge!

Rob, Ron and I set off into the dark and headed for our destination - 'Round Hill'. The dark roads we cycled soon became quite light as we headed off the tarmac and onto muddy fields. The moon was not quite full but it shone real bright. We had no problems, save the pushing and hike-a-bike up the hills, reaching the summit of Round Hill.

What an awesome night. What an awesome spot. We were clearly high up as we could see for miles around. In fact we had a full 360 degree view of the landscape. This was the first time I had wild camped at (well, very near to) a trig point.

We guessed that there just must have been a fort or similar dwelling here in times past. It was just the best view point around. The moon was shining so bright and the stars were too.

(This pic was actually taken the following morning)

We actually camped in a little dip or hollow just to the side of the trig point. This awesome spot kept us completely hidden from view and sheltered us from the wind. All around we had awesome views of the shining stars and of course the big bright moon. Inside the dip, I felt like we were all items inside a frying pan.

We set up camp. Rob cooked some sausages. Only right we had a little drink to wash the food down.
Dancing ensued not long after. Ron was DJ and we all rocked out to Metallica, Motorhead, Pink Floyd, The Breeders and other tracks on his iPhone.

'He made the stars also'

We like the moon.

I'm not totally sure what Ron was drinking, but I'm sure he drank too much. He was convinced there were 2 moons. Ron also saw a hare and a bat which Rob and I were sure was just a figment of his imagination.

Egyptian shin dig or dancing the funky pigeon?!

Following a dance and a drink, we all soon settled down to star and moon gazing. I remember 1 a.m. coming and going and then I remembered no more until morning came. I must have been first to doze off as I didn't hear the snores of Ron or Rob.

A lovely morning followed an awesome night. Clear skies and super warm considering this was only February. I slept pretty fine considering this was a wild camp. My air mat had deflated somewhat as it so often does.

Not sure what had happened to Ron but he was covered in feathers and licking his lips. Initial thoughts were that he was munching on an early breakfast of pigeon. He tried to convince us that his down sleeping bag had ripped.

With everybody up, we had an amazing breakfast. We cooked not only sausage and bacon, we had eggs too! Delicious. We drank all this down with copious amounts of green jasmine tea.

Camp didn't take too long to pack up. We all felt that this was one of (if not,) the best wild camps we had ever had. Stoked to have completed my 2nd month of my BAM challenge (just 10 to go). Just as we left the off-road tracks we bumped into the farmer who just greeted us with a 'hi, these aren't bike tracks you know'. Ha!

As stated at start of blog post, my wife proved her love to me - she sent me a fact sheet about looking after my back whilst cycling. An interesting read. And because I love you lot, I figured I should share what I read. A lot of the following text has been copied straight from that back fact-sheet:

... estimates suggest that anywhere between 30-70% of us will get back pain when cycling. This pain can be caused by a variety of reasons but the good news is there are simple things you can do to ensure that you do not develop back pain or you manage your back pain and prevent it from becoming long term and debilitating... Cycling helps to keep us fit which is the best way to try to prevent or manage back pain. Here are some simple exercises you can try to help keep you on your bike. If you have an existing back condition, you may want to skip exercises that exacerbate your pain.

Before riding
Arms, shoulder and back stretch

G Place your hands on your bike’s saddle and handle bar
G Step back a few stepsG Bend your back until it is at a right
angle to the groundG Hold the stretch for 15 seconds.
When taking a break
Side stretch
G Stand with your feet slightly apartG Grab your left elbow with your right
hand and your right elbow with your
left hand above your headG Slowly pull your left elbow to the
right with your right hand until you
feel a stretch. Hold for five secondsG Return to upright position and do the same on the leftG Repeat four times (each side).
After a ride
Lower back stretch
G Place your palms on your lower back fingers facing downwards
G Slowly arch your back and stick out your chest while slightly leaning backwards. Hold for 15 seconds then return to original position
G Repeat three times.
At home
Diagonal stretch
G Point the toes of your left foot as you extend your right arm
G Stretch as far as is comfortableG Hold for five seconds, and then relaxG Stretch the right leg and left arm the same wayG Repeat four times (on each side).

Upper back and shoulder stretch
G Clasp your hands together behind your back
G Slowly raise your arms behind you until you feel a stretch
G Hold for 10 seconds then lower armsG Repeat four times.
Toe touch
G Bend forward at your lower back to touch your toes
G Try to keep you knees straight but if this is difficult you may bend themG Hold for 20 seconds then return to
original position.
Upper back stretch
G Clasp your hands together, palms facing forward Extend your arms in front of your body and hold this position for 10 seconds then relax
G Repeat three times.
Seated back and hip stretch
G Sit with your left hand behind you and your left leg bent and crossed over resting outside your right knee
G Place right elbow outside your left thigh
G Slowly turn to look over your left shoulder while rotating your upper body as far as you can for the stretch
G Hold for 10 seconds. Release, and then do the same for the other side
G Repeat four times (each side).