Way of the Roses aka War of the Roses aka C2C2C aka There and Back again

Oh man, I'm getting old. I know this because it has taken me longer to update my blog compared to when I was younger. Recovery takes longer now too. I almost forgot what I was recovering from, but let me tell you about it in this post where I will attempt to pick up from where I took off.

Monday the whatever it was, was a work and cycle back commute that started my week last week. All was great until I reached work (sounds familiar). Work wasn't the problem, but my Garmin was - it had crashed for the umpteenth time. The screen was frozen and none of the buttons would work. A new Garmin or GPS device was required I thought but they are so expensive... Not only do I want to record all data possible but I will need decent mapping on future planned events.

 Managed to push myself and swim on Tuesday. It was nice to go to the lake on a weekday as full laps (rather than half laps) could be swam. I swam 2 laps and swallowed much water. Enjoyed my swim at the time but felt a bit 'blah' after.

Awoke on Wednesday with a really sore throat. Ugh, I blamed the 'pond water', however, SJ reckons it was a bug from the kids. Whatever it was, there went my plans for a morning run. There went my plans for any more exercise.

Then Jamie and Toll rocked up on Friday evening. We had a certain C2C2C (coast to coast to coast) to complete. This was to prove we were all super hero's (as if we needed proof) and test the theory that C2C could be cycled in a day. So, without further ado we flew (drove) to Morecambe with my flu and our bikes for simple adventure. Simples.

Once in Morecambe, we headed to the sea front. This was where the obligatory photo with Eric took place. Eric, who the heck was he?

My bike for this adventure was Slinky, my 'Sunday best' if you like. I had not ridden this machine for a while and it felt great to take her out. Slinky was fitted with my dynamo light which I had not used in a while. It felt like I had gone back in time and was riding an audax event.

Slinky was also sporting a new rear light. Chris H had gotten me the lights as a birthday gift. Shame Chris couldn't be on the ride itself. Jamie had taken his heavy steel bike just to prove his super hero status and Toll took his relatively new 'do it all bike'.

After a bit of faffing, we found our way to the official start of the 'Way of the Roses' cycle route and grinned as we took selfies. We really were a special bunch. We hoped we could take further selfies in this self same spot at the conclusion of our adventure.

Every good ride starts with a wee on the beach and a trip to Aldi (or similar) for supplies. Bottles filled. Snacks packed. Away we went.

Did I mention my funky rear lights? Well, they shone the full 30k or so to our first stop. We had cycled along 10k of Roman like road and a further 20k of undulating tarmac before we figured it was time for a kip. We tried to find an accommodating Church without success. The new builds were closed. Then, wham bam, we found the perfect shelter spot for the night. A covered shelter on nice green pasture near a tranquil stream.

We set up camp and soon slept. I was last to drop off - confirmed by the heavy snores of my chums. Got a little chilly in the night, however, I was mostly alright. Poor Toll had no sleeping mat. Must have awoke about 5 hours later feeling fresh and ready for further adventure.

We awoke early and set off in search of breakfast. Breakfast was a long way away. No bother we had lovely scenery and were in awe of God's creation for many miles.

We passed through funny place names, including Gigglewick. We giggled here and chuckled once we were in a place called Settle too. Settle had 100 or so pot heads to spot (see photo below). Have cycled through villages with scarecrows before but pot heads was new to me.

Lots of lovely road and mighty fine weather. Ascents, descents and flats. Ah, and then breakfast!

Breakfast was definitely worth waiting for. The best fry up, possibly ever. Amazing!

Suitably fuelled we set off and cycled lots and lots of road. Toll was most often a pink dot in front of me. I think he must have taken EPO or something, he was on fire the whole duration.

Jamie was most often a blue dot behind, ha! He was cycling such a heavy bike. 'Yeah, but, it's got disc brakes'. Oh yeah, it had disc brakes.

Does Toll look good in pink? Yes, I think he does. At least I can spot him a mile off.

Can you see Toll in the distance? He's the one in pink. See, told you so!

Jamie cycled alongside super gran for a while. She must have been 80 years old and cycling with full panniers. She was singing aloud until Jamie neared her and then she would laugh. Probably at his steel bike? Ha!

Whilst cycling we passed Brimham Rocks. They rocked! According to Wikipedia, Brimham Rocks are balancing rock formations on Brimham Moor in North Yorkshire, England. The rocks stand at a height of nearly 30 feet in an area owned by the National Trust^[2] which is part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.^[3]

I liked the rocks. They proved difficult to photo though because we were speeding fast in a zoomy fashion. We had climbed some real big hills earlier though and it was nice to speed along.

On route we spotted a sheep doing yoga (according to Jamie). I had heard tales that sheep on their backs could not physically right themselves up and after a period of time explode. I didn't want this sheep to explode so saved her like a good boy should.

After sheep, we encountered deer. Well, a deer park anyway. This reminded us of Windsor and our adventure with Chris. It also reminded me of home.

I wonder if you can guess why? Talking of animals - we saw birds (owls and other prey birds), rabbits, cats, hares, bats, frogs and a unicorn. Not in that order, but seen all the same.

The Deer Park was a great 'off road' section that came out of nowhere. Real pretty, and super zoomy fast. Down, down, down and out. Awesome.

The next great delight came in the fashion of dinner! We found a 'spoons pub and ate real good. I can't remember where we were but we were living it!

After lunch, we cycled some more. We cycled over a toll bridge. I took a photo of Toll on a toll bridge.

More cycled miles led to another beauty. My headspace had gone a little monkey at this point and York and Westminster became confused and muddled up. I didn't really care where I was, it looked ace!

The building below was great too. Jamie told me the monks still lived here too. We stopped a chilled out a while. Some dude was busking on a piano and so many tourists it felt like we were overseas. I drank a mint fizzy drink here (Pallegrino?) - it was filth.

As we cycled, I tried to figure where about in the UK we were. I figured we were smack bang in the middle of the UK. I wonder if I was right?

I would not have been right for long because we moved. We cycled until the sky turned grey. The grey skies were as grey as the road.

We cycled until grey turned black. Day had turned into night. We were hungry!

Wow, how d'ya like that? We found a pizza shop and promptly ordered offer 8, which was great! We had a pizza each, plus fries and a bottle of coke to share! This feed was suitable fuel to help propel us to Bridlington!

Yes indeed! Jamie, Toll and I had cycled coast to coast and completed the 'Way of the Roses'. Wahoo!

Wow! Super hero's indeed! We felt great until we noticed it was about midnight and had to get back to Morecambe again before Sunday turned into Monday. Jamie was still wanting to know 'could C2C be cycled in a day?', we figured we would sleep on it and find out!

'There'

As we slept, I thought about the great adventure we had cycled already. My buddies were super special. My bike performed well and my new Garmin worked great.

The photo above was what we woke up to. A fantastic sun rise on the sea shore. I think this was probably my best 'bivvy only' sleep spot.

We were sleeping under shelter on raised platforms. Warm, cosy and stunning views. Aces!

Bike and bivvy! How d'ya like that! I loved it!

The photo's above and below were taken about 5 a.m. This was when the sun was starting to rise and we were starting to rise and shine. Whoa, we all felt pretty fine.

Cycling 'back' was great initially but not as great as cycling 'there'. We continued to cycle nice stretches but added portions of A road menace to cut k's and speed us up. We had time against us.

Some stretches were great and quiet. This allowed me to take pictures of myself and see how much I had aged overnight. Ugh, I won't take a pic again.

The A roads allowed me to play 'spot the pink dot Toll' again. He got faster as the day rolled on. I think I started going backwards.

It wasn't all A road. No indeed. We still had off-road stretches and cycle path here and there. We even cycled some stretches we had cycled before (but in reverse obvs).

At one point, the sheep I saved made a re-appearance. He was running in a sheep marathon. Bizarre!

And then it rained. And got hilly. And rained some more. The rain never stopped. We had a brief respite in another 'spoons pub. Hmm, lovely curry and then more rain. Lots of rain. Cold, some pain, more hills. More rain. Creatures of the night came out - we saw lots of dead frogs on the road (I think that they had drowned) and bats. Lots of bats. Toll and I were discussing the likelihood of hitting a bat - we decided most unlikely, then a bat soared past Jamie and hit my chest. Bats hey! Wet roads, wet canal path, wet clothes. Wet. More k's, more rain. Then, ahh 'the flatlands'. 10k of flat like cycle way, and wahay, boom, we had hit Morecambe and cycled a C2C in a day!

Big thanks to Jamie and Toll for being so awesome and making this adventure happen. I love those guys. Big big thanks to my wife and kids for letting me go, oh I love them so. I write this a few days on, my bum is sore and most the pain is gone. It's nice to be back in the family nest and chilling out with 'my bloods' and having a rest.

'Back'

4 years, for years

My LEL experience (2013)

For years I have been cycling now. 4 years ago I cycled the wonderful London-Edingburgh-London (LEL) adventure. For years my best buddy toyed with the idea of cycling the Transcontinental Race (TCR). For a few hours (days) now the 2017 LEL and TCR have been underway. I am not cycling in either event but know folks who are - shout outs to Gary and Graeme in the LEL and a high 5 to V for cycling the TCR. For a spell, I got down I wasn't cycling some major event. Then I remembered I had cycled great events and reminisced in this; I remembered folk I knew were cycling wonderful events and felt great for those; I re-remembered that I have pending coast to coast plans ahead. Ooh!

Graeme - LEL controller 2013, participant 2017

Gary, who I met on Paris - Geneva cycle

Buddies! Go Gary Go!

 I asked the Mrs if I could cyclce TCR next year, she said no. I said, ok, what about the year after, she replied no. I said what about the year after, she said, I dunno yet. Sounds like a pass to me... I'll never cycle it to be fair, too hardcore for me (but I do like to see what my Mrs will allow).

Training this week was just a rather uneventful 3 to work and back commutes. I pushed myself to swim, but my paralysis of will kicked in, despite my recent repairs to wet suit. Managed to complete the week with a run with which I was quite pleased. I ran further than my now usual 5k and felt my running was better than of late (ran a distance of 8k). I passed a good many runners out today which was nice and unusual.

I wonder if I can manage to run, swim and cycle next week (which is now this week)?

Cyclopathic

Before the week began, Red Bull sent me goodies, freebies even! For being such a good boy and recording all my exercise data, I got awarded Red Bull. In a nice presentation box too. Bonus!

This (last) week was mostly based around cycling. Completed 3 work and back commutes. Cyled in sun, rain and wind! The sun shine was great, the rain was hard and wet and the wind was the head wind menace variety.

On Thursday, the TDF climbed over the Col de Vars and Col Izard - my buddy Chris and I had cycled over the same mountains last year. We were on fully laden bikes too! The TDF finished this week too with Froomey winning for a 4th time.

On the weekend, we celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary. 50 years, wow! God bless them both.  

Finished the week by pushing myself to go for a run. I had not ran in a while. Felt kinda nice. Oh, and a big shout out to Jonny Mitchum who has just completed his Iron Man distance event!

From ground zero!

..to zero!

..to hero! Well done mate!

Ba Bla Blah

Great week on the cycling front. Froomey lost his yellow jersey (in the Tour de France) but re-claimed it before the week was out. And, better yet, I managed to cycle 350k throughout the week.

First adventure took me to my blind buddy Rogers abode. Once at Rogers, I climbed off my bike and climbed onto his tandem. Then the 2 of us cycled to Whitlenge tea rooms and back. The cafe had been refurbished and pretty fine it looked too. Our mega breakfasts were genuinely mega also! A great adventure on a lovely day. Back at Rogers, climbed off his tandem and back onto my bike. My bike then took me to Evans Cycles in Birmingham for it's first free service. Was nice cycling up the towpath which used to be cycled with some regularity on my old commute when I worked at C-SPMH. Whilst bike was being serviced, I decided to pop into said C-SPMH. It was great seeing some folk, however, my evil nemesis 'KB' was as miserable and mean as ever and made failed attempts to have me evicted and prevent future visits. Ha! Whilst in the building the heavens opened but stopped as I left to collect my serviced bike. Newly serviced bike (my Genesis) then took me back home. Whoa, what a lot of adventure for a Monday!

Next cycle was midweek. This was my now regular new commute into work. A nice 51k round trip. 

Friday was a great day. I cycled into work using my 'winter' bike, which was loaded with all my camping gear. After work, loaded bike was cycled to Chipping Norton campsite. Route to campsite was super and not what I expected. Lovely country lanes were followed and the massive climb of Fish or Saintbury Hill were avoided.

Route straight on, through locked gate and into brambles and nettles

My route also took me on a few off-road sections which was fine until stretches of bramble and stinging nettles attacked my bare legs! Pleased to inform I survived and found my way to campsite with no further menace.

The campsite was great and had super nice clean facilities, not bad for £7. Pitched my tent and felt great once my camp was set up. Sadly, I had forgot my hip flask but no real bother - took a quick cycle into Chipping Norton centre to purchase Whiskey.

Back at camp, decided to cook my dinner. Dinner was a 'new to me' freeze dried meal of the Bla brand variety. I poured in the hot water and left it for 10 mins but I forgot to stir the meal. Grr. When I reopened packet, I could see the meal was still dry and powdery at the bottom, where I had not stirred it. No bother, I added some cold water (the remainder of the hot water I had boiled made me a jasmine green tea) and stirred. The meal tasted great, it really did. Surprisingly, the meal was real filling too, so much so, I must have left a couple of mouthfull's. The other menace was I had lost my prized titanium spork (and knife). Luckily, my breakfast meal had a plastic spork included with it so I used that. I miss my spork...

Dessert was Whiskey and Starbar. Nice. Whilst drinking made a call to the Mrs and kids. More whiskey and into bed for a great nights sleep.

Awoke early after a relatively good sleep. Made breakfast and tea. Breakfast was another new to me rehydrated meal and it tasted nasty - it was still cold. Maybe I should have left it longer. This was a 'Beyond the Beaten Track' meal which apparently self heats. Mine didn't - not enough anyway.

It was raining now too and things are never so rosey when the rain pours. Took a shower which made me feel better for a spell. Then I had to pack away my wet tent. Not sure of best practice for packing away a wet tent. Left this wonderful campsite at about 8 a.m and was looking forward to meeting my Mrs and kids et al at Burford Wildlife Park.

The rain was cold and wet initially but at least it wasn't heavy. The scenery was super as I cycled to Burford. Passed places where my family had visited before. We still have the robot water bottle we brought for Lunar, purchased from here. I even passed the pub where Lunar flooded the leather seats with urine. Just before reaching the wildlife park, I passed a burger van and managed to resist...

Reached the park at 9 a.m which meant I had an hour to wait. Cycled back to the burger van and munched on a 1/4 pounder with egg. Yummers! Back to the park where I met SJ, kids et al and had a great day fraternising with others and looking at wild animals in the wet. By the afternoon, the wet weather ceased and the sun came out. Good job, a long cycle home awaited.

Ron was my travelling companion all the way back to my village. We cycled 80k (which I strangely thought was only going to be a 65k cycle). The weather was better than earlier. Cycling was a little tougher than expected and we cycled many hills, much road and a wee bit off road too. Just as I pulled up onto my drive my Garmin crashed (again). Ugh, what a menace to end a great adventure!

Sunday was spent reminiscing about the great week that was had. I'm sure there is great weeks ahead too. The week ended with me finding my prized spork too - bonus!

Dad's Camp / Napalm Death

Just for the crack, I thought I'd start this post with a pic of Johnny M's bottom! This clearly shows his dedication to his training schedule. Bottoms up mate! Johnny is (was?) training for an Iron Man event. Johnny hurt his bottom. Don't be like Johnny!

For myself, the past week was a little different to the norm, that's for sure. I started my new job, well, kinda sorta. I have been in my current role since March 2017 as a manager of a mental health and drug misuse team. It's only been since the start of this week that I've been in the correct building. And as for 'real work', well, that's a different story altogether.

Anyways, I made mention to work simply because being the 'new boy' essentially meant that I had no locker or access to the shower facilities initially (let alone my own desk space, computer etc), so was unable to cycle or run to work. However, I was able to run before work and so that's what I did on Monday and Tuesday. No major exciting runs, but a couple of 5k affairs to keep the legs ticking over.

By Wednesday, I still had no locker of my own but had managed to acquire a locker all the same. This meant I could shower and could cycle to work. So, that's exactly what I did - I cycled a new work and back commute for the next 3 days. This was a nice route, cycling about 50k during each daily commute on nice enough roads. It took me about an hour to get in and about 1 hour 10 to get back out. Happy days!

Green tent was mine

No exercise over the weekend, but fun was had all the same. On the Friday night, I went camping with Ron and Stu et al. We camped out in a forest location near Umberslade. Happy with my new tent, however, experienced much condensation come morning. Spent the evening drinking beer, singing songs, cooking bacon and sausage, melting mallows and chanting 'Dads Camp' at frequent intervals. I had often wondered what would happen should one throw a full can of coke onto a roasting bonfire. Thanks to Ron, I now know the answer to that question - its napalm death! Ha!

Doo's feet, Cap'n Ron, Matt's feet

Marsh Mellow Menace

Saturday was spent with Melody at the Bournville Sunday School party. This was a great day where all essentially ate to the max - ice cream, candy floss, burgers etc whilst the little ones played. Was joined later by Lunar and the Mrs. A good day fraternising in a lovely location.

Sunday was spent recovering from the days before. Felt so whacked that I couldn't force myself to the usual open water swim. Have fixed my wetsuit though with this 'Black Witch' stuff ready for my next session. Also cleaned my bike ready for next Fridays adventure which is another (cycle) camp before a Sunday School party.

Love what you do, do what you love

Lunar created this title pic (aged 4)

This week started out great. As I was on a study day Monday, I got up early and forced myself to go for a quick 5k run. Thing was, my course finished early, so I was able to get a second exercise session in. Once home, I grabbed the oppurtunity and went out for a quick 30k cycle using my road bike 'Slinky' that hadn't been outside since the Wandering Wolves perm some time back. Whoa, forgot how light this awesome bike was! Was a bit naughty too - I read on FaceBook that Mountain Warehouse were selling cheap bivvy's for £20 that were the same size as the Alpkit Hunka XL and had similar breathing properties - I made an impulsive purchase. Well, my current bivvy is ace but weighs like 800g, this new one weighs only 340g. Am thinking this new one will come in handy for Jamie's adventure that I am dubbing the 'War of the Roses'. This 'Jamie adventure' is based loosely around the 'Way of the Roses' coast to coast route, however, this is extra and is a coast to coast to coast adventure.

The War of the Roses planned route

Tuesday proved to be an interesting cycle to work and back commute. I chose new paths (roads) there and back. My inward route was almost completely away from busy roads and followed either the national cycle network or country lanes. My return added a few K's because I saw a sign post suggesting I was travelling down Cobley Hill, but I wasn't. I had headed away from home but all was good as new paths were travelled and new sights seen.

Wednesday was a rest day. Well kinda. A very busy day at my 'new' work location - unable to cycle there just yet as dont have access to shower facilities etc..

Thursday was a trifle menace on my work and back cycle commute. I left early with plans to have a longer ride. Good job I had left early becuase I punctured. I don't think the puncture was new but the foam stuff that was in the tube had decided to start spurting out through the tyre. Puncture was fixed relatively easily but my bike gears felt like they keep slipping, or maybe it was the bottom bracket. I dunno. My return route was super short because the weather was a bit pants, so I took the zoomiest route possible.

Friday was probably my last work and back cycle commute at my current workplace as I switch sites, so to speak, next week. My commute out was fine and bike behaved better since Jamie taught me how to stop the gears skipping. If one has a Nexus hub, this is how you stop gears slipping: Check the gear wire, there's an adjuster at the gear cable coming off the lever. Stick the bike in gear 4 (lowest gear is 1). Look for yellow lines near the hub, by the small chain ring, these need to line up. 

Match them yellow lines

Locate the barrel adjuster and turn. If that fails, drink coffee

Use the barrel adjuster, located near the bars, to line them up. Hey Presto! Took a slighly extended route into work just to celebrate last day and working bike. Return route was a new route and I found myself cycling down the zoomie Cobley Hill. All good.

Lin racing the 2017 Isoman 1/4 distance TT. She came 1st!

Saturday was an interesting day. Started with a 6k cross country run around Hewell. Later in the day I saw Lin racing the Isoman TT route. This all brought back memories of my Iron Man event last year. I kinda wished I had a TT bike and was racing a course. Melanie was cycling too but we never caught site of her.

Hard work watching Lin race...

Sunday saw me go for a dip at Ragley Lake. Yup, my weeks training was finished by an open water swim. Again, I participated in all 3 triathlon disciplines. Feel like I should try and find a triathlon to enter before the season is out...