Snowdrop Express 2020

Snowdrop Express 2020 (Ian, Tony, Ron, Doo, Chris, Mark - Phil B took pic)

On 29 February 2020, I completed my 10th Snowdrop Express audax to date! This is one of my favourite audax events that I try to make sure I cycle each year. This event starts and finishes in Hartlebury and passes through Upton and Evesham. Pig Hill is a nice delight included in this event.

I first rode this event way back in 2010. Have now cycled it, 9 more times since then. Hmm, I might just well cycle it again.

Each year has it's own story and this year was certainly no exception. A few folk (about half the field) didn't rock up due to fear that the event may be flooded and storms might persist. A few of my friends (Jamie!) didn't make it to the start either. Anyways, on the start line alongside myself was Chris Hodge, Ron the Phantom, Ian Cross, Phil B, Tony G and Mark (who up until now I thought was Jez).

Sun shining bright (Chris and Phil)

Almost as soon as we started, it was game over for Tony. Tony's free-wheel had gone kaput. Poor Tony! (Hadn't seen Tony for ages and what a transformation - he now had the cycling bug, lost weight and was training for an event in 5 weeks time). Mark sped off but the rest of us cycled as a small peloton and it was just ace catching up with everyone. Despite the fears of some, the weather was ok - the sun broke out and it was near perfect cycling conditions. Maybe just a tad windy. Great to see Mark Rigby at the first control in Upton. Mark R stamped our brevet cards and we tucked into some nice grub. Chris H brought me a super tasty cheese and onion toastie. So warm and sunny it was that we ate outdoors! Upton had suffered with flooding over recent days though and much flooding was still to be seen. A couple of days ago the water levels rose up to the glass on the flood barriers.

Funky flood barriers

Some flooding for sure

Next stage was certainly adventurous. Our pedal at times turned into a paddle. Yup, there was much flooding in parts. As we passed cyclists in the opposing direction they would warn of flood levels which seemed to ever increase. This short section took us to Evesham where the river level was high but no major concern. Here, most of us tucked into some delicious bread and butter pudding. Tony rocked up here too - on a different bike. After fuelling, we set off, in relatively nice conditions on the last leg.

Doo going for a paddle, err, pedal

Thumbs up for Phil

Who is this dark rider? (Chris, Ron just ahead)

The last leg was the hillier than the previous 2 but no major menace. The Lenches were beautiful and that's where most the climbing occurred. We had to navigate a few more floods but nothing like those we experienced earlier. Pig Hill proved to be a pig - not because of the climb but because as we started climbing the wind turned into a headward direction and hail threw down. As soon as the summit was reached, the wind and hail stopped. How bizarre. Before you could say 'softies were those who didn't rock up', we had reached the arrivee. More food (sausage sarnie for me) and fraternising. What an epic event. Totally aces!

Snowdrop 2010

Snowdrop 2012

Snowdrop 2013

Snowdrop 2014

Snowdrop 2015 (Turned up too late for group start photo)

Snowdrop 2016

Snowdrop 2017

Snowdrop 2018

Snowdrop 2019 (L-R John, Ron, Jamie, K, Doo)

PRAM #2

15th Feb saw me complete my PRAM (ParkRun-A-Month) challenge for this month. This was a pretty awful run for my 33rd ParkRun to date as I was suffering with man flu and running in storm Dennis. Super hard-core or plain silly?! It took me a time of 25:51 to complete the course and I finished 134/389. This was my fastest Arrow Valley ParkRun this year though - ha! Once my run was finished, I jogged back to my car and saw Rachel Jannaway and her dawg running ParkRun which was nice.

The RAF Badger DIY Perm / Sinewave / Altura 5/40's / Random otherness

The RAF Badger DIY Perm (209k)

This month saw me complete another 200k cycle ride. This event was a DIY perm that I created a while back and have ridden a few times. I forget the original title I gave this event, but have now settled on 'The RAF Badger DIY Perm'. I forget why 'Badger' featured in the original title but, hey, it kinda sounds cool. The RAF is appropriate as numerous RAF bases are passed on route. DIY because I created it myself (may have stolen ideas from elsewhere). Perm is included because it's a permanent  event (audax talk). Hope that all makes sense.

This was the first time I had rode a DIY event using a 'virtual' brevet. Traditionally, I always rode with a printed brevet card. There are pro's and con's with both. Geekily, I liked to keep my printed brevets as they were like real hard copies or proofs on the audax events I cycled. I guess, in this 'Save the World era', it's important to not use paper where it's not required and 'virtual' seems to be a sensible solution. Having a virtual brevet and using my GPX track route meant I didn't have to stop so frequently and buy stuff to get receipts to prove my passage. Audax is a simple and complicated 'thing' at the same time.

Anyways, back to my ride. I left Studley after a nice hot cup of tea with the Mrs and instantly felt the cold (freezing) chill in the air as I set off towards Broadway. My usually super bright Revo Exposure Dynamo light was not so bright as I headed out into the dark. This was because I had recently gotten a Sinewave USB charging device and connected it's wires to that of the light (pigs back cabling in effect). I unplugged a device (battery charger) from the Sinewave and aces, my light was super powerful once more. Not sure how cold it really was, however, ice was forming on the top of my helmet. Brr.

I didn't stop at my first control in Broadway, as I didn't need to. No proof of passage (save my GPX track) was required. One bonus of this new virtual world. Cleeve Hill was soon reached which was the first real climb of the day followed by a nice descent into Cheltenham. Cheltenham was my first stop, only to stretch really and say hi to Mr Bones who I noticed had one of his legs missing (most probably stolen I reckon, or in the mouth of some dog).

Chilled to the bones

Another climb soon after leaving Mr Bones. Certainly started to heat up climbing, the frost on my helmet had now thawed and was dripping into my face. It still felt very cold and visibility was real poor with a thick mist all around. Now that it was light, I plugged my battery charger back into the Sinewave and it powered it up just fine and dandy. The Sinewave is super tiny and ultralight and appears to charge things up great. It just doesn't like lighting and charging at same time. I wonder if that experience is shared by others?!

The teeny weeny Sinewave

Hit Cirencester but avoided the centre which essentially resulted in me cycling unfamiliar roads. On previous editions, I cycled some short off-road sections to reach Cricklade. This wasn't the case this time around. My Garmin was used to locate Cricklade and it took me a road way without much bother. Soon the delightful Stacey's cafe was found and food followed not long after!

The audax staple diet

Left Cricklade and headed for Witney. Was nice having fuelled up so well. Cycled past lots of RAF bases and the roads in general were a pleasure to cycle. I didn't have to (and so didn't) cycle into Witney centre and ventured out of Witney as soon as I passed the first 'Welcome to Witney' (or whatever it said) sign and again cycled unfamiliar roads. In need of a quick rest and to eat my pre-packed sarnies, I stopped at a Church in Leafield and chilled out for sometime. Still cold but the sun was shining bright.

St Michael and All Angels, Leafield

Left the Church and headed home, although home was still about 70k away. After some time I hit a road that seemed to go on and on and on. This road took me past Shipton and into Stratford. I noticed my battery charger was fully charged thanks to the Sinewave and so unplugged it once more allowing my Revo light to shine bright. It really did shine bright - I passed an old woman who commented 'your light is ever so bright' in a disapproving tone (we were sharing the same cycleway, only she was on foot). As well as testing my new dynamo charger, I was wearing my 'new' waterproof shorts on this ride. These shorts were a pair of Altura 5/40's and these replaced my previous Cube shorts (which got shredded following my fall during the Giant's Tooth escapade). These shorts were waterproof though did not test this as the rain did not pour. These shorts were a great fit (size XL) and are supposedly reflective. I very much like the fact they have zipped pockets and it was also neat that I got them in a half price sale too!

Super shorts - Altura 5/40's

My Sinewave and my shorts served me well on this ride and was pleased with both. They both nearly saw me complete a solo adventure. I say nearly because just as I neared about 5k from home, I bumped into (not literally) my buddy Ron. I added a few extra km's and cycled back to my village with Ron. This was a neat finish as we initially planned to ride this whole audax together. Boom - what a day!

**********

In other news, I saw a rather funky band play. This was the wonderful Bombay Bicycle Club. SJ and I saw their performance on the last day of January and stayed overnight to make a weekend of it. We met certain band members parents whilst in the queue who told some rather interesting background stories.

Funky gig

One 'heavy' day at work involved a meeting with HR and a couple of my staff. Ha!

My meeting with HR!

Our girls have continued to keep my busy and entertained. They attended 2 Sunday School party's on the same day. They performed in a play at the second party too.

Games at Kings Norton SS party.

Nearly play time at Bournville SS party

Melody won Gilbert the giraffe

Defeated kings

Great performance

Also at the party in Bournville was my buddy Dan. He deserves a special mention for his random act of kindness. Only the previous day he spotted my watch strap was about to break. (My watch is rather special to me because my wife SJ gave it to me on my 40th birthday - another act of kindness). Anyways, Dan rocked up with a new watch strap and fitted it for me. Respect!

Time to end my blog post. See what I did there...

BAM #13

After what seemed like a slow start to 2020, I managed to cook up some adventure. Yes indeed, Jamie and I went for a wild camp. This was my first camp of 2020 and my 13th consecutive BAM (Bivy-A-Month). 

So pleased I managed to complete this camp as it very nearly didn't happen. After making initial plans, some of my friends dropped out just days before the planned date due to sickness, travel and work. (For what it's worth, I'm sick of work and would like to travel). Anyways, Jamie was still up for some adventure, so adventure we did!

We cycled to somewhere near the Heart of England Forest and then hike-a-biked for a spell. Soggy, muddy ground and some incline finally led to a near perfect camp spot. Without further ado, we set up camp. Then we cooked in the great outdoors using my new super-ace frying pan and washed down our grub with some fluid. Delicious. Morrison's Cumberland sausages and a mouthful of JD is hard to beat.

On this occasion, both Jamie and I were using Rab 'Ridge Raider' bivy's. I have used a lot of different bivy's to date and highly rate this one. The fabric feels really nice and tough - not quite as tough as my army Gore-Tex bivy but not far off, and much lighter and less bulky. It's about 3 x the weight and size of my Outdoor Research Helium Bivy but still light and this bag did not condensate and has a very impressive 'head' section that is wide and opens nicely (not clam like). Unlike some of my other shelters, this is fully hooped too. Jamie thinks the bag could be improved by having some loops at the foot section to lift it and make the end box like. All in all, I think this is my favourite bivy to date.

Always great to adventure with Jamie. First month of the year has proved a bit stressy for us both in terms of work. We were pleased to be away from our jobs, chilling out and catching up.

Slept reasonably well throughout the night. Was awoken on a couple of occasions to the sound of a fox barking (sounded like he was really near to my shelter, I bet he could smell the sausages) and an owl hooting. I'm sure I heard the odd snore from Jamie's direction too!

When morning came it was still dark and misty. We cooked the final sausages and washed them down with a tasty Jasmine green tea. Once we had packed up camp, it was nice to see the clear views as day light had now appeared. Such a beautiful spot! As we went our way, heading home, we saw a couple of deer skip off in the opposing direction.

On reflection, this month of January hasn't been so bad at all. I have managed to keep up with my challenges and have completed a ParkRun, a BAM and a 200k cycle. Sure, work is a drag and I haven't cycled much commute-wise but I have completed goals for the month. In addition to that, my family life has been pretty awesome and my kids and wife have kept me entertained too!

Argh!

Mr Pickwick's January Sale (2020)

Wow, a week into the New Year has passed already. Pleased to report that in the first week of the year, I managed to complete a ParkRun, a commute and a 200k audax. Am hoping to complete a wild camp before the month is out.

The audax I completed was 'Mr Pickwick's January Sale', a 200k event organised by none other than Mark Rigby. Have completed this event a few times over now - in torrential rain, in freezing conditions. This time around the weather was kind but unlike over times, I cycled this event solo.

It was dark when we all set off (this was a calendar event, so many participated, just none of my mates) at the crazy hour of 7 a.m. Tewkesbury was quiet and it was nice seeing the streets lit up with cycle lights. First stage took us to Chaddesley Corbett cycling roads that I often cycle with my buddy Roger.

Next stage passed through Bromsgrove and cycled up and over Cobley Hill. So close to home, yet so far away. Lunch stop was at M40 services.

Awful selfie at a cake stop

Leaving services the lung busting Edge hill was climbed. Not a particularly menace hill to be fair at only 14%, but hard enough. Much of the Cotswolds was cycled before reaching Chipping Norton for a tea and cake stop.

More Cotswold ups and downs until the major down hill of Soudley into Winchcombe. Such a menace that my dynamo light stopped working - thankfully had a helmet light. A few miles took me to the arrivee following a gentle traverse across the Severn Vale.

All in all, a pretty perfect audax. Probably cycle this event again in 2021. At little over a £1, a great January Sale!

So long, farewell 2019. Let's hope 2020 is a year of plenty!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, we've made it to the year 2020. I do hope this year proves to be awesome for everyone reading my blog. Here's to hoping you have a year of amazing adventure.

I have lots of hopes, dreams and goals for this year and I'm happy to share these with you all. Maybe some of you will join me on my adventures? Maybe not? Let's take a look at last years adventure and see if you think I've lost the plot..

My goals for 2019 were as follows (with comments added in blue):

• Cycle frequently. Cycle with buddies and solo. Commute by bicycle. Completed this goal.
• Cycle 10,000k before end of year. Was nearly 2,000k short of this goal. Managed to complete a mere 8,034k.
• Wild Camp. In fact, attempt to bivvy-a-month (BAM). Woo Hoo! Had so much fun completing this challenge.
• Search the Scriptures more thoroughly than last year. Add interesting quotes/thoughts to my blog. Only partially completed this goal. 
• Run more Park Runs. Try a Park Run I have never ran before. Run a Park Run with my wife.  Not sure when it became a challenge, but I did challenge myself to complete a ParkRun each month for the 12 months of the year. I dubbed this challenge 'PAM' (ParkRun a month), however, many commented that it should have been called PRAM. This challenge was completed, however, I didn't have my barcode with me on my final run and heard the words 'no barcode, no result'. Hmmm.
• Run 500k before end of year. Close but no cigar as they say. I managed to run 484k in total.
• Complete the Fort William 1000 audax (my 'big' event for 2019). Cycled this event but did not finish. In my opinion, this was a poor event. I cycled 2 shorter events, namely the Giants Tooth (500k) and Moonrakers and Sunseekers (300k) which were amazing events and more than made up for the Fort William 1000.
• Eat less, drink less, adventure more. I think I ate more, drank more and adventured enough. I'm not gonna check my weight this year.
• Be the best lover, husband, father that I can. Well, I'm still in love. Still married. Got a crazy couple of kids.

I like to reflect on my records at the end/beginning of a year and presented below is a list of my annual cycling and running distances (km, followed by miles in brackets). Some of my 'big events' are high-lighted in red and may take you there should you click (as it's a link).

2009 - 5,086 (3,160) LEJOG 2009

2010 - 8,509 (5,287) Paris to Geneva Cycle 2010/LEJOG 2010

2011 - 8,378 (5,207)   PBP 2011

2012 - 6,935 (4,309)

2013 - 12,498 (7,766) LEL 2013

2014 - 9,253 (5,750)

2015 - 5,531 (3,436) and Ran 1,170 (727)

2016 - 6,515 (4,048) and Ran 1,204 (748) Iron Man (Bolton) 2016/TNR 2016

2017 - 8,940 (5,555) and Ran 514 (319)

2018 - 10,958 (6,809) and Ran 417 (259) TransAtlantic Way Race 2018

2019 - 8,034 (4,992) and Ran 484 (301) Bivy-A-Month 2019

My greatest achievement of 2019 was completing the Bivy-A-Month (BAM) challenge. Below is a series of photo's taken for each of the months. The series of photo's ends with my well earned roundel.

January 2019 - Rob Dog's cooker now a thing of the past

February 2019 - Lovely dip in which to kip. How we danced before the moon...

March 2019 - solo camp in a church porch

April 2019 - In the Harry Potter tarp!

May 2019

June 2019

July 2019 - Fried breakfast is always aces in the wild outdoors

Aug 2019 - Trying out the new Helium Bivy

Sept 2019 - 6 camping out!

October 2019 - camping far away from home

November 2019 - Best camp spot to date (IMO)

Dec 2019 - challenge complete!

Can now wear this badge with pride :)

I ended 2019 by cycling a permanent audax event - the Brum 200. Had cycled this event before with Louy B and Toll, however, this time around was a solo affair. Started the New Year by running Straford-Upon-Avon ParkRun. Completing both these events helped me create my goals for 2020 which are as follows:

• Bivvy-A-Month for as long as I can. I have completed the challenge, just need to see how long I can keep this going for. 
• ParkRun-A-Month. I will dub this new challenge 'PRAM' and have completed the first month already. This was a slow run, after cycling 200k the day before and drinking too much whisky to let the new year in. My time was 28:51 and I finished 425/721. It was so congested there was lots of stopping and starting.
• Complete the TransAlba Race. This is my 'big event' for 2020. This is essentially a self-supported cycling ride around Scotland which covers over 1,000 miles and has 50,000 plus metres of climbing. I've entered this as a pair (of idiots) - Mr McLeod will be cycling this with me.
• Complete another Randonneur Round the Year (RRTY). This is a cycling challenge that requires a BR or BRM (audax language) event to be ridden in each of 12 successive calendar months. This can be started in any month, but a month can't be missed. I've got a head start on this as I have already cycled a 200k event each month since November. I have completed this challenge 4 times previously, however, there is a social reward for RRtY X 5.

I'm not going to challenge myself to be a better person. I do, however, hope I can be the best person I can. I know what is required of me - 'only to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God' (Micah 6:8).

December PAM

Oh man, my running this year has been relatively rubbish. I set myself the challenge of completing 12 consecutive monthly ParkRuns. My ParkRun just gone (Christmas day 2019) completed my challenge. Woo Hoo, one might say, but I have no result recorded to prove I ever ran this event. Grr, last ParkRun of my challenge and I forgot my bar code. How irritating to hear the words 'no bar code, no result. I know what position I finished, I have the GPX track recorded on Strava. 'No bar code, no result'.

My 'unofficial' results were that I finished in 226th place out of a field of 451. My time was 30:05. A slow run - hey, I was wearing an elf hat, had just eaten a fried breakfast and it was icy too!

On reflection, as stated above, this was a rubbish year of running. My last ParkRun, in effect, didn't count. The previous run saw Phil B cross the line before me. My only ever AV handicap ParkRun saw me finish last. Hmm.

Well, I've since ordered some funky barcode tags like those in the picture above. I'm prepared to forget about the Phil B incident. I'm determined to complete another handicap run and not finish last. Will I aim to complete (another) ParkRun-A-Month (PAM) in 2020, hmm, let me think on that...

December BAM - Challenge completed!!

Woo hoo! I completed my Bivvy-A-Month (BAM) challenge on Friday 13^th December 2019. Aces! On Friday 13th what could possibly go wrong? Ha! (I'm not in the least superstitious). Dr Peppers....

Can now wear this roundel with pride

It always feels great to complete a challenge and I’m so pleased that I completed this one. It nearly didn’t happen as virtually all my wild camping buddies (we dub ourselves the ‘wild campers’) became 'wild bailers' at the last minute for one reason or another. Only my bro ‘Rob Dog’ ventured out with me on this classy finale.

Before the off

Ok, so I’ve completed a whole year of wild camping (camping at least once monthly) and raved about it lots and blogged about it too. However, just in case anyone else is considering giving this a go, here are the rules:

1. Sleep out at least one night during every calendar month (using a tent, tarp, bothy, bivvy bag, wigwam, cave, shopping trolley, etc). You can start any month you like, just as long as you tot up 12 consecutive months.

2. No paid-for accommodation ie campsites or hostels.

3. A bike must be involved – it’s bikepacking, the clue is in the name.

4. Your own garden doesn’t count, although next doors does – if you must.

5. A multi-night trip that takes in both the last calendar night of one month and the first night of the next month will count as two months.

Hmm, let me review each of the rules above in turn:

1.       Oh man, I only ever slept out using a tarp. I could have used a tent?! Ha, some likened my hooped bivvy to a tent but pah, what would they know? I like the idea of a bothy or a wigwam. On one occasion, I slept in a church porch but hey, was still inside a bivvy bag.

2.       Check!

3.       Yup, but I don’t like this rule. Walking requires effort too and many a wild camp spot can be found by wandering. Wild camping does not keep a bike clean!

4.       Next door? Know you tell me!

5.       Ah, does that mean I could have reduced my wild camps by 50% and still completed my challenge?

Anyways, back to this December camp. It was a cold, breezy night with rain in the mix too. Rob Dog and I decided we would go and camp in the 'Woods of Doom’ which incidentally is the place where we both had our first ever wild camps (I think). The woods on this occasion had been hacked big time by the Forestry Commission and provided less shelter and protection as a result and we were clearly more visible. Oh well.

The near full moon made it relatively easy for us to find a suitable camp spot. We did move on from our first pitch though as fox poo was evident. At the second spot we faffed for ages trying to rig up a tarp due to the wet weather. After an age, the tarp was up and Rob Dog set about cooking whilst I set up my bivvy.

SJ considering a camp

Tea was delicious – bacon, egg and spicy cheese baps followed by pork and apple sausage. This delight was washed down with a shot (or 2) of whiskey. I had been in the pub just prior to this trip with SJ and thought I nearly convinced her to camp to. Hmm, maybe another beer and she would have?!

Rob Dog - the cook

After eating, I soon nestled down. Rob Dog faffed a bit and set up his bivvy. Next thing I knew, it was the middle of the night and I needed to wee – too much cider. Slept relatively ok, however, the wind was whirring at times and on occasions the hoots of owls could be heard.

When morning proper came (at 5:58 a.m, Rob Dog reporting it was time to get up) it felt chilly. I layered up and soon warmed up once Rob Dog had cooked a breakfast almost identical to our tea last night. I brewed some Jasmine Green tea to accompany breakfast. It is quite awesome having a cooked breakfast in the great outdoors.

Simply delicious!

Breakfast devoured. Camp cleared. Off to work for me!

Woo Hoo! BAM challenge complete!