Firestarter / Kicks - old, new and out

"Bikes mean the same thing to me now. When you’re scratching, it’s that buzz of doing something you love, that freedom. In your mind you know when you’re on it and you’re just flowing."

Keith Flint

RIP

Not long into the month of March and it's proper crazy already. Sadly, Keith Flint from Prodigy died on 4 March 2019. He was into bikes too - who'd have known?! I remember him playing a set at Glastonbury Festival one year that I attended which was pretty awesome. It is believed that Keith took his own life. How sad. I'm sure Keith will be sorely missed.

On a brighter note, I had already completed March's BAM (bivvy-a-month) as posted previously. Today, I completed March's PAM (ParkRun-a-month) too. Ha! I'm not sure I'll complete my PAM challenge but that is certainly a current aim.

Retired Kicks (Brooks Ghost 8)

All my runs (and cycles) are recorded on the Strava App which is a pretty neat social fitness network. It's main use is to track my cycles and runs using GPS data. One of the great things about it, is the fact that it will let me know when I need to retire a pair of shoes. Strava informed me that my Brooks Ghost 8's had ran over 800k and suggested I treat myself with a new pair. I was happy to retire these shoes to be honest, as I never really liked them. They were expensive (around £100) and uncomfortable.

New Kicks (Nike Downshifter 8)

Only too happy to follow Strava's advice and a new pair of shoes was swiftly ordered. I purchased cheap shoes this time around (mostly because I was not so financially flush) and went for a pair of Nike's Downshifter 8's. These shoes got good reviews and only cost me £33.70. I have yet to test them but am sure I will and most probably blog about them soon.

Resurrected Kicks (Brooks Ghost 4)

My new shoes did not arrive in time for my ParkRun today (but were delivered just after). So, I ran in a resurrected pair of Brooks Ghost 4's. These shoes were great and I loved them back in the day. The Brooks Ghost 8's that I just retired were essentially an updated model but for whatever reason did not compare to these shoes. Good karma wearing these old shoes today - I ran my fastest ParkRun this year! My run didn't feel great, however, I finished 64th out of 516 and ran a time of 22:39. Each ParkRun this year has been progressively faster - I hope this continues. My PB is exactly 1 minute faster. Will I ever beat it?!

Champing; BAM 3/12

For this month's bivvy-a-month (BAM) challenge (March), I figured I would try something a little different. For a start, I would be solo as all my buddy's were otherwise engaged. Champing, I decided, was the way to go. Champing is 'the unique concept of camping overnight in historic churches'. Hmm, aren't all churches historic? There were a whole bunch of churches not too far out from my own front door. I decided to go and try my luck.

Sambourne Mission Church

First church I encountered was Sambourne Mission Church. This church doubled as a village hall. Sadly, no champing here as the church was locked.

Next church I encountered was St Paul's Church in Cookhill. This church was certainly historic, it was built in 1836. The noticeboard stated 'Your Church is Open', but it wasn't. No champing at this Gothic Revival structure.

St Pauls at Cookhill

The third church I encountered was St James Church in Weethley. This was a very attractive looking church and was built in 1857. This church overlooked the Cotswolds.

Church of St James, Weethley

I had actually visited this church before. The location was great as it was quite rural and quiet. The panoramic views around this church rock too

This church had a sign on the door stating 'The church is open', but it wasn't. Grrr. I had been inside this quaint church before, why did they decide to lock it?

No it's not!

Despite not being able to get inside the church itself, it did have a rather lovely porch entrance. Shelter from the wind and rain and large enough to accommodate bike and bivvy! I decided I would camp here. Does this qualify as champing?!

Champing or not, I felt like a champion. I had completed month 3 of my BAM challenge. Woo hoo, that was 25% challenge completed, only 9 months to go.

Sleep was not the best this night, however, it was ok. The frequent sound of birds (mostly ducks in the nearby pond) kept awaking me. The sky looked moonlit but I could not locate the moon at all - strange. The stars sure shone bright.

'Morning world'

When morning came, I cooked a celebratory breakfast of porridge and washed this down with a cup of jasmine green tea. Packed away my gear soon after and cycled home. Once home, SJ looked after her 'wild animal' and cooked me a further fried breakfast.

Snowdrop 2019

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

On 23 February 2019, I completed my 9th Snowdrop audax. This is a beautiful audax that starts and finishes in Hartlebury and passes through Upton and Evesham. It includes the infamous 'Pig Hill', aka 'Phil's Hill'.

This was the first audax event that I ever entered, way back in 2010. This was the first time that K had  ridden an audax event. Over the years have cycled this event with many different friends. This time around, I mostly cycled with John M, Ron, Jamie and K. The WT's (Wythal Team*) were here and included Andy Genders, Tony, Phil and a guy whose name I can never remember. My blind buddy Roger cycled this event too (on his tandem) and a number of his tandem partners were here also.

As with all adventures, there are many points of note. Here is a selected few:

• It was a super warm (hot) day. How I wished I had a short sleeved top.
• Not all my buddy's hung around for the obligatory start photo for the purpose of this blog.
• Phil conquered Pig Hill. Guess we can no longer dub it 'Phil's Hill'.
• Mark Rigby was the controller at Upton. Ron threw all the stuff off his table.
• Roger got round in a super quick time which was just awesome, especially considering he was blind, over 70 years old and punctured!
• Ron caused me to have indigestion - I had to speed eat my super expensive burger at Raphael's due to time constraints ;)
• I plan to ride this event again next year.

Snowdrop 2010

Snowdrop 2012

Snowdrop 2013

Snowdrop 2014

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

Snowdrop 2016

Snowdrop 2017

Snowdrop 2018

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).

Feet in February

My first adventure in February was a ParkRun. This was my 20th ParkRun to date. I thought my days of improved running were long gone as my last few ParkRuns all took over 24 minutes to complete (my fastest ever being 21:39). I was willing and pushing myself to run a sub 24 minute ParkRun on this occasion and goodness gracious I did! In fact, I ran a sub 23! My official time was 22:59. Sure, it was a long way off my PB but I was super pleased with that. I finished in 58th place out of a field of 346.

The following week I ran another ParkRun and was again super pleased, especially as I had ran my fastest time this year. I took a whole 3 seconds of my run the previous week and ran a time of 22:56. I came 49th out of a field of 482 (5th in my age category).

That'll probably be the last of my ParkRuns for this month. I still plan to keep running but greater plans of cycling and wild camping will fill the next few weekends. Maybe I'll aim to complete a ParkRun at least monthly, just like I'm attempting to bivvy a month (BAM).

Thirsts

This is the First month of 2019. I have done a number of things for the first time this month. With my 2019 plans in mind, here is a collection of Firsts for the month (thus far).

January 1st - My first cycle. I cycled a 30k+ route with my bro Rob and buddy Ron. Also had my first pint (thanks Ron) - it was a dark fruits cider. Oh, also had my first shot of whisky. Maybe my reduced drinking will start next month.

January 2nd - Whoa, a lot of firsts today. My first run - I ran a regular 5k Studley Triangle route. Hmm, this was also the day I had my first McDonalds followed later with my first pizza of the year. This eating less malarkey might have to start next month too. On a brighter note, today was the first day I had quoted a biblical verse to this blog.

'Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together... He who sits in the heavens shall laugh'. (Psa 2:1-4)

That verse speaks politics to me. Politicalamity! And it appears that God himself laughs at the politics on the earth. It sure is comedic at times.

'The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men' (1 Cor 1:25)

January 3rd - This day proved that changing eating habits is super difficult. Not only do you have to convince yourself to eat less, you need to convince (or at least inform) others too. I went out with my wife and family to the lovely Stourport area. My dear wife asked what I would like for breakfast. After scanning the menu, I opted for a simple Full English breakfast. What came back was a Mega Breakfast with about 2 servings of everything including black pudding. So, yeah, a delicious fried breakfast which was my first this year. This breakfast reminded me of my staple diet during the TAW race last year. Later in the day, I had my first carvery this year too.

January 4th - What a great day for adventure this turned out to be. The evening welcomed my first curry which was super nice. Curry was followed by a trip to The Lark for some liquid refreshment. The night finished with my first BAM for the year. BAM is an acronym for Bivvy-a-Month. Ron, Rob and I decided we would camp out on this freezing night. First BAM! Woo hoo, only 11 to go!

This was the first time we had camped at this exact location. This was also the first time that I had ever used a hooped bivvy too. The bivvy was pegged out which was great as it stopped everything drifting away.

Ron's snoring was heard for the first time this year - at least by me and Rob! Not sure if I snored but I slept real well using my new Thermorest pillow for the very first time. The pillow was great but does not pack small enough for long distance bike packing.

When morning came, I brewed us all a cup of green tea. This was followed by an amazing sausage breakfast (we ate sausages before we went to bed too). This breakfast was particularly special as I used my new camp knife for the first time.

Frustratingly, this was first time I had punctured this year. Thankfully, our camp spot wasn't too far from home. Punctured bicycle made it home with no real worry.

Home

January 12th - This was a great day of adventure. This was the first time I saw my buddy Chris Hodge this year. We both cycled the 'January Sale' 200k audax. This was the first audax and first long distance event that either of us had cycled this year. We have both cycled this event in the past and have experienced seriously wet and/or cold weather, this was the first time the weather had been mild. This was a great day and I really enjoyed both the cycling and the company.

January Sale, 200k 

January 14th - Chris Hodge had built a wheel for my bike and after many months of patient waiting I was real pleased to attach it to 'Eleven'. For the first time since Ireland, I cycled Eleven (on my work commute) using a wheel Chris had built. There's a first time for everything, and this was the first time I cycled using a wheel Chris had built. Eleven cycled like a dream. Top job Chris.

Jan 19th - First Park Run this year. Not my first one ever, oh no, this was Park Run number 18. I finished in 80th place out of a field of 457. My time was exactly 24 mins. I'd like to run much faster but this is as fast as my legs would allow.

January 22nd - First yoga session ever! And this was not any regular yoga, oh no, this was Hot Pod Yoga! SJ had convinced me to attend and had sorted me a free trail session.

The session was really good to be fair. We were in this big pod thing which reminded me of Stranger Things and Teletubbies. Initially, I had the fear and started to panic a little because I felt a tad claustrophobic. Once we got started, all was great. We essentially performed a lot of Pilate's type moves but in a very warm, well 'hot', environment. The sweat dripped from us within seconds. Hot and wet!

Jan 26th - First 'different' Park Run this year. Better yet, this was my first Park Run with my wife too. We both ran the Churchfields Farm Park Run which is considered to be the countries toughest. This was my 19th Park Run to date and I finished in 30th place out of a field of 145. My time was 26:20. SJ finished not long after. I hope we both run this again sometime soon.

I've done a whole bunch of stuff for the first time this year. The above was just a selection of things to write about. If that doesn't give you a thirst for adventure, I'm not sure what will.