Popped out for a coffee (fixing Swaledale)

Popped out to Dales Bike Centre for a coffee and a panini.

I'd planned to ride on my Inbred, but found that the bottom bracket was bust the day before, so had to do a fixietwat ride instead. It's a long time since I've ridden a fixie a decent distance so, like all the best rides, I wasn't sure I'd manage it. It was fine though, though I could get out there a lot faster on the MTB.

Distance: 90km (maps: 45km out and 45km back)
Time: 3 hours out, 90 mins for coffee, 3 hours back
Surface: Mainly off-road
Weather: Cold but dry and sunny
Bike: Fixed Solitude monstercross (34:16, with 1.6″ tyres)

c25k - week one run one v2

Second attempt at starting the C25K running programme. Made the mistake of taking the dog, so runs got slower and slower as I dragged the dog round; she can stay at home next time.

* walk 10 mins
* 8x run 1 min, walk 1.5 min

Too many layers and too warm.

Distance: 4.35 km
Time: 35 minutes
Surface: concrete/tarmac
Weather: Warm and dry
Trainers: Inov-8 Mudroc 290
Clothing: skanky Tracksters, long sleeve merino baselayer, merino jumper, waterproof jacket

Fixing Darlington

First ride on a fixed in ages, so just a play around the town, with little bits of easy off-road. Beech Woods was good for getting used to fixed off-road, getting used to clipping pedals or skipping off unexpected rocks.



Good fun, and even found a waffle stand in the town centre!

Distance: 23.5km (map)
Time: 2 hours
Surface: On- and off-road
Weather: Chilly and damp
Bike: Fixed Solitude monstercross (34:16, with 1.6" tyres)

Darlington - Hamsterley Group Ride - Darlington

Road out to Hamsterley again for another Trailblazers group ride.

Usual ride there and back.

The group ride was ace. Lots of new faces, including "Twitter friend" menage-a-moi, and probably the biggest group ride turnout of the year. In October!

The route was really good. Big climb up to Doctor's Gate; the descent off Doctor's Gate is now brilliantly rocky after all the summer rain. Then rode dangerous Descent followed by some nice twiddly stuff in the back end of the forest before heading for the 'new' Section 13.

Did a cheeky descent that runs parallel to the black after that. Just a narrow ribbon carved into the pine needles on a steep descent, with the odd bit of woodwork over a fallen tree or two. A really good little trail, that I think I might like even more than I like Golden Owl. I think my new garden will be getting some bits of woodwork at the bottom to practice on.

Moving house soon, so this could be the last big ride of the year. But maybe not.

Distance: 67miles (39km, 27km, 42km)
Time: 9 hours (2.25hrs, 3.5hrs, 2hrs (plus cafe and group ride faffage))
Surface: On-road, off-road, on-road
Weather: Warm
Bike: Inbred Singlespeed (32:17, with 2.2″ tyres)

*insert purple joke/phrase here*

Brant (Shedfire) mentioned a study that had shown drinking beetroot juice improved endurance in cyclists, so I drank Beet It beetroot juice before the Kielder 100 race. I survived - was it down to the beetroot juice?

Brant sent and email and made some phone calls...

" Shedfire are delighted to report that Ragley/Shedfire rider Mike McTimoney will be co-sponsored by Beet-It Beetroot Juice for the 2010 season" - http://twitter.com/shedfire/status/4317957280

c25k - week one run one

I've been meaning to start running for a while and agreeing to enter an adventure race in March that will require me to run 10km, before riding a MTB for 25km and paddling a kayak 1.5km seemed like a good reason to get my act together and start.

I'm following the Couch to 5k (C25K) programme, which starts very easily and slowly builds up to 5km, or 30 minutes, of running over 8 weeks. I'm hardly in "couch" condition, but my legs are not used to impacts and it's going to take a while for them to catch up with my lungs, so this seemed like a nice, structured way to get them used to the idea of repeatedly hitting the ground hard.

Yesterday was week one, day one. A five minute brisk walk, followed by 20 minutes of running for 60 seconds and then walking for 90 seconds, followed by walking home. I walked down to the field by the river near our house, so that I could run on grass rather than tarmac, then set off. My watch beeped at me to tell me when to start and stop running and I used my phone to GPS record the route and speed. The run record is on my Sportstracker profile.

I made an effort to run properly (both feet in the air at once, none of this bouncing up and down jogging nonsense) during the running phases. Hopefully, I'll keep the speed as I increase the running time and decrease the walking time.

Felt fine the whole time. Legs started to feel a little tired in the last half of the last few run sections, but didn't get out of breath. This morning, I can tell that I ran yesterday, but my legs feel fine - a massive improvement on the last time I tried running 9 years ago. (9 years !)

Same again on Thursday and Saturday, then days with 20 minutes of running for 90 seconds and then walking for 60 seconds next week.

Distance: 3km
Time: 20 minutes
Surface: Grass
Weather: Warm and dry
Trainers: Inov-8 Mudroc 290
Clothing: board shorts and long sleeve merino baselayer

Take off your clothes and come to the other side – Shedfire announce new development rider

After much discussion and cogitating, Shedfire have finalised discussions with our new rider who'll be working with us on product development on Shedfire products for the next year.

Mike McTimoney (miketually/mactually) has consistently impressed us with his attitude and dedication to the sport, and we’ll be working with him over the next year to develop cool products. We've just fired up the CAD machine to start work on Mike’s new bike – a rigid steel singlespeed 29er, which will feature our new “Fathead� tubeset.

Mike came to our attention after his DFL (Dead F*cking Last) finish at the Kielder 100 event, which, for us, sums up the grit and determination that mountainbiking is about.

Shedfire MD Brant Richards said "Mike's just an inspiration to lots of riders out there, and his inspiring ride at Kielder, when over 60% of the field quit, which just blew us away. We’re looking forward to working on lots of projects with him, though the new downhill bike we’re doing probably isn’t one of them."

I'm still in shock!