Back 2 Black 2017 - Event review

"They are only puddles, just run through them!"

That's the first event of the season well and truly done, and I have to say it was rather enjoyable! Taking on a night run as the first race was a little daunting at first because of the mass start in the dark, but it was a laugh especially when one of the guys behind claimed he was going to follow me because I 'looked like I knew what I was doing!'

One of the errors I'd made in the build-up to the race was not buying a new headtorch, something that Ali had not been so slack in doing (although that was partially because her old one had given up the ghost and so she definitely needed a new one). Mine gave out such a pitiful light that when there was no one around I was struggling to see anything! Lucky for me the first mile and a half was spent running with a lot of people around so I was using all their lights instead! When we both passed the final couple of people who we'd been running behind I was certainly glad of Ali's super-bright torch and made sure that I was ahead to be able to see where all the roots and rocks were sticking up amongst the mud!

The event was held in Leigh Woods in Bristol and was all around the various footpaths and cycle routes in the woods, all nicely signed with reflective arrows and the odd flashing red light so that you knew there was a turn coming up. There were quite a few marshals around the course, although it was a bit weird as we'd been warned during the briefing of one particular area that was slippery and potentially dangerous due to the rocks we had to navigate down for five metres or so - yet there was no marshal at that point checking that people were getting down there ok!! Lucky for everyone there was a gate at the top of this section so meant that we all had to slow down anyway, and everyone was also making sure that all those around got down the section ok.

One of the amusing things was when we got to the first set of muddy puddles (about 300 metres into the run) and a large number of people seemed to slow and try and go round the puddle so not to get muddy or wet!! Ali and I, on the other hand, ploughed straight through the middle of them (much to the slight disappointment of the marshal who was stood just the other side of the water, who I heard voice his disappointment of his positioning when I accidentally gave his lower leg a bit of a soaking!) My thoughts were the fact that we were going to end up pretty soggy and covered in a decent amount of mud anyway, and as they are only puddles just run through them! The first lap of the woods passed pretty quickly, especially as we were all still in the middle of the group from the mass start, but as we climbed back up the hill to the carpark it was clear that a few people hadn't quite banked on this hill or had gone out a little fast from the blocks when we passed them whilst they were walking. A short stretch of car park/road later and we were back into the woods and mud again ready to take the second lap of the woods.

Lap 2 is where it was a load of fun - plenty of mud (some of it a bit deeper than first thought - see the state of our trainers!) and a nice rolling terrain which allowed for a nice little bit of time to cool off between the inclines. Because we'd decided to do the 5km route it meant that we were able to push ourselves a bit more than we would have done if we'd done the 10km (that would have been more about just getting around the course), and so each time we caught up another one or two people we were able to up the pace for a couple of minutes to get past before dropping back to a nice steady pace. It was just starting to rain again as we got towards the finish which allowed me to use my stellar motivational skills on Ali - "come on you're doing really well, only half a mile to go! Hurry, I'm starting to get wet now!" - completely discounting the fact that I was already soaked due to sweat, muddy puddles and the drizzle from the start! One final sprint up the hill, which went on for a bit longer than I first remembered but due to the rubbish headtorch couldn't see what was going on, I passed a few people also on their way to the finish line and back into the light!!

 Ali and I finished a respectable 24th and 21st respectively (out of 60-odd entrants), with times of 35:29 and 34:44 which were around 10 minutes behind the overall winner of the 10km race. This meant that we averaged a pace of 6:32/km (10:28/mi) although it certainly felt a damn sight faster than that when we were running, so it's pretty amazing how much the mud and terrain affects you especially when you are not checking your watch for the splits all the time! Ali did even better in her age category where she was 4th out of 23! I came 5th in my category, although there were only 9 entrants! I'm going for the fact that we're both doing well as we're in what most people would claim as the 'prime fitness' age group so are pretty likely to be running against the fastest people entering!!

Overall the event was great fun, and well organised - well-lit at the registration tent and no hassle grabbing our paperwork, number and timing chips! As I said earlier it would have been perfect if there was a marshal at the rocky point mentioned in the briefing before the start as it was highlighted as being potentially dangerous (especially as there was a marshal about half a mile beforehand and the next one wasn't until the finish), but due to the sporting nature of those taking part it felt safe enough going down there. I know that Wild Night Run has 7 other races in their series, and if they are all as good as this one I'd definitely recommend taking part - I'm certain that we're going to be looking at a few of them for the next year!

Here's a little tip for you though - if you ever find yourself at the race start and have to pin your number onto your front, but also have to wear a fluorescent waterproof jacket (and therefore don't want to - a go pro chest mount (because we all have one of them hanging around at race start right?!) is just perfect for pinning onto!! Although it's probably far easier to remember your triathlon belt or just pin onto your leggings/shorts!!

If you want to know more about the Wild Night Run race series then click below, and to see when more of my blog posts are available 'Like' the Facebook page!

Wild Night Run

Keep em Spinning Facebook page

One Life - Liv 4 It, Love It!

Paris Marathon - The write up...

What a weekend!!

Over 72,000 participants in the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris and our two runners finished (a superb achievement!) and technically came pretty much in the top 50%!

From the official results page, nearly 30,000 people didn't even get to the finish line - so very well done to Ali for walking / hobbling the last 3 miles with a bust hip, and very well done to Emma for running the full distance. If you want to see their times then they are available on the P4YTS Facebook page!

It was a glorious day to be out, especially if you were a spectator, but maybe a little on the warm side if you were running 26.2 miles..! Both runners were up bright and early, and with game faces applied were off out the door whilst the support team took a more leisurely journey to the first point to see them (via the bakery of course!).

The planned meeting point was supposed to be the start on the Champs Elysees... However, due to manic Metros and yummy pastry we ended up waving at them, and snapping the first photos with the Eiffel Tower in the far distance, in Place de la Concorde.

The plan was to see the girls at the 10km marker next, just as they ran into the first of the Parisian parks, however as you might be able to tell our plans didn't always go to plan! By the time we emerged from the Metro (after meeting up with Jamie) and fired up the phones to see where they were they were already on their way to kilometre eleven - onto the 19th km then, just as they exited the park....

Since this was only a very short walk to the exit of the park we had plenty of time to kill, and had the chance to get a few snaps of the various costumes being run in, and even managed to see a couple of impersonators (Jamie!) as they jogged along in the crowd. However, since he'd just been off with Craig to find some cold beers to cheer on the runners with we couldn't really be too peeved that he was looking like he was taking part!

Not long after the beers, our two (still very) smiley runners were on their way past, taking the high fives, and ignoring the beer salutes! 

We were then off on the travels again, following the route and wandering past the feed station just after 20km - the scale of one the food for an event of this size is one that you have to see for yourself - it must have been over 100 metres of tables FULL of bananas, bars, water and sugar cubes!

Once back onto the Metro, the support team headed over to around mile 20 (as requested), and just where the local fire team had set up some hoses to spray the runners. The look of joy on some people's faces as they ran through the freezing water really gives away quite how warm and painful the marathon was for them!

Ali's hip started to cause some real problems at around mile 17 so by the time we next saw them both they'd split up to make sure that they were both able to try and finish in their own pace. We ended up putting Craig in the middle of the road on 'Ali watch' to make sure that we saw her (and she saw us) for a bit of motivation and a health check! The smiles were still there (just!), but with only 6 miles left to go the end was in sight...

The next stop for us was just around the corner, and near the top of a cruel false flat that seemed to be the final tipping for a couple of runners, and unfortunately we saw more that one leave the race at that point - the more worrying thing was the number of ambulances that we saw head back down the field when we were waiting for Emma and Ali to come back past!

Still, come past they did - with a cheery wave, and turning down another beer(!) a final lap of the park was all that stood in their way before the finish line.

Once we'd topped up on our picnic, and then topped up on provisions for the post-race binge, the race was on to get to the finish line before either Ali or Emma got there. Safe to say we lost, blame it on blokes shopping, public transport, or Emma running too fast, but she was finished quite a while before we got to the exit of the finish area. Even Ali had crossed the finish line, after hobbling the last three miles with her hip before we finally found where Emma was taking a well-earned rest!

Congratulations to both Emma and Ali for completing the event, you did us all very proud and obviously enjoyed the event massively by the size of the smiles on your faces the whole day!

Over £350 has been raised for The Richard Cann Wildlife Foundation and The Gabrielle Gray Foundation, if you haven't donated yet then follow the links below!

One Life - Live It, Love It

The Richard Cann Wildlife Foundation

The Gabrielle Gray Foundation

Duston Triathlon 2016

After Ali and Emma have successfully got through the Paris marathon, it's now my turn to take part in an event that I've been (supposed to be) training for over the winter - the Duston Sprint Triathlon!

I was hoping that Ali was going to take part in the event as well, along with her brother James, but since she buggered (that's the technical wording!) her hip a couple of weeks before the marathon, and then battled around the roads of Paris it's just going to be me v James in the family battle!!

James is taking part in the event with one of his fellow directors of the Mr Smith Group, Paul Smith, and they are hoping to raise as much money as possible for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Head over to their JustGiving page (via the link below) to help them reach their target!

As with the Paris marathon there will be plenty of other posts, pictures and updates leading up to the event (even if it is only next weekend!) and during the event (Ali's in charge of the camera this time!!)

James and Paul do a Triathlon JustGiving page

One Life - Live It, Love It

Cycling Sportive Review : Tour of Wessex - Day 3

"How you feeling mate?"... "Still recovering from day one, knees are f***** and I'm knackered already...!"

Usually saying this sort of thing wouldn't be quite so bad, especially on the final day of my first three day cycle event - but the problem with this was that I was only 6.5km into the 95km route, and this was supposedly the hilliest of the three! Even though I was 'only doing the short route' it still had a rather testing climb in the middle of my day and as you can see from the elevation mapping on my Strava route it wasn't completely flat all the way to the bottom of that climb either!

From what I can remember of the day (and this can't be too bad considering I'm typing this up nearly FIVE months down the line) it was one of those "normal" British days - not too hot and not too cold, even so I was still in my hi-vis waterproof for the start of the day just to make sure that my body temperature didn't drop too much quickly when I pottered over the start line. We'd managed to get ourselves into the first group to leave that day, which may have felt like a blessing as we set off with people still cheering - that bit of added enthusiasm - but once I'd been swept up by the third group within the first 5km I was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't such a great idea!!

After I'd managed to warm up my legs and had the chat the the motorcycle outrider (see above) I did find myself being caught by a group that I was more able to keep pace with, and whilst I was in no fit condition to contribute on the front of the group (bad form I know) I'm not entirely sure whether they would have wanted me slowing them down anyway! The route was a lot more open that the previous two days and meant that we did keep on getting split up as crosswinds broke through the mini-peletons.

Talking to peletons, I got a good feeling of what it must be like to be in the middle of a pro field going through some twisty town streets after I got caught by another group who all seemed to be competing together just as I got to Bridgwater. Ladies and Gents - it's a frightening experience when you have no idea where you're going, the other group is going a lot faster than you, and all you want to do is potter along and get to the end whereas they are hell-bent on getting to the finish as fast as they can! The shouting and gesticulating went on for what seemed like an eternity until I got spat out the back of the group and into peace and quiet again.

Once we'd left the town the road started to climb as we headed more towards Exmoor and to the before-mentioned climb of the day. With the experience of the day one evening (read more here) still fresh in my mind I was very keen to make sure that I was topping up my fuel reserves on-route, but also due to my knackered knees and general tiredness I didn't seem able to eat on the move and so spent quite a bit of time at the side of the road like a monkey with a banana in hand. Thanks to all those who asked whether I was ok as they wizzed past! I was fine, just a bit incompetent at the time!!

The hill started in ernest just before I hit the 40km mark and as seems to be the way when you're in a national park or around farming land the obligatory cattle grid was sat just as the slope ramped up - luckily the group I was in at the time managed to get to here just as a kindly passer-by decided to hold open the vehicle gate to the right of the grid to allow us all to flow through on the loose gravel instead! Some people did still decide that the cattle grid was the way to go but I'm pretty sure that I heard a great deal of swearing in the preceeding seconds as they wheelspan, lost all momentum and toppled off their bikes!

For the first time on the ride by legs actually felt ok as we climbed, and I came to realise that it was probably the height of the seatpost that was doing the damage to my legs rather than just the riding since when I stood up I was ok - now sensible people would have then stopped the bike when they reached the top and then adjusted the seatpost wouldn't they?... I'll still keep with blaming in on the tiredness!

Now, the decent from top of the moor?..... OMG!

I have never been quite so frightened of a decent in all my life I don't think, I'd been warned on the climb up not to go too crazy as it was a steep decent but wasn't quite sure how bad until I saw the 20% signs...

Creative Commons Attributes: 20% Sign

Brakes on. Hold on.

Well that method is all good and fine, until the brakes heat up so much that they stop working, and instead of slowing down when you squeeze the levers harder you start speeding up again!

The part of the decent that was even more frightening than this (yes, it got worse!) was watching one bike sail past me, then a loud bang ("change of cycling shorts please!!") and watching said bike skid to a halt in front of the rockface at the 90° bend at the bottom as his tyre had blown from the heat of the brakes...

Thankfully for me and the other riders who had done the decent doing our level best to pull the brake levers through the back side of the drops, the feed station was just around the corner and I joined in the scrum to bag some savoury treats before heading back onto the road again.

The next 10km were glorious - a bumpy 2.5km gave way to a supremely steady decent of around 7km where I was able to let my legs flow and make up for the agony of the morning - from somewhere they'd managed to lose the pain of earlier, although in hindsight I have a feeling it was more to do with the fact I was enjoying the ride so much I just couldn't feel the pain at that point. A sudden left hand turn in Bishop's Lydeard put me back on the flat and lumps - and much to my annoyance the knees where hurting again...

The rest of the route passed without much incident, apart from a very minor detour after missing a turning, and then being made 'leader of the pack' once I'd been shouted at by the Garmin to get back on route, and finding a load of other riders who had also lost the route but hadn't got it loaded onto their bike computers! You talk about the blind leading the blind eh?! I was just trying to have a quiet ride back to save my knees and suddenly there is a load of people relying on me to return them to base!

Creative Commons Attributes: Long Sutton, Langport

Due to my knees playing around again I ended up dropping out of the back of the group (once they'd established I wasn't leading them on a wild goose chase!) and we'd found the route signage again. I'd assumed the next time I saw them would be a chance encounter as we all wandered around looking for cake and medals but as I rounded a bend on the high street in Langport there was a flouro group with wheels waiting for me on the pavement - they'd missed the signs again and so had to put up with another 2km of snail pace before all disappearing off again as I stopped to stretch my knees out.

Now this is where I'd like to apologise to Ade (sorry mate, again!). He is friends with one of the guys I ride with from back at my parents and happened to be part of the group that kept on relying on me for navigation. He'd also had to put up with my moaning for a good part of that distance about my knees and how I was only just going to manage to get back to Somerton (if indeed I was ever going to make it back!) He was also part of the group who kept on waiting for my navigational skills on the way back and after my final stop and stretch I'm pretty sure he was expecting to just see me once he'd crossed the finish line and collected his tea and medal!

I know I am a stubborn git sometimes (some people call it stupid..) but once up the final drag and with only a kilometre or so to go I have the rather genius plan to leave the final remnants of my legs on the road and went for a balls - out TT effort and sprint to finish. With only 500m to go I hammered it past Ade, and didn't even slow to help tow him along... He was a damn good sport about it but I am sorry!!

Creative Commons Attributes : WessexSportive-5240152

After crossing the line with a stupid grin on my face I have to admit I was so glad to get off the bike - even though I hadn't pushed as hard as some of the other participants my legs certainly let me know that I'd done enough for the time being...

Thanks to the organisers of the Tour - it was a cracking event (even if you couldn't quite get the weather on the first day!), well signposted and marshaled (thanks to the motorcycle outriders as well). I'll be back at some point, even if it's just to do the full 2nd and 3rd days to start with - there is some unfinished business now! 

A special thanks as well to Robin, he was the guy who helped to push me all the way on day one and then give me the motivation to get on the bike days two and three! Between us we managed to raise over £1,800 which is amazing! Thank you to everyone who sponsored us!

Cycling Sportive Review : White Horse Challenge 2014

White Horse Challenge (April 2014)

This is the second year that I have cycled the White Horse Challenge (WHC), and is usually the first one that I'll ride each year as it is based around where I grew up in Oxfordshire/ Wiltshire.

The ride starts off in Shrivenham in Oxfordshire and then goes on a 144 km (90 mile) loop around Wiltshire whilst going up three of the white horses that there are to offer. The total elevation gain for the ride isn't one of the most gruelling that you'll ever encounter by a long way, but it is plenty enough to warm up the legs in April at 1,498m.

I was supposed to be riding with a number of guys who I ride with when I go back to visit my parents, along with a former colleague (Fraser) - however that soon when down the pan when he got stuck at the back of the queue of starters whilst everyone else shot off down the road without us! Going on the slight lack of training before the event, I have a feeling that this was a blessing in disguise as it meant that we were both able to set a sensible pace to potter around, and whilst I would get dropped on the climbs we would usually meet up either on the decent or at the feed station!

The plan was going perfectly until Fraser announced that a recent knee injury was playing up and any more stops to wait for me at the top of climbs would mean it was impossible to start moving again meant me doing the second half of the ride on my own - and I'm glad that it was my second year on the ride and knew what was still to come. Ramsbury hill isn't the longest of climbs, but it sure is a shock to those who aren't aware of it (which I found to my hilarity when a large group of club riders stormed past me at the 15% sign at the bottom of the hill to a flurry of comments like "Goodness me" and "Golly gosh" - at least, that's what I think I remember them saying!)

The biggest climb of the day is right at the end up the Uffington white horse, and is where the KOM competition takes place each year with a nice little prize for the fastest person between the timing mats. The climb starts on the B4507 and climbs up past Dragon hill, underneath the white horse and finishes just past the first of the visitor car parks.

Dragon Hill, for those that don't know, is supposed to be where St George slayed the dragon to become the patron Saint of England, although in my research there seems to be varying accounts of this so I'm going to stick with the local version (because I'm slightly biased!).

In those last 25km I have to say that I was suffering, and that I was really struggling to believe that I would get up the Uffington hill. However it's a miracle what an energy gel and a good-timed toilet break can do isn't it? I did nearly all my climbing on the day in the seat (Ramsbury was the only one that I couldn't), and annoying the photos don't do me justice! How is it that the pro cyclists like Froome, Wiggins and Quintana make it look like they are actually going up a hill fast and when it's me storming fast people who are struggling out the seat it looks like the passing in being reversed?!

The weather has to have a mention for that day as well, and for the second year in a row it couldn't have been more perfect! There was a little bit of cloud at times which helped to keep the temperature down, but for the vast majority of the day it was perfect and I'm still boasting the tan lines!

I've also had it pointed out to me that I need to thank my sister and her husband for their support at the end of the event - I heard a car slowly approach just as I came down from Dragon Hill, and whilst silently cursing them for slowly going round me I saw a familiar face hanging out the window! They gave me a nice bit of support and then headed off to the finish where they were waiting with a couple of bottles of isotonic! Thanks both!!

A big thanks to all the organisers of the event, it was a cracking day out again and all seemed to run smoothly from my point of view as a rider! See you next year on it!

For a look (and laugh) at my ride data from the day, click here!

Keep 'em Spinning

Robo

YouTube Channels

So I've decided that I needed to start a YouTube channel - and I have!!

You can check them (yes I did say them!) at any of the below links...

Blue Car Digital Media (BCDM)
Orion's Multi-belt

Keep 'em Spinning will soon have it's own channel, but as I want it to be a superb cycling channel to challenge the likes of GCN et. al. then I need to work on the content before letting it loose on the world, so keep your eyes peeled either here or on our Twitter account (@keepemspinning) for future updates.

For the moment though, one of our sister channels has an increasing number of various dance music tracks available to get you through the days and nights, and to hopefully motivate you to train and race harder over the summer months.

The channels will be working together to get more content that suits all user, and hopefully will have some training videos by this winter to help motivation when stuck inside on the turbo...

If you've got any particular music genres that you think should be uploaded onto the BCDM channel, then why not drop them a comment on one of the videos, or put a comment at the bottom of this post.

Orion's Multi-belt is a random channel for the geeks (or wanna-be geeks) out there, with a number of space-related videos. Why not check them out?! I'm no space freak but they're interesting and you even get to see James Bond in episode one!


Keep 'em spinning!!

Robo

New beginnings...

Here I go again....! I tried to write a cycling blog sometime in 2012, but somewhere along the way I got distracted and now that blog seems to have got lost out there in the expanse of the WWW!

I'm hoping that this blog will help to give me the extra motivation to keep on putting the kilometres in in all seasons and conditions, and hopefully it will inspire some of you guys to get out on your bikes as well and enjoy the beauty of being out in the great British countryside.

Before I continue, I'd just like to make it clear that I am not sponsored by anyone, nor in anyway am I being asked by anyone to endorse or promote their products or services. All opinions and reviews posted on here are my own and not those of the manufacturers/brands that I may use or write about.

Now, I'm 23, 6'2" and most definitely not the typical build of a road cyclist! My legs are more the size of those that you expected to see thundering around the pine boards of the velodrome in sprint matches rather than out on the asphalt of the open road.
I'm also an accountant, which means that I spend most of my working time sat at a desk on my computer or in meetings. I know that this is something that a lot of people suffer from (sitting at desks, not accounting!) so I'll be sure to add to the blog anything that I see of here that helps office prisoners such as ourselves to keep fit and flexible even when we are not out on the bike.

Food is another thing that I love, as most people I know will agree with- it's not often that you don't see me nibbling on something when I'm not working away (and to be fair even when I am working away!!). So of course I'm always on the lookout for little tips for the kitchen from the TV and magazines, and hope to share some great little recipes with you all whether pre-, post- or during your rides and training, or even just a tasty (and sometimes naughty) meal to enjoy at any time.

I also wouldn't be much of a cyclist if I didn't point out all the great cakes stops that I encounter when out and about on two wheels!

Finally, I'd just like to mention Strava if I may... I know that for some people Strava is now the bane of their lives - "Look how fast I just went on xyz segment" and "Oh no, abc just stole my KOM!!"
I have to admit that at times I can be one of those, but I also think that this website has certainly helped me keep me motivated over the past 12 months and contributed to my improvements on the bike! I'm planning on posting a quick summary on here every week to show what I've been up to on my bike, and if you want to see my activities on Strava as soon as I upload them then just click on the link below and 'follow' me!

Rob's Strava Profile

For now, keep 'em spinning!

Robo.