Learning to cycle all over again - it's a piece of cake?!

For those who followed my endeavors at learning to ride a bike for my first Highland Cross in 2007 (or maybe those who have foolishly and somewhat dangerously tried to follow me on a bike since then!) it will be of no surprise that it is the cycling section of this challenge that fills me with most dread. There is a popular saying “it's like riding a bike” which suggests that you never forget how to ride a bike. However, I can confirm that not only is this a falsehood, despite 4 years between getting back on a bike and today, I still feel like I'm learning!

Several of my friends have tried to convert me to the hobby of Mountain Biking, and I have to confess I really do enjoy pootling around hill tracks and forest trails on the bike. You can get so much more distance covered and get into areas which would take hours to walk to. Never the less I think these same friends often despair that my enjoyment of Mountain Biking is nothing to do with going fast down trails, in fact entirely the opposite, I like to think I'm very sedate in my descents (if slightly wobbly) – other people of course may just call this slow.

In the my two previous attempts at the Highland Cross I was left convinced that it was the cycling section that let me down. So many people, who I had probably passed on the run, passed me on the bike. It's not that I was worried about my time or placing but it is incredibly disheartening to finish the event in such poor style. My mother on the other hand, who loves her cycling, always says that being able to finish by passing people in the second half of the event helped boost her morale. All I know is I was worried about her being on my tail. Therefore, this year, I have vowed to work harder on my cycling skills. They say practice makes perfect and that things become more enjoyable the better you are, but as well as practice I also have a new secret weapon.... my Mum's race bike!

As Mum isn't competing this year she has kindly lent me her race bike with assurances that this will take at least 10 minutes off the time I managed on her touring bike; Colin told me that Mum's bike was a model that not long ago was used on Tour de France. All that sounded good to me and I gladly accepted the offer, only to find myself the subject of refitting and requiring coaching as both Mum and Colin got me cycling round a car park to learn how to ride this race machine!!

It seems that a race bike is not only different to a mountain bike but it set much lower in the handle bars to a tourer. This did not do my fear of falling over the front of the handle bars any good at all and much raising of the handle bars took place to minimise the wobble factor on the road. The gears are in the wrong place, there isn't enough of them, and you have to lean forward to brake. All of these things are going to require some getting used to, but I am determined to learn, and so yesterday we went out on my favourite local cycle ride to the great coffee shop at Kippen for cake. Cycling may not be a piece of cake for me yet, but I don't mind using a piece of cake as a training incentive.. Yummy!

For the first time ever I was out in front of Colin, it was slightly unfair as he hasn't got a road bike for the event yet, but it was impressive how easily the light race bike handled in the head wind on the way home. I did have some hairy moments setting out and I may even have 'grumped' at Colin when I got the gears back to front, making it slightly harder to go up a hill than I intended, not to mention a huge wobble when a bus passed too close to me. (I really don't understand why when riding a motorbike you put on leathers and a full face helmet yet riding a push bike you apparently just need a bit of plastic on your head?!) However the sunshine, beautiful scenery and quiet roads, not to mention the cake stop in the middle, all helped with a great introductory cycle, and meant I really enjoyed my trip out on the bike. It was a 26 mile trip with a cake stop in the middle; so now I just need to practice more and increase the mileage.. and I suppose I'll have to drop the cake stop too!

Upping the distance

Well, the aim of the past 7 days has been to start pushing the distance so I'm pleased to report that yesterday an 8 mile run was completed and today a 16 mile bike ride. I'm a little nervous about how quickly I'm ramping up the distance on the runs but there's no doubt that the long holiday is helping as there is ample opportunity for resting tired muscles. With any luck I shall be back on the original training plan by next week. Fingers are firmly crossed.

The weather has been fabulous for training this past week, making getting out into the great outdoors a real joy. Today we went to Loch Ard to cycle round the forest tracks there. I did the cycle route on foot as a training run for my first Highland Cross nearly four years ago and I think it will be a great one to aim to repeat this year. We found a peculiar sculpture of a hole which looked like something out of Star Treck - Colin tried to jump through it but he didnt seem to change time or space dimension!

Tomorrow is a cross training day so our plan is to go and hike up Ben Vorlich at a nice gentle pace. I am determined to make the most of this sunshine whilst we can.

Back on Track

The training is back on track. A couple of weeks ago when Sara was nursing herself back from a bout of laryngitis, I was nursing a knee injury, probably due to pushing myself too hard too soon. A couple of visits to the physio and a few easy runs have helped me get back into running from a lost couple of weeks training.
Recently we spent the weekend north of Inverness staying with Sara's mum and John. We enjoyed a mountain bike ride around at the newly opened Learnie Red Rocks.
Friday where we did a run up Tain hill taking Skipper for along for the ride. Followed with a sunny barbeque enjoying the views over the Dornoch firth.

The rest of the weekend was more relaxed as we met up with Sara's dad at Culloden battle ground where in 1746 the last great battle was fought between the Jacobites and The Duke of Cumberlands government army, definitely worth a visit if your in the area.
Were now pushing the distances and with a good run to Doune and back today. Tomorrow were on the bikes for a ride around Aberfoyle.

So i can firmly say we are back on track with the training plan and i just hope the knee holds up.

The recovery....

In a bid to get back into training slowly I enjoyed a sedate cycle to our local crag on Sunday with Colin, where we met the Ochil Mountaineering Club to clamber around on rock. This was followed by a pint in the sunshine, and a sedate cycle home. I was knackered!

Since then Ive had a couple of gentle runs and feel much stronger in the legs, but I'm still aware that I am not quite on form. Never the less, with just over 8 weeks to go, I need to start working on the distance so there is now a plan for the next few days that involves mostly cycling, running and resting! We're heading North to visit the parents, stopping at Learnie Red Rock Trails on the way for some cycling; there's a loose plan to run Tain Hill the following day to get in some running miles; and then a rest day that involves catching "The Shee" at Eden Court on the Saturday night. Hopefully with nothing else on the agenda the mix of pushing the distance and resting up will kick start the training properly again.

Wish me luck!

A very bad start

Training is not going well. In fact it is fair to say that it is going decidedly badly. After a slow but steady start I then came down with laryngitis and have been out of action for 3 weeks.

It was one of those nasty bugs that sneaks up on you and takes you out without any warning, which was most annoying. There I was running up Dumyat in the Ochils and I started to feel unwell, I walked alot of the route and then finally gave up and went to bed after lunch. I then stayed in bed for nearly 2 weeks!!! and this past week has definitely still been recovery time with even walking or a gentle cycle ride wiping me out - needless to say I'm very nervous about setting out back on the training plan. When you take 3 weeks out of a 15 week training plan it doesn't fill you with confidence but I'm no quitter and I shall certainly be giving it a shot.

So there you go, I think I need to replan. Any tips on how to get back on track as quickly as possible would be very welcome. The good news is that I am no longer commuting to London and have some time off so at least I can focus on both training and recovery for a while. Fingers firmly crossed I can see some quick returns.

I'm allways up for a challenge be it Climbing Mont Blanc or climbing up an overhanging rockface, so most weekends i'm usually found outside having fun.
This time last year i was living in the flatlands of the Fens and training hard for two weeks sport climbing in the sun of eastern Med to celebrate my 40th. This year i'm now living in beautiful Scotland with Sara and enjoying the being close to the mountains. Living in the Fens was fine but to get anywhere mountainous meant a 2/3 hour drive, now i can see mountains from where i live and Glen Coe is under an hour away!!!
Since moving to Scotland i've experianced the worst winter for years and seen what real snow looks like! though this has meant we've kept busy by doing lots of hill walking and skiing so my fitness isn't that bad, now that i have been entered into the Highland cross i need to up the pace and train for this crazy race across Scotland coast to coast.
It's not the 30 mile bike section that worries me, as in my earlier years i was a racing cyclist, I must admit that when i was racing i couldn't run at all, now that's all changed, and i now really enjoy running. I am really looking forward to the challenge and hopefully completing it in a respectable time.

This is another fine mess I've gotten myself into

.. well I know I probably said this the last time but I'm not entirely sure how I've ended up in this race again. It's nearly 3 years since this picture was taken of the family team finishing and alot has changed since then. I've moved back to Scotland with my partner Colin and, though I still do alot of hills and climbing at the weekends, I have kind of let the running and cycling take a back seat whilst I've been commuting to London from Stirlingshire! With that in mind - I wouldn't say Im at my peak fitness. So how did it happen? Well my brother Martin sent off the application form saying they may be short of someone, and at the time there was at least 3 or 4 of us saying "sure - no worries - we wont let the side down"; so when I got back from our ski holiday in March to a text message saying "you're in" my first reaction was to hide!! Never the less I'm slowly coming around to the idea and a few tentative runs have shown that I'm fitter than I should be, if not as fit as I need to be - which is alot better than not being fit atall. Now, I just need to see if I can still ride that bike :O)