Women run, play & blog too

There and back again (A Road Trip to the Pyrenees) Part Two

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:52:32 +0000

So where were we? Oh yes, we’d safely arrived at Luchon and as we had some time to kill before dinner we went for a leisurely amble around the town. At dinner we met our riding buddies for the week the lovely Tom and Sonya and Ian also went through with us what to expect for the days ahead – basically longer and more technical as the week progressed. I admit I was slightly concerned with the length of time discussing ticks and their potential removal but then I guess I don’t taste very nice as in all the time I’ve spent in woody areas so far I’ve not had to worry about extracting the little critters.

There and back again (A Road Trip to the Pyrenees): Part One

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:28:28 +0000

As a self-confessed Swiss Alp junkie it was a rather unexpected change this year to be zooming off to the French Pyrenees for a couple of weeks but then as I was pretty sure they have big mountains and also cheese and beer it was going to be exciting going somewhere new whilst knowing that we would at least have our basic holiday essentials covered.

What happened to August? – Part Two

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:13:22 +0000

What happened to August? – Part Two

“I CAN SEE A RAINBOW”

So the week went something along the lines of Mr M popping out a not too shabby 800m in the Vet’s Track & Field league on the Thursday night followed the next day by a three hour drive up to Llanberis to join his three team-mates for a 22-mile mountain marathon with 8,000ft of ascent over seven of Snowdonia’s rather wet and windy peaks. Talk about from one extreme to the other!

What happened to August? – Part One

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:08:12 +0000

For one reason or another this month was a bit quiet bike event-wise but that doesn’t mean to say that there wasn’t plenty of outdoorsy stuff going on so here goes with the first part of a few highlights………

“IN THE PINK”

Soda on the Rocks: Ten at Kirroughtree

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:45:52 +0000

This little Scottish road trip turned out to be so good in so many ways that I hardly know where to start writing to do it justice.

We were both a bit down in the dumps after Mayhem and as we had successfully secured a spot at our all time ever favourite B&B we were simply looking forward to enjoying a mini holiday in the Southern Uplands with the added bonus of a race at a location that we had never been to before but everyone we knew that had spoke about it in wistful tones whilst using words like “totally rocks”, “awesome” and “single-track heaven”. Needless to say our hopes were set rather high and we were definitely not disappointed!!!!!

2008 Giant Mountain Mayhem: Tactical error = Game over

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:36:58 +0000

It’s always quite hard to write a nice up beat positive report when you didn’t finish what you set out to do but when I actually reflect on the whole experience it did actually have some areas I can be happy about. So hopefully without boring the pants off you, here goes with my own particular experience of (albeit only part of!) this year’s Giant Mountain Mayhem at Eastnor Deer Park.

Haggis returns...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:35:36 +0000

My burning guilt at leaving poor Haggis behind and disloyalty in hiring a substitute for a week was too much to bear. The only way to mitigate against any persuasions towards purchasing a granny bike, besides money and garage space, was to get back out on Haggis in my most concerted attempt at getting back to where I once was on the cycling front. Yes, it seems that two days of decent mileage can cure a girl of any ridiculous notions of needing anything less than 24 gears. Despite a rather flatter terrain than I'm used to, the ruggedised nature of my lovely little hybrid thoroughly enjoyed some designated paths through beautiful countryside, speedy sweeping bends and gently glowing exertion and the odd grin inducing hard push to speeds I'm quite sure a basket and pannier just wouldn't allow. The weather was perfect when paired with some rather good suntan lotion, and the only thing missing was the padding from my shorts - how quickly you forget just how much better life is with a chamois! I'm not sure my next trip to the shops for the Sunday Times will measure up to this latest excursion - a 10 mile ride in glorious sunshine just to pick up the paper, Krispy Kreme (apple & cinnamon are yum!) and a smoothie, and spirited return journey to laze outside the tent for a few hours before returning to normality. It's not quite the Life of Riley, but it certainly beats the weekday windowless office hands down. Horray for the sunshine!

Sit up and beg bike buried by bunnies...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:34:15 +0000

I felt a little guilty leaving Haggis behind for a week at a Euro CenterParcs, but the prospect of precariously balancing 5 bikes on my already overloaded hatchback, and the journey ahead just didn't register as being the best idea in the world, especially as I'd have been obliged to pull up alongside the caravanning public in the 'over 1.85m' section of the channel tunnel train. Any guilt I may have felt was swiftly assuaged when my after parking up the rather modest hire bike one lunchtime it was then buried up to the gears by the detritus left behind by a rather furtive bunny as he burrowed rapidly beneath our cottage in the middle of the woods. Had it been poor Haggis whose cogs were impreganted with soil I may have been a little less than amused. I was however mightly impressed at how comfortable granny bikes really are. Put your ego to one side for a moment, and as a commuting bike for jaunts to the shops and doing the school run and you couldn't go far wrong with the ergonomically perfect continental style bike. The minimal gearing was perfectly adequate for the terrain, and the brakes equally so, and the kids versions were more than perky enough to cope with the off-road track deeper in to the woods. never thought the day would come when I embraced a pannier rack and straps, but being at the very furthest reaches of the site it certainly aided my quest to do all the shopping in one go. What next I hear you ask, a shopping basket on the front? Think posture perfect 1950's and flowing skirts...

Shares in Elastoplast Sore!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:32:37 +0000

OK, cheesy title, but I didn't quite know how to advocate the use of a cycle helmet in a whitty one-liner.
Once again I'm off! Yes, in true Helen style, I've wrecked my precious pink Giro helmet, and am adorning a stylish new skin of purple with red streaks, accentuated by 'flesh' coloured plasters - though who has flesh that colour I'll never know.
In an attempt to make the most of the fabulously light evenings, and the warmth they bring the bikes made a mid-week escape from the garage. A less than auspicious start came in the form of a flat tyre. Hoping it was just a slow puncture I pumped it back to it's preferred PSI and scooted off. I made it up the to the top of the ridge with relative ease, surveyed the terrain, and went for it. The heathers either side of a treacherous path were scraping at my ankles, so I decided to take the seemingly more sensible wide and well trodden path. How wrong I was. Dusty, gravelly and very uneven paths, as wide as they were, were no match for my hybrid tyres. I need nobbles! Wibble I went, and then splat, bounce, splat, and suffice it to say that I need a new helmet, and ribena isn't the best choice for cleaning your wounds. Stick to plain water in your bottle!
Still, all good fun, and nothing much broken apart from the record of achievements stored in my cycle computer. Boo, hiss.
Nobbles here I come!

Welcome to the House of Pain - it’s Mayhem time again!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:26:11 +0000

Excitement is steadily building in Casa del Miles for the annual MTB pilgrimage that is Mountain Mayhem. There is the checking over of bikes to do, the getting the substantial amount of ancillary “stuff” in one place and of course the constant not looking at the weather forecast…

Looking back at the photos we have of the three 24hr races that I tackled last year I was trying to choose a few that summed up for me the overriding memories and the three little words that sprung to mind are MUD, FOOD and PAIN. Well four really as above all there was also the YEEHAH factor!

Scotch with your Soda Madam?

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:12:35 +0000

An adventure at Benromach’s Ten under the Ben.

Even though I am currently sat here covered in midge bites and therefore a rather unattractive shade of well, just spotty, I simply can’t rave enough about what a fantastic event this was.

The party atmosphere was fabulous and the ten-mile course was just awesome - definitely worth putting this one on your list of things to do!

The Great Escape: Wiggle Enduro 6

Thu, 15 May 2008 09:09:40 +0000

I’ve done this event solo for the last couple of years so as part of my ongoing plan to do things a bit different this year, it was an exciting change to be stepping out with Mr M in the rather hotly contested mixed pairs category.

Miffy was right…..

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:16:24 +0000

My calendar had already warned me that April events were not going to be blessed by the lovely weather that we had last year.

Nevertheless, bikes and ancillary stuff were packed in the van the night before the Merida Spring Marathon at Builth Wells but at 6am the next day we sat in silence, coffee in hand, watching the rain pouring down and Mr M was definitely feeding me the option to wimp out!!

Woody’s Round Up…

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:11:25 +0000

Time seems to have suddenly flown by with lots of things happening - some good and some not so good - so here follows an entirely random collection of, well, the fun stuff.

Looking back it seems that most of March was actually spent lurking around in various woods either on two feet or two wheels.

Here is one of Mr M’s lovely shots of my Soda and me heading down the local leaf chute. Nothing like hurtling downhill in hub deep leaves not having a clue what might be underneath to add a bit of excitement – well at least you know there will be a nice soft landing!

Oldie does Goldie -Mawddach Gold Rush Challenge

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:18:11 +0000

When we spotted this event being promoted we thought what a brilliant idea it was that you could come and have a great days riding on some top class trails knowing that just by entering you would be helping to raise funds to help some very good Rotary causes including the Institute of Cancer Research and Wales Air Ambulance. It was a 50km timed event that you could do either as a three lap solo (which I signed up for) or a two or three person relay and for an inaugural event it was brilliantly organised by the local Mawddach Rotary Club, and has to be one of the most friendly and welcoming events that we have been to in a very long time!