I know, I know, a curious title to this week’s blog.A faff, because I have been faffing around trying to decide what to write about. I had promised myself a review of the 2008 triathlon season, but that went immediately by the wayside after this week’s hugely enjoyable mountain biking, firstly midweek with my mates - Alex, Jev and Jo - over Whipsnade and surrounding trails, then at the weekend at the MTB mecca at Afan.
At the first of these - Whipsnade - Jev, Jo and I turned up a little early and had to wait around for Alex for a few minutes getting cold. All this 'coldness' soon dispersed after Alex turned up and we set off at a swift pace through the trails of Whipsnade. Jo was clearly the strongest and most experienced of us all, whizzing through the trees and dirt tracks, whilst the rest of us tried desperately to keep up. This we did flying through the streets of Dumpstable, reminiscent of the kids flying around on their BMX bikes in the film ET, jumping down concrete steps, through streets and past bemused children on their way to school. A couple of hours later and we were back in Jev's back yard munching on peanut butter on toast and talking of 'men' things (don't ask).
Here we are post-ride....
All this, however, was simply pre-amble to what was to come later in the week at Afan. Joining up with other members from the tri club for their annual pilgrimage to South Wales, we treated ourselves to two hard days of MTB'ing around some very difficult and technical tracks (difficult for me, anyway!), with a very enjoyable Curry night spliced (or should I say 'spiced') in between both days. Here are links to our first day's cycling on Penhydd (with A-M) and The Wall.
My highlight of the weekend was a fabulous run down 'Energy' on White's Level, the type of route that gets serious MTB'ers frothing at the mouth and, also, in a moment of extreme foolishness, a black run - thanks to Jo who assured me that I ‘would be alright, except for the very steep bit at the bottom which you can get off and walk down’. ‘Slide’ down might have been a more appropriate thing to say, because it was a wee bit on the, er, vertical side. Huge fun though and I can see why people love the sport.
Big up to Tony and Paul for enduring, and surviving, pretty bad falls – the former ending up with a hole in his shin, the latter ending up over his handle-bars. If that was me I would have cried and called for my mummy, that’s for sure. Also, congratulations to Anna (aka Mitten) for enduring a tough time on the settee all weekend, sipping (or should I say slurping?) on a glass of red wine for the most part.
All this, however, was simply pre-amble to what was to come later in the week at Afan. Joining up with other members from the tri club for their annual pilgrimage to South Wales, we treated ourselves to two hard days of MTB'ing around some very difficult and technical tracks (difficult for me, anyway!), with a very enjoyable Curry night spliced (or should I say 'spiced') in between both days. Here are links to our first day's cycling on Penhydd (with A-M) and The Wall.
My highlight of the weekend was a fabulous run down 'Energy' on White's Level, the type of route that gets serious MTB'ers frothing at the mouth and, also, in a moment of extreme foolishness, a black run - thanks to Jo who assured me that I ‘would be alright, except for the very steep bit at the bottom which you can get off and walk down’. ‘Slide’ down might have been a more appropriate thing to say, because it was a wee bit on the, er, vertical side. Huge fun though and I can see why people love the sport.
Big up to Tony and Paul for enduring, and surviving, pretty bad falls – the former ending up with a hole in his shin, the latter ending up over his handle-bars. If that was me I would have cried and called for my mummy, that’s for sure. Also, congratulations to Anna (aka Mitten) for enduring a tough time on the settee all weekend, sipping (or should I say slurping?) on a glass of red wine for the most part.
Here's the guys and gals fuelling up....
As far as exercise is concerned, that was it really. I haven’t run for a couple of weeks, and have only swum once. With another couple of weeks of off-season recuperation ahead of me, I am still enjoying taking things easy and am thoroughly enjoying doing things 'for the fun of it’, rather than as part of a hard training schedule.
Next week I promise to review my 2008 season before it’s too late and I forget what I did, although this might be a hard promise to keep given that I have another couple of MTB rides booked into the diary. All this blogging – such a faff!
As far as exercise is concerned, that was it really. I haven’t run for a couple of weeks, and have only swum once. With another couple of weeks of off-season recuperation ahead of me, I am still enjoying taking things easy and am thoroughly enjoying doing things 'for the fun of it’, rather than as part of a hard training schedule.
Next week I promise to review my 2008 season before it’s too late and I forget what I did, although this might be a hard promise to keep given that I have another couple of MTB rides booked into the diary. All this blogging – such a faff!
Until next week.....C
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