tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40529968949365701772024-03-13T03:06:04.776+00:00Mountain Bike Girl - Diary of a Mountain BikerMehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-90332391865036334892016-02-25T19:43:00.001+00:002016-02-25T19:48:20.936+00:00ABR - The survival stage<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0Jaén, Jaén, Spain37.7795941 -3.784905699999967537.7293941 -3.8655866999999677 37.829794099999994 -3.7042246999999673tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-2502121097322974692016-02-21T20:13:00.000+00:002016-02-23T21:03:13.033+00:00ABR - I remember now<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-46341384592017324252015-04-18T00:57:00.001+01:002015-04-28T09:38:28.964+01:00PrivilegeIt's so easy to forget how privileged we are to be cyclists. We get to see the world and explore places in a way that a majority of the population don't. I was reminded of this on a recent trip to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
I spent most of my holiday riding about: along the beaches, through the city and up into Tijuca National Park. The views were stunning, the experience indescribable. Then Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-54576636137766139422014-10-13T21:29:00.000+01:002014-10-13T21:36:40.373+01:00Reaching for the SkyeThe original plan was a 9 day bike-packing trip to the Isle of Skye, what actually happened after a two hour drive through torrential rain on a Friday evening with darkening skies and blustering winds, was a last minute self-catering cottage booked for a week.
And so it began. All change. A quick trip into Fort William to purchase suitable footwear - packing for a week of cycling is quite Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-37594422656193654622014-07-11T13:39:00.001+01:002014-07-11T13:39:20.044+01:00Bang, whoosh, bang, whoosh...That's been my day. Life is a rollercoaster but to be on one today that's travelling so fast has thrown me a little bit and left me flailing.
It started wit a phone call from the Cycle Chilterns project funder saying that we had been unsuccessful in our bid for a one year project extension. Bummer. So the project will finish in March 2015 as planned and I'll be out of a job. I'm okay with that Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-45895842548072639132014-02-09T20:10:00.000+00:002014-02-10T10:57:29.046+00:00My first crit raceBy Sara Randle. Aged 35 and a fifth.
Yep, it's true. All these years I've been riding/racing bikes and I've never done a crit race, or a road race for that matter. But somehow I was talked into by a friend, "oh, it's very low key with a huge variety of riders. You'll enjoy it". Famous last words!
Due to the recent weather it was kind of a last minute decision so I wasn't prepared at all (Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-56989271623301903042013-12-11T17:02:00.000+00:002014-01-11T14:43:53.917+00:00I'm just gonna go with "Ow"I've been riding a lot just recently so when some friends came over for the weekend it was a rare opportunity to ride with people. On Saturday we took part in the Cycle Chilterns Brewery Ride - this involved a road ride to the Chiltern Brewery for a free beer, or two, some seasonal spirit and wine tasting and warm mince pies with brandy butter. The ride was followed by a pint, an early evening Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-88930177644080208632013-11-26T15:51:00.000+00:002014-01-13T17:04:10.724+00:00The real storyNot so long ago I wrote a blog for CTC - 'A pleasant surprise on the Chilterns Cycleway' - about a ride I'd done. It was all very gently plodding along and "hey, why don't you go ride it too, it's great!" in it's tone. But it's not entirely accurate, there were certain details I left out of the blog, for reasons that will become obvious as I recount the real story.
So one Saturday in November Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-25345601574362251562013-11-22T23:16:00.001+00:002013-11-22T23:16:27.038+00:00Here we go againIt's winter. Another summer has gone: no racing, no fitness, no epic adventures. So once more my winter training starts with good intentions. The last time my winter training started it lasted all of two weeks before I blew my left knee and was out with injury for 15 months.
That's not going to happen this time. I'm building up slowly with 10 hour weeks. Even though I've been ill this week I've Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-17899211947875649252013-02-11T22:30:00.000+00:002013-03-17T23:14:02.833+00:00The BeastwayMost mountain bikers will have heard of the Beastway Mountain Bike Race Series at some point - it's one of the oldest around having started up some 20 years ago. It's also famous for being held in London. Well, sort of; it was at the Eastway Circuit, twenty minutes from the centre of London.
There was some controversy a few years back when the plans came out for the Olympic Park as they were Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-91730681703677296582013-02-08T18:28:00.000+00:002013-03-10T16:22:18.483+00:00This is the lifeNow this is how I envisage life to be over the next couple of years; up at 8am, cook breakfast, ride down the road to Tring for a meeting with a colleague from the CTC at the stunning College Lake Nature Reserve run by the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), coffee, lunch, ride home again in the sunshine going the scenic route via Ivinghoe Beacon.
All in all a pretty successful and Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-47849860598148771302013-02-04T19:12:00.000+00:002013-03-10T16:07:49.944+00:00Meeting SpacesThere's a whole world of business that I'm blissfully unaware of. One of those things is "meeting spaces" - basically a building full of rooms that people hold meetings in. This one was called WallaceSpace. In the old days they would have been called meeting rooms, now they're meeting spaces apparently. The only discernable difference is some bean bags in the corner and an endless supply of pennyMehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-82215422433722852012013-02-03T22:26:00.000+00:002013-03-10T16:21:30.233+00:00The Big Chill Swim
Sunrise on race day
Off up to the Lake District this weekend to help some friends out with an open water swim in Lake Windermere. Cold? I'll give you cold! I was in thermals and a down jacket and the icy cold wind was whistling across the lake and going straight through me.
Swim lanes in the marina - 30m across
First off it was the 800m races. It looked okay until the swimmers got out of Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-63450683030877874182013-01-30T18:25:00.000+00:002013-03-10T16:20:45.360+00:00Second MeetingOff to my so-called 'office' today for the first time at the Chilterns Conservation Board in Chinnor. It's not really my place of work, that'll be my sofa mostly, but I do have a hot desk and office space I can use there. There's also human interaction, which is a good thing.
Chinnor is a cracking little village on the northern edge of the Chilterns and my commute there, albeit by car at the Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-13261757310312396992013-01-29T17:32:00.000+00:002013-02-22T18:01:36.598+00:00It's a MiracleI mentioned a while ago about my knee injury. One year on, numerous visits to the physiotherapists, some sports massages and some visits to the chiropractor, and I still wasn't seeing much progress. So when I heard professionals using phrases like "your cartilage looks like crazy paving", "you've got the knee of a hard-playing 50 year old footballer", "there are ligament problems", alarm bells Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-54287479167852807202013-01-28T20:11:00.000+00:002013-02-20T21:24:32.724+00:00Day 1So, day one in the new job and what a baptism of fire! (sarc.) It began with tea and cake in the British Library, went on for a few hours, included lunch, more tea, lots of chatting and an afternoon train home with enough time left to jump on the turbo-trainer for an hour and cook a rather lovely dinner.
As far as first days go, I guess it was ok. I had a bit of a wander around the library Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-33591823471020883722013-01-23T22:40:00.000+00:002013-01-23T22:41:44.349+00:00My New LifeEvery now and again an opportunity comes along, completely out of the blue, that you just have to grab hold of with both hands and be prepared for whatever changes may occur. That happened to me in November.
I've been plodding along in my television career for over a decade and have become accustomed to the shift work, endless time off and very good money. It has allowed me to do pretty much Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-10719662192832820562013-01-08T21:37:00.001+00:002013-01-08T21:42:36.328+00:00"You're Left Leg Is Haywire"Happy New Year!
Okay, so I'm a bit late, but you might have noticed I've been away for a while. There's an explanation for that. The blog is called "Mountain Bike Girl" and has always, mostly, been about cycling. But for the last year I've not actually been riding a bike. I'm injured.
I blew my knee in December 2011 - patellar cartilage fissure thing. Basically my knee hurts, a lot, when I bend Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-70218472954840401992011-10-23T17:32:00.009+01:002011-11-10T20:49:53.750+00:00Rapha Super-CrossToday saw the last round of the Rapha Super-Cross at Alexandra Palace in London. Another unseasonally sunny day provided far reaching views across the city from the stunning setting of the 'Ally Pally' gardens. Odd that I've never been here really as it carries the accolade of 'The Birth Place of Television' - my two worlds finally collide.Unable to take part due to the niggle I picked up racing Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-83064915550942574062011-10-22T22:52:00.007+01:002011-11-02T17:32:06.955+00:00Night of the Knobbly Tread - 3rd!?Very little cycling happened this week for one reason or another, everything was going to be packed into the weekend: a pub lunch/meeting with a title sponsor today followed by an interview with a journalist and the evening would be capped off with my first mountain bike race in a good few years.Going for something a bit different again I chose a race just down the road at Black Park, the Night Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-38582629927987753982011-10-16T20:31:00.007+01:002011-10-19T20:09:17.190+01:00'Cross Race Number Two - 3rd!!With a round of the Central Cyclo-Cross League in my home town of Hemel Hempstead on a bright, sunny October afternoon I was struggling for excuses not to do this race. The 1 o'clock start meant I could take a leisurely ride there and still have plenty of time for a practice lap, even after a lazy Sunday morning.The course was very different to the one at Basildon (most notably missing the huge Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052996894936570177.post-68193510774616819752011-10-15T20:07:00.004+01:002011-10-18T16:37:34.921+01:00A Cracking OctoberThe weather so far has been amazing this month and has provided that extra bit of motivation to get out and ride. So much so that I've actually managed to ride 10 out of the last 12 days, and today I went for a 3 mile run whilst I was at work. My only day off was Sunday after the cyclo-cross race - I thought I deserved a break. I think in professional circles they call it a 'Rest Day' or Mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06542852936627253894noreply@blogger.com0