Girl Racer

So it's been a month since I last posted and it's mostly been raining! 3 glorious weeks (well nearly!) in Majorca and I had some climbing psyche I was ready to get out there and try and get started back into the UK climbing scene.........but all that's really happened is a mostly wimping around on plastic and not a great deal of that!

Got quite chilly at the Churnet  - thanks Ian Hey for this photo.

That's not strictly true I've had a few days out, one sport cragging around Dyserth (North East Wales), a days bouldering down the Churnet Valley and today I went to the mighty Hobson Moor Quarry - a crag of my youth! I decided I better remember what them strange lumps of metal were for and how to put them in, in preparation for a little trip to Pembroke at the weekend with the lovely Bristol Ladies - Mandi and Elinor. A rare treat to get the 3 of us together and that without small people as well - amazing! Thank you Will and Mrs Currey.
There will be more on that when I return!
The morning trip to Hobson Moor also meant that  I managed to chalk up my first E-point since before the back chopping palaver - so feeling quite pleased with that.


So apart from a bit of climbing I've been trying to beat my legs back into shape. I was feeling quite strong on the bike before heading out to Majorca, and distinctly weak and pathetic upon my return! Despite this I decided I should start getting involved in some racing and where better to start than at the Ashton Circuit where I'd been for the training sessions earlier in the year.
There is a race each week now for Category 4 riders and Women which is great as it's a bit better for me as I can at least have people to aim at rather than just being by far the worst person in the field! The other good thing is that because there are more than 6 women we get to have our own race within the race and so ride the whole course rather than being pulled out with 5 to go if you've already been lapped.
The first race was frankly terrifying - felt like hundreds of people (actually 55) and all going really fast. I had a terrible start and went out the back immediately, I then spent most of the rest of the race with one other girl and then lost her in the final lap as we were overtaken by the main peleton which meant I came last  and 3 laps down on the bunch - oops!
Week 2 was an improvement - foot went into pedal first go, I stayed in the main bunch for a lap or so and then I pedalled around with a MASSIVE bloke who really wasn't getting any benefit from sitting behind me for some drafting! I, on the other hand was getting plenty of shelter when it was my turn to follow. Also there were other people behind so I wasn't last, a definite improvement.
Week 3 and Andy came back into the peleton and promptly put in a performance I can only dream of at the moment and came 3rd earning himself his entry fee back and some points which mean he'll be bumped to to Cat 3 before he knows it and will have to go in a different race to me! The race this week was definitely slower and I stayed in the bunch for 4-5 laps which was quite a boost. As I went out the back there were 2 other girls and we then hung out together taking turns on the front for the rest of the race and only got lapped once. As the final lap came around I started to think about how to beat the other two to the line and so decided that leading from the front was NOT the best idea so I played a bit of cat and mouse until the younger of the other two went ahead. As we rounded the final bends she tried to up the pace and shake us off but I was locked onto the back wheel ready to spring out in the home straight. Channeling Mark Cavendish I went full speed ahead and hurtled past her to cross the line in front - oh yeah!! Might have been the sprint to avoid last place but felt good to win it. Not sure how many girls there were so no idea what position I got or if it earns me points but there's a chance.............

The water in Majorca don't taste quite like it oughtta....

Actually the water in the apartments we were staying in tasted quite alright really.....

Buf! at Alaro Trying to look relaxed in tufa-land! (Vicky Askew photo)

So Majorca, what a nice place. This was my 8th visit to the island, the first two I didn't take a harness just a lot of rock shoes, several chalk bags, multiple bikinis and a towel.......travel light when it's a DWS trip! After that I've been on more conventional sports cragging trips and this was the second that was work related.
Majorca is a great place for taking people on sports climbing holidays, there are loads of really nice crags, mostly with easy walk-ins, a good range of grades, friendly bolting, sunshine and everything on the entire island is pretty much within 1.5hours drive. Perfect venue!

Andy checking out Cova del Diablo!

Now I've done quite a number of climbing holidays over the last (I'm not saying how many actually - a lady never reveals her age!) number of years, most of them on the Costa Blanca and now a couple of Majorca and it's a frankly brilliant way to kickstart not just the clients season but also my own.
The working bit involves getting a load of mileage in, often interspersed with a few tricky routes as nearly every client I've ever had is psyched for me to get a bit of climbing in too. In fact sometimes I have to beg for mercy when they are trying to post me up desperate looking routes with some misguided faith in my abilities!

Andy not trying too hard at Tijuana - elbow rehab!

Andy trying hard on a route at Les Perxes

Oli in outrageous terrain for 6a+ at Sa Gubia week 1

Andy and Chris cooled off in week 3 at Cala Magraner!

Kwan multi-pitching week 3

On this trip Andy also came out so it was great to have a week off in between courses to get some routes in for ourselves. Typically the perfect blue skies and sunshine we'd been enjoying in the first week deserted us for a few days, which meant that Andy indulged in some ridiculous upside down climbing and I rested up for a couple of days ready to unleash when the time came. And yes the time did come, I really surprised myself by being vaguely competent. I know I've been climbing indoors over the winter and starting to feel like I could pull again but it's always different when you head outside. I suppose I've always been better on real rock in the past so I shouldn't be so surprised but it was nice to feel like I was really climbing again and committing myself to not just getting on routes but trying to do the moves.  I actually managed to break back into the 7's in the second week which is a bit of a milestone. One of them was definitely dodgy....but if Rockfax says it's 7a+ then who am I to argue?

Vicky trying hard in week 1at Alaro

We went to some new crags (to me) which was great and some different areas of crags I've visited before, and as usual I now have more routes that I REALLY want to do and as usual they are nearly all WAY TOO HARD! Oh well, I'm sure it's good to dream. The biggest disappointment was not getting to go to Fraguel, I've never even attempted to go there before but Andy was keen and I knew there was a few things I would be able to have a good go at, but when we arrived the road was shut due to some fires! Rubbish. Ah well, looks like I'll need to go back again.

Attempting to demonstrate it's "all in the feet"! (Photo- Vicky Askew)

And next time I am definitely taking my bike, or hiring one in advance. I was gutted to discover that there were none left and I couldn't get out for a ride. Never in all my life have I seen so much lycra, hundreds and hundreds of mostly german lycra clad people pedalling around the island. Up and down the awesome alpine style passes, along the wide open flat roads and hanging out in the numerous cafes everywhere. I think the biggest problem would be deciding what to do every day - maybe a split trip where I get someone to bring the climbing gear out a week later would be the answer and then I couldn't be tempted away from the saddle so easily?

It's all about the bike...

Well, it's nearly all about the bike anyway! The last couple of weeks has seen a return to the saddle, now that winter seems to have given up the ghost and left us alone (pretty good result I reckon!). I've been taking advantage of some great weather and some equally rubbish weather but either way it's been kind of fun.
Sunday I met up with Catrin for a ride around Delamere Forest - much rolling terrain and tiny lanes and some slight off-roading (thank you Garmin for not quite knowing what's a road and what's definitely not!)

Monday I went along to a training session at Ashton Circuit - specially set up by British Cycling's Jenny Gretton for us girls. It was dark, it was raining, we had to ride 4 abreast round really sharp corners, I got totally worked, managed to outsprint the other people in my little group 3 times out of 4, had a puncture and no Andy to fix it (yes I did it all by myself) and I absolutely loved every minute of it - can't wait until next week and gutted that I can only make it to 2 of the 5 sessions.

Andy racing at the Ashton Circuit last summer (blue knees if you are wondering!)

Today saw me out in the most beautiful sunshine - almost like summer, I even had shorts on, although with a pair of kneewarmers - can't be too careful! Catrin came over and declared that she was keen for a "beasting", well I can confidently say that she got one, and for that matter so did I!!!
The last few rides, well ok pretty much everything I've done so far this year has been relatively flat, bit if undulation but not exactly big hills. Today that was all to change, we left my house at about 10am and headed off towards the Peak District, starting with the very pleasant Long Hill, down into the Goyt Valley, up to the Cat and Fiddle - cue first burning lungs of the day and complaints of tired/weak legs.
Next we headed down to Wincle via Wildboarclough, on to Gun Hill - Gun Hill is often ridden by the Tour of Britain and usually provides some good action, thankfully we were going down the long steep side to head to Tittesworth Reservoir. Here we had a well earned stop for some sugar (Coke) and salt (Crisps) and energy (hot cross bun with cheese) before tackling more up to get to the Roaches, rode all along the bottom and then around the back via Newstone and Baldstones to get to Flash (ah-ahhhhh, saviour of the universe.......) the highest village in Britain ("Bollocks" said Catrin "Surely there are higher places in Scotland??" Probably but they  might not be officially villages??)
By this point the legs were definitely feeling the strain and the will to try and ride quickly had left, that was until the AMAZING descent which is going down Axe Edge into Buxton - I love it!!! Clocked up some good mph's and then dragged my sorry carcass back over Long Hill and home. Thank God for sofas!

Thanks Catrin for top days out, more next week.........

In between I also managed a day out on the Grit - yes real rock climbing! Keen Youth (Dan Lane) needed to collect a camera lense and he was adamant that the sun was going to shine so we headed off to Hathersage, collect said lense and then went up to the Curbar end of Froggatt and the Froggatt end of Curbar. Now I remember a couple of route names from that end of Curbar and having done the routes when I was a bout 15 - but I think alzheimers must be setting in, I did the same routes and I didn't remember a thing about them!! Really fun day out, nice short routes, didn't get scared, managed to put gear in with only a few monumental faffs, and didn't at any point get cold or miserable - what a total result! That's how climbing should always be - I guess I might have to break out of VS territory and see what difference that makes???
And Dan was right the sun shone!

Dry-tooling maestro!

Who'd have thought it, me coming home with a prize for dry tooling and Andy coming home with nothing??!! Ok, ok I admit he wasn't in the same category as me, being male and he didn't compete in the round on saturday because he'd just had his neck and shoulder pummelled by a massage person, and yes he'd have been able to complete all 5 problems with barely breaking into a sweat but the fact remains I won and he didn't!!

Yes, on Saturday we headed over to Rock Over Climbing in Manchester for the final round of their Great Winter Rock Over League, which is a bouldering competition all afternoon followed by a dry tooling competition for those daft enough to have a go and waving the pointy sharp things around. There were 4 rounds but Andy and I only managed to get to 2 of them due to being away and stuff, but we were keen to get along to this last round as the previous one we went to was really good, nice problems, friendly atmosphere, daft climb-off final and lots of prizes - winner!
Unfortunately someone decided to shut a pretty key road on our journey so we spent nearly 2 hours in the car getting to the wall so only had about 1hour 20mins to get out bouldering scores - wasn't the best either of us has ever done, but I still got chucked into the climb-off by default as I think some other women refused!! The climb-off involves 1 problem and being timed. I neither finished the problem or was the fastest - hey ho, good to keep the side up for the older folks - the other girls were teenagers!

Ok, not indoor dry tooling but the only photo I can find of me wielding tools!

Anyway bouldering over, Andy went to have a chat with the free physio folks from Global Therapies about his lumpy neck, they gleefully inserted their thumbs and left Andy feeling a little bit like his arms didn't work anymore and with the advice that he shouldn't do anything for the rest of the day. So this meant that although I hadn't brought any pointy things with me Andy gave me his and pretty much demanded that I get involved. He'd brought along his super shiny and super curved Ergo's so I had a go with them. The format is that there are 3 top-rope short routes and then a couple of long traverses on the bouldering wall. I managed 2 top-ropes first go, and then had a go on the traverses - one of them involved having to climb through a hula-hoop halfway along, which I managed and then fell off getting out of a rest stop a little further along. Not too bad and having then seen most other folk fail to get through the hoop I felt quite chuffed! The next traverse all went pretty well until it came to going across the underside of a roof - holds were a long way apart and I haven't quite got the figure of four thing to try that so off again. The final top-rope was steep and got pretty tricky in the middle as you went up to the top of the panels and then launched out into a chain and a hanging board. I blame the hopeless inability to deal with leashes for not getting up that so well, but I did have a go at the whole thing after a brief sit on the rope.

So, climbing over and with scores in it turned out that I had won the round for the girls class (think I was about 3rd overall including the boys) and the series........ the prize.......... a pair of Boreal shoes when I decide which ones I want and a 12 session pass for Rock Over - awesome!! Oh and a bottle of wine too.
Pretty glad Andy persuaded me to get involved in this round and the earlier one, shame he wasn't fit to climb as I think we might have managed a clean sweep for the round at least!

Winter......ah yes I remember now!

It's been quite some time since I wrote anything on this blog. When I started it it was a winter blog...... last year I missed out on winter so it changed a bit. Well this year I am mostly missing out on winter by living in the Peak District but I have just had my hit to Scotland so thought I'd share what I've been up to.

My main reason for heading north of the border was actually work, I had a week hanging out with the University of Derby students. We had a great week of mixed weather and pretty lean conditions but managed a day on Aonach Mor, a lap of Dorsal Arete, some Ice Factor action and then I got nasty snotty germs so sent Andy out for an extra day whilst I stayed snuggled up under a duvet.

Team photography - pointing their big lenses at Andy

Next on the list was Andy working for Mountain Equipment over at Alltshellach on the winter skills courses for Cotswold staff, and boy did they have some good kit testing conditions - a whole lot of damp and windy days out.

Then we headed east for Lukasz's Photography Workshop, Andy was the model and I was the safety/chef/logistics/anything else person. Luckily the sun shone and the crags were white so all turned out perfectly.......a bit more snow would have been good but can't have everything.

Enjoying some scottish spindrift.

Work over, Andy and I decided that it was high time to get me back on a proper winter route. Now Andy has a slightly over inflated view of my ability to mixed climb - I know I'm incompetent and have not the faintest idea what I'm doing, Andy just thinks I'll be fine!! That's the trouble with these people that are too talented for their own good! So he decided that we should head into Coire an-t Schnechda and get on The Message. All sounded fairly feasible, but after a weekend of beautiful cold and super calm conditions it had of course, decided to start being quite breezy and snow, so the route was somewhat buried by fresh snow. This does not make it easy to spot the placements for your axes and crampons especially when you have no idea what you are really looking for either! I think I'll gloss over the crux pitch.......I suspect it was good there wasn't anyone else close to us on the crag to hear the wailing that was going on. More than once I heard myself say "I just don't know how to do this. I don't understand how to get up here" and other phrases along the same lines, some might not have been quite so polite either!
It's a very strange feeling to be standing on a crag looking all around at the various holds and just not knowing what to do.......I know it would be super easy if it wasn't covered in snow and I was wearing rockshoes, but I wasn't!

Anyhow, I survived and managed not to drop any axes although it was a pretty close thing at one point with me catching the axe between my thigh and the crag! Phew, I don't think I'd have been too popular if I'd chucked a Nomic off the crag.

The look of confusion.....

The next day we were back west and heading out with Dave Macleod for a blast on his project which became Castle in the Sky - check out M.E. blog and Dave's blog for more on that.

Now back home and happy to have done a route but think I'd have preferred something a little easier in hindsight......or maybe just less buried in snow would have been better, that's what Andy tells me anyway.
Good PINK jacket though - thanks Gus.

More pedalling.......not all mine though

I don't really seem to be a climber these days - mostly due to it making my shoulder hurt every time I try anything harder than a Severe slab - which frankly is just not that enjoyable! Maybe I should be satisfied that none of it makes my back hurt - but actually it's almost as frustrating having a sore shoulder - I'm sort of hoping that it'll sort itself out eventually and it's just done it on purpose to stop me hurting my back at an inappropriate moment!

Anyway - luckily the old bicycling stuff doesn't seem to have too bad an effect on the shoulder or the back (unless cycling into a headwind for too long), so have been trying to keep that up. Now the weekend after the Team Coven Triathlon I did my first cyclosportive called Tour of the Roaches, I did the 75 mile route and Andy went for the 103mile route. I gave him a half hour headstart and just about managed to get home before him so was quite chuffed really - you can read more about that on his blog.

Lately I've been getting  whole lot of inspiration from watching the pro-cyclists on Eurosport - they are completely nails! Can't believe how fast people can ride a bike uphill, downhill, and the flat doesn't matter I can't even begin to ride so quickly. Maybe with about a million years of training ........... but I think I may have left it a bit late in life for that! Anyway Andy, Donald, Mac the dog and I went down to Stoke on Trent last week to catch a round of the Halfords Tour Series, a series of city centre circuit races - not the top flight pros but some big names of British cycling were riding and it was awesome to watch and all quite exciting......... Donald even enjoyed it and he's not a cyclist at all!

Olympic Gold Medal winner Ed Clancy rolling up to the start

Early in the race, on the corner before the start/finish straight

The leading team Rapha Condor Sharp riders wearing the orange jerseys - Dean Downing  nearest, getting close to the end of the race.

After seeing the flashing lycra in Stoke I decided to get involved in the Manchester Wheelers Club 10 (mile) time trial. I did my first one about 6 weeks before with Andy, and well, wasn't very good! Andy was predictably pretty good - despite not having ridden one for about 15 years he still ranked somewhere in the upper middle of the field - I came last! Only just last, but last all the same. I was hoping to show a bit of improvement on this outing.
Things didn't get off to the best start when we arrived and found hardly anyone there - we were early, it all kicked off half an hour later than the previous one! I had already warmed up a bit but not really enough, ready for a 7pm start so it was quite nice to have longer - only then my slow was watch and I missed my start slot at number 3 - ooops! Luckily it's a friendly affair and I was allowed to get shunted back and start at the end - nearly missed that start too after my cycle computer transmitter thingy fell off whilst I was up the road warming up and I had to ride back and find it!
Anyway I arrived at the start as the last person was leaving, had to leave my jacket with the starter and set off, no computer, so no idea how fast I was going, how fast my cadence was or anything useful - did have a clock (not telling the right time) on though so had a vague idea of how my ride was going.
Starting last did mean that I only got overtaken by 2 people - it being a 2 lap course, which wasn't as bad as being overtaken by the entire field which is what would have happened if I'd had my original slot. So I gave it my best shot and pedalled like a loon trying to get inside my previous time of 31min 31 sec. Andy was with me and rode slowly round the course in the opposite direction shouting encouragement when our paths crossed and making helpful comments like - "they're not far in front - go on!" Needless to say I didn't catch the person in front of me (you are set off a minute apart), but I did manage to post a better time than the last outing with a 30mins 27secs and most importantly I wasn't last - woo hoo!!!
Next time I want to get inside the half hour..............

Team Coven Triathlon

Team Coven - Finished!

 The Snowdonia Slateman triathlon took place on Sunday 22nd May and as I wrote a few months ago Team Coven were lining up. We were given the number of 403 and instructed to pin numbers on the cyclist and runner and swimmer got a hat with the number written on. There was also a sticker to go on my bike "just in case you get separated"!
We arrived at the start to be surrounded by people looking VERY professional, exceptionally fit and mostly in neoprene. All rather intimidating, good job we didn't have big ambitions except finishing!


In a slight change from the original thought, Catrin was the teams fish - a very flipping cold fish too - what a warrior the water was a reported 10.4 degrees - brrrrrrr! Looks savage swimming with all those other people around you.

Racing (well sort of) up the Pass

Catrin emerged looking  a bit chilly but still in a speedy time of 18mins and handed over the timing chip thingy to me and the little bike. Not a perfect day for cycling with strong winds and as is always the case around those parts a head wind for a disappointing amount of the time - the ogwen valley was in no way fun! I did discover that I can ride up hill quite quickly but everybody else seems to be better at riding into a headwind - boo! Anyway I struggled home in under 2 hours which was pretty good going I thought and handed the chip over to Naomi.

Competitor Briefing before the start.

Now Miss Fisher has been doing a fair bit of that running stuff this year and is a bit of a whippet - unfortunately she was a whippet that had been suffering from a nasty chest infection and was a bit worried she wasn't going to be able to take part. Luckily she was in good form on the day and disappeared off a impressive speed - appearing back in even more impressive speed - running leg completed in just over a hour.

Total time for Team Coven 3hours 18 minutes - and that turned out to be the 3rd fastest full girl team time. Although the official results might show us as fourth due to a last minute substitution in one of the other girly teams.

A really brilliant day - loads of people got involved, loads of people out around the course cheering us all on and this despite the less than ideal weather.

So the next question is........are Team Coven going to put in another showing at the Sandman Triathlon on Anglesey in September????? Longer swim and in the sea, slightly longer bike ride and run through sand dunes........hmmm not asked the girls yet.

Oh and in case anyone is wondering - I've been pretty much lying down ever since, a substantial protest is being staged by the back at the moment - I put it down to the 10 days work beforehand.