Rutland Sportive 2013

Am sure we are all looking forward to the Rutland Sportive on Saturday, as it's the first big ride of the season for most of us. Looking at the Stating lineup, there are a few friendly faces.
Andy & Julie Kitchen, Bob Haworth, Bob White, Gerry & Louise Hyde, Steve Cropper, and myself.
Lets hope for good weather and a drop in the wind.

Remember that the venue has changed this year.
Giant Store Rutland Water, Normanton Car Park, South Shore, Nr Edith Weston, Rutland, LE15 8HD

Registration details
• Long route Register - 7.30 to 8.30 Ride start 8.00 to 9.00
• Medium and Short route: Register 8.30 to 10.00. Ride Start 8.30-10.00

The most important Phone Number to put in your mobile.
Mechanic Neil Exton 07837 495478

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Here is a link to the long course
Mark

4 Inns 2013

With talk of cancellation due to road closures, it was a relief to get the final ok.

Bob, Richard & I started off from the back of the grid (Team 100), so it was good to get a few miles under our belts, and a few teams behind us.

Richard, Mark & Bob yomping between the snow drifts

Although the snow drifts were deep, the sun was shining, the wind was light, and the rain stayed off. 

Running down into Edale at 21 Miles and 5:45hrs into the race was a nice feeling.

To give you a brief summary of the outing, we made a short video http://youtu.be/K437H_Sy1To

I know my feet were hurting by the time I got to the Cat & Fiddle, and I think Bob's were too, but I don't think Richard was at all distressed, he looked as "fresh as a daisy", even at the end.

It was nice to see the finish, and a time of 10 hrs 47 Mins put us in 14th place overall.


A big thanks to Steve for his support and encouragement along the way.

Mark

Grindleford Gallop 2013

Covering approximately 21 miles and 3000ft of ascent the course takes in the villages of Grindleford, Froggatt, Eyam, Great Longstone, Edensor and Baslow linking them together with paths, tracks and open moorland of the White Peak. 

http://www.grindlefordgallop.co.uk/

It was a cold mass start, with 350 people hoping to get to the narrow pathway along the Derwent before it got too crowded, which it inevitably did, no one likes to queue for the gates or stlyes. After running through Eyam you head over Longstone Moor, passing through a large number of the tallest styles I have ever seen, some of them 4 steps high. Along part of the Monsal Trail, a lovely solid cinder path without the slightest hint of mud, halfway there. :)

Heading to the outskirts of Bakewell, across the golf course (make sure you hit the gong first), and up the steep and extremely muddy forest track, wow that really takes it out of you. A long run down boggy fields into Chatsworth Park, and a welcome change of running surface sees you pounding in the grounds of Chatsworth House along tarmac paths all the way to the final checkpoint in Baslow. The final 700ft climb, not nice at the 16 mile point, onto Baslow Edge leaves you with a 3 mile run to the finish along Froggatt Edge and down hill through woods, and across the bridge into Grindleford. 

Don't forget to dib your dibber, don't want to be disqualified after all that.

Mark Wilson MV40 03:14:59

Robert Haworth MV50 04:08:15

Trigger 2013 Photo

Trigger 2013

Trigger 2013 

Another excellent performance by the Bounders on the Trigger 2013.  A change of start venue to the more luxurious accommodation of Marsden Cricket Club also meant a downhill start.  Very cold and icy at the start with thick mist, which broke up as the leaders crossed Black Hill to give a superb cold clear day with excellent visibility.

Transport, roadside refuelling and random encouragement were provided by the injured Fin. All 3 competitors, Ian, Richard and guest Bounder Alex were within 10 minutes of each other for most of the race, which made supporting a lot easier.  Kinder proved the crux where Alex in his first long distance fell race finally lost some ground on Ian and Rich. 

All 3 put in a fine performance with Ian 45^th in 4.18, Richard 79^th in 4.35 and Alex 110^th in 4.57, all excellent times under the 5 hour mark. 

Fin

Team Manager

The Ordeal

The Ordeal

 

Cycling can be a buzz, a strain, exhausting, uplifting or character building.  Sometimes it is an ordeal. 

Sometimes, it is a series of ordeals.....

 

Bob White (better known as his stage persona Ralph Merry) and I had decided that some mountain biking through Sherwood Forest was long overdue.  The first challenge for me was getting up, after being locked in the Local until 2.15 I seriously wanted several more hours in bed, but adventure called. Ralph and I both set off from home agreeing to meet at 10.00am, little knowing the ordeals that lurked ahead. 

 

Ordeal by waiting in the wrong place

 

After cycling round in circles for 10 minutes trying to keep warm we rang one another and discovered we were both there on time but in the wrong place.  At least one of us was in the wrong place.  The lesson is, that agreeing to meet on the corner it is best to absolutely nail down which corner.  Reunited, we pressed on to a tea stop at Sherwood Pines.

 

Ordeal by puncture

 

OK maybe not so much an ordeal as an occupational hazard but a frustration nevertheless when we were flying merrily through the woods, and especially once I discovered I had come without a pump. Fortunately Ralph was better equipped, and we both had fun trying to read its miniscule pressure gauge. 

Back in working order, we pressed on enjoyably through the forest into Clumber Park for a lunch stop at the Christmas bbq. Leaving Clumber behind we picked up a bridle path pleasantly across country towards Walesby.  After a road crossing the track dropped downhill and there were flooded patches which had to be carefully negotiated, until we came to a serious flooded obstacle.... 

 

Ordeal by water

 

After some careful examination of the best place to cross Ralph shouldered his bike and leapt through with dry feet.  I decided it could be ridden, but mid way through the front wheel came to a dead stop deep in mud.  I sprang off the bike, but to my considerable surprise there was no firm ground, just a seemingly bottomless trench filled with icy water.  I managed to stop about chest deep so didn’t completely vanish from view, but getting out proved something of a challenge. 

Although I had committed the cardinal sin of coming without a pump, I was equipped with a spare top and gloves so it was a quick change of the upper half, giving thanks once again for my Dad’s trusty waterproof underpants, left over from his days in the submarine service.

Waterproof top and spare gloves on, and then ride like mad to warm up.  Fortunately the day was not sub-zero but I did take the precaution of describing to Ralph, in a casual manner, the symptoms of immersion hypothermia should I suddenly come irrational, or at least more so than usual.  So we pressed on with all speed into some woodland and a picturesque wooden bridge until....

 

Ordeal by Lake

 

The track became increasingly flooded and rounding a corner we discovered it vanished from sight under the water.  Nothing for it, but to shoulder the bike and wade.  Ralph helpfully remind me that I was already soaked and should therefore go in front.

There was little clue to where the track might be but we pressed on until we were standing in the middle of a lake with no obvious route forward.  To our left the lake was full of bare, lifeless trees like something from Paschendaele. To our right, dense swamp like undergrowth of the sort beloved of the jolly country people in “Deliverance”.   Would we be adding “Ordeal by squealing like a piggy” to our adventures today I wondered. 

We waded on, and were eventually rewarded with the sight of the track emerging from the lake at the far side with even better a reassuring yellow way marker.  A short but rough uphill section generated some warmth when....

 

Ordeal by another puncture

 

This time it was a pretty hurried change but all went well.  At Walesby we were back on to tarmac and turned for home.

 

Ordeal by hill

 

We toiled up Nickerbush hill which I welcomed because it warmed me up, but my legs were feeling the distance by this point and I became irrationally cross at the pond weed hanging from my handlebars. 

Finally, back home, survived! ‘Fin always has plenty of spare gear’ they say. Well they’re not laughing now.

 

 

Fin

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New fellrunning boy band

At last, the identity of the new Fell Running boy band can be revealed

 

 

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Winner Best Surveyor / Valuer - Mortgage Strategy Awards 2012 | 2nd Place - "Management Collaboration" category - MPF European Leadership Awards 2012 | CCR Credit Excellence Awards 2011 | Best Company "One to Watch" 2011 | Finalist at the MPF European Practice Management Awards for Risk Management 2010

This email is confidential and intended solely for the addressee and others authorised to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in reliance on the contents of this email is prohibited. Any view or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of e.surv Ltd

e.surv Ltd. Registered No. 2264161.

Registered in England at:
Lahnstein House, Gold Street, Kettering. NN16 8AP UK