Ray Booty ( The Boot )

 

 Ray Booty. A quality Roadman. R.I.P Ray

 

Froome

A quick 57 miles last night over the Peak taking in Beeley and a few other climbs and then back to see how Mr Froome was getting on in the Vuelta.

A key stage yesterday. The race has been pretty good so far apart from that dire Criterium stage the other day. Froome performed well up the climb at the end and made his intentions clear. 

Lets hope he has no bad days and can go all the way to the end.   

 

 

 



Pictured here when I saw him at Samatan in the Tour.

The ultimate in bling

How about these
The latest in womens cycling shoes.
Heels with cleats.

Weasdale Horseshoe Fell Race

Newbiggin On Lune was the venue for the latest round of the English Championships. The Weasdale Horseshoe was not going to be an easy affair as it was devoid of any rocky terrain which is my favourite. After seeing the Ladies set off and come back covered in mud I knew that this was going to be a tough cross country style race and I was not to be dissapointed. The mens race as usual went off at a million miles per hour after hearing everyone on the start line to a man say that they were taking it steady for the first bit. I have heard all that before.

Anyway blast down the field and right on the road then into the boggy section of pasture land before the fell starts proper. I was struggling getting going in the boggy part but the championship is run over a variety of routes so that everyone comes across some type of terrain that they are either good or bad at. It evens itself out in the end.

A tough damp, spongy runnable climb up the fell which zapped me and I was struggling to hang on at one point and the checkpoints seemed to take ages to come. By checkpoint 3 though I picked up a little bit and recovered slightly on the long grassy run back to the start. The final section over the bog again and then just a run back UP the field to the finish funnel.

I collapsed on the ground in a daze.

Not my favourite route but on a dryer day it would be better I suppose.

There is one race left up in the Kielder Forest and that will be the championship done. Hopefully I will have done okay.

Back to rock now I think.

It really does hurt

Anyone who runs and rides a bike a lot will at some point have questioned themselves WHY.
Why do we do this. Its a question some cannot answer. There are many reason why a person puts them self through the pain barrier.
I shot this picture on the Tourmalet when I was on the way down. It would have been nice to have cycled uphill over it. I stopped and laughed.
Just remember if your in a race, training or even picking yourself up after a fall.
Pain at some point will go away.
Normally ten minutes after it does your already planning on the next journey into the pain barrier.

Parwich Fell Race

The Parwich Race was a tough event. My legs were not working at the start when I was warming up, mainly due to the 65mile bike ride that I did the previous night. It took a couple of miles to get into it but I just could not catch the Ashbourne runner in 2nd position and by the time I started to push on a bit he was just to far away. I made ground on the final climb but it was not long enough to catch him.
You get that sometimes with races that don't have much climbing in them. This course is quite technical in places and If you put the many stiles out of your mind it really does make for a nice race.
The hard bit that I learned last year is just to hold on as you run for about a mile on the trail.
I managed 3rd and First Vet which was okay but I was 18 seconds down on last year. And today I turned 42.
Sorry just slipping slightly out of Laidback mode.
Who cares about times. You train, you turn up, you do your best and do another one.
Must do something about my white legs !!!



Mr Organiser

David Denton has probably been responsible for introducing more runners down her than anyone else into fellracing. Now in his seventies he continues to put on some brilliant events. Last night typically he was out there organising the Junior races at the Parwich 5 fell race. You probably could not add up the amount he has raised over the years for charity, and I have no idea how many races he has organised since he started. Without the likes of David we would have no fell races. It does not matter if your in the High Peak, Bowland, Lakes, Calder Valley or wherever. Every area has its heroes. Alan Greenwood, Pete Bland, David Woodhead, Wynn and Steve. All race organisers deserve much respect.