Just to let everyone know that my email has been hacked with a message claiming that I’m in Madrid and need money. Needless to say that unfortunately I’m not in Madrid but Birmingham and whilst I could do with some money it’s not urgent 
James
http://everydaystories.wordpress.com/
Sent on an Android phone
This post is about the most everyday of all stories… but still it was a pretty big event in our book! On 10th January our son Adam joined us, making a rather dramatic entrance to the world. That was followed by a short stay in hospital for treatment for a chest infection. I’m writing this to fill our family and friends in on how things went, share a few photos and to say some BIG thank yous… (apologies to all who come here to read about James’ cycling! Normal service will be resumed shortly!).
From the outset we had stated our preference for a Home Birth, although with an open mind about transferring to hospital if needed. Our midwife, smiley, supportive Anola from the Stratford Road Midwifery Team, was all for it from the start. As the pregnancy progressed well we began chatting with friends who spoke positively (and realistically) about their experiences of giving birth at home. They also offered us some great advice and support (as well as a birth pool!).
As the due date approached we went along to an excellent antenatal class at Birmingham Women’s Hospital as well as a ‘Birth Rehearsal Day’ with Cat Morgan who runs the Pregnancy Yoga classes I’d attended throughout the pregnancy. These were great for helping us to understand what was ahead of us. Being able to visualise and understand what was happening as the contractions hit, understanding how I could help the labour progress through movement and positioning as well as finding ways to cope with the pain through breathing were invaluable on the day.
My contractions began in earnest at 4am on the 10th January, and as recommended we rested up, tried to relax and kept track of the frequency and intensity of the contractions. By mid-morning the TENS machine went on and the notes had evolved into James’ star-rating system – each wave being followed by ‘was that a two or a three?’ or ‘that looked like a two’. Whereas others may have needed to resist the urge to strangle him at that point, I think we did a pretty good job of supporting each other, staying calm and making it a really positive shared experience.
At 6:30pm, with the contractions (eventually!) becoming more frequent and lasting longer, a midwife came out to us and stayed for an hour to check my progress and examine me. The verdict wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for: over 15 hours in and only just entering ‘established’ labour. I was advised to prepare for the long-haul – rest, stay hydrated, get some food and try a bath and a couple of paracetemol. I could be looking at another 12 hours of labour. We were to ring through to get another midwife out when contractions became more frequent.
So, into the bath I went, cursing the fact that our shallow bath barely touched the base of my huge belly. Within half an hour of getting out my waters broke and everything sped up. We decided to call a midwife out to us, but after 20 minutes of trying to ring through, James eventually spoke with someone who broke the news that there was no midwife available to come out to us. They were, however, able to offer us a room on the midwife-led ‘Birth Centre’ at the Women’s Hospital and use of their birth pool.
James got our bags together and managed to catch our neighbour, Sandra, returning home to ask if she could drive us the 10 minute drive to hospital. We piled into the car with me kneeling on the back seat, focusing on my ‘horse breaths’ (a way to concentrate on long exhalations which is really effective at focusing your mind and slowing your breathing – but yes, it looks as daft as it sounds!). By now I had the distinct feeling that we weren’t far off meeting our littl’un, prompting the revelation to James and Sandra in the front of the car that ‘I think the baby wants to be born!’.
(Just a little tip here. When you’re in the midst of an emergency in a vehicle and you need to get somewhere quickly, ask a driver, not a cyclist where to go. You may find that you end up in front of the wrong hospital unable to cut through the where you need to go without needing to drive all the way back round or drive up the cycle path. Alternatively live somewhere where the nearest hospital doesn’t have a daft one-way system and poor signage.)
We arrived at hospital at 10:20pm and were immediately admitted to the Birth Centre. After several contractions the midwife, Harriet, checked to see how far dilated I was. She was as surprised as we were when she looked and told us that the baby was already there and that I could push when I was ready! So, after about five minutes of pushing and only 15 minutes after arriving at hospital our little warm, red and crying bundle arrived. Our boy Adam. All 7lb of him.
Come the early hours Adam still wasn’t feeding, and later that night a ‘Pulse Ox’ test indicated that there was cause for concern and that further tests were needed on his heart and lungs. We were transferred to the Neo-Natal Unit where Adam was put in an incubator to raise his temperature (for the first few hours), given oxygen and rigged up to monitors. An x-ray revealed he had a chest infection, which can occur when there has been a quick delivery as the amniotic fluid can remain on the lungs. He was prescribed five days of antibiotics, to be administered through a cannula in the back of his hand. A heart scan also revealed two small holes in Adam’s heart which are common in babies, are not usually cause for concern and often heal by themselves over time (one has since healed, the other is likely to heal – we have another scan at the end of the month).
I’m not sure what hormones saw me through the rest of the day, but I’m grateful for them. It was tough to see our tiny little boy who we dearly wanted to take home and get to know inside an incubator, and even more difficult to drag ourselves away from him to eat. But, within twelve hours of giving birth I needed to keep myself healthy too. However, the staff on the ward were so calm, friendly and genuinely compassionate, and everything was explained so well that it really didn’t occur to us to worry. It was just unfortunate that Adam was ill.
The next few days in hospital saw me spending each day sat on the Neo-Natal Unit chatting with nurses and marveling at the way in which they went about their work. We were on the Grasshopper Ward, which the sign on the door informed me was sponsored by the Cliff Richard Fan Club! Each night I went off to Ward 4, a post-natal ward, and tried to get some kip before a midwife appeared to let me know when I was needed to be with Adam. Traipsing nightly through empty hospital corridors in the early hours in a nightgown to try and feed a lethargic, poorly child was not exactly my most glamorous moment, but with supportive staff and a tiny, beautiful, bright eyed boy to cuddle I wouldn’t have been anywhere else.
On the Friday night Adam joined me on the post-natal ward (our first night together!) and on Saturday morning we transferred to the Transitional Care Unit where we could both be monitored and supported. Without those few days of round the clock support we would never have managed to establish breastfeeding. Gradually Adam took better and longer feeds, his colour returned to a healthy, rosy pink (he had a bit of jaundice) and his energy levels increased. On Monday, after Adam had finished his course of antibiotics we were given the thumbs up to come home.
Throughout our stay I was overwhelmed by the care and attention we received from nurses and midwives. I certainly didn’t need any convincing of the value of NHS staff prior to our stay, but to be on the receiving end for the first time was a real eye-opener about how hard staff work round the clock with a gentleness and compassion which feels over and above what is required. Thank you so much to any of you who may be reading this.
We’ve also been taken aback by the support, gifts and cards we’ve received from friends and family. My little Blackberry was a real source of comfort in the early hours on the ward, when I could read the lovely comments from people on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and text. Don’t underestimate how much it meant.
A little over a month in and James and I are having a great time getting to know Adam, going on little adventures with him and spending hours staring into his bright eyes. He’s now been introduced to scores of family members and friends. As with everything else so far, he takes it all in his stride. We’re just a little bit smitten…
I used to run a lot, or at least far more than I run now. That all kind of came to an end about 7 years ago when I turned my ankle over on a kerbstone one Saturday morning. Since then I’ve been plagued with one injury or another, the main problem being a tightening of my right calve.
Over the past few years I’ve left running behind and cycled far more, I’d always call myself a cyclist as opposed to a runner anyway but I also happen to not pick up injuries on the bike. But cycling the distances I enjoy requires putting a lot of hours on the bike and with a child on the way something may have to give. So over the last few mounts I’ve been endeavoring to find my running legs again, and so far, so good
To help in this quest I’ve decided to take part in park run. It’s a free weekly 5km run that takes place on Saturday mornings in parks up and down the county, as well as in a few other countries. Its very simple, you register on line, print off your unique barcode, find your local run, turn up, run, have your code scanned and receive your result via text and e-mail. Here’s my first email:
Cannon Hill results for event #72. Your time was 21:02.
Congratulations on completing your 1st parkrun and your 1st at Cannon Hill today. You finished in 39th place and were the 34th gent out of a field of 246 parkrunners and you came 7th in your age category SM35-39. You can view the full set of results here.
21:02, not bad for my first 5km in about 7 years and no injury! I’ve some way to go to reach my best recorded 5km time of 17:53, but I’d be very happy to consistently run under 20mins with no injuries.
Over Christmas I followed the adventure of Markus Stitz as he cycled from Edinburgh to see his parents in Schwobfeld, Germany on his single speed bike. This is Markus:
Looks a bit mad to me, which he clearly is! After getting to Germany for Christmas, a ride of over 850 miles, he decided it would be a good idea to cycle all the way back to Edinburgh again. The fact that he decided to ride 2600km (1615 miles) at the end of December definitely marks him out as a bit mad. Sure, I know I like to do stuff like this but I’m a cold wimp and would not even consider it at this time of the year. Good to read of adventures like this, a long distance ride, not a race, more of a tour in spirit, and at a time of the year when most people are putting their feet up.
Check out his blog Fearless and Unique for details of this and his other mad adventures.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,500 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 42 trips to carry that many people.
I’ve been very poor in the second part of this year with postings to the blog, but there have been reasons. My ramblings are focused around cycling but since June I’ve had but a few cycling adventures to talk of. Sure there was the Trans-Cambrian ride with Simon, an unsuccessful ride of the Welsh Coast to Coast (that I forgot to write about) and the brutal but oh so rewarding Bear Bones 200. But life has been dominated by the pending addition to the family, Little Bean who should be with Rach and I within a couple of weeks. There has also been the small matter of a three week trip during September to America’s Pacific North West. An amazing place that you have to visit if you’ve not already done so. Here’s a quick teaser – 14,000ft Mt Rainier.
So the second half of this year I’ve been a good husband and dad to be and focused on DIY and getting ‘the nest ready’ as our neighbour puts it. Well maybe she is right about that. But it’s also been a period where I’ve explored my local trails after work. I have to thank Tom aka ‘The Carbon Monkey’ for that. He’s been much better than me blogging about out mini adventures so check out his site.
And for the past few weeks I’ve had the fortune, or maybe the misfortune to have had my legs well and truly ripped off by Mike Hall. He’s been training for the round the world race and to hopefully set a new world record. Yep, that’s a 18,000 mile bike race that leaves from London in February. Check out his site for more about that bonkers adventure.
Next year I’ve at least one big ride lined up, a nice 1000km round Scotland on the fixie in late June of which my biggest fear will be the midges. And if the timing is right (August) then I hope to have a go at a 800+ mile off road race in the UK, the EWE (England-Wales- England). But before that and in no more than 2 weeks, maybe a few days (eeek) I will take on the role of dad with all the challenges and joy that will bring. I hope to continue to ride my bikes too far and to juggle that with my new role as dad. So the new chapter begins.
Well that was quite some ride! The Bear Bones 200 is a unique kind of ride, billed as a bikepacking independent time trail, with no support or route marking. It’s just you, your bike, 200 km of Mid Wales and what ever the weather throws at you. Stuff of adventure.
Due to MOT reasons I had to travel to Machynlleth by train the night before and had a fantastic nights sleep in my bivi bag on the side of a hill. Come Saturday morning a small huddle started to gather round a tipi in a cold field.
Bike envy started early with many exotic 29er’s and various bikepacking systems containing an ultra lightweight backpacking wish list were pulled from van’s and cars for last minute fettling. At 10am the 30 or so people rolled out of the field past the farm and up! And, up, and up, and up! The first climb nearly sent me back to the start wanting to bail. Seems my fitness had dropped further than I’d thought, but the clear blue skys and fantastic views kept my spirits up, well that and the thought that I’d quit to many rides this year to not make it round this one. I soon fell into riding with Clive and Jase and the miles started to pass by, well grind by if I’m honest, but they were going by.
The trails put together for this ride were a mixture of high open moors, forest tracks, single track, tarmac with occasional river thrown in so we could clean our bikes, (thinking Strada Florida here, check out this video). Due to the remote nature of the route, one of the challenges would be your approach to food. Do you carry everything you might need? But how much would you need? And how much does that weigh? Or do you carry enough to get between possible shops or pubs? What if they are closed? Clive and I both opted to take enough food to get between the two possible shop stops on route. Jase had enough to get round the whole way. So it was at Pontrhydfendigaid that Clive and I hit the pub and Jase rode on in to the dusk. It had taken us about 8 hours to ride 60 miles and the shop had closed. If the pub had not been open or serving food then I’m not sure what I would of done!
With sweet potato curry inside us and the sun now set, we headed back into the dark hills. I’ve always enjoyed off road riding in the dark, ever since those dizzy days of my twin vista lights and their combined 10w output. Lights have come on but the sensation remains the same, exploring with no visual landscape aids, just you and the trail, and the starts if your lucky. We rode Strada Florida in the dark.
Somehow, leaving a forest I spotted another good bivi spot tucked up on a bank with soft dry grass. It was either stay here or risk having to push on for another 15-20 miles until we could find a place with cover not in a valley. Clive and I slept well until about 4am when the rain started. I learnt on Saturday night that without the use of a tarp, I’m unable to keep the rain from falling on my head using my bivi bag. At 6am, we were back on the bikes and heading in to a very misty night. After a long, step, rocky bridleway climb, the devils staircase, a remote moor top crossing, and crossing the hill top south of the Elan valley we found breakfast in Rhayader around 11am. Eggs and baked beans on toast with tea, ohhh the tea!
Back on the bikes, and topped up with water and food Clive continued to keep me entertained with stories of his many adventures, one of the benefits of a riding partner a good few years wiser than I. We soon picked our way up the final forest climb and down in to the Staylittle valley, nearly home. Thankfully there was no sting in the tail of this ride, indeed quite the opposite. The final few miles are a fast tarmac decent. Clive and I arrived back at 2.38pm, earning ourselves a green badge and a very welcome 3 course lunch, thanks Dee
So Clive and I took over 28 hours to ride the 200km, where as Kevin Roderick and Ian Barrington were back in 17h 23m. OK, they did not stop for sleep, but that’s one hell of a time! To be honest, I’m surprised I got round that ride at all, my current fitness did not desire a finish time at all. Check out the results.
Does it deserve to be called the toughest mtb event in the UK? Well, most people are not going to be able to get round in one go so will need to sleep. It’s self supported, there are no race marshals to hold your hand or pink arrows to tell you where to go. You might run out of food and water, and you will climb 4000m. I’d say a wet Kielder 100 is harder on the bikes, but the Bear Bones 200 is in a different league altogether, it’s was a real adventure and not just a race. It’s the toughest ride I’ve ever done on a mtb. But as one of the other finishers reminded us at the end “the weather made it easy”
Not been blogging for a while, Rach and I have been in the states exploring Washington and Oregon. We’re back now and this weekend I’m off out to Wales for a spot of Bikepacking. The event is the Bear Bones 200, a 200 Km self supported ride round mid Wales. We have to carry at least a sleeping bag and the expectation is that we sleep out overnight. I’m going down to Machynlleth tonight where I’ll grab a pizza and head out on to the hills to find a cozy spot for the night before the start tomorrow. Whilst in America I picked up some gear from Revelate Designs made for this type of trip and I’ve even put 9 gears back on the bike. Thanks again to the Carbon Monkey for the Exposure light hire. Should be a fun weekend
I’ve been inspired by Dave Buchanan adventures to plot and ride a route from the North to South Coast of Wales. It’s a 200 mile route from Caernarfon to Cardiff that’s meant to be ridden unsupported and adhering to a small set of rules:
The rules are lifted from the Colorado Trail Race, which incidentally starts on August 1st, maybe be one day I’ll go over there and have a play? Anyway, prep for the WC2C started last month with an e-mail to my favorite cereal bar companies, Eat Natural and Bounce Foods. Thought I’d see if they wanted to support me with the ride, seems they did. Thanks guys!!!
So, the plan was to set off by train nice and early on Friday 29th (tomorrow) and ride overnight. Well seems my plans have been upset. The bike has required new hub bearings both front and rear, I’ve fitted a new axel but im still waiting for the spacers and I need to fit a new chain. On top of that, I seem to have developed a chesty cough after the Brussels 24hr ride which has been with me for a week and giving me coughing fits late at night. And on top of that I was stung by a wasp on Tuesday night whilst out riding with The Carbon Monkey (aka Tom) and my ankle has swelled up to twice it’s size. Walking is painful, never mind riding 200 miles.
So, I’ve decided to put the ride back two weeks. That gives me time to create a more detailed GPX track of the route, and time for the weather to cool down a little. I can’t go biking in Wales without getting wet!
For the second time this summer I’ve had the privilege to be a cycle guide for Action Challenge. The latest ride was to raise money for the British Heart Foundation by cycling a 240 mile route from London to Brussels in 24 hours. 31 Cyclists, signed up for the event, each pledging to raise over £1200.
So at midday on Friday 15th we set of from Blackheath, London and headed towards the Grand Place, Brussels, first up, 90 miles to Dover. Going was slow leaving London, an early puncture, traffic lights and a sewage leak blocking the road meant we had a slow first leg to Meopham. Going was much better heading through Kent despite the slight head wind and strong sun. The second stop was at the Rasa Kerala Spice Indian restaurant in Charing. By this point it was clear that not all the riders would make Dover and the ferry by 7pm so the decision was made to move our crossing back a few hours.
Sometime after midnight we had regrouped in Calais and were ready to ride the 150 remaining miles to Brussels. I was leading a group of 19 riders along dark, flat French roads. Stopping every 32-38 miles at a control for food and water. For many this was the first time they had ridden at night, it was the perfect introduction. The threat of rain behind us and the 24-hour deadline pushed us along. The temperature was pleasant, the group good humored with plenty of banter and friendship. One of the Sheffield lads fitted a Bluetooth speaker to his bike; listening to Ledzeppelin and Bruce Springsteen on the fast, dark French roads was quite surreal. We kept a nice moving average of between 18-20mph. There were no tired grumpy guys. Good times.
We left the final stop at 10.20am to ride the reaming 20 miles to Brussels. Allowing for traffic and city roads, this should give us enough time to make the midday deadline. Despite unknowingly cycling on a motorway classified road, and following a misplaced route sign we made Grand Place for 11.40am. We had done it! London to Brussels in 24 hours! Now time for a beer or two.
I had a great time. It was the first time I’d navigated a large group of cyclists over such a long distance, and the first time I’d ridden so far with such a big group, and at night. I’d normally ride 250 miles on my own.
Thanks to all the guys I rode with who made it a very memorable trip, and to the support crew who were just there making things work.
Last year a post went up on the local Triathlon club forum looking for cyclists capable of cycling long distances at a quick pace to be a support rider on charity rides. Interesting, I thought, so I sent an e-mail along with my long distance cycling CV. Roll the clock forward 10 months and I found myself in Lands End about to set of on a 950 mile adventure to John O’Groats.
The event was managed by Action Challenge to raise funds for Action Medical Research to help stop the suffering of babies and children caused by disease and disability. A good cause in anybody’s book. The format was straightforward: 150 riders cycle 950 miles over 9 days, camping along the way. My job was to help them get to the end.
I’d never done anything like this before so had no idea of what to expect. How fast would the other cyclists be? How experienced are they? What would I have to do? As well as myself, there were two other guys acting as support cyclists. This is them next to Loch Naver on the last day in Scotland Simon on the left, Mark to the right, great guys. We were all support cycling virgins.
I have to be honest and say that I’m finding it hard to know what to write. I could bang on about how beautiful the British countryside is, but most of the people reading this already know that. Or I could tell how the most punishing ride I’ve ever done was not dished out to me by race whippets trying to rip my legs off but by a slow smiley woman! No, the memory that will stick with me is of the relationships formed, the reasons people were undertaking the challenge and the emotional outpourings during the later parts of those 9 days. Sure the landscape, weather and hardships probably made those relationships all the more acute but the back stories of why people were riding, what they had done to raise the money, what they had sacrificed in order to train, it blew me away! I’ve always ridden a bike and I now ride long distances for fun, but many of these guys and girls had barely ridden a bike before signing up, and here they were having a go and loving being on the bike. It’s music to the ears of a seasoned cyclists to hear non-cyclists ‘getting it’. I have to mention one chap in particular, Tom. That’s him on the right, next to Paul, at the award meal after we finished.
I first rode with Tom on the first day, he was going slow, worryingly slow, but he was very positive and upbeat, he had a plan. He’d done plenty of training, knew his speed and he knew he could do it. Tom was 64 on the longest day of the ride (145 miles) and had signed up 15 months before we set off and had only been cycling for 5 months before that. He had also never slept in a tent before. For the last 15 months he’d been focused on arriving at John O’Groats. 15 months! Training for 1 event for 15 months, what a journey in itself. We spent many miles riding together over the 9 days where he told wonderful stories of life as a Concorde Cabin Crew member and stopping to enjoy the view and take photos. One thing for going slow, you get to talk and look around. We crossed the line together in John O’Groats where he cried many tears of happiness through his beaming smile. Soon after I burst in to tears when saying thanks to one of the Medics for just being there and always being so mellow. Thanks Will
There were so many other stories. Men who had lost young children, or had close friends that had and saw this ride as an opportunity to find some closure. A father and son riding together for the fathers 60th Birthday. But so many riders achieved something so utterly outside their normal life that their achievements make my bike adventures seem easy in comparison. So many successes in one ride.
Thanks for letting me support you through them.
The Hell of the North Cotswolds or the HONC has become a bit of a staple in my riding calendar. For the past two years I’ve headed down to Winchcombe with the roadrat in tow, but this year, with the 24hr race just round the corner I had to forget ideas of trying to be first back and ride the single speed mountain bike instead. I knew I would not be able to ride with the Tri-1st boys with their gears and array of carbon bikes, instead I would have to take it easy and enjoy the day with steel and one gear.
Well ‘take it easy’ lasted about as long as it took me to get out of the school gate at the start. I thought I might just be able to catch the front group if I spin like a mad man. I did catch two Tri-1st riders and was only about 30 seconds behind the lead group by the top of the first climb, but then we hit the first road section and alas, the geared bikes just drifted away into the distance.
I continued to push on and found that despite being dropped on the roads I was catching and passing everyone else on the hills. Great games of leap frog commenced with a number of riders as the sun warmed up and gave the trails and southern Mediterranean feel.
I finished the 100km route after 5 hours and still feeling good which has given me a boast of confidence for the 24hr race on the 7-8th of May.
Congratulations to Steve who was the first rider back. He’s wanted that for a couple of years.
This weekend the 24hr prep continue, I’ve just made arrangements for some additional lighting and Rach and I head down south to ride the Ridgeway. Rach on road, myself off road. Should be a good one
I’ve decided to try a different way to ride off road this year. No gears, or ‘single speed’ as it’s known. I’ve always sworn that I’m happy with my gears when off road, never had any trouble with them, but something changed quite suddenly and I wanted to have a go without them. So after what feels like too long, I finally stripped the gears and other clutter off the Soul and headed out to give it a go. The plan was to ride from home in Balsall Heath out across the hills and fields of North Worcestershire to Bewdley where if I had time I’d pick up the Worcestershire way and ride to Malvern (that last bit did not happen – another day).
Well, it was quite an experience! One word, punishing! I’ve been riding bikes off road since I was about 8-9, and with the exception of my Raleigh Grifter and its 3 speed hub I’ve had plenty of gears to play with. Clawing your way up a muddy hill on one gear with tired legs, your arms burning, trying not to lose traction or put a foot down is hard work, very hard work! The payoff is a light, silent bike, no gears to grind in the mud, no chain slap and nice clean lines. Don’t laugh but, I love how the bike looks.
The main reason I’ve decided to go down this route is that I’ve entered two races this year and I’d like to be a little bit competitive, but I lack the bike to really do that with. No carbon, titanium or aluminum for me. Then it occurred to me. I ride thousands of miles on my fixie each year, I’m used to grinding up endless steep, shitty roads in Wales with one gear and tired legs, then spinning like a mad man down the other side whilst trying to avoid wheel busting holes and sheep. Actually, I rather like the experience. So I figured, why not play to my strengths and race in the single speed category? Who knows, I might do OK.
So with the exception of a few long road rides, over the coming months you will find me mainly mucking around in the dirt of North Worcestershire getting used to the bike set up. I might even make it over to the Long Mynd, well that’s if I can find someone to go with me.
A quick ride last Wednesday, well quick in the planning. Download the Beacon Roads CC Cotswold Expedition Audax route and head out at 9.30 for a proper tour of the Cotswolds.
My chosen route is a slight modification of the Beacon CC route but both deliver great views early on over the Vale of Evesham. This view is amazing, but especially so during a mid-summer sunrise.
However, great views mean dealing with the frequent long drawn out hills on the North West side of the Cotswolds. I dread and love riding up on this hill with the fixie in equal amounts.
The ride was marked by 70 miles of head winds on the way down to Burford, and by very muddy roads thereafter. I had to stop twice to scrape the mud out from under the mudguards on both wheels as the build up was causing noticeable drag! But it also gave me an exscuse to stop and whimper by the side of the road. By mile 85 I was struggling!
Looking at that photo again, I can’t believe just how muddy the bike became. Despite the hard riding, I could but not notice numerous small woods where the entire floor was covered in snowdrops. And the beautiful Cotswold houses with the first signs of spring budding and flowering in their gardens. I even passed daffodils that were in full yellow flower. It’s been a long, cold, gray winter but the Cotswolds in February is the perfect place for an early taste of spring. Unfortunatly, the snow drops always seemed to appeared on the way down big hills, and the daffodils on the steepest uphills, so no stopping for pictures of either. After a much needed final stop for hot chocolate I perked up pushed on back to Brum to finish in the dark a little after 7.15pm. 144 miles in about 10 hours, not a fast ride but well worth it for the flowers, the views and the sense of having completed my first real journey of the year. I love riding in the Cotswolds, might have to go there again next Wednesday.
It’s time to start getting in the long miles, and time to really ingrain that appreciation of winter riding in the UK before the spring comes along and injects some colour back in to our lives. The route was simple, and one that I noted in my last post. A sensible 100 mile loop taking in all that the midlands has to offer in the way of hills, lanes and river crossings. From Brum in to a headwind, three times over the Clent hills, a climb out of Bewdley and up on to a fog and drizzle shrouded Clee Hill. Drop down towards Ludlow to fight with the GPS before lunch in Tenbury Wells.
Head South East with views back over towards Clee Hill and then on a rolling road to Martley. With legs feeling very heavy and rain threatening the Lickey Hills come in to view for the seventh and last major climb of the day. Thoughts turn to cake, but with a ban on until my Birthday it was straight to the chippy and a large haddock for dinner number 1.
Dinner number 2 arrived three hours later in the form of veggi sausages and mash. The route did what it was supposed to, it ate me up and spat me out. I found new hills, new roads, one’s that I expect will become good friends in time.
I like paper maps, I really do! They are nice to touch, they fold out to give a great overview of where you are, and just using one makes me feel good. But when your on a bike and have hundreds of miles to cover they can become a real pain to use. As my rides have increased in length, the further I have travel from home the less interesting the roads I use have become. I can’t realistically use paper maps to navigate the many thousands of narrow lanes that cover this country. On top of this, I’d like to take my cycling adventures off the tarmac and on to the even more complex network of bridleways that cover the countryside. There was only one solution, use a GPS device to navigate. So after much research, and by a lot I mean A LOT! A lot more than went in to buying our new house, I ordered a Garmin Dakota 20.
It would seem that deciding which device to buy was the easy part. Most people’s experience of using a GPS is in the car. You tell it where you want to get to, it works out how to get there and then the women directs you, most of the time. On the bike it’s a little different. Often you want to follow a route that starts and finishes in the same place and to do this you either follow a a route that someone else has created or you created the route yourself before you set of. This is where the fun starts.
I’ve spent the last 2-3 weeks learning GPS talk. What is a track? How is this different to a route? How does my device follow a track? How does it follow a route? Can I get it to beep at me and tell me which way to go at a junction? How do I turn the screen off to save the batteries? Which maps should I use? Can I get on-screen instructions? It’s all a complete minefield as it seems there’s more than one way to skin a GPS.
So what have I learnt so far about the Dakota 20? I have to stress that I’m not going to explain how to do things on the Dakota, such as how to load the maps, or how the software works. What I want to do is let people know how I have found using the Dakota as that might inform other people’s decision as whether to buy it not. If you do have any questions and if I can help then I will gladly reply.
First up some basics, it uses AA batteries which are easy to replace, so if you carry spares you will never run out of power. Not tested battery life properly yet, but the biggest variable seems to be how much screen backlight is used. It has a touchscreen which works well and I’ve used it with big winter gloves whilst riding and not found it a problem. The screen is also more visible than I had thought it would be. The Garmin bike mounting kit is a lot smaller, neater and effective than I thought it would be.
I have loaded UK Open Street Maps onto the device which are free. I’m using the maps produced by Andy Gates which you can get from here: http://ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps/. I want to get a copy of 1:50,000 UK OS maps for off-road and walking use as the Open Street Maps can be patchy when off the road network. I use both G5 and Intel mac’s. The Dakota mounts with no problems on both systems. I’m using Garmin’s Bascamp software on both mac’s with copies of Andy’s maps available from the link above. For creating tracks and routes (see below) I’ve been playing with Bascamp as well as Bikehike and Bike Route Toaster. You can view Ordnance Survey maps using bikehike which is very handy.
If following a route using autorouting in follow road mode then the Dakota works like a car GPS and gives you instructions on where to go. Using it like this you can turn the screen off and set it to beep and light up when you approach a junction. I think this will be good for saving the battery. A route is the journey between any two way-points. The Garmin can create a route that contains up to 50 way-points. This means a long route will need to be broken down in to smaller chunks in order to fit within the 50 way-point limit. The way-points should not be too far apart or the GPS may direct you down a road you do not wish to take.
A track is like an electronic breadcrumb trail. You can set your GPS to record where you have been, it will record a track point every few seconds which can show up on the map if you wish, like an electronic breadcrumb trail. You can also create a track using either software on the computer such as Basecamp or a websites such as Bikehike. You can load a pre-created track on to the GPS that will show up as pink line on the map. You can follow that pink line when cycling but I have not yet worked out how to get the Dakota to behave as it does when following a route, alerting me at a junctions, and turning the screen on, I don’t think it will. This means when following a track the screen always has to be on which I think will take its toll on the battery. However, a track can have up to 1000 track points, which means you don’t need to break a long track into smaller chunks. I’m finding the differences in functionality between using routes and tracks slightly annoying. I believe other devices such as the Garmin Edge series may not suffer from this problem as they also use courses that are kind of a combination between a route and track, I think?
That’s it for now. I’ve not used the Dakota for off-road navigation yet because I’m in the process of servicing the mtb, but I suspect I will have to use the track approach. Well that’s unless I can use autorouting in follow road mode on the OS maps to navigate down bridleways, which would be very useful! We shall see.
Despite the slight track/route frustration I love having this device. My long road rides have typically headed south from Birmingham and into the Cotswolds, but this morning I put together a nice 100 mile loop using Bike Route Toaster that goes West to Shropshire and then South to Worcestershire on roads that I’m not very familiar with. See all that open space to the West of Birmingham, it’s quite exciting. Click on the picture below to see the route.
What’s most exciting about this route is that I’ve found the much talked about but all elusive Western passage from South Birmingham to Shropshire avoiding the Black Country and Kidderminster. Yay!
OK, time to go exploring.
|
