Jantastic: Update

I went for my final Jantastic ride today.  True to form, it was in horrible weather that I would never have considered going out in if it weren't for some silly semi competative internet fitness thing.

This is the secret of Jantastic's success for me- I'm obviously pretty active normally- but by setting personal fitness goals that are there for all to see, with points awarded for effort, I've given myself a metaphorical carrot and stick that has pushed me out of the door when normally I'd be on the sofa. It's helped me to structure my exercise towards specific cycling goals. I've cycled hundreds of kilmoetres, set QOMs, and hurtled around singletrack. I've done a minimum of two rides a week (with one joker used), and smashed my time and distance targets.  I've deliberately sought out Arran's most brutal hill climbs.  I've toiled up glens on my mountain bike to hike remote hills. Three months ago cycling over 100km was a distant dream, but on Friday I made it a reality. Today I celebrated by taking my tired legs for a spin on Lamlash sea front testing some new SPD shoes and pedals. So there we have it, I'm no longer a sporadic fair weather cyclist. I have funny shoes and egg whisk pedals.  I even like hills.

#10: Figure of 8

Oooh me legs!

Yesterday Wally and I cycled the Arran Figure of 8.  There are various permutations, but the classic route involves cycling the String Road twice. It's 111km and nearly 1700m of ascent. We did the Southend first, which condemmed us to a lot of headwinds on the flat,  but gave us a tailwind on the String which I think was probably a good thing. Also, there's no way my legs would have been happy if we'd left the hilly southend till last.  I'd probably still be somewhere in Kilmory sleeping under a hedge.

There was no time deadline to yesterday's ride, so we grazed our way around the island.

#8 Ride around Arran (sub 5 hours)

Today I smashed 40 minutes off my previous time to cycle around Arran, and 10 minutes off my #41 Things target time of 5 hours. That's in the saddle time, because if you can't stop for cake in the numerous delightful teashops on Arran then whats the point?

It wasn't easy, and took large quantities of what should probably be a controlled substance: caffeine, as well as copious amounts of sugar. The darkest point of the ride was probably on the final pull up the final hill out of Brodick, when I realised that after all that pushing hard up the Boguille Pass, all the chasing of average speeds in to a headwind, and all that frenzied double latte gulping, my time margin was slipping away from me and I started to doubt I could do it. But the brow of the hill came just in time, and I set a PR on the descent in to Lamlash.

It's not a particularly spectacular time- but its a big deal for me. I put off my first ride around Arran for years, despite it being a popular circuit with visiting roadies, because as a local I know all about the dreaded hilly Southend, the pot holes, the bad drivers and the headwinds. It's a lot harder than the 90 km circuit looks on paper. Since I set that first time of five and half hours, I've been wondering if I could do it any faster, and this year, have been putting in a bit of training, with double Boguille and Ross road climbing sessions, and taking my mountainbike out in the woods. Today was only the second time I've ridden around the island in full.

The received wisdom is to take on the Southend first. It's a lot worse than it looks on the map, with endless rolling hills, and it's good to get it out of the way with fresh legs.  Nevertheless I nearly cried when I saw Sliddery Hill rearing up towards me today- I'd forgotten about that one and it is vicious.  The descent in to Blackwaterfoot is glorious however, especially with a stretch of new tarmac to enjoy. From there, its a happy amble to the Machrie Bay Tea Room, where sticky cakes await.

My old school bike,  AKA: The Bumblebee

My plan was to grind out a bit of speed between Machrie and Lochranza, but the "gentle northerly" turned out to be pretty brisk, and slowed things down quite a bit.  There is a short sharp shock of a hill at Imachar, but it is over pretty quickly, and lovely coastline to enjoy around the north west of the island. After Lochranza, the Boguille Pass terrifies everyone, but I quite like it.  The summit is a wild and beautiful place, where you can watch golden eagles, buzzards and hen harriers, whilst admiring the rocky peaks of the Sleeping Warrior.

Staring down the barrel of the Boguille.

Brodick Bay basking in the spring sunshine

I was happy to find the breeze on my tail as I negotiated the straights of Sannox and Corrie, putting in some unexpected PRs.  By the start of Brodick Hill I was buzzing.  But that hill is never fun, and from the Brodick side, the steep climb up from the ferry terminal always saps my strength. It's a steady grind after that, and with tired legs it is hard to get out of bottom gear, so I watched my time on the clock ebb away. The legendary Jens Voigt had "shut up legs" written on his top tube to motivate him on climbs.  My legs are pretty chatty, saying things like "Wheee" and "Grrr!" and occasionally "Ow".  Its when they go quiet that I worry. On Brodick Hill they started to feel like silent lumps of clay.  I was relieved to get to the top at last, and then whizz down in to Lamlash and the finish line.

Eight Days

Go-go gadget Lucy- I don't seem to have stopped this week.  It kicked off last sunday with a fantastic training exercise with Arran Mountain Rescue Team.  I don't usually blog MRT stuff, but it was a cracking way to get a super week going, so this time it gets a mention.

HMS Gannet buzzing in.

Rescue 177 from HMS Gannet dropped the team in the hills on a beautiful day.  It was an emotional occasion, because depending on what happens with the handover to private helicopter SAR which is being phased in over the next year, this could be our last exercise with her. The partnership between civilian MRT and our military SAR services is a long and mutually supportive one.  Gannet will be missed on Arran.

That night I was propping the eyelids open on a long drive to Ullapool with Wally for a week in the hills with friends.

Hills on the north side of the A835 plastered with snow

Monday I was good for very little so Wally and I took the skis for wander in the hills on the south side of the A835. The touring was good, and I skied my first proper powder. Heaven!

A snow covered Beinn Gobhlach across Loch Broom

On Tuesday I was still feeling a bit useless, so while the rest of the team broke trail part of the way up Gleannn na Sguaib (they didn't get too far), I took the bike for a Jantastic spin, exploring the coast road North of Ullapool. I was treated to rolling hills and stunning views like this one across Loch Broom.

Suilven's western peaks. Where's Wally?

By Wednesday I was getting my mojo back, so I joined the team on a bike/hike mission in to Scotland's most striking mountain- the lovely Suilven.  It was a big day, and the conditions were interesting with plenty of exposure on the snowy ledges along the ridge.

Bone Caves of Inchnadamph

Thursday was thawing badly and we all needed a rest so we sauntered up to the Bone Caves of Inchnadamph for a spot of speleology and botanising, followed up by tea and cake in the cafe above Northwest Outdoors (recommended).

Above the Inversion on Beinn Dearg

On friday things got very good.  We battered our way in the Gleann na Sguaib, following the trail broken by many hapless folk over the week.  None had made it beyond the final lochain, but we soon found that the snow thinned towards the bealach and before long we were stood in the mist contemplating the final snowy cone to the summit of Beinn Dearg. Miraculously, the mists parted as we climbed, and we were soon above an incredible inversion!

Scrambling on Stac Pollaidh

On saturday it was back to the clag, and a soggy scramble along the ridge on Stac Pollaidh.  We baulked at the final technical section to the summit, which looked horrible- something to come back for on a dry day!

Lonely and lost

 Finally there was yesterday.... I should have been resting but I was up early for a bike/slog back up on the the Beinn Dearg ridge to retrieve my lost ice axe. Doh! 

41 Things

I must be having a midlife crisis. Not only have I signed up to some crazy internet fitness thing (Jantastic), but I just wrote a list. Not a bucket list exactly, but definitely a list.  Last year I turned 40.  It was an improbable birthday, I saw it as an achievement just getting there, and to celebrate I went climbing in Morocco with Wally.  At the time, that seemed like enough, but friends asked me if I had a list of things for my 40th year, as this seems to be all the rage with milestone birthdays....and initially I recoiled at the thought.  Bucket lists have always seemed a bit greedy, tick lists a little anal. Don't get me wrong, I seek adventure and set myself targets, but I'm not a list maker. Until this morning. When, on a whim, I asked myself, if I had 40 things I'd like to do this year, what would they be? And I wrote a list...just for fun you understand....  Then  I added one more  because technically this is my 41st year...

And I thought- why not try and do some of these? Can I achieve all of them? The list is pretty long, but not everything on it is huge- but there are some things on there that feel massive, and it probably won't be possible to fit them all in to a busy year.  But I'm going to have fun trying. The rules are that it has to be done in 2015.. so I'd better get cracking as I've missed a month already.

The Jantastic thing is ticking along, and so far I've not regretted signing up, although I had a wobble last week when I struggled to fit bike rides in amongst big hill days.  Yesterday I had a miserable and short box-ticking ride in the Pentlands, just to make my minimum for the week.  Today I remembered what it was all about and grabbed a couple of hours in the sun on my bike up in the hills. It was great to put in a few km and spinning my legs felt easy. Next month Jantastic ramps it up with some minimum workout distances.  I'm preparing for some longer rides and looking forward to a bit more daylight to do them.

Jantastic

Happy New Year!  It's 2015, and at this time of year we are bombarded with new years resolutions which can feel a bit wearing after a while. Normally I tend to avoid this sort of stuff like the plague, and if I do subscribe to a notion of self improvement, its privately and with a dose of personal guilt and psychological lashings, plus generally I never make it past the end of the first month. This year, I'm doing things slightly differently, and I'm first of all going to apologise for adding to the seasonal burden of enthusiastic "New year, new you" blogging. A friend has persuaded me to sign up to the Jantastic challenge, a three month extravaganza of enforced exercise and personal goal setting.  It is mildly competative, and more so if like me, you join a team. My initial reaction was admittedly fairly negative, but I agreed to take part as I am constantly impressed by my friend's willpower, and as a mate, I'd like to support her considerable efforts to improve her personal fitness. Besides, when I think about it, although I'm relatively active and fitter than many people, I'm still a long way off my ideal fitness target and there is plenty I'd like to achieve this year that won't be possible without some additional physical effort.

I've set my goals for the first month pretty low, at two workouts a week- its hard to find the energy to exercise when you already spend several days a week on the hill (please Jantastic, next year will you include "walking" as an accepted form of exercise?). I gave up running a few years ago after my poor knees begged me to stop, so my chosen workout is on the bike.  It's already paying off. Yesterday I dragged myself out in dodgy weather and with the tail end of a cold for a quick 10km around my local woods.  I'd never have left the sofa if Jantastic hadn't made me. Today was a good day, so a longer 30km mountain bike ride, and I'm feeling very satisfied. I exercise a lot, but if Jantastic makes me move my body even more, I'm only going to benefit. Plus I have some long term goals, such as putting in bigger distances on my bike, (I find long rides very hard work), and perhaps a cheeky little tour or two.

I actually love riding my bike on Arran. The hills may be brutal, but you get views like this:

Jantastic isn't for everyone, the run/bike/swim options are restrictive, and it would be great if it could be extended to walking, kayaking and other outdoor sports. But if you enjoy these activities it could be for you. Our team is made up of a cross section of people that includes some talented athletes, and folk who are looking to lose weight and turn their health around. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle of all that, but we have all set our own goals and every time we move, we win. If you want a bit of inspiration, check out this wee vid from a hero of mine, Will Gadd. (I've noticed the vid doesn't work on some android devices- if you have problems accessing it, try this link to the Youtube site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCpowcXopKE)