its all about stodge, bikes, MTBO and the outdoors
Alan Hartley the planner of the British Sprint Mountain Bike Orienteering has provided his thoughts on route choice options maps for this unique MTBO area – Lee and Cragg Quarries
Results and Routegadget can be found here.
http://www.pfo.routegadget.co.
(Lee Quarry)
http://www.pfo.routegadget.co.
(Cragg Quarry)
Its just two weeks until the British Sprint Champs, this year to be held at the infamous Lee Quarries, north of Manchester.
Lee & Cragg Quarries promises fast, exciting racing in very technical terrain (both physically and navigationally) and I am gutted I wont be able to ride probably the best UK MTBO of 2012.
More details and online entry at http://www.bmbo.org.uk/calendar/details.php?event_id=308
The trouble with being injured bored and welded to the sofa is that one tends to have time to peruse ebay. My latest back flair up has reinforced the fact that I will probably not be able to ride rigid or hard tail bikes in the future. A couple of years ago I realised that you had to have two mountain bikes, one race, one training bike else you spend a fortune and run around the whole time trying to fix it the night before a race. I bought my complete bargain of a Whyte E5 in January and have been keeping an eye out for another frame with a more traditional horst link type suspension setup as my second bike. If I ever get back racing again I’m sure I will be able to justify a new frame but not at the moment.
I’ve known about British bike manufacturer Moda since being supported by Cycle shack so when a Moda Presto (their aluminium framed full susser) came up on ebay I thought Id have a dabble and bid. Stuck on the sofa I was able to leave my bid until the last 3 minutes and managed to get the frame (brand new) for £229 + £15 postage – bargain.
If it turns up (always a worry with ebay) Ill be a happy chappy.
Although my back was a little sore after the previous weekends rides with the kids, I had had a week resting and decided that the forests of the Surrey Hills were too good to miss. During the days I had to sit back and watch the orienteering events, taking photos. It was great to see the new influx of Walton Chasers Juniors doing so well. In the evenings I managed to get out for two 40 minute rides, one with the kids, one with 2 friends. We were staying at the excellent Holmbury Youth Hostel so we could ride from the door straight into some of the best mountain biking the South East has to offer.
We found some excellent singletracks cascading down from the trig point on top of Holmbury Hill itself, a fantastic viewpoint, which soon dropped steeply down some rooty technical bits before contouring above the village of Holmbury back to the YHA.
Although only out for 40 minutes, the combination of views, friends and roots brought a smile to my face. Unfortunatley the smile was short lived….. as about 20 minutes after returning from Sunday’s ride my back suddenly spasmed and pain started running down my right leg. I soldiered on through dinner that night, some beer deadening the pain, but the next morning I was really struggling.
On Tuesday, the final event of the Jubilee Orienteering festival brought a mass start score event. Again I was struggling to get about, but determined to at least take some photos of the start I walked down to the bottom of the hill.
The return journey was one of the most painful things I have ever done. I kept telling myself it was only a nerve being pinched but the pain was excruciating and I almost fainted at one point and had to be lowered into a chair by friends.
Since then I has basically been sat on a sofa, icing and taking brufen. Its improved a fair bit, I can get up unaided now and potter about to get a coffee etc, but thats about it, the pain returning with a vengence if I do too much.
I’ve tried to bring my next consultant appointment forward without success, so I now just have to rest, watch day time telly, and wait for the 20th.
An engineer friend of mine Simon Tidmus, who normally designs fuel systems for fast jets, is a bit of a bike nut. Ever since he was at school he has been designing and making things in his workshop from designer chairs to kit cars. The product of this winters secret garage goings on is the BirchBike Cruiser.
‘as you can see that I have built the frame from birch ply. The forks -I had to make my own from scratch. It is fitted with a 2 speed coaster brake so you back pedal to change gear and again to brake. therefore no need for cables or shifters. It also has wooden pedals and grips’
I am sure he will take orders if anyone wants one, get in touch if you are interested !
This week I have been getting out on my bike as instructed! I started on Monday night with a bumble with holly out to the Stepping Stones across the Sherbrook Valley where we generally mucked about, playing follow the leader and splashing through the ford. I didn’t have any ill effects so planned a few more longer rides over the next few days.
I’ve now been out 3 times properly for about an hour, enjoying the sunshine (well not on Tuesday night, it hailed on me and I froze), the intense green of all the new shoots and leaves on the trees on Cannock Chase and of course the mud.
I’ve been staying mainly on the fire roads but have ventured onto a couple of bits of singletrack, including one of the very steep sections off Brocton Coppice. Its difficult to say I have not felt my back and hip because I have, its just not particularly bad so keep telling myself as instructed that I have some rusty joints!. I’ve also had two other good signs managing to sleep better without waking at 5am with back ache and after a whole day at a trade show at the NEC I only had slight back ache that soon subsided where in the last few months I would have been popping Nurofen all day to keep going.
My last ride this week was with Cath and Alan where I
did a few proper sections of singletrack with a smile on my face. Before going out we had a look at the suspension setup, decreasing the fork pressure and reducing the rebound speed on the E5 which made the bike ride much better through the bumps (more of that in a separate posting I think). Cath seems to be getting more confident
which is great, though today she lost her SPD virginity with two slow speed falls, firstly into some sticky mud and then a second into a puddle to wash it all off !
Ill try a few road rides now to try and get a bit of fitness back and try and lose some of the stone in weight I have gained over that last 6 months!
So after 4 months of patiently waiting this morning was the day. I allowed 2 hours to get down to Selly Oak – The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and I am glad I did – it took me an hour and a half sitting in the rush hour which is the M5 / M6 junction. I was treated last time at Selly Oak for my foot and at that time the whole place was under redevelopment. Today it is a swanky flash new place, complete with British Airways style self check-in for outpatients.
I saw Dr G Brown http://www.drgrahamebrown.co.uk/ who sat there for about 20 mins listening to we wittering on and then more or less said what do you want me to do about it! Luckily he was playing me along a little and Dr Brown is a committed sports doctor who understands that when someone like me can’t do any exercise it is a life affecting issue. After an examination and a look at my scans he has declared me in reasonably good nick and has diagnosed huge neuro muscular tensions further up in the spine referring down into the lumbar areas and sciatic regions.
After a quick ‘do you mind if I do some acupuncture’ he did some ‘Myofascial Trigger Point and Intra Muscular Stimulation (IMS)-dry needling’ using acupuncture needles. It was very strange, like having an instant cramp in your back which eventually receded. 8 bent needles later and I was feeling a little nauseous but very relaxed.
He compared it to letting a little of the neuro-muscular tensions out and has prescribed me to now do two things.
We chatted generally for about 20 mins about the areas I need to concentrate on in terms of stress management but it’s the first time I have been prescribed riding the bike as medicine!
Obviously after so long being inactive I will be a little stiff and sore and Dr Brown has asked me to think of any small niggly pain over the coming month as ‘rusty joints’
Am I sceptical?…. well a little of course but I have experienced referred pain before and have had a deep needle release in my back on a knee joint problem about 12 years ago after a mountain marathon, so I know it works. My next appointment is in a month and for the time being he just wants me to distress and get out and enjoy the sunshine, and ride but definitely no training…
I’ve been out for a ride (see another post) tonight !
He did say I would be sore tonight and it may feel like I’ve been kicked by a horse. Typing this now I am beginning to believe him, time to chill in front of the telly and DESTRESS!
My Chase Trails membership pack came today, Stickers, a map, notepads, lots of info, and a shiny discount card giving 10% off at lots of local shops and services. If you ride Follow the Dog or Monkey Trail you should join Chase Trails to give a little bit back. Its only £15 a year.
http://chasetrails.co.uk/membership.php