I rode a route last night that goes from my house up into the hills via a lovely place called Birtle. John Whatshisname who’s the chairman of Man City lives there. The main feature of Birtle is it’s on a big nasty hill. I was on the singlespeed and it HURT. A lot. There’s a fair bit of climbing to get there in the first place but then it really kicks up and starts to punish, in fact a couple of times I thought I was going to dismount on account of me almost not being able to turn the pedals…then came the bit with the ankle-deep mud, and then the bit where you’ve got to ride up the rock-filled stream (Garry knows this one from waaaayyyy back).

Once I’d topped that one out I was then a short downhill and the climb up the Nangreaves cobbles. Think of Paris-Roubaix without the spectators. That climb hurt more than the last one! What works is focussing on the event you’re training for. I found that thinking about the Fred and the Cristalp and reminding myself this is why I’m doing this stupid thing really helped me put the power down and give those bars a good old wrenching. Then it was steeply down into Ramsbottom along the rocky path that made me really appreciate suspension forks (cos I didn’t have one). I literally went down the thing going “OW!”, “ARGH!”, “OOF!”, “URGH!” and I had arms like Popeye when I’d finally reached the bottom. Quick stop at Phil’s to drop off a small Camelbak I’ve sold him (yep, I’d ridden up till now with two Camelbaks on), and then off down the “easier” route home again. Made it in 2.5 hours, which I thought was pretty good and leaves some room for improvement too.

So I’ve kind of decided what my racing activity is going to be this year. I’m intending nailing the running this time and aiming to do a few fell races, including Aggies Staircase, Two Lads and Bull Hill. I’ve only mentioned them cos they’ve got cool names.

Anyhoo, the main even this year is the Grand Raid Cristalp. Regarded as one of the best and toughest mountain bike races in the world, 130-ish kilometres in the Swiss Alps and very much a rite of passage for any serious mountain biker. I’m really looking forward to this now and there’s a possibility that me and Simon will be taking our families. There’s plenty to do in Verbier, the place caters for thousands of skiers in the winter, so a big group holiday could be on the cards.

Before that, I’m doing the Fred Whitton Challenge. A monster of a road race in the lake district that includes all of the major mountain passes that you can think of.

www.fredwhittonchallenge.org.uk

This one just looks mental. Not only does it look like the toughest thing ever, but the last climb is the Hardknott Pass.

Some serious hill intervals on the cards, then.

Then there’s the 3 Peaks Cyclocross to think about. I’ve not much to say about this one until after the Cristalp, there’s only so much fretting about big climbs one can cope with.

Phil, Budge, Michael and me had an early start over at Llandegla this morning as we’d decided that Hebden Bridge in a hurricane might have been pushing our luck.

It wasn’t as scary this time around, given that the last time I was here it was dark. The car park was getting packed at around 9am with the usual mix of skinny XC-type whippets and old blokes on DH bikes with pisspot helmets. By the time we got back to the van there was no parking! That caff must be raking it in.

Here’s Michael on the surprise wooden bridge…

And me, looking nowhere near as cool and even more out of focus…

The water in the visitor’s centre is brown as it’s rainwater. Poo coloured water falls from the sky in Wales, it seems. Do the Welsh all stink of poo? Only the ones that forgot their brolly.

We had a great ride yesterday, me, Dave and Simon. Starting in Staveley we followed a route that took us through some of the finest boggy marshland the Lakes has to offer, before a lovely hike up a massive rocky hill with an overbuilt mountain bike and super-stiff soled shoes on….

Then the downhill from the top of the Garburn made the journey all worthwhile. Certainly one of the rockest downhills I’ve ridden, and a bit worrying given the number of rocks clouting the downtube of the bike. Anyway, it’s stuff like this that suspension bikes were invented for. You could do it on a rigid, but not at 30-plus mph.

The last time I rode the Garburn Pass was with Garry several years ago. We did it the other way around last time and I remember being a bit scared by the scale of it all. We encountered a group of riders yesterday, some of whom looked like they were absolutely petrified whilst locking both wheels on the way down the steep slopes and rock steps. One of them said it was her “first ride”. Hmmm. Baptism by fire. Hopefully they made it.

As a finale, I was bitten by a Shetland Pony. Little bastard.

 Go over to http://www.industrialfellbiking.co.uk for bollocks and more photos from this ride.

Up to Macc Forest for my usual pre-“Grannie’s for tea” ride. The weather was pants so I deceided to do a smaller loop, but do it twice. This meant that I got to ride Charity Lane twice…this pic doesn’t really do it justice but it’s one of the most brutal downhills in the White Peak. In my opinion of course.

Then I found a mile-long section of cheeky singletrack to round the whole ride off nicely. Rooty and twisty, quite different from the rest of the riding on offer in the area.

On the way back to the car, I almost crashed head on into a BMW. The driver was a good lad though, he made a beeline for the bushes on the opposite side of the narrow road to let me past. Eeeh, if you’d seen the look on my face….

 I returned to the car some hours later with minutes of daylight left, with no feeling left in my fingers. Winter’s finally arrived.