Two laps of the HTN course (plus a couple of variations) late last night on the singlespeed, returning at around midnight which is a late one even for me.   I got a bit carried away at one point after watching “24 Solo” on DVD earlier on and crashed into a tree. Nearly knocked my head off and I’ve got a badly grazed and bruised shoulder.

About 10 minutes later I hit another tree with my other shoulder. Dunno what went on there. Then my HID lamp went out as I’d not bothered to charge the battery, leaving me with just the helmet lamp. I went slower after that and didn’t crash any more.

I’ve been riding plenty in the last week, but I’m not quite where I want to be with the total mileage. The clocks change this weekend so hopefully that will give me a boost; perhaps this summer won’t be as dreadful as last summer….

An action-packed weekend. The Easter Bunny took time out from kicking ass and delivered loads of chocolate, Rachael was 2 on Sunday so we had a party, and we built a snowman (well, snowcyclops). I’ve not ridden half as much as I intended to, but that’s just how things tend to pan out these days. The training steps up a couple of gears this week now, so I’ve got to get my head into it. Only a few weeks until the Fred Whitton, then only a few weeks more than that until Mountain Mayhem so I’m doubling the weekly mileage at least.

Andrew, me and a small group of Hit The North entrants did a lap of the course today, we needed to make some adjustments to the route and it was a good opportunity to let others in on the plans and hopefully gain some good feedback/criticism/praise. Everyone looked like they were giving the course the thumbs up – rather predicatably though the tarmac section perhaps needs some fettling. It’s less than a mile in length and there’s rarely any cars on it, but it would be nice if we could make it more interesting. I’m off out again for another couple of laps and an exploration of a couple of trails that might allow us to reduce the amount of road. I think we’ve also decided on a “chicken run” for those that don’t fancy the bombhole. I’ll have to get out with my folding shovel soon….

Horrible ride this morning. Blown all over the place by a strong sidewind for pretty much the whole time. The strong wind added to the fact that the bike is light and twitchy gave me a few “moments”, one gust nearly sending me off the road and down an embankment into a river. Still, I made it in one piece to Simon’s house to drop off some bits for his bright red Wanga and had a cuppa tea, so it wasn’t all pain and terror.

Despite the weather, I saw loads of cyclists out this morning. I even saw a bloke on a Yeti mountain bike – you don’t see many of those around here. Everyone let on too, roadies and MTB’ers. I must have universal appeal. 😉

I’m in Mountain Mayhem again, this time a solo entry. I’ve also ticked the “singlespeed” sub category that I might yet go back on and take gears. Depends if the weather’s going to be wet I s’pose.

I’ve also just realised it’s the Cheshire Cat Sportive in 2 weeks. I’d better get some lights on that fancy road bike I’ve not ridden for months and get er…riding it.

It’s midday, 30 degrees centigrade and I’m halfway up an 800 metre climb somewhere North of Maspalomas, Gran Canaria. It’s really hot and I’m struggling with this. I thought this event would be a bit like the Cristalp but much easier. Wrong. At the moment, it seems a lot harder. I’m starting to have serious words with myself just so that I don’t get to the summit of this hill and climb into the awaiting ambulance at the top. I know from past experience that the pain of carrying on is nothing compared to the month-long dull ache of quitting early and the constant nagging of if’s and but’s.
I should have trained harder for this. This is not a training ride. The last time I did anything hard (as in the hard rides I was doing last year) was September.
We arrived in Gran Canaria a week ago and checked into a gorgeous apartment, just 5 minutes from the start line. A week by the pool at this time of year is just the ticket – I had a book, a swimming pool and plenty of time to do some short rides to acclimatise. The only problem was that I had no idea where the registration was. I spent a whole afternoon riding around a neighbouring town looking for the hotel where the race organisers were based. This was after an hour on the Internet trying to find the name of the place. All the race website said was “bike hotel San Agustin”. It’s actually called The Gloria Palace. Hmmm. I eventually get some directions from a dutch mechanic in a bike shop.
When I finally get there, all I have to do is find the registration desk. Nobody at reception knows. There are no bikes or cyclists anywhere. Great. I literally stumble upon the registration desk, hidden in a room in a cellar. There are a few naked people in there receiving massages and a load of carbon bike components. Those crazy Germans. The girl at the desk looks puzzled and asks me why I was there, “registration is tomorrow and it isn’t here”. “Your website says it’s here and it’s today.” “The website is last year’s”. “No it isn’t”. “It is”. “Isn’t”. “IS”. This went on for a bit and I left in a huff. I had to register the day after at the start line, 5 minutes from my bloody sunlounger.

Saturday came, and I spent an hour or so hanging about, going to the bog, drinking some water, going to the bog again, trying to chat to germans…the start time was advertised on the website as “8am”, but it was actually 9am. On one bog-queueing session I was chatting to 24 hour solo legend Jenn O’Connor who was doing a fine job of shouting “hurry up!!” in four different languages to the Continent’s Finest Endurance Poo’ers. It seemed to work though, I was having another wee in no time at all.
9am (well, ten past ish) and we were off. I was more than a bit surprised when everyone went off at full-tilt, given there were 85k’s to do and it was already getting very warm. The climbs were all rocky and wide, lots of gravel and a struggle to maintain traction. The Global softail rules on this kind of terrain though – the climbing ability of a hardtail with just enough give to dig the rear tyre in when you’ve a load of wobbly riders to get past. The downhills were pretty much the same as the uphills, which was a disappointment, I was expecting something technical I guess, an Austrian bloke told me it was going to be technical anyway. He also said that my frame looked “home made”. Was that a compliment?

About halfway though, and suddenly things got narrower, twistier and very, very rocky. It was fun and I was really impressed by the USE fork – the anti-dive gubbins really do laugh in the faces of rock steps and slopes of loose boulders. Lots of folk were walking down this bit.
Near the end, there was a huge shoulder-the-bike section, not as high but just as steep as Pas De Lona and a real killer when you’re not expecting it. I chatted to an English bloke (who was moaning his head off) who is doing Hit The North – small world!

I crossed the finish line in 5 hours 32 mins, 64th overall. Turns out almost 100 riders didn’t finish, most of them presumably succumbed to the heat.
I’ll do this one again; despite the slightly shonky organisation, lack of proper food at the feed stations and wildly innacurate website, Gran Canaria is such a beautiful place. Such a shame that most people who go there never leave the coastal towns.

Next time though, I’ll treat it with more respect and train properly…..