Biking Like a Girl Again...Not posted for years...Sorry!!!

All Points North 2019 - Karen and friend Charlie take on 900km over 3 days....Ten Checkpoints visited in any order all north of Sheffield

Last year a friend of mine asked if I wanted to partner her on an endurance event as she had not done any endurance riding and needed someone with some experience to get the entry...plus she wanted to ride with me I hope...I (as per usual) said yes...then looked up what I had said yes too...

Next thought was - how the flippin eck can you fit 900km into three days...

Next thought was - better start training...and pulling my ultra body back into line...had quite a break so it was gonna take a bit training as now into my fifties...it seems to be slower to recover than it used to be!!!!

But full steam ahead at christmas we went for our first bike pack together - not far - but it was mid winter and we needed to start at least!!! So we set off for Haworth YHA from Sheffield and back the next day...I (as per usual) chose a very hilly route - I seem to gravitate to these hill things...Charlie wasn’t that impressed!!! Plus we had big headwinds and heavyish bike packing bags as we wanted to make sure we were going to be warm!!! I did the ‘Bill Bryson’ thing of chucking half of Charlies kit out prior to the ride so she wasn’t taking the kitchen sink...one night Charlie...we don’t need full wash kit - she wasn’t impressed... But this was a learning process - how far could I get her to skimp on kit and how much could she take of me making her do it!!! Time would tell....

The ride was windy, hilly and rather longer than we anticipated - due to 20% hills...but we made it to Haworth and promptly decided we needed proseco to celebrate, seeing as it was xmas break after all... Charlie had to go buy that as I had no shoes with me - she hadn’t chucked everything out!!! Thank goodness!!!

Next day - the wind had got up more and changed direction, true to cycling wind does...so we decided to head a flatter, faster way home...which was good reccying for the actual event - as we did use this route...

I then spent the rest of Xmas and January doing a lot of biking, upping my distances gradually. Hopey New Year Audax, at the beginning of january is 100km ( I have done this event for a few years now as a traditional start to the New year, but this time I did it again the day after the other way round. Then I said yes to a 200km Audax down near Tewksbury called Mr Pickwicks, I did this with a mate Roger and got back in time to go to a friends retirement party just down the road and danced all evening to help the leg recovery, next day was another 70km...I was gradually upping my distances and feeling great.
I rode a few times to my sisters and back which was about 150km each way...with wine and coctails on one weekend for her 50th Birthday

Charlie did the Hopey new Year Audax and then went back to Crit Racing - which kind of confused me as they are short distance - but then she is 15 years younger so probably needed less time to train...

I did a lot of riding in January (about 800km) as I knew I was away for most feb skiing. Whilst skiing I bashed my right quad and body a bit on a couple of accidents and spent quite a few weeks not walking properly and trying to get my re-alignment back...it took a while but in the mean time caught some horrible virus where I couldn’t push myself and had to take some weeks off the bike to recover...8 weeks of slow riding (with no mojo...)or no riding later I started to panic...we needed to get my body back to riding again...I couldn’t push up hills at all, which was so unlike me... My Mojo had left the building...I was so disappointed...my MTB mates were trying to get my Mojo back but I just couldn’t...

Once I felt well enough to bike again, I had to start again, Back to 100km rides. So we decided to use a three day break we both had to drive and bike our whole route (we had been planning different sections of the route on the apps and computer to try and get the routes we thought were best). The plan was for one to ride whilst the other drives and checks out where to buy food and get water from or check out alternative routes to the one the biker was on)...we thought we would get about 400km each in over the three days but faffing takes a lot longer than just biking, swapping over and finding places to stay etc... we drove the first two sections then Charlie set off on her first biking section and we able to swap a couple of times...getting about 70km in each that day before we found a campsite, up early to a frozen tent and set off up to Scotland and headwinds, but at least we were biking... then we stayed at Charlie’s Step brothers and got more riding in after a night on wine with them...We managed to ride almost 300km each and come to a realisation that were we just not fit enough for this event!!!

So the next weekend was Easter and I needed to make sure my body could still be pushed and ride at night so I set off on an overnight jaunt to Flamborough Head and back.  I changed the route quite a bit and found a less main road route round Rotherham and Doncaster and onto country lanes with deer, owls, rats running along next to me and kamakaze rabbits...the evening went very well with Charlie riding the first 35km with me ( I had set off at 7pm) to try and be same times as the event), it was lovely riding with my thoughts, a full moon and dry roads...until 1am when I had a puncture, it took a while to change as it was dark and cold by now...and I started to get a bit chilly but once back on the bike I thought I would warm up again...oh no...I got colder and colder...with no more clothing...I got so cold my hands and feet swelled up (not easy changing gears with fat fingers!!!). The colder I got the slower I got but no where was open to get into to warm up...so I carried on into freezing fog patches as I got to the coastal areas...I took a photo at Flamborough and raced back to a garage I noticed had its lights on...unfortunately it had lights on but was only using the night pay slot so I wasn’t allowed in, I asked if I could buy a coffee from the machine but he said it wasn’t on yet - at this information and with uncontrollable shivers and it being 5.30am and all - I burst into tears...I couldn’t help it...it just happened...the guy came out and opened the door and let me in and made me a suggery coffee and let me use the bathroom and stand under the heater...Poor guy then got me chatting for an hour while I warmed up...What a lovely guy...I set off again and an hour or so later another garage had opened so bought more coffee in there to warm up...I was still not able to cycle fast enough to keep warm... a few hours later I found Charlie (she had set off at 5.30am to meet me) and she was frozen too...we found a café and hugged a radiator for an hour, whilst all the other cyclists were in summer kit as warm as toast on a really baking hot day...I eventually warmed up and we carried on...stripping clothing off as it got hotter and hotter...When we rolled into Sheffield I decided I might as well ride home, seeing as I had ridden this far...I clocked up 360km...I was extremely pleased with myself...I could do it and I could survive cold!!! Charlie clocked up 260km too by riding back to her house after mine...both of us had achieved our longest rides yet...we were getting there... I then spent the next two days doing local rides to top my weekend up to 470km and a swim out at Slippery Stones to help the muscles...

After a fab weekend in Wales with mates roadying around Elan Valley as a recovery weekend - Devils Staircase 25% didn’t feel like a recovery hill!!! I decided I needed to go further before I could decide if I could actually start this event...so the next bank holiday weekend I decided I needed to ride 600km...
I rode a flat route the first day from my house in three loops of out to Castleton, back to Hope, out to Edale and back to Hope and out to Kings Tree at the far end of the reservoirs and back, three of these loops made 200km - and about 1800m of climb...so not as flat as I thought!!! - The headwinds were nice!!! Kim and Tim came out to meet me but I was on a mission by then so carried on to get a good average pace...25km/hour...was happy with under 8 hours for that distance...
The next morning I woke up early to drive over to Charlie’s and we drove up to her step brothers and set off at 7.30am to ride to Scotland (from somewhere south of Durham near Guisborough)...
I was a tad tired after yesterday so Charlie lead out for the trip to Newcastle, then we found our pace was getting more even, then I started to feel great once we got to Keilder, where we spead along once we turned with the wind to clock up some good cups on strava and get back to our accommodation for a night in Bellingham, the local pub had a stone baked pizza truck outside so we had pizza and wine and bought more proseco for back at the room...we fell asleep before getting through that!!!
Monday we set off early to go back up to Keilder, with the deers and birds all in full flight and then back passed the accom and back to the car to clock up two days of 200km each...so I felt great on day three and rode well and spend the whole day thinking - yep I can do this event now- I have done the training and I have survived the distances and I am ready...just need a few weeks wind down. My total was 600km and I felt great...phew...just normal riding for three weeks now...

Three weeks later - we stood at the start line - ready....

There was a lot of pro looking and fast cyclists...with a range of kit - some extremely lightweight, our packs were amougst the smallest, which pleased me, but we had opted to sleep in accommodation rather than bivi as the weather wasn’t promising - well it promised rain!!! Other packs looked rather over excessive and I couldn’t for the life of me work out what they would need extra...but I do like to travel light!!! When I can!!! Kit freak an all!!!

Tony, Sarah and Si from work came to wave us off along with Charlie’s Mum, Step Dad and her Boyfriend Steve... it was a great atmosphere with the pair of us on the front row...yikes!!!! Oh well... 8pm we pushed the first pedal....

A bit of carnage through the first few turns happened as we were all heading in different directions as it was free route choice after all...as we biked out of Sheffield we all thinned out to eventually just the pair of us...we felt great and chatted quite a bit about how we still felt like it was just a training ride - we were off!!!

It took us 7 hours to get to Flamborough Head, CP1 (much better than my solo attempt a few weeks ago...) It was 3am.
We both felt like it was Flat Out to Flamborough with the wind behind us along all the flat country lanes and much warmer than we expected and the garage door was open to cyclists this time - he remembered me...said he’d seen some others too.... much needed coffee and a choc bars purchased here...breakfast of champions!!!
We then had a ride along the coast with a bit of main road and some off road sections ( I kept us on those longer than we had agreed to by mistake - oops. Then at one point Charlie had an ‘off’, luckily she took my rather brusque ‘get back on your bike’ tough love attitude in her stride and did get back on with ripped longs and a sore leg...Sorry Charlie but sometimes I am not very empathetic...think it worked though cos she soon loosened off and we got to Whitby CP2 at 7am and then set off up the main road to Guisborough, where we saw a van pulling in ahead of us and two work friends jumped out, they were at another event and had seen our tracker as they were driving up to another of their checkpoints, what a lovely surprise, big  smiles all round, and a good cheer along as we went passed, that was a good moral boost...thank you Lee and Shelli.

Then we got to a local spar at about 11am and preceded to eat most of the food they had for sale, when Charlie’s step brother and wife turned up as they had been following our tracker too...was another lovely boost to moral before we set off up towards Newcastle.

The weather started to close in a bit as we neared Gateshead and the Angel of The North, we still had an ice-cream here in the pouring rain...cos we had been looking forward to it....next up was a puncture a few miles later, still in the pouring rain, the bus stop was all broken glass so we asked a tyre centre if we could use there cover to change the tube but the pump broke when I was pumpimg it up...blew its gasket (hopefully not an omen to what could happen to us in the next few days!!!) The garage guys tried to get us to go to Halfords but we were not keen to go fully off route when one of them suddenly piped up that there was a bike shop over the road...how we had missed that is beyond me and why had they not told us earlier!!!! Anyway at 4.50pm the owner was just on his way home as the boiler had broken at home, so I pleaded with him to sell me a new pump...he had an ace mini track pump on sale...I had cash...he was pleased...I was more pleased...the old one went in the bin and off we went...Happy!!!

We biked through Newcastle on their extremely well set out cycle paths and bus lanes to get to the Tyne and along to Hexham, before turning up north and up hill to Bellingham for a much needed chinese takeaway and a big shopping spree in the co-op for the next days supplies, then along to our accommodation and a shower and a sleep (41/2 hrs sleep)

So the light drizzle that was forecast seemed to be strong stair rod type rain...thanks Scotland!!! So rather bedraggled and wet through we reached CP3 Keilder Castle at about 7am and headed straight to the hand warmers in the toilets!!! More bedraggled soggy cyclists seemed to be here at the same time too...good to see them all...

We set off in the rain and wind into scotland then down on through to England again with downpours mixed with warm sun then downpours again...the wind was getting stronger as the day went on too...but after a much needed café stop - we decided to buy take away cos if we had sat inside we wouldn’t have got going again..it was way too inviting!!! There was  couple of riders inside looking toasty though....but we were determined to carry on regardless of wet revolting conditions...

Next up was the famous Great Dunn Fell climb up to a large golf ball on the top of it (CP4)...the hightest tarmac road in the UK with a steep old gradient this 8 km climb was gonna be tough - but we kept being told how dangerous it was too by all the other riders (all the riders going the opposite direction to us seemed to be here today!) So we braced ourselves for some strong winds on the top. Charlie was a little apprehensive but a bucket load of encouragment (in my ususal style of ‘tough it out’ encouragment - this is ace!!! Poor girl putting up with me and my positive view of shite days!!!) we eventually battled our way against 100km/hr gusts, blowing us off the road to the top...we had to lay the bikes down for fear of them blowing away!!! We took the photos and left abruptly but a few 100m on remembered we had not written the clue down we were supposed to collect...so I had to go back up!!!

Half way down this hill my wheels were really wobbly, so I stopped to check them but nothing seemed out of place or broken so we carried on...donning more clothing and jackets at the bottom as we were so cold and then headed to the next village and found a toilet block with hand warmers... I then realised why my bike was shaking so much...it wasn’t the bike it was my whole body shivering - big shivers....enough to make the bike wobble!!! Nuts!!!

We warmed up enough to carry on along a flat section towards the next big climb of the day up to Tan Hill Inn(CP5)...more steep 20%ers and wind across the tops to get us up and then battle against it all again along the tops to go back down...but I was strangely really enjoying these battles...seems I still love hills, steep hills even after 580km’s....I was actually having a blast...I think it had quite a bit to do with me feeling so good we were catching other cyclists up and over taking and smiling with it....yay...poor Charlie probably wanted a little sit down somewhere but I was on a roll and luckily she could tuck in behind me...

The next section (after another stop at a garage to buy everything they had in there...) was lovely till we hit more hills that got steeper and steeper...I cannot for the life of me remember this section on the recce...so just ploughed on...keeping Charlie’s moral up with my tough love again...poor girl...but I couldn’t help the hills...they were there and we needed to get through them...eventually we found the flat road into Arnside...we found a chip shop on the road in...we hung out there for a bit warming up and chomping our way through a bucket of chips with cheese and mayo!!! Yuk...but tasted ace at the time!!! We made it to Arnside CP6 at 11pm, then turned round to head to a travel lodge on the M6, 10km away...we got there at 11.30, had a shower and went to sleep. But a big thank you goes out to the Travel Lodge receptionist who helped Charlie up the stairs with her bike :) Her knee was definately getting more painful...

 We were back on the road at 4.30am via Costa Coffee to get us up the fells and over to Slaidburn (CP7) for 7am, where we bumped into two other pairs riders, one lot had  found another travel lodge but the other two looked totally blown as they had slept in the forest....they needed a hug...should have given them a hug...they looked broken...poor guys...glad we plumped for accommodation...

We then sped off to Brimham Rocks just behind the lads from the other travel lodge, where as the Forest Sleeepers were off to Haworth first...that sounded wrong to us...but we would only know later when we all finished...(found out is was a bad choice from them...as we saw them later and they finished a long time after us in the end...should have given them a hug...

A very hilly section later...more 20%ers...this pleased Charlie again...think her knees were complaining quite a lot now so it was just a case of keeping her going and getting some smiles from her...suspect inside her head she was probably screaming at me...but we soldiered on and
eventually rocked up at Brimham Rocks (CP8) in baking hot sun...in time for coffee and sausage roll...

Surely it is all down hill from here.....

Yeah Right - yep - more 20%ers...sorry Charlie - but they did mean we avoided a long uphill section on the A59 where I am sure we would have died...the bit we did have do on it was downhill, so was quicker, as it was horrendous, the worst road section I have ever ridden...very scarey...we got off it at the bottom of the hill and stopped to congratulate each other on surviving...I think Charlie then forgave me for the steep uphills to get to it, cos longer on there would not have been healthy!!!

The Bank Holiday traffic was out in force now though - the road through Keithley and on to Haworth was busy too but hey after the A59 we could cope with anything...then it started pouring again...we didn’t need more rain...but at least we were insight of the last check point before the finish in Sheffield...we were going to make it...

Rolling hills and down to Sheffield was what lay ahead for the last 75km into Sheffield. It was all big scary road riding but we had done it before and we were so up for it...we were both very pleased to be on the last leg even though it felt a bit of a slog...once we saw the first Sheffield sign though you couldn’t keep the smiles of our faces and the whoops coming out of our mouths...we were on it...and we were going to be inside the cut off of 72 hours...we felt fantastic...which made us ride faster and faster...then as we got to the bottom of the hill coming down the A61, Charlie took over the lead and lead us through the streets of her home town to Heeley and a short uphill to the finish...WOW...How happy were we..we walked into the Heelley Institute (CP10) to cheers and claps from all the other riders and volunteers...we had done it...we were 3rd pair in...only just over an hour behind first placed pair...we felt like superstars as we really thought we were going to be last...

Team 52 - 910km - 11,353m - 71hrs and 4mins

 Bubbles, a curry and a mug...that is why we did it....

The Week After All Points North....

Tired but legs but no domms, infact they feel great...sore bits - seat bones rubbed raw....had to fight off getting a cold/chest infection (think Charlie’s didn’t get fought off)...had mid day sleeps and lots of sofa time...but I had eaten so much on the event that I didn’t feel hungry at all...very pleased with the way my body coped... Poor Charlie’s knees are still not happy...better not suggest any 20%ers for a while!!!

Will I do it again...I already thought I would before I finished!!! And then signed up for the pre event email for 2020...Solo next year or I find another event of similar riding to take on a different challenge...I wrote this down to remind me when I next sign up for something by just saying YES!!!!

I feel like I have no goal now...so maybe my friends and family get to see me but I still want a goal...maybe one that takes over my life slightly less...

I won a competition....

I couldn't believe it - just before Christmas I got an email from Claire at Trail Running Magazine saying I had won the competition they had put on Facebook - I never win anything - how cool was this. I had won some Inov8 trainers and some Montane clothing. Excellent news - couldn't wait for my extra parcel this Christmas. When it all arrived I was feeling rubbish and ill with the flu so it took a while before their first trip out. First test was the shoes up on muddy Bradwell (Hope Valley) edge, well the path that gets you up there is extremely muddy most of the year let alone afer snow melt! I fiddled a bit with the laces as i like them "my way" and eventually got the fit i wanted and off i plodded, they worked well in the mud - well they should do really they are Inov8's after all. I was given the Roclites3.6 so they have a bit of cushioning and a good fell tread - perfect for my style of running (sorry plodding!). My next trip out was on a 3 hour trip from Edale to Hathersage.

So - picking the shoes - I went for the Inov8's - I have many shoes to pick from and these now needed to see if they could join the crowd of them to pick up when needed - they needed to feel good for 3 hours or more for my running! They felt right for the job even in the kitchen!
Then it was find the jacket amoungst the ski tops and bike tops hanging up...

And then off to the train and into Edale. The rain that was forecast was nowhere to be seen so we plodded on up to Ringing Roger on the edge of Kinder and turned right to be blown straight back again - the wind was definately up!!!
The run was supperb, we ran along the edge for a while till dropping down to the stoney tracks of Hope Cross area and then on the grassy forest edge up to Win Hill, the weather turned and the rain and the mist and the wind turned up in force but luckily we were going in the right direction and got a bit of a push from the wind! I thought about putting a waterproof on but the jacket - the Montane Marathon has a DWR finish and was beeding up well so no water getting in yet! Phew - i hate running in a waterproof - windproofs are soooo much better. next up was a good muddy steep descent into Bamford and then up onto Bamford Edge through spooky wood!. The wind was side on up here and kept trying to push us into the heather - we held up and eventually came off the edge and down into Hathersage. What a great day. Thanks Hills for sorting it out and getting me out on the hills in my great new kit. Am now a fan of Inov8 and Montane....
So no blisters and they were comfy on all the terrain, even the slippery wet rocks and the jacket performed really well and unusually for me as am very tall I could stuff my hands in the sleeves when my fingers got cold - it is a good jacket and really lightweight so will be in every kit list!!!

Adidas Terrex

Here's my race from the beginning, including the drama, the tears, the smiles, the hard push, the feeding, the weather and the chaffing!!!

I was quite stressed running up to the Terrex with one of my jobs testing me to the full, so I was actually quite pleased once I had packed (the cat wanted to join me!) and started the drive up to keswick. I was supposed to be there Wednesday evening but finally got there Thursday lunch time, just in time to watch the boys finish marking up the maps and then registering at the Planet Fear shop, picking up last minute kit and re-packing my stuff into the Haglof's tranistion bag.

The prologue started at 7.30pm and was a relay. I was to do the run/swim leg. I am not a sprinter by any means of the word so the run out to the lake was a little fast for me and I got over taken but kept my position in the water (just) and dragged my soggly body back into the changeover. The whole prologue only took us 1 hour and 12 minutes and the winners took an hour so we had to trebble our time difference to find out how long we had to have in a "time out" section half way through day one of the main event. Next was a pub meal and early to bed as we had to be at 4am.

My alarm did not go off and I was woken at 4.30am, so now only had 15 minutes to dress and get a coffee and make sure I had my water bottles filled and kit ready to go. Luckily kit was done the night before, I missed the coffee, dressed and ran (well jogged) to the bus in town that was to take us to the start. I had forgotton to fill the water bottles.

THE START - Moorcombe Bay - we were gonna run across it, round it and through the sand, and sea for 25km. I pannicked. I cannot run on the flat and hate running on beaches, not a good start! Paul didn't believe me (he thought everyone can run, especially on the flat!). No - I avoid tarmac and flat running like the plague, it hurts my hips from about 10 minutes in, this was gonna hurt big time! We were told to run out to sea till we saw some laurel bushes and to follow them, I had no idea what to look for on this bleak landscape of muddy sand and shallow water, but sure enough we came across some laurel bushes (well more like twigs!), do they grow there? Or does this "Queens Guide" plant them (we were told a "Queens Guide" was on hand to guide us through the quicksand). Anyway, we plodded on at my rather painfull slow plod. poor Paul was going out of this head with panic at my speed, I was going too slow for him to cope with, he kept counting teams behind us and telling me we were nearly last. Not a great way to start a three day race so i told him to stop being so negative and live with my speed as it will get me to the end and in two days time I will still be going at this speed and not to worry. He went off to take some photos and we all calmed down and settled into my pace!! We eventually got to the transition after about 3 hours of plodding and now had to sit down and serve out 36 minute time penalty. excellent. we had a few sarnies and cups of tea and a team chat and got on the bikes (at last!) for satge two - an epic ride that turned out to be about 15 hours!

STAGE TWO: BIKING: After a few hours I started feeling very unwell, I felt so bad, why did i feel this bad 6 hours or so into a race, I hadn't gone off too fast, i'd eaten, drank, it must have been the sand!!! Alex pushed me up the hills (why was i so bad on the bike - my best discipline - agh!). We (well the boys) had to make some new descisions based on our new slow speed to cut out a few tacticle checkpoints so that we got to transitions in good time and not try and do the whole course and chase cut offs - we were too slow. I of course went into my usual downward spiral of blaming myself for letting the team down. I moaned, cried and moaned some more all the way round a run orienteer section that was tussocks from hell and alot further than I was promised!!! My tummy was so bad i had to hold it whilst walking (couldn't run) but we eventually got through this run from hell in the tussocks from hell, whist cursing the event planner!!! We then went to a pub for a much needed toilet stop for me and a drink and some crisps to plan our next move. We biked some more and I stopped eating my home made cake - it worked, my tummy started to feel better, i perked up, smiled, joked, biked better - the cake was under cooked - what a plank i was - should have stuck to sarnies!

STAGE THREE: KAYAK:We had a fantastic stage three - in the boats on coniston with a moon, flat mill pond waters and stars, we needed no lights, just the eerie glow of glow sticks on our boats as we sped up the lake. We overtook loads of boats, this was a boost, we loved our stelth boats and we all felt good at last. Smiles all round.

STAGE FOUR: RUNNING - the run was over Furness Fells and none of us had been here before and it looked like a short hop to the next stage - oh how wrong we were - gorse, rough wet tussocks, night time nav errors and nearly an hour to find the first check point - but then again most of the field seemed to be up here doing the same headless chicken act as us! We found it eventually and found a good track off the hills, had a 10 minute power knap in he woods and got to the next transition in good spitits even though it had started to rain. This transition had some tents with mattresses in, a toaster and cups of tea, heaven, we went for breaky and short sleep. We all passed out immediately and enjoyed an hour of heaven in the dry tents.

STAGE FIVE: Kayaking on Windermere: this was a long one, we worked it out to be 33 km of kayaking or was it miles - either way - a long way with only a few nodding dog sleepy moments - so hard to stay awake when sitting down! Wine gums got us through with a few pro plus tabs to boost the heart rate to above sleep levels! It rained like a monsoon on and off all the way up Windermere, but we were warm and feeling good.

STAGE SIX: A short and easy bike ride, except we had a minor hicup in the middle when Paul stopped for a "comfort break", I waited at the next junction to let him know we were turning right, I saw him coming up the hill and he acknowledged me and the right hand turn so i sped off, forgetting to stop at the next junction cos I thought he was right behind me, oops - I went back for him (he'd gone the wrong way but realised and came back) so we went on and at the next junction there was no sign of the other two and Paul and I had no map or any clues as to which way they went. Paul hunted through his bag and found one of the other maps with just a bit of this section on it and we worked out we had to turn right just as loads of teams turned up and turned right - we found the other two at the next junction - I had a teddy's out the cot moment and told them off for leaving us, completely fogetting that I had infact just done the same to Paul moments before. we all forgot about it quickly and carried on feeling fit and fast on the bikes and ready for the next big mountain stage!

STAGE SEVEN: A quick change just before the rain started and we were off onto the Langdale Fells for a spot of scrambling and a long night section. We went up Easy Gulley instead of Jakes Rake as it was changed at last minute and then out onto the fells, following a bit of BG routes and picking up our chosen control points, we were going to do a shortened version and get to the abseil somewhere near Scarfel Pike in good time to get off the fells about midnight. The scrambling and running was fantastic, I felt great and my running was going really well. Alex was still able to tow me up the uphills to keep our speed a constant steady one, we were all eating and drinking well and having a great time, we were nearing half way through the event. As dusk fell on us at the base of a massive gulley and scramble that eventually bought us out on Scarfell Pike. I have no idea where we were as I never saw the map! A very wiered experience and am not sure I like not knowing where I am and where I am going. Especially as the clag rolled in, the wind picked up to gale force and the rain was again monsoon like. Just as we were clambering over the boulders on Scarfell Pike, Mick commented on his health. He was having trouble seeing through one of his eyes, it had all gone blurry and he could not define where he was putting his feet. We decided this was a bad way to be and we should not be dragging him over rocks and boulders where he was slipping over alot so we headed straight for the path off and down to Langdale. Unfortunately this took a very long time, trying to spot cairns in the bad weather, keep Mick up right and in good spritis (which must have been hard for him with his eye sight shutting down and having no idea why!), we were moving so slowly by now we were all frozen and wearing everything we owned. I was scared of our situation so I think Mick must have been petrified. About 3 hours later we ran into transition at the pub (which was shut!) to find the place teaming with people trying to sleep in bivi bags in the pooring rain. There was no space at the inn so we bedded down in our bivi just outside the toilets, froze for half an hour before Alex and Paul got up and went to find somewhere for Mick, they put him in a support van with the heating on. They then spent the next hour trying to persuade me that my bivi in a puddle was not the best place for me, i was going hypohermic and I then got put in the van to recover too. At day break the medics looked at Mick and in the end the descision was made to pull him from the race to go to hospital, he had green gunk coming out of his eyes. he was gutted and a broken man, I felt so bad for him I couldn't hold the tears back.

STAGE EIGHT: We silently packed our bags and got on our bikes with a last hug for Mick and went out into the pooring rain and cycled to Ambleside to find a cafe and think about what to do next.

CAFE: wow this was a good idea, the bacon and egg sarnie and capucino was heaven. Alex had a slight co-odination problem and tipped his full english all over his lap. The owner took one look at us and bought him out another one free of charge. How nice are people just when you need it.

An hour later the sun had come out and we had the daunting prospect of cycling up Kirkstone Pass on the famous road climb "The Struggle". To be honest I thought it would beat me, bash me, ruin me and throw me onto the tarmac, but there was a film crew half way up and I stormed it - no dibs down and just span it out all the way to the top with a head wind. And it it didn't even warm me up much. We were so unable to generate heat in our bodies by now that sweating was a thing of the past! The Struggle is so much easier on a mountain bike, I had only ever been up it on my road bike. I loved it, I was on a high and I felt good. next up was a long roady ride to Pooley Bridge (we had cut this section short to miss out going over High Street in a massive head wind).

STAGE NINE: At Pooley bridge we found Alex's wife and kids, sun and food from a farmrs market. Excellent! Apart from the fact that we now had a small problem of two, two person kayaks and only thee of us! We had to wait for a team who also had gone down to three people so we could combine our resourses and paddle as a three boat possy. team May Contain Nuts were the unfortunate victoms and we spent a few confusing minutes trying to work out what to do. Their team member would paddle if they needed him, Alex would paddle if we needed him but was going to pull out of the event (very dissapointing as it flet like our team had given up) and Paul suddlenly decided he didn't want to paddle a necky boat and pulled too. I was suddenly Team haglof Uk all by myself. I joined May Contain Nuts and we formed "May Contain Haglofs". we used our Tahe Marine boats (the boats all teams seemed to like as they were such good looking boats), I teamed up with Maria and the two Matts went in the other. I said good bye to haglofs and got on with my race - I needed to finish this thing I had started if it was going to kill me. Alex, Paul and Mick may have got me through the first two days but I now needed to get through the next two with people I did not know and who did not know me. Very wiered changing teams, learning new dynamics, changing their dynamics and fitting in. Maria and I got on very well from the start, although she was so cold from lack of sleep (they had probably only had an hour and a half since the start), when we got to Patterdale at the end of the lake after being blown there by a supperb tail wind she was so cold a marshal had to give her a fleece to wear. We had a confusing time in transition as no one could get our dibbers to swap into new team and we lost all our points from the last section in the confusion, so the marshals had to add them on manually later. we eventually left.

STAGE TEN: Running up and over Helvelyn via Swiral Edge, into a fierce headwind but thankfully dry. We plodded up here with Team York Mountaineering and night three started to close in as we came off Raise. The veiws were so vast and clear from the storm clearing all the clouds and hase away we didn't use head torches untill about 10pm. Another magic run and I felt stronger and stronger as the run went on, I felt on fire, so different from the first day when I could hardly move forwards. Why do I get better the longer these things go on? Mind you by the next transition I was ready for a hug and luckily we bumbed into a mate who obliged. What a buzz seeing friends, thank you Mike for the hug - it worked. well along with a bit of tea urn hugging. I had now perfected the art of urn hugging to warm up - the organiser james decided I had a fettish for urns, well maybe I do now - they are good hand warmers and they make tea!!

STAGE ELEVEN: More biking. This time I decided two pairs of cycle shorts would be needed, it was cold, i was frozen (apart from my toasty warm hands) and i didn't need to sit on a bike for another minute let alone another few hours! We cycled off on a very nice track but poor Maria was having her bad moment and could not cycle properly for it, the boys were also so tired that they couldn't cope with her moment and it all got a bit tense. I decided not to add my input as I was the outsider along for the ride and they needed to sort this themselves, this was a hard thing to watch and I am so glad it did not happen in my team. Eventaully they all decided that bitching about it was the way forward, it was even more difficult now and for the next few hours the boys blamed Maria for ruining their race and Maria went from bad to worse so we headed for the last transition and a sleep. We unfortunately beat our transition bags there so we had a freezing cold sit in our survival bags with a little help from the marshals who felt sorry for us not having our kit with us, we got tea and coffee and cheese on bread sticks. How nice were they. A few hugs from them and a sleep of about an hour and a half and we woke the boys at 4.30 am to set off for the orienteering.

STAGE TWELVE: The boys were still a little angry and irrational so i stuck my oar in and said that a few positives in the chat may go a long way so after a couple of mnutes of sulking and then alot of going wrong on finding the first check point and we all started laughing and smiling again - phew - I can deal with smiling and laughing alot better! And we were so close to the finish. Eventually we found (well the boys found) all the check points and we all cheered up.

LAST STAGE: back to the transition and onto Canadian Canoes and a gentle (you can never seam to race a candian canoe on flat water!!!) around Derwnt water in the morning mist with the sun rising and ever warming us into an hysterical paddle for all of us. We all went completely doolally, not being able to string a sentance together or even remember our own names, we were so happy and laughed alot at everything and everyone around us - we were gonna finish this race!

We landed the baots after about 2 hours of paddling and ran through Keswick to finish all holding hands and hugging at Moot Hall.

Alex was there to meet me. We got a finishing medal and more improtantly a bottle of bubbly. I drank alot of this - mainly to ensure I did not get into my car and try and drive! I drank 3/4 of the bottle before I managed to pull myself away from the finish line and get to a shower and back for lunch with haglofs and the prize giving. I spent the evening in the pub with lots of teams and marshals - a perfect ending to a fantastic event.

So - thank you Haglofs for believing I could do this, thank you Alex, Paul and Mick for helping me get through this (next time I would love to finish the race with you as I think we make a good team and a very well balanced one - even with me in it!!) and thank you Bruce (course palnner) and James (the guy who made it all happen!), all the marshals for their smiles, hugs, tea and support, it goes a long way and I hope I looked like I appreciated it at the time, cos I sure did. Also a big thank you to Team May Contain Nuts (Maria, Matt and Matt) for letting me join them and continue my quest to bury the dissapointment of Mick's unfortunate early retiral and from a few years ago to bury the demon of not finishing one of these events in Scotland - i have now completed an epedition race and I have swollen ankles to show for it!

You can see all the videos HERE