We have set up some "training dates" for the coniston - running from sunny Horwich - Mike and Martine taking responsiblity for routes and providing showers followed by soup/bread - cake baking volunteers welcome!

H-wags welcome - (Husbands, wives and girlfriends ...) - you can watch a dvd, take a local stroll and call in a cafe, try a some "runner spotting"with binoculars from the house ....

We will be aiming to do some hilly miles - but time passes quickly in the company of good folk. The list of mileage and route will be updated as we work it out! We can offer short cuts for anyone wanting less distance. Most will involve some time on the fells.

The dates are Sundays 10:00am

Sunday 7th Jan 07 Burnt Edge
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=608820
It will be muddy (very) so do not wear your best new white trainers! approx. 9 miles 1000ft climbing - you will need a hat, gloves, windproof jacket and thermal layers, plus decent socks (Sue!). Expect to be out for about 1.5 to 2 hrs.

If the weather is really really ..... foul then we have a contingency route - Yarrow and Pike
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=608839 - this is a lower level more roads and tracks taking in the delights of Rivington and back via Rivington Pike approx 9.5 miles 600 ft climbing - less if you cheat and miss out the Pike! Expect to be out for about 1.5 hrs.

Sunday 28th Jan Yarrow and Pike (If not done on 7th ..)

11th Feb TBC

4th March - Limbrick
A long one! - 11.5 miles - some tracks but mainly on roads - we are getting close to the 28th some distance is needed! Expect to be out for about 2 hrs.

If you need details of location/a life get in touch. Be useful to know who is planning to come!

If you are thinking about your new years cycling resolutions then take a look at Cyclosport UK - the site has info about cycle sportives in the UK (and abroad for the more adventurous! - Mike and I can advise on medical documentation ........ )

www.cyclosport.co.uk/events.aspx

For anyone who has not found this is a great tool www.gmap-pedometer.com which uses Google Maps and allows you to map out and measure your route from the comfort of your own home! You can do the Coniston 14 in a few minutes! You need to use the OPTIONS section at the top navigate to the UK.

You can also save it to impress your friends or refresh your memory!

Here is where Glynis, Dave, Sue, Julie, Martine and Mike went on Sunday across the Rivington tundra. It was a typical day on the moors - sun, rain, wind, mud and general wildness! All got totally wet and happy and even happier after Moroccan soup at chez M&M. Rematch is set for 7th Jan!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=580918

Found this whilst surfing ........

The Polka Dot Challenge and the Spud Riley Memorial ride are 100 mile bicycle rides organised on the lines of the classic Italian Gran Fondo events. The Polka Dot starts in South Manchester and covers eight of the major climbs that have featured in famous tours such as the Milk Race, Pru Tour and the Tour of the Peak. As with most Gran Fondos the ride has an “easier” option of 70 miles which includes just four of the climbs. The Spud Riley starts at the same South Manchester venue and also covers 100 miles through Derbyshire and Staffordshire, there is a 54 mile option.

For both rides the whole route and all the climbs are fully sign posted and at the start of each climb is a sign describing the name of the hill and the distance to the summit. Food and drinks are provided at two feeding/control points on the route.

The dates for the 2007 events are:

The Polka Dot Challenge Gran Fondo - 17th June 2007
The Spud Riley Memorial Gran Fondo - 26th August 2007

Entry forms for the 2007 Polka Dot ride will be published on this site on December 16th 2006. www.polkadotchallenge.co.uk

Caldbeck Huddle - 6 -9th October

Cat and Fiddle Challenge - October 1st

September 24th Anglesey Marathon
Rog does a personal best knocking 8 minutes off his previous time and finishing in 4hours, 25minutes and 24 seconds!

North West Triathlon Sepember 17th

Jo 'queen of transition' - fastest in her age group for the Novice Tri.

Jude and Glynis showing off after doing a Sprint Tri - Jude came in 17th and Glynis (fastest over 50) came in 46th out of 140 women.

September 10th - BikeWales Event

Kay, Den, Glyn and Liz completed the 50 mile ride out of Rhyl towards Bala and back - Rhyl was at it's best and we were even better!

3rd September - Manchester 100m
Liz and Glyn did their best to beat their previous time of 6hrs 2mins - only to be beaten back by the wind to finish 25 minutes latter!

August 13th - 17th Castles and Coast Ride

The Cheshire Triathlon Girls - all achieved their personal best in this year's Novice Triathlon!

Jude (848) was our star achieving 2nd place with a time of 58:04 in her first ever tri. No trouble finding her competative spirit there!
She took two women out in the pool, passed another 6 and frightened the life out of the rest at the bike stands.









Jo giving us a HIGH FIVE here, knocked 6 minutes off her time from last year and did a stonking bike ride, the 16th fastest rider compared to her overall position of 28th. That new bike and bra did her proud - her time was 1:10:17


Yvonne number 771 suprised herself with a time of 1:20:20 coming in 55th.













Lynn, number 824 did a 1:24:22 and came in at 67th but by far had the most fun - what kind of friends buy you a place in a triathlon for your 40th birthday?


Loren, number 781 achieved her goal of finishing the event in 1:36:01 and came in 70th with half a sheep on her saddle.






Our other friend, Janet did a 1:23:20 and came in 60th.



And then there was the 'Supports Club' - here we have Irene - behind the scenes cycle training partner for Jude.


Then we have Lynn's team - Anne and Susan lining up the champagne for aterwards.
Anne is tempted - you can see it in her eyes, it just that she is shy and like she sun glasses. Could be another birthday present sorted!



And then there was Roger and Keith - resting up after all those weeks of support and encouragement for Loren and Yvonne - they were two very proud supporters.

That just leaves space to mention the two non-starters - bad-back Liz and relocating-shoulder me. We got the T-shirts anyway!

Once again the women were inspirational (Irene was quite impressed by the elite male talent that were around in the moring races). The event was very well organised and being part of the Supporters Club a pleasurable way to spend a sunny Sunday in June.



Competition Time:How many calories does it take for 6 women to complete a 200 metre swim, 20 kilometre bike ride followed by a 2.5 kilometre run?

Liz and Jude got first and second in the Manchester and Ladies District Cycle Association 10m handicap Time Trial on the 20th May, yeah and they were the fastest team, making it a double win.
http://www.mdlca.f9.co.uk/html/results_2006.html

Jude's actual time was 28:03 making her 5th overall and Liz's actual time was 30:42 making her 8th overall. Fantastic achievement - a personal best with both women knocking off a couple of minutes from their last TT.

(I managed to take 3 pictures and ride for 40 minutes - the first ride out since my injury)

Team BikeRight! are out in force next weekend on Sunday the 4th June at the Cheshire Triathlon. The team is made up of Janet Slade, Loren Grant, Liz Clarke, Lynn Keenaghan, Jo Somerset and Jude Stansfield. Starting in that order, Janet is off first at 12.47 pm. Each woman will complete 200m swim followed by 20k cycle and then 2.5 kms run as part of the Novice Triathlon. Go Girls Go.

Chorlton Men's Cookery Club have texted home today, 29th May to say they have are in Spain having walked the Ordesa Canyon.

A website says 'for a rugged adventure, you can follow a steeply ascending trail from the floor of Ordesa Canyon to gain the lofty Faja de las Flores, a natural, horizontal "groove" etched in canyon wall. Proceed along a trail set into this faja ("strip of land") 3,000 feet above the floor of the canyon. This is truly a five-star hike and without doubt one of the most thrilling trail experiences available to hikers in Europe!'. Could this be the place? Looks like a Via Ferrata to me!

Heather and I both did the Swim a Mile event between the 14th - 28th May. Heather broke a personal best by swimming 72 x 25 m lengths in one go! Well done that woman.

I used it as hydrotherapy sessions logging 65 lengths over 5 swimming sessions and managing 4 lengths of crawl to just to finish off! The benefiting charity was The Wright Foundation Researching into the link between physical activity and healthy lungs and heart, particulary with young people.

Meanwhile - May 21 st, Liz and Jo entered the Run-For-Life 5k event at Arley Hall, Cheshire. There text message said 'Dun it - 32 mins, wet + triumphant. Forgot camera. Triathlon next!'

Well there ain't no stopping them now - they're in the groove, they're on the move!

Here you are - No. 4632 and 5276 out for a bit of fun with 25,000 other runners on Sunday 21st May. Martine started in the next wave. The 10 minute warm-up exercise in Portland Street got us going - it was plain to see that Rog has not been to an aerobic class before!

Anyway we were all pleased with our time Rog got under 50 mins, I got under an hour and Martine did it in just over 50 mins. It was a fabulous event, very well organised and great to see Manchester streets full of runners.

Thanks to our supporters, Mike and Heather. Next year Mike.

50:24 for the Great Manchester Run for Martine - (my watch said 50:22 but who is going to argue over 2 secs - me!). Great day for running but not for spectating! Mike missed my finish due to me being too quick and him being in Ellis Brighams .... who said it was the women who went shopping!

Halfords have heart rate monitors for £19.99 - loads of functions - used the watch on the day and it was great - kept me to 5 min kilometres.

Glynis had a great run and is showing signs of promising form - well done!

Anyone fancy a ride out?? A Dales circuit from Halton (nr Lancaster) to Dent, Dentdale, Ribblehead, Ingleton back to Halton. Sunday 30 April - lots of parking at Halton - starting out about 9:30am. It's a hilly route, aiming to do 12/13mph average, light road bikes. a couple stops to refuel, 60 miles approx ... Martine and Mike.

270 miles in 4 days.

Whitehaven was like the wild west - on the eve of a long bank hol everyone had come down from the surrounding hills to drink the town dry ... thankfully our b&b had secondary glazing. Can't recommend the Waverley Hotel - well past it's best - what were they trying to disguise with the 3 different air freshners?? ... Doris cooked up a passable full English and we left the bikes with a chap called Brian (£5 a day in his lock up) - welcome after the lawlessness of the night before ...

The ride out of Whitehaven took in the obligatory Sustrans council estate .... but we did see a barn owl out on it's morning hunt - a great sight amongst pebble dashed social housing. A prize for owl spotting in the photo!



Destination Alston - we had ridden to the summit of Hartside before so we knew what lay ahead. Portinscale fed us well at lunch - the first of our "cake survey of the north" - a brief stop in busy Keswick showed us why we were not shopping on a bank hol.. A slight hitch after the old railway track from Keswick when Mike got a "snake bite" - not more wildlife - just a puncture.

The climb to Alston told us we were 1900ft from our sea level start and boy was i looking forward to the swish hotel (Alston House) Mike arranged .... thankfully they were able to sort us out even though we had booked for the next night!!!! 10/10 and a great place - great food, and nice room - we ate our tea and lay down for the night!

Day 2 - Onwards to Rookhope via Allenheads - even the sheep had gillets here! We left the C to C after 100m and headed north towards Kielder and our night stop - the Black Cock at Falstone. We soon realised that we were no longer following valleys but crossing them big style ...


Hexham provided more cakes at the back of an alternative therapy shop - we resisted the ear candles and massage .. just. Finally rolled up to the pub at gone 5:00pm after another 6hrs in the saddle. The 21st party going on downstairs never touched us!

Day 3 - We were now loosely following the Reivers route and realised why everyone goes West to East - wind. Navigation was easy - uphill and into the headwind! On to Scotland and a lunch stop at the Royston Varsey of the Scottish Boarders, Newcastleton. We knew we were within a sniff of Carlisle when we met a bunch of Boarder City Wheelers (Mike's brother's club).


The day ended at Low Hesket - Alison and David (Mike's brother and wife) provided first class hospitality - and no english breakfast!! In the morning young Thomas (18 months) took to his bike seat to ride out of the first few miles with us and we were off back to the sea via more cakes in Cockermouth.

Whitehaven took it's time coming. Calbeck Common was cruel with the driving rain and headwind. The cry of "last hill before Whitehaven" when up half a dozen times before we even saw the sea. If they can not make wind farms work in the west of Cumbria, alternative technology has no future! By now it was a challenge to get out of the saddle - thighs and back hurting or sit on a sore arse? Finally - the road down to the sea - an ice cream van was spotted and two large 99's werewas ours!!


Lessons Learnt
Cake makes the wheels go round - credit to the cake makers of the North - banana, carrot, ginger cake; scones; mars bar cake; fruit crumble - we ate it all and more besides.

M&M


www.alstonhouse.co.uk
www.c2c-guide.co.uk
www.reivers-guide.co.uk

C to C to C (well almost) - On the job training!

After a "winter rest" skiing and house cleaning ...., we are planning to spend Easter doing the "coast to coast to coast" - taking the Sea to Sea route from Whitehaven across (neither "white" nor a "haven" I suspect) and returning via the Reivers Route through Northumberland. We had a training run over the Trough of Bowland yesterday with a mixed bag of weather - sun, hail, snow and rain and just about managed to drag our bones home via the pub for Timothy Taylor's .... Thankfully it was just down hill from there!

Our route is fairly "loose" with no plans to do any muddy off road sections plus we will skip the urban metropolis of Newcastle and turn north at the outskirts. With only 4 days to go, it is feeling an ambitious undertaking! However being Easter, we may take a few choclate eggs for sustenance. Thoughtful planning sees us staying at some cosy B&Bs which serve food (no staggering off in search of a meal after a hard day in the saddle ..) with a night with Mike's brother in Carlisle, could save the day.

Glynis was invited but injury leaves her only to blog! We will be available for route planning advice should anyone else care to attempt the crossings in due course!

Martine

Events Calendar 2006

M&M tours to Reiver Boarders Cycle route 14th - 17th April (Martine and Mike)
www.reivers-guide.co.uk/routeindetail.htm

Chorlton Fun Run 1st May (Sue and Glynis)
www.stclement-chorlton.org.uk/funrun

Swimforlife - swim a mile 14th - 28th May (Heather and Jo, maybe Glynis) www.swimforlife.org.uk

D&R Randonnee Pyrenees 26th May - 7th June
(Chorlton Men's Cookery Club go French)

J&L Pennine Cycle Tour
www.cycle-routes.org/penninecycleway

Manchester Run 21 May (Rog, Glynis and Martine)
www.greatrun.org

Cheshire Triathlon 4th June (Liz, Jo and Lynne)
www.fun2tri.org.uk

Manchester to Blackpool 16th July (Liz and Bike Right! staff team)
www.bike-events.com

Manchester 100 cycle 3rd Sept (Glynis, Liz, Dave and Jude? Irene?)
www.bike-events.com

NW Triathlon 17th Sept (Glynis and Dave)
www.fun2tri.org.uk

A team that dreams........through rain and cold synergy found 6 people, a newspaper advert, a camping barn and fields and woods, a torrent of talent, a level of unrest with city life and unspent entrepreneurial energy. It served its purpose and then took its rest at the end of the day!


















The food of entrepreneurs!

Coniston 14 April 1st 2006

































Well done Roger and Dave.....we are proud of you!


Both 'boys' exceeded their targets......we would like to think it had something to do with the quality of support; Heather, Glyn, Jo and Liz were there with grease, carbs, plasters, photo opportunities and roadside Go Roger, Go Dave, Go Go Go.
We finished the event with a good soak in the hot tub at Crosslands Farm!

Coniston 14 is on the 1st April
Rog (I'm cool with my carb bar sewn into my shorts) and Dave (with his go- faster- hair cut) are making their final preparations for the event this Saturday. 2 hours 6 to 10 minutes seems to be the goal.

The cheerleaders are meeting on friday night in the Eagles Head in Satterthwaite to practice their routine!

Manchester and District Time Trial Association
10m TT 4th March 2006

Our very first TT started and finished in style! Our first challenge involved understanding that whilst the mens prize money stood at £20 and Ladies only came to the grand figuare of £5 (providing at least two ladies were riding.) As it was International Women's Week and the issue of equal pay is once again having a good amount of air space, we agreed to make our point by donating a further £20 to the prize money for Ladies. We are led to believe that Harry will raise the issue of inequality at the next committee meeting. Thank you Harry.

Jude (I'm off skiing next week) did a fabulous ride in 30:26 and came 3rd. I came 5th with 31:38 and Liz (I've just come back from skiing and not been on a bike for two weeks) also did a stonking ride and came 6th with 33:32.

The team photographer captured the moment with style.

I then had the misfortune of my own 'skiing' experience on the A34 in Goostrey, resulting in me coming off my bike, fracturing my arm and dislocating my shoulder! The Gods have grounded me for a reason - yet to truly be revealed.

Cheshire 100 2005
Liz and Glyn completed the 100 mile cycle in 6hrs 2 mins, averaging a good 16+ miles an hour.
Feeling somewhat chuffed with their efforts they sunk two celebratory chip barms in Wythenshawe Park before cycling home!

Swimathon March 2006

March 2006
Team BikeRight took to the pool for this years Swimathon in aid of NCH. Organised by Jo - Heather, Loren and Dave completed a 500 metres (200 lengths) swim.

Loren completed 30 lengths in 31:21 minutes. She went in with lots of hair and came out well trimmed. Heather exceeded her own expectations and completed 50 lengths in 52:04 minutes. Jo did 60 lengths in 39:47 minutes and
Dave also exceeded his own expectation of completing 60 lengths in 33:35 seconds.

Cheerleading, photography and time keeping was adequately provided by the one arm bandit and Liz (I don't like swimming) Clarke.

Well done team.