The Thunderstorm

About 7.5 hours cycling in torrential rain. Very different from the day before. It was raining hard when i woke. I hid in the hotel like someone sheltering from a bombing raid. I shouldnt have bothered.

Off i went out of thonon then 15 mins later realised I forgot my helmet. Take 2.

Up the first ascent of the day the col de …….. it was raining as hard as it can. Soaked to the skin by the top despite goretex then a bit cold in the wind. On the descent the rain was too much for the cyclecomputer and its died on me… no clock again.

Specialized sucks.

In the valley I was cold so barged into a restaurant and got changed into dryness. Two croisants as prep for the col de la columbiere at 1610 metres.

Easily the hardest ascent I have ever done on a bike. The torrential rain storms did not help. Made it to the top pretty tired and wet again but managed to blitz some of the supported buffties on the way up. (where you pay to have them carry your bag)

Then had coffee and crepes at the summit restaurant along with the rest of my food; Then a long descent in the rain..

I thought that it was all downhill to la clusaz but it turned out it way on the way up the next col!! Got to la clusaz and finished my water then found out that the youth hostel was even further up the next col.

Got there at 1910 hours, a pretty tough day; Food was ace although hostel was devoid of life; Went to bed exhausted; to the sounds of intensly violent thunderstorms.

A walk in the park

Changed the bad cycle computer for a new one. 30 mins to fit it then it was nice and shiny which cadence and all that jazz.

Stopped on the way out of switzerland in hermance for expresso in the sun. Stopped off at another wee place as well for some photos of lake geneva.

Ass is sore due to substandard cannondale saddle, replaced with a new one;one one hour fifty Mins cycling so spent a lot of time chilling and doing tourist stuff.

First big alpine day tomorrow. The french generally have big noses and speak little english. Its off season so all is very quiet..

In 2 bike bags I have the following stuff.

duct tape

inner tube

hex keys

puncture repair

pump

brake blocks

screwdriver

2 water bottles (litre each)

shorts x1

lycras x1

helmet

sunglasses

bike gloves

gloves

sun tan stuff

windproof jacket

waterproof jacket

2 buffs

lycra booties

cycletop

waterproof trousers

pants x1

boxers x2

trainers

tshirt

small towel like a rag

lightweigth leisure trousers

sawn off toothbrush

washing stuff

toothpaste

inhaler

camera

phone

mp3

credit cards

bike lock

wee book

passport

maps and route info

acc details

compass

first aid

penknife

I took the overnight train to Oslo from Trondheim. Snorers galore drove me to the all night bar on the train. Next took the plane to Geneva, very warm when I got off the plane.

Cruised to the youth hostel after painstakingly building my bike from its ziptied deflated state.

Went to a bike shop and purchased a cycle computer which is bust. Pumped up tyres also as 120psi on a plane is a recipe for BOOM.

Went to a nice french feeling cafe called cafe remar and had an expresso. Maccys from dinner with lake geneva for a view. Lovely relaxed vibe here, must come back with Helen some day. People were swimming in lake geneva.. it looked so nice.

So the cycle trip starts properly tomorrow; will sort out cycle computer and get on the road. Relatively short starter day along the coast of lake geneva. Cant wait.

I read an interesting article on how some students in Sweden did a project on calculating route choice using GIS from an orienteering map.

After reading through it, it looks as if they have been pretty successful. It would have been interesting for them to get runners to run the routes and compare them with a human route choice.

Further down the line this could be interesting if the orienteering map was held in some sort of digital device. It could calculate the optimum route in real time and then use GPS to direct you along this route. Turning super technical orienteering into a string course that take the optimum route with respect to contours, terrain run-ability and road options.

In the coming years it will be a challenge to maintain the challenge of orienteering with advances in navigation technology. Formula 1 restrictions will no doubt come into force.

Read the article

Basic Orienteering Skills

• Folding the map
• Thumbing the map
• Orientating the map to north (with ground or compass)
• Reading features on the map
• Taking a compass bearing
• Following a compass bearing
• Pacing
• Judging Distance

Intermediate Orienteering Skills

• Route choice
• Aiming off
• Simplification
• Reading fine detail – map to ground (ie. ahead)
• Reading fine detail – ground to map (ie. present and ahead)
• Rough compass and relocate (deliberate)
• Attack point – choosing one
• Attack point – using one
• Traffic Lighting
• Visualisation of contours
• Visualisation of other features (ie. map to ground)
• Relocation (when contact has been lost)
• Disaster recovery in the circle

I recently replaced my snowboard setup. I was very happy with my previous setup but it got nicked so I have had to put together something new.

Note: I am going to describe how I setup snowboarding bindings, this is opinionated and I will not cover all snowboarding styles and corresponding setups.

All-mountain Freestyle is how Nitro describe it and I quite like the term. Basically, it involves hitting all sorts all over the mountain. Its not just a freeride setup as your not just carving or powder riding and often want a bit of the fakie fun.

You qualify for this type of riding if you:

• Spend time in the park.
• Spend glorious hours riding in glistening, deep powder bowls.
• Look of anything which you can hit on the way down. Its a playground duuuude!
• Ride fast and straight.
• Turn sometimes; normally on steeps or to stop.

Elements of snowboard stance.

• Stance width
• Binding angles
• Placement (centered / back)
• Forward Lean
• Heel and Toe Drag

Stance Width

This is down to personal preference; but I recommend going as wide as you can. This gives great control in the air, looks sweet, is stable at speed and landings are easier. Dont take the piss like the pure freestyle boys and girls. A good guide is to start at a centered stance for the board (middle of each binding rail) and then increase as you ride more. A starting point of shoulder width then going a bit wider is a good plan. But do it slowly, dont start as a beginner with a massively wide super duck stance. Tone it down a bit if you are a beginner.

Binding Angles

Its all about the duck stance really, if you want to spend some time riding / landing fakie, or any time in the air. Slightly more in the direction of travel and a difference of about 30 degrees is good. I ride +21 -9 and might go up to +21, -11 this season but you have to make sure you knees can take it.

Placement

Set the bindings back if it snows? Dont bother unless you are spending a day of riding 30cm+ of fresh. If you are riding is shallower stuff or for not that long then centered is fine for most things. Often the centered stance of a board is designed such that it is set slightly back anyway. (Unless you have a twin)

Forward Lean

Dont go crazy with this one, but its good to ‘go mean and huv a bit o lean’ as it means that you:

• Have less downtime between edge switching and feel more connected to the board.
• Your legs are more bent, initially this is a bit tiring to get used to, especially on Peak to Creek at Whistler but after your legs get used to it, you wont go back. It feels natural, stable and powerful.

Heel and Toe Drag

This should be at a minimum and the drag should be equal on both sides. It is possible to sometimes be placed wrongly by wearing bindings that are too large or too small for your boots. Make sure that you are sized correctly for both your board and binding size.

In the worse case if you have a pair of binding that are not friends with you boots you can move the bindings forward and back by rotating the base places to make sure your boots are centered on the board.

Finally

Play about with your stance. Remember its your stance not what is hot and generally thought to be hip. Get your own setup dialled and your snowboarding will be much more enjoyable. Also remember what you stance is if you change boards etc!

Hope this helps anyone wondering, leave comments please.

What follows are some details of some sweet cycle routes I have found on the outskirts of Inverness in the last week. All the routes are primarily suited to road bikes and touring bikes although mountain bikes could no doubt handle it.

Route 1 – Around Cawdor

Route Info

Starts with a cruise around the roads from Culloden battlefield and off along a little detour along some minor roads through some nice forest.

Then across the Nairn valley. A nice descent down and a nice climb up the other side. Straight across the crossroads then round the circuit. These roads are all quiet and ex military apparently. Built after the Battle of Culloden to keep the local residents in order.

A chilled circuit which takes you back to the Nairn valley. Then across the Nairn valley and back to the Culloden Battlefield.

Route 2 – Culloden Battlefield to White Bridge (p2p)

Route Info

This is a point to point route which took me about 2hr 10min with a couple of stops. The route is undulating with not any big ascents or descents. It passes a few lochs and is very scenic. Mostly on single track roads.

Cant really say anything more about it other than its possible to extend easily and a great extension would be to go all the way to Fort Augustus.

There is a top hotel in White Bridge. You could stop there for a pint, or five.

Route 3 – Garbole Hill Climb

Culloden Battlefield – Farr – Garbole – Tomatin – Moy – Auchnahillin – Daviot – Culloden Battlefield

Route Info

This is another cycle in the 2.5 hour margin if done relatively hard with minor stops only. The highlight of the cycle is definitely the climb up the garbole road past Farr Loch and the phat descent down the other side. It is recommended that you have good beats in your ears for the descent so you go even faster.

Watch out for the road surface on the descent as the road is ageing.

There used to be a little chef in Tomatin but unfortunately this is now closed so you must take food with you! You could extend this route by cycling round Loch Duntelchaig before attempting the Garbole road.

Im in Berlin at the moment for Railsconf Europe. After a long day today I went for a nice run round the city to make more sense of the city and how it all fits together. I love running in random place where you dont really know the layout.

You can cover so much ground in a short time and this allows you to take in much much more. Its the same with Hill running. You can be up the mountain, down the mountain and in the pub before the hill walkers have got half way up.

I did a good thing and a bad thing. I hope its ok. I was running and I found the holocaust memorial (pictured above) but didnt know this at the time. I decided to run along the tops of all the concrete. This made for a good time as they end up being about 3-4m high and I was jumping between them in the dark. This brought on the fear and was a great adrenaline hit. The thing is I feel direspectul after I knew what it was.

I suppose as I was ignorant it was OK. :0)

Last week I went on a cycle trip with some friends throughout the north of Scotland. What follows is a report of what we got up to etc.

Day 1 – Carbisdale -> Tongue

This started about mid day you can see the route we took below.

About half way we stopped at the legendary pub called the Crask Inn. This is a truly amazing place in he middle of nowhere which is still powered by generator! Its really a blast from the past and a great place to party I think. I will definitely go back. We met some geordies who were on holiday and talked top gear.

Around this time I kept falling off my bike. I had new pedals for my bike and kept trying to be in my new front brake pads. In doing so, I forgot I was clipped in and fell onto my side in front of everyone!

This earned me numpty of the day you can see how happy about it I was…

Unfortunately the south african warden of tongue syha was a bit of a spoil sport and not Ewan’s favourite man so a few of the group had to camp rough. It was great fun after a few beers and game of killer sprinting along the road to get to the hostel in the pitch dark. Was definitely a top feeling just being able to make out the white lines whilst cycling about 30mph!

Day 2 – Tongue -> Durness

After weeks of rain this day was a jewel. Everywhere in Britain was getting rained on apart from the far north of Scotland. We really were the winners in the UK that day!

As you can see the route was fairly short and involved a nice circuit of a sea loch and some nice beaches. We were in Durness by early afternoon and had planned to go to Cape Wrath. Unfortunately we had missed the last ferry and had to just chill out at the beach instead.

We went to balnakeil sands and took a swim in the sea. Surpisingly for me it wasnt that cold and we had run swim surfing the waves.

At this point the idea of a barbeque came to us and we got all stocked up from the local spar and headed down to sango sands. The cleanest beach around apparently.

Numpty of the day was Adam for leaving food at the hostel and chewing up Jenny’s bike with elastic.

Day 3 – Durness -> Achininver

This was the real beast of the trip. 75 miles with some really hilly terrain.

We set off at 8am via the spar for some tasty breakfast. And then it was off up the slimy misty glen for the first col ascent of the day. A long drag right up the valley, I was powered by some really tasty fudge.

We all agreed to go at our own pace and meet at a cafe in Unapool 40 miles into the day. I decided to settle into a routine of one hour effort and ten minutes break. 2.5 hours of this and then and I was at the cafe. Happy to see Oleg and Ewan who were already then we ate food and dried off until Ross, Adam and eventually Jenny arrived.

The next stage of the day was onto Lochinver over the Col de Assynt. This was a big mountain ascent followed by a very speedy descent down to Loch Assynt. This was pretty beastly and fun to do, even in the rain.

Then into the wind which for me was the hardest section of the trip. This took us into Lochinver which has a very famous pie shop. The steak and ale pie was award winning so I got me one of these after seeing what Oleg’s venison and cranberry pie looked like.

After warming up and buying food for dinner we all headed off on the super crazy road to achiltibuie. This is a tiny single track road with loads of big ascents and descents. Really mad country. Ross and I worked together to conquer this terrain we ended up having a snus stop with Oleg and Ewan who were further up the road.

Then when we all got together we rode the final stretch into Achiltibuie peloton style. We then had a well nice meal of curry which Ewan cooked for us. We were very grateful and shaked his hand.

Day 4 – Achininver -> Carbisdale

All started nicely on time and we had a 35mph wind behind us after we turned northeast.

All was well cyling along the loch until there was a slight mishap. Jenny the legend that she is, decided to go right instead of left and head towards Ullapool. This was properly the wrong way.

We all realised this at the meeting point about 8 miles the other way and by this time we were too cold an unable to follow her. Oleg went all the way to Caribsdale Castle on his own. And the remaining four of us went to Elphin for soup and tea. Its really good to be in the warmth when its wet and cold.

I put on all my dry clothes for the final stretch. Remember to always have a spare base layer with you because when it rains or you work hard it gets soaked and makes you well cold when you stop.

The final stretch was obscene. The tail wind was so powerful I was in the top few gears all the way. Ewan and I clocked up average speeds of over 20mph which is pretty sweet considering there were a few hills and I stopped to piss twice and once to get wine gums. I maxed out the gears on my Kona Dr Dew for the first time ever. I think excess of 45 but cant be sure.

After we all got back Carbisdale (apart for the Ullapool Maiden) three people and three bikes all got packed into Oleg’s car. Madness.

All was well a few hours later when Jenny rolled into Carbisdale. Surprisingly with a pretty big smile on her face. All in all the trip was great fun despite some borderline weather. Jenny got to keep the Numpty of the Day top.

Next plan is some famous mountain ascents in the Alps. Watch this space.

Buachaille Etive Mor (The big herdsman of the glen) is an iconic scottish hill / ridge line in glencoe.

It makes a great point to point hill run as I found out yesterday with Robert Munro.

As you can see by the route it is a point to point run starting at Lagangarbh and finishing at Dalness. We achievied this using 2 cars but you could quite as easily drive to dalness with one car then hitch a lift to the start.

In terms of the details of the route, there is a fairly good path the whole way to keep you right.

However, the mist was down yesterday and a word of warning, a map and compass is required for this route and it was very handy yesterday in the thick mist.

You can see by the route that we made a couple of errors on the tops. After we arrived at the summits we did not check our direction the first few times and this caused us to run down the wrong ridge / corrie.

• Always check your compass when you are about to descend.

The run took 3 hours 5 minutes; a good jaunt for a Sunday.

We stopped at the Real Food Cafe on the way back for some tasty food. I had a top class Lamb Burger.

I was thinking about getting a soup but then saw that it was £3.25!! so I went hungry and ate smart price bourbons in the car instead.