I didn’t realise the finish line is about a mile from my house

That’s got to be a chunk nicer a finish than chilling at Cramond Kirk for a while then riding up to Waverley to join the small crowd of both riders and drunkards snoozing in the main waiting room…

@jeffl – Go for it, it’s a lovely ride. While there’s a few sections of crap road surface it’s actually a relatively easy century – the first half to Moffat is easy rolling, relatively flat and decent surface; the Beeftub climb itself looks shocking on a Garmin graph but is actually just a long steady spin without any horrible steep ramps; the run down to the Crook Inn is a blast, best part of 20km mainly downhill to be greeted by a rave and a resupply; most of the crap surface patches come between the top of the Beeftub and Penicuik but it’s all pretty easy road otherwise. There’s a really lovely long descent after that and then you’re at the Edinburgh Ring Road (and the 24hr garage if you need a top-up) before the last couple of cheeky rises and a long run down through Embra to Cramond and the grassy knoll.  Aside from that, all the ‘extra stuff’ that Fraser and Gary get laid on – Scouts transport, Moffat chippy, Crook Inn cyclorave, beers on the beach, Fresh Start bacon butties – make it a really awesome atmosphere and experience.

Eight and a half-ish for me, set off with a group who were way faster than me and was going to die off early if I’d tried to stay on their wheels. Largely soloed the rest, stopping to stretch every 20km because of niggly knee issues. Piper on the Beeftub was doing ace, think it was a long night for the young lad! Sat at the rave for a little while, loving a bit of Born Slippy. Got to Cramond at 4am, watched the sunrise, had a beer, grabbed a bacon butty and a cuppa at the Kirk, then rode gently (by the least hilly route!) up to Waverley for the train back to Leeds.

Massive thanks Fraser, Gary and all of the team involved – absolute corker again!

See you all there. Fingers crossed for the weather!

Nokia T10 or T20? I’ve got the T10 and it’s decent enough for what I need.

A Capybara. Small, robust, furry and gets along with most things and people. Generally unflappable. Likes baths.

Bit later in the year, but there’s a 50km at the Yorkshire Trod in October?

Yorkshire Trod

Mid-season ‘see where we are’ Ultra-type event at the weekend – Dalby’s Inferno

Basically: A 5km trail lap with ~100m of climb, starting on the hour every hour for 10 hours, so Ultra distance but with enforced rest breaks so long as you were under the hour. If you were over, you sat the next lap out but could rejoin up until the 9th lap. You could only run the 10th  – which is the only officially timed ‘race’ lap – if you’d completed all 9 previous laps.

Wasn’t intending to ‘race’ any of it, it was just a bit of a benchmarking event to see how my legs were and how they’d cope with the distance (and, given the weekend we had, the heat!). Paced everything steadily and used the downtime between laps to drink, eat and stretch. Turns out I’m an absolute model of consistency when it comes to endurance running pace – about 8mins/km and I can trot away all day – these are my lap times:

(Intermediates are the downtime between running laps, seemed like the best way to record…)

I knew I’d be walking some sections – the laps were basically one big down then a big back up rather than undulations – so over the first few laps I set some marker points of “I start walking for this hill at that tree, and I start running again at that signpost” etc, and I stuck to them rigidly in the later laps, which helped loads. While I’m not at all bothered with what positions were, I know started near the back of the pack each time and tended to pass a good few people just by being disciplined and hiking with a bit of purpose on the climbs.

All in all, a really fun day, nice course, good chat in the pit area between laps, and a nice concept for people who might be trying their first foray into Ultra distance – talked to quite a few who were doing that for the first time.

Managed to actually do some planning in advance, which means I’ve got cycle reservations on the trains I need for RTTS this time!

Darn it, I’d searched before posting but missed that!

A couple of not-very-good pics from my cheapy waterproof camera, but a gorgeous few hours in a boat.

Did the Copeland Canoe Club ‘Seaquest’ event last Sunday, a 3hr Canoe orienteering event in the Ravenglass lagoon and the estuaries of the Irt, Mite and Esk. Paddled as a 3-person team in generic sea kayaks, but there were open boats, general purpose boats, some fast sea kayaks/marathon boats, SUP boards and a few inflatable kayaks as well. Really well planned event and a cracking few hours on the water

Keswick Mountain Festival 25km at the weekend – was hot, sweaty and very pretty. Steady 3:49 shamble for me, hilly and hard first half, flat and therefore harder when you’ve no excuse for walking second half. Went through 3L of electrolyte (topped up at each of the 3 drinks/feed stations) and was still on the verge of dehydration at the finish.

If you can find them and they’re not too pricy, Goodyear Connectors in a 50mm would be good. I’ve got the 40s on my gravel bike and they’ve been ace.

Hoping to be along this year – had booked the Scouts transport last year and then got bloody Covid two days before the ride!

I’ve got a couple of running caps from Headsweats (US company, don’t know how easy they are to get over here) that are really good for wicking. That or, as IHN says, a Buff – I’ve got a couple of old ones I’ve cut in half horizontally to make a double-layer headband.

Not a show I ever watched but a face I recognise.

Never seen in the same room as Jack Straw. Makes you think…

The annoyed/frustrated geek in me thinks that if you wouldn’t find it in a dictionary, it shouldn’t be in a crossword…

(That may just be the annoyed/frustrated geek who’s only just got it, and doesn’t think it was a good one…)

@onewheelgood – gimme a clue, it’s doing my head in!! :D

@Hedgehopper – looks like the numbering in the question is wrong, it’s 6,5.

One left to go (15 down) and it’s bugging me!

Perhaps ask participants their expected time, as they do at some running events I have taken part in and then group accordingly,

One problem with that, as there always is in running and biking events – people lie.

Ardent race front, Ikon rear

I don’t play it, but I think that (if they can) one April 1st they should just set it so for everyone in the world, whatever you type in gets accepted as correct. It would mess with stats, but would be funny as hell.

F’s sake. Took me 3 seconds after you said that, Hannah. Was getting sucked into other avenues to describe a map maker – and I’m an orienteer and map geek….

20 across @stwhannah – I’ve been scribbling letters on paper in random orders for an hour and nothing works! Gagh! :D

One clue left and I’m doing my own damn head in…

I got one of the Jack Racks and really like it. I bought a second-hand BigXTop Rando Bag off someone on here that fits it pretty nicely, needed some extra bungees to secure but it’s a handy size. I don’t think they’re making them officially any more but you could ask – same as CamelChops above. Restrap do one as well.

Loved that, as did my other half. She’s more interested in the clothing design than I am, but both of us went ‘that’s cool’ at both the designs and especially the reflective tweed!

Same as others, split rides would be the answer.

I ride with some mates who sometimes bring their dogs – not a Club, but anyway. I have no problem with said dogs in normal life but I don’t enjoy riding with them around, even though I’ve now got used to how they usually behave.
– One like to run 5-10m ahead of you, and occasionally likes to stop, positioned right across the trail in front of you, so you have to panic brake to avoid hitting it.
– One likes to run just level with your front axle, always on the left-hand side, meaning you can’t turn left without risking hitting it
– One likes to run alongside, level with your cranks, usually on the right-hand side, meaning you can’t see it without taking your eyes off the trail and can’t turn right without risking hitting it.

Because of all of that, I spend too much of the ride worrying that I’m going to crash into one of them and injure either the dog or myself. We can’t ride as a single group because they latch on to different people, and those of us who don’t want to worry about hitting a dog have to hang back and make sure they’ve gone with the front pack. That takes some of the enjoyment out of ‘going for a ride with my mates’. It sure as hell would suck any enjoyment out of riding with a club of people that aren’t necessarily my mates…

80% offer seems to be every other weekend, from how often I get sent them!

Lots for a lot of reasons, mostly inextricably linked to an ex-girlfriend, mostly Suzanne Vega tracks like World Before Columbus. But, from before her and still one I come back to regularly…

I have this about Greggs cheese and chorizo pasties. I only ever saw them at the Greggs in Lancaster while I was walking round the corner,

Total aside, but there’s a chance they might have only existed at that one (or a couple locally…)

I know my other half bemoans the loss of a particular bakery chain in Birmingham that got bought out by Greggs (though the name escapes me…) Apparently they had a really good veggie pasty, which the newly Greggs-ed branches locally stocked for a while then discontinued. Might have been the same situation with your Cheese & Chorizo.

Yep, those are gopping…

Got to love XC @pyro.

Do I? Is that mandatory?! ;)

I suspect I will spend an hour blowing out of my backside and trying not to cry. Type 2 fun….

Side effects of joining a running club – I’m racing a Cross Country race on Sunday!

I was a county champion in schools XC, however that was 20-something years and several pies and beers ago. I am not expecting great things…

@surfer – not done it, but am entered for September now. The Sep anticlockwise Lap is reportedly slightly harder than the May clockwise route, but they both look manageable.

My other half bought Solovair for a while, but has gone to Lanx boots – she likes handmade and British-made, they might be worth a look.

(Following on the reviews and targets thing…)

I had a relatively poor year of running last year, but didn’t have a major running event in as a target so it was back to basics, with shorter orienteering events etc. Only bigger running event was the OMM in October, and due to lack of fitness on my part and a chest infection on my teammates, that ended up being two solid hiking days rather than much running.

2019 – 17 runs, 141km, 3540m ascent, total time 19:41:58
2020 – 50 runs, 402km, 8667m ascent, total time 50:52:12
2021 – 68 runs, 901km, 24669m ascent, total time 135:51:03
2022 – 43 runs, 450km, 13950m ascent, total time 67:56:32

After the doldrums after my A-race (Itera expedition race) I’ve joined a running club so it should – barring issues – be at least one run a week with them, plus parkruns, events or longer runs at weekends. I’ve got a couple of local XC league events coming up for them as well, I’m entered for the Great Lakeland 3-Day in early May so that’s three good days in the hills that I need to get sorted for early in the year. After that, maybe the KMF 25km Trail Run in late May, another Adventure Race (Itera-lite) in July and maybe The Lap ultra in September. I’m not a speed merchant like Lunge and others on here so it’s choosing long fun stuff to keep me interested.

Re: Packs – I switch between a small Mountain Hardwear vestpack (that they don’t make anymore, which is a massive shame) and a couple of older Ultimate Direction vestpacks (Mountain vest and FKT pack). None of them bounce too much, all have good cinch-down straps and work fine with bottles and food in the front.

I’m using a set of the Eyra Aquatrail trousers at the moment. Only had a couple of rides in them but both have been properly muddy and they’ve stood up to it very well. Only issue I’ve had is them being a tiny bit long in the leg for a chunky shortarse like me, but not to the point of it being a hinderance once I’ve got shoes on.

Don’t know if you can still get them, but I’ve had a pair of Timberland folding shoes for quite a while that were good for pottering around camp – lightweight, fold in half and pack small. Look a bit odd, maybe, but work well.