Catch up

Since my last post a lot has happened. I've moved house, been on holiday, caught impetigo and completed some more challenges.

Rock to Rocque - A charity bike ride around the island, a very pleasant day out. Although in itself not that challenging I decided I would spice it up by trying to cycle up the Val de Terre (one of Guernsey's longest and steepest hills). As the hill was closed to traffic, and even if it wasn't 300+ cyclists would have made it practically impossible for cars to do anything, it was an ideal opportunity without worrying about the traffic behind. It took me just over 4 minutes to cycle up and about 10 minutes to recover from it. So although the challenge was the "Rock to Rocque" for me it was getting up Val de Terre. It started ok but then when I changed gear I had a slight problem, I couldn't get it into the low gears, so instead of doing it in the lower set, I had to push in the mid-set. Not pleasant but hey it was done.

Itex Walk - 40 mile walk around the coast of Guernsey. I did this last year and swore I would never do it again, but when you're looking for challenges then this is a Guernsey classic. As I have contact on the organising committee I was able to start the walk 30 minutes before everyone else, which meant we should be able to clear the first 16 miles on the cliffs without getting caught in the crowds. I was walking with 2 friends from the climbing club, who's partners had to drop out of the walk, so the 3 of us set off at just after 0400. When we got round to Vazon the bubblegum rally was just setting off so we had some weird looking cars (and people) pass us as we walked down to Cobo. All 3 of us managed to complete the walk in just under 13 hours, which is almost 3 hours faster than I did it last year. So after walking 40 miles in under 13 hours, what do you do? You go to a wedding of course! Within 2 hours of finishing the Itex Walk I was at a wedding wondering if I should mingle or just sit near the bar.

8 days later I was in Bala in North Wales at the National White Water Centre and getting ready for my white water rafting challenge. Whilst we were getting changed and briefed it started to rain, which is not bad when your going rafting. Overall the day was pretty good and I loved the rafting, unfortunately it ended on a sad note as I had my rash vest and swim shorts nicked whilst I was getting changed afterwards.

2 days after that the sun was out the sky was blue, so lets climb Snowdon! It was the first time I had been up Snowdon on the Llanberis path, and after about 1hr and without much difficulty got to the 1/2 way cafe. I was surprised that it had only taken an hour to get 1/2 way, and thought the path was extremely easy to walk up. However past the cafe is where the climb really begins. The gradient increased significantly and when we walked through the tunnel and effectively crossed to the other side of Snowdon the wind started to pick up (we had been sheltered up until this point) and the gradient went up another notch. But in just under 2 hr 30 mins from the bottom we were stood on top of Snowdon. After sitting up top for a while, we made our way down to finish just under 5 hours after we had started. So we headed off to the pub for a beer or 2 then over to Pete's for some much needed food.

Since coming back from holiday I've started my "cycle to work for 40 days" challenge and started getting lessons from Kel @ Island Adventures for my "Roll a kayak in the sea" challenge. There is also some video evidence of my rolling attempts, which when I nail it will also be posted.

Next scheduled challenge is the "Herm Fun Run" and my stage debut in "A Midsummer Nights Dream" should be happening on the 20th August. I'll will have completed my cycle to work challenge, and to hopefully get my kayak roll done before the end of August so within the next 4 weeks another 4 challenges should be done.

Sorry for the long post but wanted to get completely up to date. I will try and keep up with the blog as I continue the 2010 40/40 Challenge.


**rant warning**
I must be honest and say I was a little surprised at what has been done to the summit of Snowdon, as I can clearly remember the last bit being a bit of a scramble, but now for some reason they have "landscaped" it and put in steps, please come on folks, steps at the summit of a mountain :-( Also the new "visitor attraction" at the top, someone dropped the ball with this, as although the views are spectacular on a clear day I couldn't help noticing that here was nowhere to shelter if the centre was closed, as it is in the Winter. Surely it isn't beyond the wit of man to spend another couple of grand to add a shelter?
**rant over**

One more down

So, finally moved house, big thanks to all who helped. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The only downside is, the weather has been so good the past 2 weeks on the rock that we've still got boxes to unpack and rooms to sort out, but hey sometimes it's just to nice to stay in and do the mundane things associated with day to day life :-) Alothough I do need to get the greenhouse sorted or my vegetables won't be ready for the "North Show".

As the title suggests I managed to sneak another challenge in, it was one of my climbing challenges "Lead a climb outside". Basically last Tuesday I set out with the intention of either completing an HVS clean or leading a climb. As these things tend to happen, the situation presented itself to do the lead so I went for it. Nothing spectacular, nothing special just a nice Mod, which to be honest I could have probably solo'd, but the monkey's off my back and I did it.

Off on my hols in a couple of weeks to Llanberis, which is a climbers playground, and hopefully I should be able to get some climbing sorted. If not I will complete at least one more challenge as I am going White Water rafting whilst I'm away. When I get back the "Cycle to work for 40 days" challenge starts.

Total for Cancer Research currently stands at £215 so still a way to go. Oh well, on with the 40 / 40 challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

What's going on?

Well it's been a while since I did an update to the 40 / 40 challenge blog so I thought I'd better update you with what's happening. After the triathlon I decided to take a break from training so not really been doing much, just chillin' and enjoying my time. We're moving house this week so a lot of time packing up and getting ready for the move.

Then over the next few weeks the challenges start coming hard and fast. Another challenge has presented itself with the "Rock to Rocque" bike challenge on 30th May followed by the Itex walk on 5th June, then whitewater rafting on 13th June. The "Three Peaks" challenge has been changed to "Climb Snowdon" as I have been unable to organise it, probably becuase I'm crap at organising!! And this will happen sometime during the week 14th June.

When I come back from my holiday I will then start with the "Cycle to work for 40 days challenge" - So over the next month I should complete 4 more challenges and started on another. Challenges currently in progress are "Drink 40 different beers" & "Knit a jumper", and training for "Climb an E1"; "Lead an outdoor Climb" & the "Havelet Wall Traverse" is in progress.

Amount raised for Cancer Research now sits at £215, which is good. Next post when I've moved house. Cheers and thanks for stopping by

Triathlon

Another challenge down. The one that started it all off. Official time of 1 hr 18 mins 45 secs. The day didn't start well as I had a poor night's sleep and was up @ 0400. But no excuses, the objective was to compete and I did, because I turned up & I finished. Swim leg was poor, but time shows I was about my target time of 15 mins. But I felt it was poor just had one of those days. After the swim I just wanted to finish the thing! Spent far to long in the tranisition and could easily have knocked 5 mins off my time but hey I did what I did. Bike leg wasn't to bad but the head wind on the way back was a tad rough, but it was the same for everyone. Run was OK until it started to rain, but that stopped after about 5 minutes. All in all I had a good time and achieved what I set out to do, finish a triathlon. So happy days and another challenge done. Next big one? Itex Walk on 5th June (40 mile walk around the coast of Guernsey), looking forward to it :-) Thanks for stopping by

Happy Easter

So Easter is here, the weather is getting warmer, the nights aree getting longer so more time for training :-) Knee is a whole lot better and managed 20 mins running out on the road yesterday morning. Tri is now only 25 days away so training is starting to get quite hard but looking forward to attempting the Tri. Climbing is going great and thinking about starting a seperate blog, after an amazing adventure last weekend.

Not much else to say, thanks for stopping by.

New Challenges

A couple of new challenges have been suggested and added to the list.
1) Catch, prepare & BBQ a 5lb Sea Bass.
2) Climb an E1 before the end of the season.
If you want to see more information on climbing grades goto http://www.ukclimbing.com/databases/crags/comptable.html.

My first outdoor climb was HS, so need to up by 3 grades.

Donations for Cancer Research have reach £215, thanks to everyone who has donated.

Triathlon is 4 weeks tomorrow

Update

I know I haven't updated for a while, but believe me life is going a little crazy at the moment. So where to start, well a couple of weeks ago I had to start looking for a new house as the landlord decided they were coming back from Oz sooner than they had planned. So frantic times as we looked for a new place. Viewed, offered and accepted on a house within 4 days, I think even on the rock that must be some sort of record!

Another great session with Ann over at Bowditch Fit and a nice routine leading up to the Tri, before I take a nice 2 weeks off and do nothing but swim, cycle, kayak, weights, cliff walks and climbing (I hate running).

Tri training is going well, with a slight setback, but onto that in a while. I managed to get the times from last years tri and was pleasantly surprised as my "target" times I had set myself would see me finish a respectful mid pack, just the boost I needed. Then the setback :-(, managed to jar my knee whilst out running and I am currently wearing a knee brace and walking with the aid of a stick. Nothing serious just playing it uber safe. Went to the Doctor, and manged to get a physio appointment at the same time. Basically 48 - 72 hours of "nothing to strenuous" until the inflammation goes down. So for the next 2 days I'm limited to swimming (not a bad thing), but no cycling, climbing, running, kayaking or cliff walking.

However after the setback I had another boost, when someone who, to be 100% honest, is a complete stranger to me, heard about what I was doing and donated £40 to the challenge coffers right out of the blue. THANK YOU

Probably a couple more updates prior to the tri (25/04) but until then, thanks for stopping by.