Shhh dont tell the husband

I ventured out on the bike in the snow and ice yesterday. It hadn't dawned on S when he left for work that the only way I could get to the midwife appointment was by foot, pedal or two busses.
Since we'd had a hard frost overnight, I imagined that the snow and ice would most likely be crisp and after the Monday morning rush-hour the main roads would be ok. My deduction was spot-on and I enjoyed a slow ride through the woods and park with my fat, lower pressured tyres making a satisfying amount of crunching sounds as they rolled over the ice and snow. Any glassy looking bits, I walked around and over the whole of my 11 mile trip, I hardly lost any traction on any uphills.

The ride took a long time, mostly because almost every dog walker I passed fancied a bit of a natter (having mondays off work is brilliant for this; people out & about during the week seem to have more time to say hello and it makes the world feel like a friendlier place as it seemed when I was growing up). I popped into the garden centre in the park to pick up part of my mum's birthday pressie (I dont recommend carrying ceramic pots in back packs, but my fatter tyre bike has no pannier rack) and made a detour to get butties and a couple of Manchester tarts for lunch with my mum.

It feels like yonks since I last embarked on an epic monday ride, but these little blasts through the trees still bring a lot of calm and restore my sanity after I'm either stuck in buildings or braving the town centre (both of which make me very grumpy).

Due Date Approaches

The view from my settee

Other than a mere 7 miles on Monday through the park & woods to mum's, and 27 miles on tuesday to a work meeting and home, the bike has not seen any action this week. The weather has been wintry and although I usually love a nice snowy ride, I'm taking the sensible option of not taking to the streets and bridleways.
My bump has dropped, so I'm into the last stages of pregnancy. Soon my body will be my own again.
To anyone venturing out, enjoy this lovely weather, I'm incredibly envious of you all ;-)

Windy Days

Unless I'm commuting (which includes a 7 mile stretch into a full on headwind), I LOVE cycling in the wind. And this weekend has been very blustery indeed.
So I took myself off to join the ctc's extra-short ride yesterday morning. Alas, nobody else turned up and the leader wasn't too well, so I ended up having a solo ride exploring some different lanes around Pendle and popped in to see some relatives for a catch up (and brews & biscuits).
An easy 19 miles with a mere 1450ft of climbing (under par for my usual rides, but I chose some lower level routes to avoid the worst buffeting on national speed limit roads). 

The wind certainly helped push me up one or two hills that took no effort & I even had to holler 'watch out' to two lasses crossing a road who hadn't seen me approaching as I flew up a road with some strong gust assistance (they crossed from behind some parked vehicles at a diagonal angle & did apologise). And I certainly had to pedal hard on most downhills - so very little freewheeling.

I'd felt my blood pressure was more normal this last week, so thoroughly enjoyed the time pedaling since I've been taking it easy recently.
And with my bump increasing in size, and only a few weeks left before I'm due, the cycling felt just as easy as normal; definitely easier than walking and less disconcerting than when driving (when any big movements feel incredibly weird - there's much less moving around going on when I'm pedaling).  

Walking!

Finally a touch of winteriness in the air. Short lived, but beautiful.

7.5 months pregnant and I am now taking it easy - not just because of the icy conditions and risk of falling off the bike, but my blood pressure has just dropped a lot and its already naturally low. That's not to say I've done no bike miles - I still did my Christmas shopping by bike (good call since there was car parking mania in town when I rolled up and locked my bike in the supermarket carpark) and today I popped my dependable comfy upright, wide-geared hybrid in the car to have a short lunchtime ride.  I'm hoping the blood pressure picks up; not being able to cycle is making me feel like a caged animal, but I'm not going completely stircrazy yet, I've managed some walks to keep me sane.

And the obligatory n+1 bike rule meaning that the thought of a midtail / cargo bike for the little lad's arrival seems a great idea at the moment. But plumbing, roof & outside wall work is keeping me in check about making any splurges, even if I plan on saving money through investing in pocket nappies instead of disposables...

Other than being less mobile than usual and getting some quality kicks in the ribs, the hardest thing about being pregnant is not being able to pencil in cycling tours for the year ahead. The dark days of winter are when I like planning adventures to look forward to.  I am hoping to go on my cycling club's May family friendly camping trip though and I'm looking into various ways to maintain some kind of outdoor time with a newborn about.

I was very lucky to have an easy first two trimesters and I have done some fantastic rides that I hope to recap and share in the next week.

And for those who are interested in how I've found cycling through pregnancy so far: 
Keeping cycling up until 30 weeks was really easy for me. Yes I was much slower than usual and started getting overtaken by other cyclists, but that wasn't too terrible. I was still managing to get miles and feet in and enjoying knowing that I was keeping in really good health for the imminent day(s) of labour to come.
I certainly felt most comfortable on my upright bike, although I was still using drops until about 5 months, after which point it just got a bit uncomfortable. Off road riding has been fine other than some discomfort from bouncing appendages early on, but using a comfort bra actually helped solve that problem. I'd never needed anything akin to a sports bra before, but now I think I'd happily live in the things, they're just so much more practical.

Cycling has been much much easier than walking - carrying extra weight on a bike is a normal part of cycle touring / shopping by bike, so having extra weight attached to me was not noticeable when pedalling, but when walking up stairs and hills, I really have been able to feel it. Any pains in my back and hips were eased by cycling and keeping moving, where sitting or walking seemed to make things worse.

Now well into the third trimester, I can feel my reduced lung capacity so cycling is even slower to ensure I dont need any deeper breaths; dropping to a super low gear and slowly pedalling is fine for getting up all the hills I need to. I just have to take care mounting & dismounting so I dont pop my hips out of place. 
The snow & icy conditions have deterred me from getting out this week. The light frost afew weeks ago was not a problem and I enjoyed a crispy night-ride to my aquanatal class all off-road in with the light of the moon. Perfect and really special.

My bump has really expanded in the last few weeks, but that's not been a problem on the bike. It's more of a problem when negotiating the kitchen when I forget how big I am now and crash into work tops.

For anyone thinking about how you keep cycling in pregnancy, well it's easy - keep going, listen to your body, take some sweets & a drink incase you suddenly need something to keep going, even on short rides. Some days you wont feel like riding at all, but for me those days were few & far between.

My First Wild Camp Trip

Way back in June, on the day I discovered I was pregnant, I set off to do my first ever wild camp. That had nothing to do with discovering the news, it was purely coincidental. I'd been planning the trip for a few weeks beforehand.

Stephen was not phased about his pregnant wife setting off solo for an adventure. Possibly partly because he was in denial about the news and didn't believe me about the accuracy rates of modern day pregnancy tests.

With lovely weather, I loaded my trusty Raleigh up with panniers & sleeping bag and headed off towards West Yorkshire initially. My destination was determined by an outdoors shop at Holmfirth where I'd be purchasing a Gelert solo tent to start out with. No point forking out a fortune on something to find it wasn't to my taste. I'd be spending less on the tent, roll-mat & inflatable pillow than I would on a b&b.

Most directions from home start with an uphill and this route was up the best of the lot. Up followed by chevrons and a climb that is challenging at the best of times, but with a loaded bike, short wheel base, hot weather and hot flushes from early pregnancy, this would be the slowest ascent with the most stops I'd managed. And I perfected leaning as far forward as possible to prevent my front wheel lifting off the tarmac. I may very well invest in front wheel panniers for future camping trips.

This is always one of my favourite roads to ride. I had a quick 'hello' to my Dad as I passed where we scattered his ashes and let him know my news. Before long I was about to freewheel down through Heptonstall where I would then pick up the Rochdale Canal and the adjacent tarmac cycle tracks that roller coster the valley bottom to Sowerby Bridge.

I'd arrived at my lunch stop and enjoyed a breather, a check in with Stephen who was in work whilst I was enjoying a monday of freedom and I consulted the map for which route to pick. I ended up plumping for following Route 68 as much as possible. The cyclist version of the Pennine Way that runs North South along the backbone of England.
I found the steepest hill I think I have ever come across in my life (and there are afew here in Calderdale) and I was heading for Norland and the wonderful views. I managed to make it up the hill without getting out of the saddle, but it was very hard. The roads now were all completely fresh to my eyes and I enjoyed them immensely. Towards Scammonden Water, I caught up with a couple of roadies out for the day and had some company for the next few miles. We chatted about the imminent arrival of Le Tour and one of the gentlemen asked about my hefty workhorse of a bike on these hills - I explained that a lighter machine would be less sturdy with a load and that I was not in a rush to get anywhere. They peeled off north and I continued on my southerly route towards the wonderfully named Netherthong & Upperthong into Holmfirth and towards the outdoors shop with plenty of time before it closed for the day.

I rejigged by panniers before the next leg that would send me towards the Peak District area via pretty, albeit ominously named Hade Edge, that actually was a bit of a plateau and some leisurely riding. I'd begun to think about camping spot options by now, but looking at the early time I decided to pedal on. The map showed plenty of reservoirs coming up around the Trans Pennine Trail and I'd thought this area may make a good spot, but as I traversed the hills I wasn't convinced by the views and exposure.

I spent some time pedalling up & down the flat TPT looking for a good spot, but nothing inspired me. So I stopped at a picnic site and enjoyed my butties and a drink. Lightening some of my load and planning the best direction to head in. I opted to follow the TPT westwards knowing that it would join up with the Pennine Bridleway which would be a good way to ride home the next day.

The next section was a lovely surprise. Afew months earlier, we'd driven to the RSF Autumn meet at Sherwood with club member and avid cycling nutter (like me), Ian who explained we were driving parallel to the TPT & I remember thinking how wonderful this area was. Very wonderful indeed, but not without hills. I climbed from the disused railway towards the Woodhead Pass. I felt wonderfully isolated here despite of the main road below me, there was little in the way of civilisation around here and I'd not seen another sole for ages.
I clocked a hill that looked like a good camping spot, but there were afew too many cows roaming, so I carried on a little way and spied an ideal crop of bracken with a brilliant view. The pitching site was instantly obvious to me. I began removing the flourescent guide ropes from the tent and was amazed by the ease of pitching this little coffin style tent compared to the 5-man tent that I usually lug somewhere in the car (my husband wouldn't camp any other way). I was set up for the evening so had a little wander to check out the lack of visibility of my camp and happy with my invisibility I enjoyed my semi-warm flask of soup for supper and sat in the tent avoiding the throng of midges that had come out to play.

The cows and sheep weren't too close, but I could hear them roaming about. The road was silent after the commuter traffic ebbed away. I had a moment of worry as a farm quad drove along the track higher up the hill. Was I going to be found and moved on? It carried on and vanished into the distance, not to return.
Pjs on, bed set up, I was plenty warm enough even when sticking my head out to look up at the clear sky of stars. I enjoyed a full night of undisturbed sleep with just minor dreams about being found in my tent, but nothing that woke me up. Once again camping on my own (last time had been on a campsite) I was surprised by how secure I'd felt.

I enjoyed the early morning view as I got dressed and my camp was dismantled in no time. This being my first wildcamp I'd not invested in any small stoves, so I would have a few miles to ride for breakfast. This would take my along the Longenden Trail into Hadfield. I pushed down the steep, stony descent before picking up the easy, flat off road trail and enjoyed the morning sunshine and fresh wind in my face that helped with the slight nausea I was suffering from.

I found a breakfast cafe in minutes followed by a bakery where I stocked up on goodies to keep me going. Then I headed for the Pennine Bridleway, the kind of terrain that I am used to riding on. However with a fully loaded bike, it is far from easy riding on the lumpy, hilly tracks. My bike was much more difficult to control, momentum uphill was non-existant and momentum downhill was terrifying. But I enjoyed the brilliant views and still managed to make better headway than the guy with an unloaded full-susp mountain bike who I spied behind me.

 As I started the descent towards Stalybridge with the view of Manchester in the distance, I made a decision to head for the Huddersfield Narrow Canal to make headway on the flat into the next valley rather than continue on the hilly bridleway.
I enjoyed some more cyclist company here as I passed Mossley and Uppermill. Here the gentlemen headed for a pub lunch & I carried on to Dobcross and Delph where I was meeting a fellow club member, Mick who would be riding with me for a stretch. Following lunch, his insider knowledge of roads came in great use. He took me on some quiet main roads that I'd have avoided if on my own (sometimes maps cannot give you any inclination of what a main road will be like), which made for some brilliant headway before returning to the bridleways around Piethorn that took me back into familiar territory around Hollingworth Lake.

 

Here Mick headed back towards home and I picked up the trusty favourite Rochdale Canal to Todmorden. Rather than take to the steep hills, I left the dark valley along the main road, its picturesque, but very busy with traffic, but the gradual climb had me powering along nicely and I was home in time to make Stephen's tea before he got home from work!

95 miles with 11,800ft of climbing under my belt it was a wonderful two days of exploring with a bit more knowledge about what to expect from future cycle wild camps.

Birthday trip to Llanberis

Last week S & I celebrated our birthdays, so as usual we booked the week off work and then I looked to find the least rainy place in the country that I could, which seemed to be North Wales. So we booked in at the YHA in Llanberis.

On my birthday we did a lovely little bike ride. Just 17 miles but with about 2700ft of climbing. Part of the cycle path around Llyn Padarn was closed, so we ventured off the main road and onto the tops to do a circuit of the valley. The only traffic we came across up on the narrow lanes was a postie doing his rounds. Alas there was no cat on his dashboard.

We stopped off in Llanrug to get extras to add to our packed lunch. The butcher/deli there is really good. Coffee is excellent, loads of choice and had we known we'd have just bought butties there. Well worth a visit. Then we cycled through Penisa'r Waun, which had been our first port of call back in April on our wedding tour. I'd thought at the time that I'd love to explore this area some more and here I was. At Brynrefrail we had a comfort stop at a 'caban' again this would have also made an excellent lunchstop if I'd known about the cafe there. From here we took a long steep climb beyond Fachwen; a guy walking was almost as fast as us (we were stopping to take photos though) and we joked about his Terminator like speed walk. Turned out he went into a house up the hill, so he must walk up here daily perhaps.

On the side of 'Electric Mountain', Eledir is an old slate mine which now has some heritage trail paths around it. They are footpaths, but it was quiet so we enjoyed cycling the area and amazingly didn't pick up any punctures. Phew. It was a fun descent with interesting terrain under our tyres and one of those headwinds that full on stops you despite going down hill!
The afternoon was a bit wetter so we visited the free visitor centre at Electric Mountain which is worth a look at to read about the history of the hydro electric station. Next time I fancy doing the full tour.

The next day was Stephen's 50th and since the winds were a bit lighter, we decided to climb Snowdon. We took the sherpa bus to Pen y Pas and then walked and scrambled on the Miner's Track. I was glad that the thick clouds meant you couldn't see down, my last view of the lakes beneath us made me feel very mortal on the narrow rocky path. I was also glad to be ascending this way- I think I'd have cried all the way down if I had to descend this track. There was an immense number of people up here to say it was a poor weather mid-week day out of school holidays.

It was incredibly blustery at the top. I loved that the cafe had a great mix of walkers and train riders to the summit. You could tell those who had climbed from those who had walked off the rack & pin train in their finest pristine walking gear.

There was an abandoned dog in the cafe who was trying to beg food off just about anyone. Stephen wouldn't let me take it with us.
The long descent down the Llanberis path made me pine for my bike as it slowly worked its way to the village. It just kept on going and going. I was glad we hadn't climbed this way up. By the bottom, both our legs were feeling it and we had a brew in a cafe who thankfully let us in before they closed for the day.


Our last day in Wales was a bit easier. We visited Portmeirion, the private village where they filmed The Prisoner. It was certainly an interesting little place. We cycled from the car the last mile down the lane and had a nice time pottering about, slowly because our legs were both super stiff from the day before. I enjoyed the gelato that they sell and Stephen enjoyed nosing around the shops there.

We wandered onto the beech and weren't chased by any giant balloons, so we managed to get home and our only issue escaping was the horrendous motorway traffic that meant a 6 hour drive home!!

So 5 months pregnant and still cycling and walking the hills with no problems. The only issue at the moment is agreeing on any names.

Half Commutes & short leisure rides

Last week was epic. It already feels a distant memory.

This week has been made of half commutes and short rides for the South Pennine Walk & Ride Festival.


 What are half commutes? Well every day this week Stephen has been out of the office in the morning, but in the office for afternoons. Simply I cycled in to work in the morning and chucked my bike in Stephen's car for the return. Yes I felt a massive cycling cheat, but when your commute is 15 miles each way it really saves some time at the end of the day & means you get your tea time at a sensible hour.

The weekend consisted of four short festival rides.

Another sunset ride saw the sun appear just in time for the ride. It was only four miles, but it's an enjoyable little route up to The Halo at Haslingden.

 

Saturday's family ride was beautifully sunny and yesterday was the two loops around Tockholes (which counts as two rides... I suppose the ride home actually makes it three for the day).


I'm planning my next ride for tomorrow, but am unable to get it under 50 miles. I'm trying to take things a bit easier since last week I was plagued by incredible sleepiness. The main issue with pregnancy cycling & my dream rides is keeping them realistic and trying to not take too much out of my body. I'm fighting off ideas for bike-packing trips before the end of summer, but it is tough, there's just so many lovely places to visit around here and I dont think riding through any frost this winter would be terribly sensible.
 My cycling daydreams will have to be confined to bicycle accessorising ie recovering my saddles to make them asthetically awesome for each bike and sewing up some nice saddle bags.