My OMM Bike Peak District

The week before last saw the final preparations for my first ever orienteering style race, and my second bike event of the year (a Duathlon in February being my first).  As part of my OMM Ambassador role I get the fantastic opportunity to enter OMM events and write about them, so I decided to try the bike event rather than the "Lite" (running) event as it was something different and Caz could do it with me.  

Team GVS ready for action!

In the lead up to the event Caz (my teammate) and I got our kit together and put in quite a few miles on our bikes (road and MTB) and were pleased with our fitness.  Caz has had experience of navigational events before in both running and on bikes, whereas I have never had to use navigational skills before, so I was really excited to give it a go!

At the beginning of the week I had my bike mini-serviced at The Bike Factory - who kindly supplied us with gels, bars and hydration for the event, and, on Wednesday, I competed in my second fell race of the year - the Herod Farm Fell Race.

An array of nutritional goodies

Herod Farm Fell Race in Glossop, Derbyshire is a Category AS race covering 3 miles and 340 metres of climb. Having never done this race before I was quite keen to have a go, especially as I had heard it called "Horrid Farm" by other Goyt Valley Striders!  

Me with Estelle and Helen

I found the course suited me down to the ground as it started off with a proper hill right from the off, and it reminded me of a mini version of the Famous Grouse fell race, which I had done well in last year, managing to be first lady Strider home.   

"She's behind you!"

After the first hill came another hill, one which most of the field walked up due to its gradient, little did I know that the next hill would be a monster! I literally had to use my hands to help and not look down as we ascended the nab (slowly!).  

"Wheeee!"

It was with jelly legs that I reached the summit, and it took a bit of persuasion to get them running again!  I really enjoyed the fast downhill sections which followed, especially a lovely steep smooth grassy field where I managed to pass two runners!  I really went for it at the farm track we had started up, as I knew the finish was imminent.  

Again, I was really pleased to be first lady Strider home, 11th lady overall out of 36 and 3rd in my age category with a time of 34:48, full results can be found here. Definitely not horrid, definitely Herod.

OMM Bike Peak District

Map boards were a brilliant addition to our kit

I was really excited waking up on the Saturday morning, the sun was shining and I felt that I was as prepared as I would ever be, Caz and I looked the part in matching outfits to represent both of our clubs - on Saturday we opted for the Chinley Churners (our cycling club) in our "Beer, Cake, Bikes" tee shirts, buffs and hoodies (which were a good talking point and much admired), and on Sunday we opted for our Goyt Valley Striders kit.  

Caz owns a workwear embroidery and printing company and supplies both of the clubs with merchandise so we were kindly kitted out by a&c workwear for the weekend.  

Wearing my Rotor Vest

Obviously, I also wore my new OMM products which had arrived just in time!  - namely the OMM long sleeved tee which served as an excellent base layer, and I actually washed and dried it overnight and wore it both days.  My new Kamleika Jacket was absolutely brilliant, it is soft, doesn't rustle at all and fits perfectly.  I stayed warm and dry both days when wearing it.  

Team Churners!

The second day was much cooler with stronger winds so I wore my Rotor Vest as an insulation layer, which was really good as it is so thin but lovely and warm, in fact I had to remove my jacket after the first climb!  My trusty OMM Last Drop 10 backpack served me well yet again and fitted all the necessary kit in (just!).

Dexshell overshoes in action

I wore Dexshell overshoes on both days - I found they were quite hard to get on, and Caz had to help me with the zip, but once done up they fit really well and my feet stayed clean and warm both days - on the first day we encountered a calf-deep river crossing and it was a few seconds before the water seeped into my shoes.  They dried out over the course of the day so I was really glad of the neoprene keeping my feet snug.  I really gave them some hammer up the boulders of a green lane where we ended up pushing our bikes and the bottom of the overshoes stayed relatively in tact - a big ask!

So, we had all the gear, but did we have any idea what we were letting ourselves in for?! The answer is yes and no, we both anticipated that we would push ourselves and get as many checkpoints as possible, but on day 1 we managed to spend too long getting a 50 point control and it really set us back.  

Control 31 was our nemesis!

The map covering a wide area

We had decided to try to map a vaguely circular route taking in as many controls as possible.  This we did but the terrain was unknown and we found ourselves taking some paths which were slower than taking longer road options. We were also less confident at knowing whether we would be going up or downhill, it was tempting to think north is up and south is down!  We got quite adept at reading contours and meters by the end of the competition!

Eating my way to more space!

Our bike map boards were a Godsend, we could navigate on the move which was brilliant, and we managed to keep moving most of the time.  We had been really organised with food and made everything bitesize and mostly accessible - though at one point I literally had to eat a load of food to make room in my pack for my jacket!


We managed to get 12 controls on the first day, passing through Hurdlow, Glutton Bridge, Hollinsclough, Hardings Booth, Fawfieldhead, Hulme End and Biggin. We were pleased with our route and we ended up doing 27 miles which wasn't too bad considering some of the steep and technical terrain.  Going into day 2 we were well up for the challenge of another go!  In fact, we both said we would have liked 5 hours on both days rather than 5 on the first and 4 on the second!  

Caz with Parkhouse Hill in the background

On day 2 we changed tactics a little and decided to forget trying to get to tricky 50 pointers.  We headed north of the start at Parsley Hay crossing the A515 and heading to Alport.  We seemed to be picking up controls much more often and we were pacing ourselves well.  We saw some lovely places, the village of Alport was stunning and we loved the scenery around there.  After about 20 miles it started to rain slightly, and the wind seemed cooler.  We were crossing exposed arable moorland so we put our jackets back on and continued to our next control.  In the end we managed to get a couple of bonus controls - a total of 11, again covering around 26 miles.


The organisation of the event was excellent.  All of the OMM staff and volunteers went out of their way to accommodate everyone and it was really simple to know what to do - basically get your wrist SPORTident dibber at registration on day 1, have it cleared by "dibbing" it in the little box on both mornings, choose a start time for both days and off you go!  All really relaxed and fun.  The food provided was lovely, especially the cakes!

After the event - tired but happy!

Checking my compass!

I was relieved not to have to wear a competitor number as I didn't want to put holes in my new gear with safety pins!  All of our information was stored on our dibbers which was great!

Overall, our aim was to get as many controls as possible without getting lost, and without coming last! We really pushed ourselves and felt we couldn't have tried any harder. Out of 29 entries we were 21st overall, which for our first go wasn't a bad attempt and the main thing is we had fun!  

Since the event, we have printed out all of the splits to see what the more experienced competitors did differently, the main difference being that they went for as many 50 pointers as possible and travelled further than us. 

Our route planning however was good and we followed similar routes to others so that was reassuring.  On the whole we both really enjoyed the weekend and would definitely do it all again!  Thank you OMM!  

My next blog will cover tips for first-time fell runners, along with more race reports, until then, happy running!

TLF 

OMG or should that be OMM?!

Walking back from the Dee party rocking my Proviz jacket!

These last couple of weeks have certainly been eventful!  Sailing-wise we had a bit of a non-event at the Dee Dart 18 Open meeting, with a drifter (no wind) on Good Friday so no races sailed, and then far too much wind on the Saturday and Sunday, resulting in only one race being completed by 10 boats out of the fleet of 30 entered.  

Unfortunately, (or fortunately if you were me) we were not one of the brave ten as it was just too windy with gusts touching 29 knots - there were 5 capsizes and one chap even snapped his mast! The evening parties were, as always, fabulous with live bands and great friends. Fingers crossed for better weather next year!

Mrs H telling the hikers we are not mad - honest!

Collecting evidence of the madness!

After the sailing weekend we headed up to Coniston in the Lake District for our annual Easter holiday with our caravan.  We had a really active week with our great friends the Harrison's - with running or biking most days (both some days!).

I think I'm on my phone here looking for directions!

Beautiful views make all the climbing worthwhile!

Notable rides were a MTB ride up Walna Scar road and back down into Torver with Mrs H.  A ride which became apparent very quickly wasn't going to be the "quick hour ride" we had in mind!  It was awesome though with skiing down peat bogs and hike-a-biking it up rocky crags!  We were a good way up the Old Man at one point!  We felt very proud of our efforts afterwards, after negotiating sheer drops into disused quarries and Mrs H braving sheer slate drop offs (I wimped out!).

Into the unknown...

Loving it!

We also did a ride which I could have done on Ladybird (my roadbike) and wished I had brought her with me! A circumnavigation of the lake with Mr A - it was really good even in pouring rain and gusting winds!  Mr H made us look very slow completing the circuit in 49 minutes on his crossbike, we thought we had been quick doing the 23k in 1 hour 17 minutes!

I said in an earlier blog post that I was planning on running up the Old Man of Coniston again, which I duly did... I have to say I learned a few lessons though - don't go just before dark, don't rely on mobile phone battery and don't forget your fell shoes!  I ran with Skye the collie (my holiday running companion) and wore a Canicross belt, which enabled me to have both arms to run and scramble up rocky crags with.  

Selfie of the ascent up Goat's Water

I followed a similar route to last year, running up the same way as we biked up Walna Scar Road then turning right onto the path leading to Goat's Water.  I love this part of the route, gaining height and looking back at the lake getting smaller and smaller.  

Looking back at Coniston Water 

Looking back at Goat's Water

As we negotiated Goat's Water - a really amazing place, I was thinking how tough and unforgiving the mountains can be, even relatively close to the civilization of Coniston, it is still a very remote and lonely place to be if you were unprepared and/or lost.  I felt fine even though my thighs were burning a bit after all the steps to the summit of Goat's Water and confident I would find the quicker way to the trig at the top of the Old Man.  

Trail panorama

I cross checked my map and continued on the path I took the year before - determined to find the right hand turn off to the top.  Alas I couldn't find it again and ended up cutting the corner and heading back in the direction we had just come, but this time negotiating quite deep snow to boot!  I found this hard and slippery going in my trail shoes (I had left my Roclites in the boot of the truck which was at Grizedale with Mr A!) and the light was going as the sun was disappearing before my eyes.  I have to say I was getting cold and a bit worried that I still had the down bit to tackle yet and thoughts of mountain rescue were creeping into my mind!  

The Trig with the sun going down

Looking down on Low Water from the top

It was 18:55 when I reached the cairn.  Needless to say I didn't hang about at the top for long!  I really struggled down the first half of the decent, climbing down the sharp rocks with Skye eager to get home too and no grip in my shoes was bloody hard.  I didn't enjoy it.  When I saw the carpark at the lower section of Big Hill I was relieved and went to ring Mrs H to let her know I was OK - my phone battery died so I knew I had to push hard to get home.  We legged it to the carpark, passing a family who had cut it fine too, and then headed down the exceptionally steep category 2 road into Coniston.  I was really pleased with my pace back to the site, I really pushed it and the Canicross belt helped as Skye was eager too!

I was pleased to have tackled the route again, but like I said, lessons learned this time.  

My biggest news is that back in February I entered a competition using my blog post "Why not Tri a Duathlon".  The OMM (Original Mountain Marathon) is a technical clothing company who run events aimed at runners and bikers from elite to amateurs where wild camping and navigational skills feature.  The competition was to find ambassadors of the brand for the 2016 season who would post monthly blogs featuring training, race reports and product reviews.  Basically, the sort of thing I am already doing.  

I put a lot of thought and time into my entry but didn't hold my breath that I would get anywhere.  It was a long wait to the 31st March when the winners would be announced.   On the day before the announcement date I was contacted by OMM to say they had been overwhelmed with 1000 plus entries,  as I read the email my heart sank, until I came to the part when it said I had made the top 10 and they loved my blog!  I read on with heightened anticipation, thinking what the... anyway, in a nutshell I have been chosen as one of 4 other amateur ambassadors (I think it should be OMMbassadors!) and will receive kit, products to test and entry into any OMM event free of charge!  

In return, I will produce monthly blog posts to let the OMM community see what I am doing and I guess to represent the average runners out there.  The aim is to inspire others to get out into the outdoors and start enjoying our amazing landscapes.  You can read the article announcing the new ambassadors here. To say I am thrilled is an understatement so watch this space for OMM blogs (I will still use my Lady Fellrunner blog in the same way - just with monthly OMM specific blogs too).  

I have entered the OMM Bike Peak District event on the 23rd-24th April which I will do with Caz.  We are very excited!

I have been sent some new overshoes courtesy of the Bike Factory (apparently my baggy Aldi ones do not cut it ;-) ) from the Manchester based DexShell rep to review. So I will get to test these at the OMM event too.  

It really is all go at the moment as Womens Running UK Magazine have contacted me to do an article on PBs - I contacted them with my story when I first wrote my blog, and they now want to feature my latest PB at Woodbank parkrun on their "My PB Story" section.  So look out for me in the magazine next month!! 

Hilariously today, Ava, my niece (after I was telling her about my article and OMM stuff etc. said "Aunty - you're trending!" 

Events coming up this week - the Thomas Theyer fell race - an 11k fell run around Combs, Derbyshire on Sunday 10th April.  You can sponsor me at https://www.justgiving.com/theladyfellrunner - its for a fabulous cause and the race should be a great boost to the charity.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Well done if you've read all that!

Happy Running!!! :-)