Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Not a day for climbing as a little damp and windy so Olly and I had a nice cycle around the West Penwith peninsula.  Morvah, St Just, Lnad's End, Lamorna, Mousehole, Newlyn, Penzance (for coffee and cake), Cripplesease, Zennor and back to Morvah 64km and over 1000 of height gain means my legs are likely to be a little sore in the morning.

The Isle of Wight was where I spent the New Year. 2019 ended on two wheels with some biking to a pub for lunch and back followed by cake. 2020 started with some Stand Up Paddleboarding, cake, lunch and a firework display. It is important to carry some traditions over into the new year and the continuity from 2019 to 2020 was cake.

A bit of two wheeled fun today (and pain tomorrow) on the Isle of Wight Randonnee with Crys. 100km with 1500m of ascent gave me a good lesson in life. Namely that I should have trained for it. General fitness and sheer will power got me through it but it would have been so much less painful with a little bit of training. I am struggling to sit down right now and if I do, I am not sure I will be able to get back up. This was a well organised event and most definitely not a race. A number of checkpoints all with cakes available made it a nice social day but the hill from Compton to Freshwater after 90km in the saddle was brutal and no amount of cake could make that any better.

Today I went down to see Olly for some paddle fun but the rivers were lower than a low thing doing the limbo in low land so I agreed to some 2 wheel pain fun instead. A nice 20km circuit (with a borrowed bike and kit) from Ashburton to Haytor Rocks, 480m of height gain (no stopping though) on the way out in glorious sunshine and low winds followed by a very fast descent with dropping temps and wind chill making it feel sub zero at times. I definitely need to cycle more to keep my fitness up as I have been invited by friends to cycle round the Isle of Wight in May.

Yesterday was a day of admin followed by a quick 25 km road ride out to Williton just to get away from the computer. Good to be back on the bike after at least 6 weeks off it. Today I was on a BCU Coaching the Mind intermediate module. This is a compulsory part of the Level 3 Coach programme. I have sat through many coaching workshops for many different sports so nothing new really but a few ideas that I may use at some point.

In order to help us recover form the descent yesterday, Rick and I cycled down to Lake Geneva for a swim, rest and lunch before cycling back along the lake and up to his house. The lake was about 24 degrees and although vis seemed a bit murky it was probably all the bathers. I could still see a few fish about. I am not sure that cycling uphill in 30 degree heat is to be deemed a rest day but it was good fun all the same. My short visit to Switzerland has been very successful but tomorrow morning I will be on the motorbike riding back to catch the ferry home. I hope the weather has been as good at home as it has been here.

I got home from Ecuador late last night and having been missing some aerobic activity (Diving really isn't that energetic) so jumped on my Giant Defy 2 for a quick spin around the local area. 35km with 455m of height gain in 1hr 40 not too bad but clearly two weeks at sea has not been good for my fitness.