SportsShoes Blog

Well I’ve got a big challenge already in the bag for 2009. Me and a group of my cycling pals are going out to France in July to ride La Marmotte - it’s a 173km road cycle route around the Alps which finishes with the famous Tour de France climb up Alpe d’Huez. It attracts around 5000 riders each year so it should be quite a day out.

We are also planning to ride the Fred Whitton in the Lakes in May which is 100 mile tour of the Lakes taking in all the big road passes. Although there are around 200 riders it is estimated that only around 15% actually manage to ride the whole course without resorting to pushing!!! Should be fun….

Before all that though is the very serious business of the Santa Cycle - this year it’s on the 20th December and if you’ve got a bike and a santa suit you’re welcome to come along. It all started about 13 years ago when a small group of Mountain Bikers from Eldwick had an idea to do a Christmas ride dressed in santa suits - it was a great laugh and so a tradition was born and now each year around 20 santas make the journey from Eldwick to Bolton Abbey tea rooms via Ilkley. I think this will be my 6th santa cycle (I’m a relative newbie) and I can tell you it is such a great day out. People always ask if we do it for charity and the answer is no - we don’t want anyone to feel obliged to give money we just want to spread some festive cheer - the looks on the kids faces as we cycle round Ilkley singing carols is just amazing and the number of honks, cheers and waves we get from passing motorists of all ages is ace. A few years ago we even managed to get on the front page  of the Ilkley Gazzette as a reporter spotted us and got us to pose for a photo down near the river. Apparently we also feature in Bolton Abbey’s brochure - they love us in the tea room and we’re usually given a free brew in return for a couple of verses of Rudolph in front of the fire (mind you that’s after we’ve spent about 300 quid on grub to fuel the fire for the return leg back over Keighley Gate).

I keep getting people saying they’ve read my blog which is great so a big hello to Romero (who, despite his name has got a stronger Yorkshire accent than me) and Tricky - one of the cycling santas who is a steel rimmed glasses and grey haired high flying bank manager by day and a Freddie Mercury impersonator by night (only ‘half’ joking - but his Freddie outfit at the 80s night we went to a few weeks ago was a sight to behold…).

Sorry for the lack of communication - there’s obviously been a bit of a rejig to the site which I missed and last week I struggled to log in. As such, my latest post is a bit late in arriving. The Sedbergh Hills race and the Olympics now seem like ancient history.

Anyway, the Bingley Harriers backpack run to Ilkley was a raging success (if not a little messy!!) and I managed to get a couple of bike rides in that weekend as well. Again that seems a long time ago as I’ve just returned from a fab week in the Alps - Chamonix to be precise. What a place that is - if you’ve never been put it on your list of must see places.

I was out there on holiday but also to take in the North Face Ultra Trail Tour Du Mont Blanc race. After running it in 2007, this year I was there purely as a spectator and assistant to a few mates of mine that were running. It’s an absolutely spectacular event with 2400 runners taking on the 100 mile course (+30,000 ft of climb). This year, due mainly to the hot weather, only around 1250 runners actually completed the course in the alloted time (46 hours). I’m really pleased to say that my pals Colin, Rob, Johnny and Kevin all made it to the finish - well done guys you can wear the jacket with pride. Unfortunately, one of my other buddies Ross failed this year after a good run last year - I think he was probably trying a bit too hard early on and paid the price in the heat.

Britain had a fantastic victory with Lizzie Hawker winning the womens race in a fantastic time of 25 hours 20 mins - big respect!!!

Managed to get a couple of good runs in whilst I was there - What a place the alps are - hundreds of miles of trails all with breathtaking scenery and  massive climbs and descents - a real runners / bikers paradise. I was out last Thursday morning early - caught the cable car half way up Mont Blanc then ran along the Grand North Balcon - saw my first Marmott!! - before returning to Chamonix via the Montenvers trail - all this before breakfast - top banana!!

Now it’s back to reality - well almost as it’s the mighty Ben Nevis race this Saturday. Just time to unpack and rinse through my undies before I’m off again on a trip oop north.

The Ben is a real hard race - 1 mile flat - 4 miles climb - 4 miles descent - 1 mile flat - simple eh? I can tell you that no 10 mile run feels like the Ben race - nor does any 10 mile run make you walk in such a bizzare way for the next 2 days. Afetr my semi restful holiday I’ll be interested to see how I go this weekend - one thing’s for sure the party in Fort Bill on Saturday night will be a gud un!!