RTE with Rock & Ride

RTE are filming a programme 'Irelands Natural History' and required access to a remote cliff area to film and study rare plant life. The plant dates back too before the last ice-age 60,000 years ago and has a unique distribution across the western seaboard and only one known location in Ireland.

It clears after we finished - sods law!

Rock&Ride where tasked to provide an assessment of the cliff/mountain area and then safety cover for the shoot.
The weather proved to be very challenging for all. Visibilty was poor, with strong winds and rain. Not ideal for shooting a documentary. All the crew proved very resilient and we had a long day in the mist.

The programme will be out next April and we will look forward to seeing the results.
We had great co-operation from local landowners Padraig & Michael.
Special thanks also to friend and colleague Paul Kellagher for assistance during the day.

Many thanks to all at RTE and Colin (the Botanist).

Fell running, the good pain!

When I first moved to the Mourne Mountains I remember being struck by the amount of runners I saw up in the hills. Wiry, stern looking people with impossibly muscular legs running up impossibly steep hills. Naturally I just presumed that they were genetic freaks and that they were operating on a different physical plain to the rest of us. This was confirmed when I read the results of the races and I saw that the top runners were able to run from the middle of Newcastle, up Slieve Donard and back down in less than an hour! Back then I was unable to even run at all, years of knee abuse had led to them both hyper-extending and a consultant advised me to not run for 3 years. Fast forward to 2011 and I found that I could run again without too much pain and one afternoon I decided to follow the course that was marked out for the Tollymore 'Hill and Dale' race. Being a competetive type, I timed myself to compare with the athletes who'd be racing on the course and was hugely surprised to find my time was good enough for 13th rather than the 113th I'd expected. Fuelled by this knowledge I decided to actually do a Hill and Dale for real. I'm slightly terrified of sprinting downhill so I thought the fearsome 'Binnian to the Top' race would be perfect, a gruelling all uphill sprint up the steep side of Slieve Binnian. It nearly killed me but I got a 7th and was instantly made to feel welcome by the top runners around me, it was also very gratifying to be asked which club I ran for by a couple of club chairmen!

Fast forward again to July 2012 and I've just finished my first full Hill and Dale series as well as the aforementioned Slieve Donard race. I've realised that in the mountains I really am quick (upwards) and slow (downwards), much like when I started racing mountain bikes 20 years ago! I've really enjoyed the races, the physical challenge combined with a brilliant laid back atmosphere which sees the top runners cheering on the slower and vice versa and everyone chilling out after (whilst getting soaked and eaten by midges!). I'm pretty proud to have got 2nd in my category and 5th overall and am looking forward to seeing what I can do if I properly train next year.

Me bothering the local paper with a dodgy mug shot!

So what's this got to do with Rock and Ride? Well, it's actually very much like mountain biking and I'd really recommend it to anyone who wants to get fitter. The thrill of descending is just like on the bike as is the sadistic enjoyment of the climbing. There are definite techniques (that I lack) which see some people flying down the hills with smooth and light steps just like the joy of watching top downhillers. The big advantage of the running though is that £70 odd is all you'll need to spend to get some shoes and away you go. 

I've joined Newcastle running club who have been full of banter and good advice on the few occasions I've been able to join them on club runs and their excellent website http://www.newcastleac.org/ is also full of the info you need to get running and racing.

And as for the Donard race, I still can't count myself among the proper runners yet, 1 hour and 46 seconds means that I'm 47 seconds off being a real contender and even worse it means I have to do it again next year!

If you want any info on fell and mountain running or if you want to learn the essential navigation skills that can make it safe to run in the mountains then contact me at ian@rockandrideoutdoors.com.

A week in the Mournes

Last week seen me work 7 days straight on climbing courses.  I was very lucky with the weather all week.  I got to visit crags like Lower Cove, Pigeon, Spellack and Altnadue Quarry and climb routes such as Castrol R (E1), Falcon (HS), Gynacrat (HVS), Dot's Delight (HVS) and the Mourne classic Pillar Variant(S).  My clients were really keen to look at placing gear, building belays, lead climbing and belaying and multi pitch climbing.  Well by the end of the week they were both confidently leading S and there multi-pitch rope work was very slick.  It was really satisfying to see the progression people can make in just a week.

At the weekend I was working with a group from down South. On the Saturday 4 of them wanted to look at building belays and setting up at the top of the crag.  With the slightly dodgy forecast the decision was made to go to Altnadue Quarry. Not an amazing venue for climbing but really good for looking at the fundamentals involved with belay set ups, belaying and for group use.  We covered a lot and by the end of the day all 4 clients were working independently.  Nice one guys.

The group for Sunday were more advanced so Spellack was the venue.  After 20 minutes we were at the base of forest view buttress and the team were getting kitted up to start leading.  These guys wanted to look at more advanced techniques so we covered tying off a belay plate, escaping the system followed by counterbalance rescue and snatch rescue and the very useful skill of abseiling past a knot.  These are all very useful skills to know especially when venturing onto more committing cliffs in Ireland.

A special note should be made for Harry who had to be rescued because he got his rope stuck...............

For anyone interested in any type of climbing instruction just get in touch.  Quality is guaranteed!

Mizen to Malin - Bikes, Beers and Bloody Awful Weather!

So we completed our ride from Mizen Head to Malin Head up the West coast of Ireland and it was amazing, unfortunately we picked the worst week ever to do it!  Here is what we learned...

1) If you're riding 950km on road, use a road bike!

Paul thought his £200 mountain bike would do the job, he quickly realised how wrong he was!  Luckily Paul's brother Colm was on hand to lend him his lovely Cannondale road bike to stop Paul from dropping out.  Paul was instantly happier and lots quicker, Colm probably not so delighted that he had to ride the beast back to Cork!

Lads at Mizen Head - Beast bike 2nd from left

2) It rains in the West of Ireland!

Yeh, state the obvious but I mean really rains.  We had to be physically removed from the bus at Mizen Head and we huddled behind it for shelter until it buggered off.  We then had about 9 hours of dry weather in nearly 7 days!  There were severe weather warnings, don't drive warnings, poor visibility warnings, flood warnings etc etc and all along we had to plug on to our next stopping point.  The last two days were basically back to back 100 mile time trials riding as fast as possible into headwinds and sheet rain, nice!

Ian on one of the drier days!

3)  It doesn't hurt your legs, it's the other bits that'll get you.

I'm in good enough shape and contrary to belief Ireland is actually very flat so the riding is easy.  If I'm honest my legs and lungs never suffered.  Luckily for me I ride bikes a lot and so with waterproof shorts and a great pair of cycling shorts my barse (look it up!) stayed intact unlike some of the lads who were running to the pharmacy for various creams.  For me it was my wrists from leaning on the bars all day and my digestive system that suffered.  That last one actually got us all, burning an extra 5000 calories a day means you hoover up every possible bit of food, any old crap.  Us healthy bunch aren't used to two packs of fig rolls, a pack of Haribo, 2 Double Deckers etc on top of three huge meals and a few Guinness and so Rennie and stinking were the order of the day.  I really felt sorry for anyone who had the misfortune of sharing a room with us!

4)  Touring on bikes is great fun!

I'm a mountain biker who loves going fast and the whole touring thing never really appealed, carrying all your stuff, travelling slowly all day, making your bike handle like a bus.  BUT in actual fact it was brilliant.  With the right company (cheers lads) and the right country (thanks Ireland for the sights and people) it is just such a laugh.  I'd totally recommend it and all sorts do it.  We met cyclists of all ages, shapes and nationalities and they were all smiling.  We ate some great food, drank some great beer and stayed in some spectacular places.  Get your mates together and plan a route...  See you on the road!

Job done.  Next stop the pub.

Loving the evenings!

With the weather finally giving us what we've waited a loooong time for we've been able to get out and enjoy the light with some amazing evening biking sessions.  Castlewellan has some stunning singletrack, beautifully flowing and well known for that deep roosty dust whenever it dries.  I headed out with the Hawk and Andy Mac to enjoy the best of it with a few laps.

Work is due to start on permanent graded trails there sometime soon.  Hopefully they'll sit alongside the existing ones as natural singletrack offers a challenge that trail centres sometimes can't.  We'll have to wait and see but in the meantime hopefully this weather will continue!

Trail Cycle Leader

Ryan learning to tune his gears

The first Rock and Ride Trail Cycle Leader award was run by me on March 21st and 22nd.  Based from Meelmore Lodge we not only had some amazing views but also really handy access to the hills and some nice soft grass for practising skills on!  The course covered the whole syllabus with assistance from Rachel, Cycling Ireland's head of coach development.  Day 1 was all about the skills, maintenance and planning with day 2 focusing on fitting out bikes, risk assessments and putting it all to the test out on the trails.

Sammy and Ryan starting their leg

Everything went really well, the weather was spectacular and so was the feedback.  Looking forward to the next TCL training in July and hopefully seeing these folk back for their assessments soon.  Had to laugh at finding out that the Tollymore trainees could hear me running the skills sessions from miles away even though the wind was blowing the other way, I get vocal when I'm coaching!

8 new TCL trainees!

Mega Pitches and Classics at Fair Head

Wow it has been quite a while since I have blogged, not that I have been sitting about doing nothing but work has been very busy.  My week in Spain with Mountaineering Ireland and the kids went very well, a quick week to Lanzarote for Noddy's wedding (www.noddygowans.com) and flights booked to San Fran for 3 weeks scaring myself on the big stone - it has been fairly busy over the last while.  Ian has also been flat out and his TCL in June is full - happy days!

Salango in a ONER!

The fear! Abbing in for the first time this season!

With Yosemite only 4 months away training has started properly this week.  I managed 2 runs this week to stiffen the legs up and a cracking day at Fair Head yesterday.  The technique of double ropes is very popular in the UK but not so much in North America, they quite often use a single rope for most routes.  Now both have advantages and disadvantages and I will not go into them in detail.  Our tick list for the states consists of routes that are mostly climbed on a single rope so yesterday at the head we opted for a 70 m single.






My personal opinion is why would you climb with double at Fair Head?  No need for a 60 abseil and most people have 100m to ab in with, 90% of the routes follow cracks and 99% of the gear is bomber!  10 years ago at University it seemed trendy to climb everything on double ropes but at the head there really isn't a lot of need.  A single rope gets rid of FAFFING and no twists at belays!  Personal opinion only of course - each to their own!




For our training we also decided to get our early season trad heads on and do everything in one pitch.  This was great fun and in a few hours we had managed to tick Titanic (E2), Salango (E3), Ocean Bulovard (E3) and Mizen Star (E2).








Thanks Marshall for a brilliant day just climbing and revisiting the old classics from years ago!

I also came across this blog last night, sonnietrotter.com/roadlife/.  The 'what's his secret' section is worth a read.  It is sort of cool to read that some of the top climbers don't just live for the next route and get so self obsessed with training - they just climb because they enjoy it!