downhill daffodils
Massive silence from me, for those of you that check this site and care, i apologise. It's been a mixture of busy busy days, not wanting to update in the evenings, and packed weekends leaving me unable to do so. and look! it's the lunar eclipse! pretty red moon :)
I guess I last left you with a taste of liverpool and burnt birthday cake, so here's what's happenned since then...
First the biking stuff. :) really excitingly, we went to the manchester velodrome - that track thing where bikes go really fast in an oblong shape on oddly proportioned bikes. might i add with no freewheel - your feet are the brakes and if you stop pedalling, you go falling over at (hopefully) high speeds. it was also my first time in SPDs - clip in shoes so you can't move your feet. definitely safer that flatties (not clip in pedals) in this situation, still quite disorientating at first, but definitely the best situation to learn in, i found. we went round and round and felt the breeze on our faces and then we went home. it was suprisingly, really enjoyable and not as boring as i'm making it sound. i hope to go again someday.
Back to the cross county stuff, the past few months i've technically been "in training" for the BUSA student championships, which were held last weekend in dunkeld, north of edinburgh. by "training" i mean a couple of spinning sessions on the exercise bikes in the gym, a few more weekend rides, and a technical skills training session in the peaks meaning i can now wheelie (though i fell off the back a couple of times i'm just that good), manual (like a wheelie but without pedalling, and no, i can't do a proper one), and trackstand (stand still on the bike) to some extent. all good, fun stuff. dunkeld and camping at -4degrees C proved to be quite, quite cold, but it was a really enjoyable long weekend, and quite an eye opener. i'm really getting into it all but i'm also mostly getting the feeling that i might not be entirely cut out for it, and definitely don't like race situations. to cut a long story short, big long uphill at the start followed by ridiculously slippery, steep and narrow "you're-out-of-your-depth" downhill sections. no problems in practice, but come race pressure and after the track had been nicely churned up (female champs race was after 3 other races) it became very painful and demoralising. i quit 5/6th of the way through the first lap, cried like a baby, then rejoiced in the achievements in our rather fitter male competitors. well done boys say i :) at least now i have something to aim for next year, finishing the course.
Next up, postgrad stuff! with the PGSA, we organised a speed-dating event which surprisingly enough ran very smoothly and quite enjoyably. i'd not seen how they run before but have always been interested in trying it out, so organising one was a bit novel and "enter the unknown" for me. at the moment we're finalising the details for the summer postgrad ball, a seriously classy event with lots of money being thrown at it and lots of bits and pieces needing organising. it's coming together quite well, though i think we'll all heave a huge sigh of relief after the event is over and done with - just 2 months to go!
We visited york for a day, and did the touristy stuff in town, not to mention stopping off to buy 1.5kg wirth of fudge and lots of bakery items (so much for training for the mountainbike champs...). we saw cathedrals and markets and fudge makers, lots of chocolate shops, a hat shop (something totally new for me) and rain. it rained lots. and then some more.
And two of my friends visited! Ewa from london and Ben from switzerland came and entertained me for a few days. i love catching up with old friends. and curries. :)
At the moment i'm mostly excited about my upcoming trip to cyprus with martin, rachel and colin, 3 of my flatmates. it's going to be a very welcomed holiday after finally finishing and handing in my literature review a mere 3 months late, hopefully with copious amounts of sunshine and beachy loveliness. first they changed our flights, meaning we arrive back a whole day later at 3 in the morning (such a joyous, EASY time to travel at...), and then they changed out hotel because "the iphigenia have decided it's not worth their while opening in april". um, ok. no worries though, we've been upgraded to a beach-side location (i've been assured it's still IN accomodation and not just "on the beach"), with many nice amenities. just 2 more weeks to go. oh i can feel the sunshine now as i look out onto the fog-covered ring road. what is it with nottingham and fog? 
I guess I last left you with a taste of liverpool and burnt birthday cake, so here's what's happenned since then...
First the biking stuff. :) really excitingly, we went to the manchester velodrome - that track thing where bikes go really fast in an oblong shape on oddly proportioned bikes. might i add with no freewheel - your feet are the brakes and if you stop pedalling, you go falling over at (hopefully) high speeds. it was also my first time in SPDs - clip in shoes so you can't move your feet. definitely safer that flatties (not clip in pedals) in this situation, still quite disorientating at first, but definitely the best situation to learn in, i found. we went round and round and felt the breeze on our faces and then we went home. it was suprisingly, really enjoyable and not as boring as i'm making it sound. i hope to go again someday.
Back to the cross county stuff, the past few months i've technically been "in training" for the BUSA student championships, which were held last weekend in dunkeld, north of edinburgh. by "training" i mean a couple of spinning sessions on the exercise bikes in the gym, a few more weekend rides, and a technical skills training session in the peaks meaning i can now wheelie (though i fell off the back a couple of times i'm just that good), manual (like a wheelie but without pedalling, and no, i can't do a proper one), and trackstand (stand still on the bike) to some extent. all good, fun stuff. dunkeld and camping at -4degrees C proved to be quite, quite cold, but it was a really enjoyable long weekend, and quite an eye opener. i'm really getting into it all but i'm also mostly getting the feeling that i might not be entirely cut out for it, and definitely don't like race situations. to cut a long story short, big long uphill at the start followed by ridiculously slippery, steep and narrow "you're-out-of-your-depth" downhill sections. no problems in practice, but come race pressure and after the track had been nicely churned up (female champs race was after 3 other races) it became very painful and demoralising. i quit 5/6th of the way through the first lap, cried like a baby, then rejoiced in the achievements in our rather fitter male competitors. well done boys say i :) at least now i have something to aim for next year, finishing the course.
Next up, postgrad stuff! with the PGSA, we organised a speed-dating event which surprisingly enough ran very smoothly and quite enjoyably. i'd not seen how they run before but have always been interested in trying it out, so organising one was a bit novel and "enter the unknown" for me. at the moment we're finalising the details for the summer postgrad ball, a seriously classy event with lots of money being thrown at it and lots of bits and pieces needing organising. it's coming together quite well, though i think we'll all heave a huge sigh of relief after the event is over and done with - just 2 months to go!
We visited york for a day, and did the touristy stuff in town, not to mention stopping off to buy 1.5kg wirth of fudge and lots of bakery items (so much for training for the mountainbike champs...). we saw cathedrals and markets and fudge makers, lots of chocolate shops, a hat shop (something totally new for me) and rain. it rained lots. and then some more.
And two of my friends visited! Ewa from london and Ben from switzerland came and entertained me for a few days. i love catching up with old friends. and curries. :)
At the moment i'm mostly excited about my upcoming trip to cyprus with martin, rachel and colin, 3 of my flatmates. it's going to be a very welcomed holiday after finally finishing and handing in my literature review a mere 3 months late, hopefully with copious amounts of sunshine and beachy loveliness. first they changed our flights, meaning we arrive back a whole day later at 3 in the morning (such a joyous, EASY time to travel at...), and then they changed out hotel because "the iphigenia have decided it's not worth their while opening in april". um, ok. no worries though, we've been upgraded to a beach-side location (i've been assured it's still IN accomodation and not just "on the beach"), with many nice amenities. just 2 more weeks to go. oh i can feel the sunshine now as i look out onto the fog-covered ring road. what is it with nottingham and fog?
posted by lydia at 10:11 AM
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