caitelliott.co.uk » snow

What Winter?

Cait — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 20:11:34 +0000

It turns out this year there was no need for psyching myself up for embracing snow sports in order to survive a freezing cold snowy Swiss winter, winter has been cancelled. Before Christmas it was cold and snowy but since then its been mostly above freezing with hardly any snow in Zurich. Suits me, lots of muddy biking! the problem is one day of snow can can stick around a week or two and on the trails quickly turns to unrideable sheet ice so sometimes the road bike is a better option but thats nice too when you’re surrounded by snow.

Pictures below from a crazy January adventure in the Alps where we had to go to 1200m to find snow and after a short mega avalanche style snow descent we were riding dry sunny trails all day. Awesome.

The nights are slowly getting lighter, the race season is fast approaching – exciting times ahead!

More winter weather

Cait — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:56:54 +0000

Last week deep snow and ice made a return to Dublin causing utter chaos in the city and forcing me to spend more time on a turbo trainer than any sane person would admit to! Training has seemed like more of a test of mental strength and determination than the usual enjoyment, but luckily sanity was somewhat retained with one urban mtb ride where snowy roads in the city could be ridden like trails. It was too cold to stop and take many photos but Phoenix Park was amazing – pristine snow, blue sky, and almost empty except for herds of deer.

Phoenix Park

Christmas Day in Dublin

My flight home to England for Christmas was cancelled and my brother and I got stranded in Dublin. We enjoyed the deep snow and sunny weather and had a second Christmas in York two days later.

This week has been my annual international training camp in Yorkshire. It may be a pro mtb destination for the world cup in May but December is not the best time to come. Although it has been a relief to ride a moving bike since the roads are clear of snow here, the weather has meant more mental strength training to endure the cold and wet. Yesterday I was soaked and feeling like an ice cube after an hour, so by the end of five hours… At least there is proper tea here to warm up afterwards!

Yorkshire Tea

frozen river in York

Two cold rides left before international training camp part two – a week in the Sierra Nevadas in Spain with Freeride Spain. Great hosts, huge climbs, THE best technical descents in the world, rocket fuel Spanish coffee, good weather – excited is an understatement!

attacked by ice

Cait — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:06:53 +0000

Looks pretty? NO, its evil! The crazy cold weather continued this with unusual subzero temperatures in Dublin turning snow from a last week into hard ice and freezing all the puddles. I’ve had to acquire cold weather survival skills – setting off with boiling water in my water bottles meant they didn’t turn solid quite so quickly. I’m also considering undertaking a mince pie diet to try and keep warm, skinny cyclists are not suited to this weather!

For 98% of the time its fun to bike on solid frozen ground without worrying about getting muddy, the only problem is you have no idea when a patch of ice is going to pop up at ruin things. This is what happens when it does:

back to the turbo trainer?!

Training in the snow

Cait — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 18:02:19 +0000

streets of Ranelagh

River Liffey & Calvatrava bridge

The snow didn’t stop after last weekend and a week later there is more snow in Dublin than I’ve ever seen outside of the Alps. The city is in total chaos with public transport not working, streets blocked with snow, pavements turned to sheets of ice etc. Commuting to work through the snowy streets on a road bike with skinny tyres has been great fun although once it started to get icy the mountain bike was a safer option. At least the snow makes everywhere look pretty and gives people something to think about other than the country’s economic doom.

frozen canal

interesting commute

Training wise I cracked big time and was forced to embrace the inner roadie for some turbo training madness. I bought a turbo trainer 2 years ago but this was its first time out of the box. Rather than sitting indoors staring at four walls for hours on end, I set it up outside under the porch in front of my house so that I could look out at the snowy street and watch people go by. It helped to stop me looking at the clock but I did get a few funny looks as people slide around fighting through a blizzard and I sat there in a t-shirt pedalling away like crazy!

turbotastic

It’s actually almost enjoyable once you figure out how to play mind games with yourself so that time doesn’t come to a complete stand still. In my head I’ve spent the week doing laps of race courses all over the world – shut your eyes and use your imagination it comes as a shock to open them again and realise 20 minutes has passed and you actually haven’t moved anywhere!

Some good pumping music is another essential. At the moment my playlist includes Holy Fuck, Girl Talk’s new mix, Leftfield, Deadmau5 and Underworld. Any more suggestions welcome…

view from my bedroom

Thanks to the guys in the Think Bike workshop for putting the turbo together, the most complicated piece of apparatus imaginable.

thankfully real biking again at the weekend

Snow in Dublin!

Cait — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:39:11 +0000

All of a sudden winter is well and truly upon us and an incredibly dramatic storm on Friday night left Dublin covered in a blanket of snow for the weekend. So while the roadies sat indoors for hours on their turbo trainers, we headed for the hills for some fantastic mountain biking.

singletrack starts at home

The off-road ride begins at your front door in this weather with loads of sliding around on the snowy streets.

Dublin Bay

Three rock on Saturday was a fast, slidery playground with a perfect amount of snow for riding through with just enough grip. Sunshine, dramatic skies and spectacular views over Dublin and the sea.

Road biking suddenly seems more interesting

This morning we headed further afield, taking the mountain bikes for a road ride to Djouce and then ducking into the woods for a few trails. There was a real sense of expedition, an eerie silence and only deer prints for company as people in cars couldn’t make it up that far until later in the day when the roads began to melt. I hope the novelty value can last, at the moment I love winter! A four hour ride in the snow is lot more tiring than it would normally be though.

Powerscourt waterfall

GC is a narrow singletrack with a big cliff drop off the side of it -gets pretty interesting when covered in snow!

'GC' singletrack

There are a few more photos taken over the weekend here.