An active weekend

On Saturday July 11th, Martha and I took part in the 2015 club karate competition.

On Sunday July 12th, Jonnie and I rode in the Change Gear Solihull 76 mile sportive.

It was a busy weekend...

The karate competition was a relaxed, friendly, but still competitive event featuring karateka of all ages and abilities. Competitors were grouped according to age (3 divisions) and then by colour of belt (3 divisions). I was looking forward to competing against people I hadn't met before and seeing how well my kata and kumite stood up to theirs! 
Martha was the first of the two of us to compete. She had entered the kata competition in the 11-16 year old age group for those wearing green or purple belts. Her kata performance was strong even though she was very nervous. She was bitterly disappointed not to get a medal this year but I was very proud of her and she should be too. 

My first event was a bit of a surprise - I appeared to have been entered into an ippon kumite event along with the brown and black belts! I explained to the Sensei in charge that I hadn't put my name down for this event but he let me know that Sensei Gary Beggan had entered me for it 'as a warm up'. After a bit of a mental scramble I quickly selected some old techniques that I had been taught by Sensei Paul Hexley about 14 years ago, one of which was a take-down. I was very surprised to get past a 1st kyu in the first round to take the bronze medal!

I was disappointed by the rest of the events I had entered, however. At my own level (6th, 5th and 4th kyu), there was a distinct lack of competitors compared to the brown and black belt events! I had hoped to compete against karateka I hadn't met before, from some of the dojos around the midlands where I hadn't trained. Unfortunately, only members from the Tuesday night dojo had entered so it felt more like a training session than a competition. I was fortunate enough to take 2 golds and a silver but would have enjoyed pitting myself against more competitors!

The organisation was relaxed, fun and friendly with lots of advice and encouragement from the instructors and spectators. It was a great family day out with lots of Ruach members working together and getting to know each other a little better. 

The following day, Jonnie and I turned up at Tudor Grange leisure centre, Solihull to ride the inaugural Change Gear 76 mile sportive. We were issued with numbers and timing chips and cable ties that were far too small. Then we were given a mini-lecture about food stations and cut-off times.

Once on the road we found that we were on a familiar route until we reached Lowsonford. After that, it was all new to me. There was the usual mix of quiet country lanes with the quick dash along an A road or two. Heading west, the wind came up and Jonnie had to dig in to drag us along through it. Then, as we reached The Lenches, the heavens opened...

Wikipedia describes 'lench' as meaning 'rising ground'. And that's putting it mildly. We had to ride up four sharp climbs to get to each lench - Church Lench, Ab Lench, Sheriffs Lench and Rous Lench. Of course, going up in the rain doesn't present much of a problem (if the legs and lungs are strong enough) but for me, descending in the wet is a bit of an issue. I didn't have the downhill skiing skills of Jonnie so I lost sight of him on one of the descents. Unfortunately, the downpour of rain was such that Jonnie's Garmin had stopped working! The reduced visibility meant that he missed one of the signs and ended up taking a wrong turn.

We eventually met up with the help of a couple of friendly chaps at the second feed station.

On the subject of feed stations - it would seem that the organisers had decided what to provide based on what they had seen of professional bike riders on Eurosport. There were energy drinks, energy gels, no chairs and no toilets. Which is fine if your name is Vincenzo Nibali because you don't stop, you can have your energy gel on the bike, and you urinate while riding along one handed at 25mph. Amateur cyclists don't necessarily want an energy gel. We want a cup of tea and a slice of cake. And a wee. And a nice sit down. Dynamic Rides got it right when a few of us rode the 100 mile sportive last year - they had the local WI presenting tables groaning under the weight of homemade cakes and flapjack, in a town hall with toilets and chairs. Heaven!

Anyhoo, Jonnie and I were glad to see the back of the foul weather and we soon got back into a rhythm. We finished the day not quite dead last, but almost! But we didn't care, we stretched out in the sunshine in my back garden while Lucy fetched us beer and crisps. 

A marvelous weekend of sporting activities!