The parkrun Cowell club

I've hardly been subtle about my parkrun obsession, I'm not sure there's been a post on this blog that hasn't mentioned it somewhere. All parkruns are fun, I honestly don't think there's one I've not enjoyed in some way, but every now and then there's a really good one - and today was one.

Like most close-knit groups parkrun has grown a language of its own. First there were the clubs for running 50, 100, or 250 events (with a special one for kids when they get to 10). These clubs feature a t-shirt at each level. Junior parkrunners (a parallel series of 2km events) get wristbands when their cumulative total distance run is a half marathon, marathon, or ultra-marathon - this is a great idea, very motivating for the kids.

Then there was the most events table, a ranking across all of parkrun-world of those who have run the most events, the most different courses, the most inaugurals. The entry criteria are having completed 20 different events or 5 inaugural events. It's a hotly contested table!

The top of the table has some very dedicated people on it - 207 different events, humbling

The parkrun Show podcast soon supercharged parkrun lexicon and introduced all sorts of terms - "passionistas" for those who have run hundreds of times at just one place, "über-tourists" (like me) who enjoy travelling around to different events and keeping an eye on the tables, "panic jogs" for when you get to an event but are really worried about missing the start and need to deploy a little panicked run/jog, and so on, and so on. The list isn't endless, but it is fairly long these days.

All this time and enthusiasm spent on what is in essence still exactly the same as it was when it started a little over ten years ago - a free, timed, weekly, 5km run anywhere we want one.

My parkrun obsession waxes and wanes, I had six months off in 2013 when I injured my knee. I had a couple of months earlier this year when I didn't run much either - but there's always been a target in the back of my mind - that of 100 different events, an exclusive and fairly rarified group called the Cowell club (so named after Chris Cowell who, I assume, was the first to get there though has long since been overtaken on the most events table).

My 118 parkruns, from 23rd April 2011 to today with 5-run rolling average time

Today, on my 118th run, I got there! Mrs and I headed out at about 7am to pick up Louise and head up to Tring parkrun for their 4th event. I really hoped that some of my favourite parkrunners would be able to join me on this occasion so I picked somewhere none of us had done (with thanks to Louise's spreadsheet skills for identifying suitable locations).

We got there a bit early, about 8:15am. Kat and Jools had already arrived and were hiding in their car. It was chilly, and a bit damp, but not the downpour that had been forecast when I checked last night. Kat popped over to give me some cheese biscuits (made with 100% cheese, nothing else) - they lasted about 10 seconds between me and Mrs, lovely, thanks Kat!

These crisps are 100% cheese and they're wonderful!

Other tourists arrived, Mike, Vanessa, and Andy, and we headed over to the start. The car park is the other side of the A41 to the route, so we filed over a narrow footbridge. In the run briefing it turned out another person, who I later found out was Neil Chapman, was also running his 100th event. I was going to say hello afterwards, but he vanished as soon as he'd finished.

Welcome to Tring Park (Caution runners!)

The run briefing advised us to be careful of cows. The approximate location of the herd is shown on the route map - apparently at 8am they were all milling about on the start line!

This is the best route map ever (cow not to scale)

The course was lovely. A grassy runway to start followed by a steep climb up through some woods. Levelled off for a kilometre, past a view spot (I'm sure it's a great view when it isn't supremely foggy!) and then a lovely long series of downhills.

Wide grassy start - no pinch-points here (until the muddy gate)

The final 2km are on grass and are fairly undulating. It's not an easy course, but it's interesting and fun.

Looks almost flat from above - I assure you it isn't!

I ran all the way round with Mrs, we chatted on and off and managed to avoid running through cow pats. My overall time was 29:29, not very quick, but then it's not a very quick course and I wasn't going for speed, I wanted to enjoy it.

Kilometre splits tell ta tale of "up, level, down, bumpy, bumpy"

L to R: Mike, Kat, Jools, me, Mrs, Andy, Vanessa, Louise

We all went back to the local coffee shop afterwards for a cuppa and some celebratory cake. I don't often indulge in the post-run coffee hang out so this made a nice change. Special thanks to Louise who made me a Cowell club card with an actual (picture of a) cow in it (thanks!) and Mike who bought my cake (thanks!). You guys rock!

Card-cow (looks like a Cow Clicker cow, remember that?)

Cake! Looked like coffee - tasted like banana!

I have to mention just quietly here that Louise, despite being a mighty 7th on the most events table, managed to walk off with her position token. It can happen to anyone, kids, always remember to give your token in!

Speaking of which, I had to resort to my emergency barcode that lives in my wallet which has *never* been used before as I could find any of my little plastic ones! Need to buy a wristband immediately and never take it off. DFYB. (More parkrun speak, Don't Forget Your Barcode)...

My emergency bar code came out today - first time

Whilst we're being open about cock-ups, I also ran the car down to zero miles tank range on the way home and had to do a panic-refuel. It's a 60 litre tank, it accepted a 59.6 litre top-up...

So with 500 parkrun kilometres completed, I wonder what's next? Another parkrun term is "LonDone" to mean all the parkruns in London (defined as "within the M25" for ease). I have 9 more events to reach this, so that'll take a few months (given I like to go to inaugural events too, and there may be new London ones to tick off).

The next official club tee is the "250 club", which I'm not even half way to. That'll take another 2.5 years (if I never miss a Saturday). I'm in parkrun no-man's land, parkrun limbo! Help!

I'm pretty sure I'll get over it in time for next Saturday - not sure where I'm going yet - and that's just another of the many things I love about being a parkrun über-tourist.

My new position on the most events table, joint 22nd

Race report: Endurance Life CTS Race 2 - Gower

Every movement this morning is accompanied by old-man sounds, you know the ones, the subconscious utterances that come with old bones and aching muscles complaining about being made to stand up, sit down, or tackle the stairs.

Why am I making old-man sounds? Because yesterday I took my second attempt at an off road trail race. I ran the second race in the 10-race Coastal Trail Series from Endurance Life. I've been signed up to the third race in Dorset for a while, Mrs ran it last year - she had entered the ultra distance but had to stop after the "marathon" (28 miles) due to missing the cut-off to go out again for the last 10km. She said it was "hilarious" - turn a corner, see a mountain of a hill you have to "run" up, and just laugh at it.

Following my experience at Ripon, a DNF after 30km, I thought I needed a bit of a warm up before tackling Dorset!

Swansea bus station is deserted at 8am!

Race two was on the Gower peninsula, Swansea bay. Mrs and I got the train down after work on Friday, stayed in Swansea Saturday night, and got the local bus number 118 (got your number) to Rhossili, hopping off at Middleton village hall, site of race HQ.

Another busy village hall, I'm getting used to these

Four race distances were on offer and they set off in order. The 34-mile ultra set off at 08:30, followed by the marathon at 09:30, half marathon at 10:30, and a 10km version at 11:30. I registered, got my number and milled about for a while awaiting race briefing.

James from Endurance Life delivers the race briefing

To avoid the crunch at the start we were advised to go on gun (wheezy hooter) time only if we were really racing and were hoping for a top-3 finish. Instead we could check out one by one with our dibbers. The dibbers are small ID tags that you insert into a reader to register your position and the time you were there, it's how you prove you've gone through the checkpoints (no naughty cheating thank you). I queued up and went off my own dibber time.

A plateau atop the first climb

The start was fairly gentle, a bit muddy due to recent rain but nothing too challenging. I'm glad I tightened my shoelaces before heading off, one poor chap had a shoe sucked off going through a muddy bit in the first 100m or so! We hit a nice big hill or two early on (heart rate through the roof!) before dropping down a steep decline that was in effect trying to run down a river. Following dipping my dibber at checkpoint one, it was down for a few km on the beach. I was feeling fairly good. The first few km I'd felt a bit drained of energy - I've had this before, last time I went focussed on low-carb, it seems to be a side effect of adaptation. It's brief, and passes relatively easily.

One of many climbs ahead with a little row of human ants climbing ever upward!

The beach was lovely, runners spread out in front and behind. Sand-dunes came next (running in deep sand is always fun). Wet feet and muddy legs - good fun! A few of us were jostling for position (it's hard fought in the mid-pack :). A long period on narrow muddy trails next, always either up or down, together with the odd very steep up for "fun".

Looking down onto the beach, the descent to get there was hilarious!

The beach section, energy-sapping but sunny and bright

At about 15km I felt a familiar nagging pain in my knee, but the terrain and pace were so varied I didn't cause much of a problem. I particularly enjoyed a long grassy downhill which gave us an opportunity to stretch out our strides and enjoy the view. And there were some great views on offer, the day was mainly bright and clear - I had been worried about rain, the long-term forecast was hinting at a deluge on Friday and Saturday but in the end it contained itself to Friday.

My new best friend

The last few km were across a bog, this was quite hard going on my knee and I was ready to stop - but before long the 1 mile to go sign popped up from nowhere, and I got a final burst of effort. Apparently this was "much drier than last year", which is fine in my book, it was still ankle-deep in places. Finally cresting the last hill (after a call of "Cheer up, you're having fun!" from a random supporter) it was downhill back into Middleton to the finish. I opened my stride once again and made a few places, and took a few more still on the final run in to the line.

Finished!

Overall time was 02:39:47. I wasn't sure what to expect and was aiming for anything under 3 hours, so I'm happy with that. Course length was spot on, my Garmin read 21.1km precisely. The knee flare-up is annoying but maybe predictable given my lack of experience on the terrain. I'm writing this the following day and apart from the odd twinge the knee is fine. Got a good few muscular aches though! Glutes, calves, quads, hamstrings - all took a beating.

The route

Elevation: pointy; Pace: fairly even; HR: drops off (could try harder?); Cadence: spot the walking!

This was a good learning experience, I'm very pleased I took this on and didn't go straight into Dorset not having completed a trail race. However, some concern that this is a "3/5 Strenuous" on the Endurance Life scale, and Dorset is "5/5 Extreme" - 3 weeks to go to Dorset (and why am I already looking to see which other races in the series I can make?!)...

Hills

I'm really enjoying running right now.

I'm excited about the Endurance Life Dorset half marathon coming up in December, part of the Coastal Trail Series. I'm strongly resisting the urge to bump it up to the full marathon, I've never run a CTS event before, apparently they are hard. Very hard. If I learned anything from my Ripon DNF it's that hills are hard! This seems to have a rating of "5: Extreme" (and it only goes up to 5 - eeeep...) - sounds like it's due some respect.

I note there are many more events in that series that it's not too late to enter, but let's see how this one goes first...

I've entered the Rotterdam Marathon again, I really enjoyed the accomplishment of breaking 4 hours this year (even if it was by only 41 seconds!).

Those little red arrows are very distinctive

I'm currently on holiday in Newquay and taking in a few runs on the South West Coastal Path - looks like Endurance Life have been here already...

Oh, and if you're ever in this part of the world make sure you go down to Lanhydrock parkrun, it's a beautiful course, challenging (2.5km down, followed by 2.5km up again), and has a lovely little cafe for post-run refuelling.

If you're here, you should run this: Lanhydrock parkrun

Meanwhile I'm trying to get a run in every day - nothing heroic, just getting into the habit. The 18-week plan in Advanced Marathoning (is "Marathoning" a word?) holds at 5 runs per week (same book I used last year, but this time I'm prepared enough to hit the full 18-week plan, not the 12-week emergency panic-plan), so I have to build up a little even to start.

Running down the coast is lovely and very lumpy, quite a change from down the A24...

Other than that, it's feet up for a week! Perfect :)

Race report: Round Ripon Ultra 35

We were due to make a tactical strike on The North this weekend, with a trip up to Yorkshire for the Go Beyond Ultra Round Ripon Ultra 35 mile trail marathon. This is my first attempt beyond marathon distance, my first trail race, and my first race with any kind of navigating - what could possibly go wrong?

I’ve been very busy at work lately, so haven’t had much time to go through the process of working out what I needed to take and wear - therefore, like a good triathlete, I took everything.

What I wore

What I carried

In the bag for putting on at the end

We stayed on a working farm called Mallard Grange, delightful but impossible for taxi drivers to find. There was a selection of semi-wild farm cats and kittens roaming around. Wherever you were, there were little reflective eyes keeping tabs on you form some dark corner.

Peahens from the farm next door

Busyness has also meant training hasn’t been the best lately - I have been running relatively regularly, but not the long runs I needed to build up for this race, so I was a bit nervous - but excited nonetheless. I’ve supported Mrs in a few trail races and they look like fun, I was keen to be trying it first hand.

Let me correct that for you: "Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE, parkrun founder"

Saturday 4th October was also the 10th anniversary of the first parkrun event. I was pleased to catch a segment on BBC Breakfast that had been recorded at Bedfont Lakes parkrun a few weeks previously. 

Little kittens like these are scattered all over the place

Maggie, the lady of the farm who managed the B&B, kindly gave us a lift the mile and a half or so down to the village hall in sniggeringly named Studley Roger where start and finish was. The route is a loop but does not, as the name implies, circumnavigate Ripon but passes through Ripon in the first few miles before taking a wide circuit around the local area.

Ready for the off

It was very low key, no fanfare. A starting inflatable was erected a few minutes before the off. We had a race briefing in the hall. The main message was that although it was due to rain all day (the weather forecast we’d caught in the morning was ominous) it shouldn’t get muddy as it has been fair weather for so long in the area. The fresh rain will just sit on the hard ground. Good news - running through mud is very tiring!

There were around 80 entrants, with 20 DNS (did not start) - so numbers were down on the 100 or so of last year. We set off on the dot of 9am, just as parkruns all over the country were starting.

Milling about waiting for the race briefing

We set off at a fair clip, but not too fast. My Achilles tendons were a bit achy - seems to take them a while to warm up these days - I’d forgotten to do any mobilisation exercises before starting. Never mind, plenty of time to warmup whilst running. The rain was falling very lightly, nothing yet like the downpour we were fearing.

A few minutes until race start

Mrs had elected to run with me, which I greatly appreciated, though she was clearly having difficulty holding her pace back to stay with me - she’s got so fast these days! We got through Ripon quickly and headed out into the countryside.

My view for most of the day - she's so fast these days!

I really enjoyed running on trails - much more interesting than roads, and the time flew past. We quickly got to CP1 (checkpoint 1) and as neither of us were hungry or needed to refill our water, we ran through - making about 5 places in the process. Mrs learned at Rowbotham's Round Rotherham Ultra last year it’s too easy to lose time at checkpoints, and that time adds up really quickly. We weren’t out for a target time, we just wanted to finish within the 10-hour cut off, but there’s still no point hanging around for the sake of it.

CP1 - there was cake! We pushed on through though, barely warmed up!

We’d elected to run 8 minutes, walk 2, with extra walking up hills and extra running down hills. This was a tactic we’d employed at the Wales marathon in July, and in a couple of training runs since, and it works well.

The route was really enjoyable and had so much variety. Wide stony paths, narrow twisty trails, across fields, through forests, and down by a river. One section in particular through a forest was great fun - I’d never been on a run like this before, it was great fun and we weren’t doing too badly for pace.

Near the end of the forest section - up the stairs or not? (we chose "not")

Towards CP2 I was starting to get a bit grouchy - although I was enjoying it my legs were complaining. I think the sheer variety of surfaces was making me more tired than I’d expected. CP2 arrived and we refilled water - I felt happier and we set off.

Very soon though I started to feel a pain around my left knee - a very familiar pain! I’ve been here before and there’s only so long you can push on for. It started to complain about any rise, and descending wasn’t much easier. I’d make it to the next checkpoint, but there I would have to pull out.

CP3, where we unfortunately called it a day

Mrs stopped with me, which was really nice of her, and we chatted to the support crew and went for a coffee in the posh café of the Bivouac "glamping" site where the checkpoint was.

A welcome coffee in the warm

Chris, chairman of Ripon Runners, was helping out at the checkpoint and offered to drive us back to the start to collect our bags, then back to where we were staying.

Elevation and pace for the first 20 miles

It wasn’t the day I’d hoped for, but I still covered 20 miles in about 4 hours. If it was a marathon I’d have pushed on for the last 6, but I didn’t feel I could make it 15 without hurting myself more and possibly more seriously. As it is today (the day after) it’s a bit twingy, but will recover quickly.

Not quite round Ripon...!

Before attempting a race like this again, and I certainly will be trying it again, I need to make sure I’ve done some more specific (hilly, trails) training. I don’t think my problem is general strength or fitness, I just need to be a bit more targeted. My legs have never been so strong, thanks to the boys from The Athletic Edge, but when every step is different to the one before due to the terrain you need to be ready for it.

A hearty day-after breakfast - this went down very well I can tell you!

See you next year, Bob the farm cat

Reality check

The plan has changed quite a lot lately. I have a new job, started two months ago, and it takes a lot of mental energy. It's an amazing role, I love it, but I'd forgotten how it felt to be really pushed at work and have to actually think hard. And how much that takes out of you. I was getting more and more tired, and something had to give.

Removing as much pressure as I can

Swimming was the first casualty - and being allergic to whatever they put in the pool near work didn't help much. Long sessions were the next. I signed up to The Tri Life's 12 week plan for Wales Ironman - the sessions during the week went well, but come the weekend I simply didn't want to spend 5+ hours cycling on Saturday, and hours running and swimming on Sunday. So I followed my own advice - if you're not enjoying the training and it's putting you under unnecessary self-inflicted pressure - then stop doing it. So I stopped doing it.

Next I took a long look at the races I was doing. I just didn't want to be getting up at 3am to drive somewhere to race right now, I didn't want the pressure of knowing my bike wasn't perfect and needed some work but day after day passed without me getting round to it and it was making me more and more stressed, and I didn't want the pressure of being out on the course thinking "I haven't done enough training". So I pulled out of a lot of events, viewing it as a positive decision. It was worth it in part just to get a good lie-in!

Smashing out a 10s max effort sprint on the Air bike - 10 seconds has never felt so long

Since then I'm freewheeling - hitting The Athletic Edge gym twice per week like clockwork - that's never felt like a chore, and then just running and cycling as I feel like it. And there's now so much less pressure on me, I feel I have the mental energy to get up on Saturday morning, get on my bike, and cycle to parkrun. This is great, I love parkrun, and was pressuring myself even more for missing them week after week.

I pulled out of the Human Race swim series events I was entered into (Windsor, Hampton Court and Marlow), and I skipped the London Triathlon and Ride 100. The biggest decision was to pull out of Ironman Wales though - there's no way I can wing it round a full Ironman without some good training under my belt.

I didn't pull out of everything though...

8th June - Blenheim Triathlon

Mrs always has Blenheim on the calendar - this year I joined her. I've done it before, a few years ago, so I knew what I was in for. We were off Sunday morning in a mixed sprint wave.

Once again, "cat" was a mandatory item in the kit list

I swam with measured effort, just about held my line. The run up from the lake to transition is a good couple of hundred metres, mostly uphill.

I was planning to go hell for leather on the bike, so I pushed hard from the first pedal revolution. I flew past people all round my three laps, staying on the tri-bars as much as I could.

Legs took a while to get going on the run, but I made as much use of the downhills as I could (no one ever pushes down hill!) and flew past people. Normally I get streams of people overtaking me in the run, but my performance was better this time (or the competition was weaker!). I pulled out a hard run down the final straight to finish in 1:27:07.

A pint of Erdinger Alkoholfrei at the end - lovely stuff

Compared to last time I raced the event:

I took 8 minutes off 2011's time. My cycling was strong in 2011 so I'm pleased to have knocked almost a minute per lap off that performance.

15th June - Ironman 70.3 UK

Mrs and I went down to Exmoor a few weeks before race weekend. She had already decided not to compete, focussing on ultra marathon running instead. We had a terrible training weekend - it was freezing cold and we suffered torrential rain. We managed two laps of the bike course, one Saturday and one Sunday, but I had to do it all on my TT bike (the very first thing that happened was I snapped my seat clamp bolt on my road bike - thankfully I'd brought both bikes!). We should learn that these "training weekends" never work out - I'm not sure why, maybe we don't prepare well enough, or aren't disciplined enough when we get there. Maybe we're just tired from the day job during the week.

Emergency crank swap to bring the TT bike into play... Good job I brought the toolbox

Race weekend came around though, and the weather was much better. My performance was quite poor. I swam well (felt strong, good lines, avoided too many fights) but not very fast. The bike was hard work - I benefitted from the training weekend in that I knew you hardly have to touch the brakes (appearances can be deceptive - there are some big downs but only one or two have corners at the bottom).

Nice piece of metal for the effort

The run was disastrous. Right from the start I couldn't get my legs turned over. Lack of structured training meant very few brick runs so my legs just weren't up for running after that long in the saddle. Lots of walking happened. Got a nice medal for it though, even if it did take forever for me to finally get round in 6:48:35.

Nearly two minutes down in the swim, twelve on the bike, and a massive twenty one slower in the run! Not my finest hour or seven. Let's move on...

11th to 13th July - The Long Course Weekend

I've known about the Long Course Weekend for a few years - it's a three-day event with The Wales Swim on Friday night, The Wales Sportive on Saturday, and then The Wales Marathon on Sunday. It's the same swim and bike course as Ironman Wales, but thankfully a much more interesting one-lap marathon course.

I went down during the day Friday, Mrs was joining me on Saturday. In short, I rocked the swim. I have no idea how I went so fast, but I completed the 3.8km course (which I measured at 4.00km) in 1:02 - taking 7 minutes off my time from Ironman Wales in 2012. Favourable conditions, a bit more open water experience, no freaking out, or a very helpful tide - I don't know what the reason for that performance was, but I'll take it! Probably my lifetime best time for an Ironman distance swim.

The sportive was horrible from start to finish. It was drizzling when I approached the queue for the start, then we were held for ages as the top 20 long course weekend contenders went off one by one (there's a competition to be fastest over the three days). It then rained for the first 20 miles. Drizzled for the next 20. Hazy mist with outbreaks of rain for the mid-section of 60 miles. And then good old rain for the last 18 miles. 118 damp miles completed. Bike a rusty wreck, me an aching wreck. Much slower than in the Wales Ironman race too, but I was doing it on my road bike - sportives don't normally allow time trial bikes (though as I learned afterwards, this one did...).

The medals from each event stacked together, with a front one for completing all three

But it wasn't all for nothing - I was trying for the first time a real "mind over matter' nutrition strategy. I took a couple of snack-sized pork pies, some strips of dried bacon, and a handful of full fat BabyBel cheeses. I was going for low-carb fat-fuelled endurance, and it worked. I think it's the longest I've ever spent in the saddle in one go, and I didn't "bonk" at all, I didn't feel drained or like I'd run out of energy - it was just a very very long damp day. The day was worth it just for this piece of learning, I'll be (and have been since) much more confident about completely dropping the crutch of needing a couple of gels or energy bars in my bike jersey "just in case" now.

The marathon was another learning experience. I decided to run 9 minutes and walk every tenth. Run/walk as a strategy is well known for helping you go further, and I've never tried it before. I maintained fairly constant pace round the whole course, and really enjoyed the day. The weather had cleared up and was lovely and sunny, Mrs ran with me (or was in sight up the road) for most of the race, and she waited for me at 24 miles so we could finish together. We put in a big old sprint at the end and came in a few seconds under 5 hours. Number of stand-alone marathons completed now equals two.

I enjoyed the format of the weekend, I'd certainly consider doing it again - and the Wales marathon course is gorgeous. The medals are pretty sweet too - four that combine into a single one (be better if they actually clipped together though).

The rest of the year

Lots of parkrun, I love parkrun and I've really missed it lately. I cycled to Woking inaugural last week and across to Dartford and back this week. I'm enjoying planning out my next few events too. There are a few inaugurals coming up I'd like to make it to, and I'm on 90 different courses, so I should be able to get to 100 in the next few months. I'm also just 11 events away from having completed every one within the M25 (known as "LonDone" in parkrun parlance), so that's a 2014 target too.

11 events to go (the red ones) before I'm LonDone

I used to enjoy the Innovation Sports Clapham Common series, so I'll consider taking in the last two of the year - next weekend, 31st August, and then 12th October. Mrs isn't doing Rowbotham's Round Rotherham 50 mile ultra marathon this year, instead at around the same time she's doing the Go Beyond Ultra Round Ripon 35 mile race instead. I've decided it's high time I lost my ultra cherry, so I've signed up for that too. Unfortunately it's on the 4th October which is the 10th anniversary of parkrun, so I'll miss the big Bushy Park event - instead I'll be running on trails for 8 hours with my wife which I'm really really looking forward to, we've been talking about doing an ultra together ever since she started doing them at the start of 2013.

Mrs did the Endurance Life CTS (Coastal Trail Series) event in Dorset last year - it's insane with crazy amounts of accumulated height. She's entered the ultra again this year, I am not ready for that kind of challenge, so I entered the half-marathon distance, which is still bonkers. Looking forward to that one as Louise (@abradypus), Kat (@IAmKat) and her partner Jools are competing too - should be a good laugh.

The position after Richard worked his magic

I did manage to find time to finally get to Freespeed London for a bike fit from the ever friendly Richard Melik. If you need a bike fit you should get down there.