Hills Killer
Upon us once again, Sunday 23rd September The Hills Killer on the Isle of Wight. This is where 
sister lives with her boys. The event is an off road orienteering cycle ride over the hills on the island. There are three events in all, the 3, the 7 and the 14, 14 Hills is a return journey over the seven, never mind that. I did the 3 Hills with Terry, it was a good day no rain and a bit of sunshine. We did the ride last year and with absolutley no experience of the area we took probabley the worst route possible. This year though we learned from the mistakes and took an easier route, at times we used the direction that others were using to minimise map reading. This seemed to work. At one stage of the route a guy asked if he could tag along with us, he didn't even have a map on an orienteering event, in fact I don't think many people did, they just used landmarks and there local knowledge. 
sister lives with her boys. The event is an off road orienteering cycle ride over the hills on the island. There are three events in all, the 3, the 7 and the 14, 14 Hills is a return journey over the seven, never mind that. I did the 3 Hills with Terry, it was a good day no rain and a bit of sunshine. We did the ride last year and with absolutley no experience of the area we took probabley the worst route possible. This year though we learned from the mistakes and took an easier route, at times we used the direction that others were using to minimise map reading. This seemed to work. At one stage of the route a guy asked if he could tag along with us, he didn't even have a map on an orienteering event, in fact I don't think many people did, they just used landmarks and there local knowledge. 
The ride seemed a bit easier from the one last year although the hills are killer at times. Most the way around Terry was waiting for me, the guys a runner and a lot fitter than me, AKA fat boy! we made our way with no problems until hill number 3. On the way up I was getting into the swing of granny gear and doing quite well I wasn't feeling too knackered but then, pilot error or something my chain snapped. There was a loud noise a bit of crunching then game over fat boy, Get Down!... I got off, didn't swear.. well maybe just a little. Got straight to fixing the chain, Terry had a link extractor that was cool and worked a treat, I was asking for pliers to rip the broken links out and I get a chain tool, hows about that for preperation! I had some quick links in my pack, I've snapped a chain before you know. It's what you expect when your 15 stone. That was it, chain fixed in about five minutes and it was onward and upward. The last hill was quite good, it had a real steep climb to the top and a long ride all the way back down pretty much to the finish two miles away. At the finish line we were photographed for the County Press and some website that sells the pictures. The pictures of us didn't make either. After that a couple of miles back into Sandown to have a bacon roll at the cafe..
The weekend started well with Thai food and a few beers in the capital town of the island, Newport. Saturday we spent travelling around the island like tourists, quite good though. I bought a bag for her in doors thinking she would like it. How wrong can you be? I need to take it back, oh well something to do the weekend on the Bandit... Not!
Sunday was the event in the morning then after lunch an outing to Culver Cliff to play like big kids on Terrys mountain board and kite. This gear is ace, infact it's really ACE! The mountain board is ace and needs loads of practice to get good. The kite is really really really cool and you really really really need loads of practice to fly it well. This thing pulls your arms off. We were being dragged and dropped all over the place. I've not laughed so much in ages, makes you feel like a big kid again. I'm 15 stone and this kite pulled me along the ground on my face, it was ace. Can you tell what I'm gonna get.
If you want a good work out and an absolute brilliant laugh you should get one. You can fly with these, once you perfected the kite add the mountain board and guess what you've got...... yes.. A broken leg. I'm gonna finish there, when I get my phone to work I'll upload some pictures. Beware I was still recovering 3 days later, my arms are a whole inch longer and my arse a whole lot flatter.
The weekend started well with Thai food and a few beers in the capital town of the island, Newport. Saturday we spent travelling around the island like tourists, quite good though. I bought a bag for her in doors thinking she would like it. How wrong can you be? I need to take it back, oh well something to do the weekend on the Bandit... Not!
Sunday was the event in the morning then after lunch an outing to Culver Cliff to play like big kids on Terrys mountain board and kite. This gear is ace, infact it's really ACE! The mountain board is ace and needs loads of practice to get good. The kite is really really really cool and you really really really need loads of practice to fly it well. This thing pulls your arms off. We were being dragged and dropped all over the place. I've not laughed so much in ages, makes you feel like a big kid again. I'm 15 stone and this kite pulled me along the ground on my face, it was ace. Can you tell what I'm gonna get.
If you want a good work out and an absolute brilliant laugh you should get one. You can fly with these, once you perfected the kite add the mountain board and guess what you've got...... yes.. A broken leg. I'm gonna finish there, when I get my phone to work I'll upload some pictures. Beware I was still recovering 3 days later, my arms are a whole inch longer and my arse a whole lot flatter.
A cool weekend, bring on Killers 2008. It's got to be 7.
Hmmmm ...................................maybe on mountain boards?
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