What Have I Let Myself In For?

With our scheduled race at Edwinstowe cancelled we brave the snow which after yesterdays rain has now mainly turned to sheet ice, to travel over to Stoke or more precisely Newcastle under Lyme for this morning Newcastle Dales Dash 10k. There are no ‘dales’ in Newcastle under Lyme by the way. ‘Dales’ is the name of the organiser.

We’re in the Apedale Valley area of Chesterton for the seventh running of the 10k which is an off road race within Apedale Community Country Park which is on the site of an old mine. Past years apparently have been very very muddy. No chance of that this year, the ground is frozen solid.

We park up and skate up the road to registration. Oh dear. What have I let myself in for? I hope it really is all off road and there aren’t any stretches of iced up tarmac like this to negotiate.

The start is actually on the road, so I take the first stretch easy before we enter the park itself and up the first of many inclines. I would describe the route as undulating. That's putting it mildly. This was no jog in the park.



Actually I take the whole thing easy, not worth breaking my neck for a fast time. Despite people with ponytails and/or zimmer frames passing me. This would not be a PB friendly course in any weather.

I have to give the organisers credit for putting this race on. We needed a run and they provided it, with (sleigh) bells on. I love the snow but it’s just been too icy to run or cycle. I've even seriously considered going to the gym. Only considered mind. So far.



There was snow and ice everywhere but it was generally grippy enough even in the normal trainers that I wore. Where the ice was too bad there were marshals making sure you stayed away from the worse bits.

The final stretch was back along the entrance road, which had defrosted a bit by then. Unfortunately we had to run past our car which meant Doggo cheered me nosily all the way along the home straight. I could hear MD joining in, although he was in his ‘box’ and couldn’t see what he was barking at, not that that seems to deter him.

All in all a friendly race, a challenging course, hilly but rewarding and not a bad T-shirt at the end. Although they did run out of the smaller sizes much to L’s frustration.



(More photos available from www.racephotos.org.uk)

My time was awful, over 48 minutes, but I blame the conditions and I’ve no idea if the course was an accurate 10k or not. I suspect it was long and there weren’t any mile or km markers to break it down. The absence of which would have really annoyed me had I been after a decent time.

Afterwards I warm myself up with coffee in the car whilst L goes in search of something to accompany it and returns with two huge chunks of chocolate cake.

Then we head home where after quickly dropping L off I head back out to the dog club AGM. I have agreed to go on the committee next year, for my sins. I may be regretting it already as there was a three way argument between two existing committee members and a third who wished to rejoin. A very juvenile 'I can’t work with them' argument ensued. Children please. What have I let myself in for?

(Sunday 5th December)

Dominoes

I ought to get up early and run in along the river. I bet the snow is great along there. It’s minus eight. I change my mind.

Sunday’s 10km race at Edwinstowe is off and has been re-arranged for January 9th. Ugh. Picking up a t-shirt with a Christmas tree on it on January, that won’t be pleasant. I was looking forward to it as well, a race in the snow, particularly after my training run in the white stuff on Tuesday.

I check the race calendar for a replacement and there are some races that are hopeful of going ahead. It boils down to a choice between the RNLI’s Reindeer Run at Dudley Zoo or Newcastle Dales Dash 10K, that’s in Newcastle under Lyme. I email both and the organiser of the Dales Dash assures me the race will be on and even brags of the ten centimetres of snow lying on the course. So that gets my vote. L reckons it’ll take a couple of Leffes to talk her into it. Only two? So she’s in as well then.

I worry that I might be delayed getting home, we have a gig tonight, as they’ve had to evacuate part of Derby city centre due to a car on fire in one of the multi story car parks but thankfully it all seems sorted by the time I get there.

Then five minutes after departing on bus, the driver pulls over, stops the bus, gets off and starts throwing snowballs at his own windscreen. What the... then I realise that his screen wash has obviously frozen up.

I make it home in enough time and then head down to Rock City. As I walk across town, a taxi pulls up outside Cast and two girls, inappropriately attired for the Arctic conditions get out. The skimpy dresses are one thing; the high heels another and predictably... whoops, down they both go on the ice. One dominoing into the other and taking her down as well. I stop laughing long enough to offer assistance. They’re not very grateful.

I meet up with L, who is appropriately attired for the conditions. She’s taking no chances and says she’s wearing practically all she possesses. She’ll be taking up more than her fair share of space on the front row.

Rock City haven’t got the stage times up for tonight’s concert but their website indicates three bands tonight so by getting there around 7.30 we expect to miss Dark Horses but we should be in time for the Duke Spirit, who I’m keen to see.

Not so. Leila Moss is just finishing up with their last track as we arrive. Only two bands tonight and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on at 8.00. Oh well, at least not long to wait. Thankfully the band have made it up from last night’s show in Portsmouth. I had a feeling a bit of weather wouldn’t stop them.

The gig is billed as part of Rock City's 30th Anniversary Celebrations, not that this means much. Most of their gigs this month seem to be. It’s still something worth celebrating though.

It’s also landmark time for BRMC. They will be performing their 1000th live concert at the Brixton Academy on December 11th, which makes this their 994th.

They are indeed on at 8.00 and play through for a full two hours. The sound isn’t great tonight and the band are beset by a few technical problems. After the opening ‘666 Conducer’, Peter Hayes’s amp appears to pack up. As they sort it. Robert Been picks up an acoustic guitar and breaks into an unscheduled rendition of ‘Sympathetic Noose’ off their acoustic diversion album ‘Howl’. Hayes’ meanwhile lights up a cigarette. Naughty.

Been doesn’t quite finish ‘Sympathetic Noose’ before the amp is sorted and the boys are back to full volume and power with ‘Stop’. About time. They never play that for me, until now.



When I say ‘the boys’, that is slightly incorrect. Shock Horror. Black Rebel now have a girl drummer. It was their drummer, Nick Jago, who kept drifting in and out of the band. Seems he’s currently out and his place has been taken by Leah Shapiro, who has worked with the Raveonettes. Being replaced by a girl must almost be as bad as being over taken by one in a 10k. He has my sympathy. Of course, it's the done thing these days. It used to be bass players, and still is to a certain extent, but now its drummers.

Overall it’s a good solid show with a nice selection of old stuff blended with the new from this year’s ‘Beat the Devil's Tattoo’ album, which sounds much better live than on record, with 'Bad Blood' and ‘Half-State’ as good as anything they've done.



BRMC could easily survive on their no frills roof rattling numbers but instead, they deliver a good mix of slow and fast numbers. An old classic, ‘Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song)’, probably as old as Hayes’ shirt which has seen better days, gives way to an acoustic segment in the middle of the set.

At least Hayes’ shirt is black. Been takes off his leather jacket to reveal a very unusual site at BRMC gig, a white t-shirt. All his black ones must be in the wash.



The slow numbers include an unexpected cover of The Pogues ‘Dirty Old Town’ done solo by Been. An interesting choice to say the least. Then Hayes takes up the acoustic baton with ‘Complicated Situation’ and ‘The Toll’. It’s quite striking that a band known mainly for their wall of sound are still lifting a lot of stuff off ‘Howl’, showing how good that album actually was. Perhaps not everyone agrees though. Some of the crowd talk through the acoustic numbers; in fact it’s probably the most chattering I’ve ever heard at a gig. Shame on those people.

Later Been even sits at the piano for another mellow moment, ‘Long Way Down’, before they return to the heavier stuff with Baby 81's awesome ‘Berlin’ and ‘Conscience Killer’ off the new record before they end by giving us a right pummelling with an oldie, ‘Six Barrel Shotgun’.



The amp seemed to go again at start of the encore during ‘Spread Your Love’. Time for another smoke eh Peter? Soon sorted though, which leads us into a fairly slow and moody finish with a double header of the brooding extravagance of ‘Shadows Keeper’ and finally ‘Open Invitation’.

L deserts me for the encore, fed up with a dodgy element around her spoiling the gig. I meet her in the Ropewalk where she has a Leffe in hand. I have to fight my way through a couple of inches of fresh white stuff to get there and it's still snowing.



There are no buses running, so later we walk, well totter, home.

(Friday 3rd December)