January 2021 been & gone, locked down again.....

 Well Christmas is over, and for hogmanay we were back to a lockdown.  It then started snowing and has done so on & off all month.  Means I was back to my trusty MTB and some solo riding all round the low hills of upper Deeside.

Certainly when it was fresh and crunchy, it's a very pleasant way to ride and get some exercise.  I've been exploring a more XC sort of loop that will form a 20 kms exercise track going forwards - and as the gradients are reasonable I intend to ride it in both directions.

However the snow is now freezing hard and things are getting tougher. Certainly the access track climb is now sheet ice and in SPD shoes that's not much fun trying to stagger up it.

The other ways of me staying fit are local walks with the missus in the hour of sunshine that seems to prevail around noon, and going for a blast round in my old slalom boat.  If I carry it to one end of the road I can get about a 45 minute session in before I get too bored.  Its only a grade 1 or 2 but allows some surfing on the pipe wave and a few break-ins/pirrouettes lower down.  Then maybe a few shuttle sprints.

Biking is off now as we head into February as I once learnt a painful lesson on some ice a few  years back.  Need a good thaw that will help the river and allow some longer MTB trails once more.

Got a zoom whisky tasting with my neighbours though one evening this week so not all too grim !   Slainte.

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