What's your activity hinterland?

[edwin]

Well, in these days my perfect supplement to cycling is cross country skiing.
Then there is hiking and sometimes alpine hiking (I don't know if this is right english but I think you get the difference ).
Since I suffered from a slipped vertebral disc a couple of years ago, I do my weekly back gymnastics (and I hate it!!!).

[Jonty]

Well, in these days my perfect supplement to cycling is cross country skiing.
Then there is hiking and sometimes alpine hiking (I don't know if this is right english but I think you get the difference ).
Since I suffered from a slipped vertebral disc a couple of years ago, I do my weekly back gymnastics (and I hate it!!!).

Haven't you got to be super fit for cross country sking? When I was younger I fancied having a go but with a rifle so that I could stalk deer on skis (me not the deer).
jonty

[edwin]

Haven't you got to be super fit for cross country sking?

It's like cycling, it depends on how long you go and how fast you go. I'd like to try the long distance track in the souther Black Forrest, if there is enough snow in February. That's 100km. Super fit amateurs do a race on this track and they need less than a day. If I can make it in 3 or 4 days I will feel like a hero (and afterwards I will avoid any stairs for at least a week).
Christmas to first week of January we had enough snow to start a tour right of the door step. 10 miles were enough to make me sleep very well the night after.

[blackbike]

Playing football, watching football, pubs, crosswords.

[irc]

Running. Only short 3 or 4 milers these days. I got a bit of hip pain on my third full marathon and reckoned my body was telling me something. It was telling me I was too fat for long runs. Swimming once or twice a fortnight. A bit of hillwalking. Just started going to the gym once a week.

Then there is my two part time jobs. These vary from 16 hours a week (total) to 70 hours a week. Mostly around 30 though. with a 2 month tour planned for the summer one of the jobs may have to go. Not sure they will play ball with giving 4 weeks holiday followed by 4 weeks unpaid.

Other stuff - home brewing, live music, used to play chess competatively (though at a very moderate level).

[eileithyia]

Birdwatching, some walking, Gardening, Swimming, general aerobics / stretching /pilates to aid all round mobility.

[Nutsey]

My favourites from this thread are "birdwatching", "back gymnastics", and "driving the community bus"

[fimm]

Well, I used to do a lot of hillwalking and a little bit of rockclimbing, I'd run ocasionally and cycling was a means to commute. Then I met my boyfriend, and he got me into triathlon. So now I swim and run seriously, and go out on my road bike (his old one - yes, it does fit me) for long rides. This does mean I don't get as much time in the hills as I used to: I'm still working on the balance of activities.

Boyfriend is Austrian and I've had a couple of trys at cross-country skiing, which is the version he used to enjoy most when he lived there (he skis downhill too, on "old skool" long skis - I've seen some old cine film of him and his sister learning to ski when they were 2 - 3 years old). Cross-country didn't seem to have too much of a learning curve, I found I could pootle along at an OK speed without too much trouble after not very long. There seemed to be a real mix of ages and speeds out and about. But yes, if you ever see it on TV, those guys are very fit.

[Vorpal]

When I lived in a place where I couldn't cycle year round, I did cross-country skiing in winter. It keeps the same muscle groups toned, even if the uses are different.

Other stuff...I played women's league football until a couple of years ago. Currently: walking, swimming, reading, studying (for a masters degree), music, chasing my two little ones around.

[groveller]

[quote="Vorpal"]chasing my two little ones around.[/quote]
More tiring than cross-country skiing!

[Vorpal]

chasing my two little ones around.

More tiring than cross-country skiing!

More tiring than women's league football!!

[Malaconotus]

Birdwatching here, too. Proper hardcore, as well, at times. 140 species in a day, watching the sea for 12 hours in a howling gale on a remote headland waiting for a rarity to fly past, etc. Here's a boring little brown thing I found this autumn which over 500 people turned up to 'twitch'... http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures ... 1&f=266262 I have managed to quit the 500-mile roundtrips to see a single, lost, bird though.

Graham

[Mick F]

I stabbed my wife last evening, along with a few other people too. Mind you, I was stabbed back too.

What were we doing?

Fencing!

A dozen of more of us had a fencing lesson, masks, protective gear, long épée each and off we went! Lots of instruction about holding the weapon, stance, steps, jump-steps, lunging, and parrying. Great fun and this morning I'm aching from using muscles in unfamiliar ways.

[Si]

I used to fence ages ago - yep, it doesn't half make you ache the next day - think I even fenced for my uni once but that more to do with being short on numbers than any great skill. Come to think of it I also played darts for my uni once too - that was more to do with the free beer and table of deep fried food.

[NUKe]

I used to fence ages ago .

Why did you stop did you get caught