Rachael Crewesmith - Mountain Biking, Mountaineering and Other Outdoor Stuff

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🏊🏼‍♀️Day 100🏊🏼‍♀️
Actually

🏊🏼‍♀️Day 100🏊🏼‍♀️
Actually day 100 was on Saturday but there was no time for social media. I’ve passed 100 days of cold swimming in a row, the habit is well-and-truly formed and I don’t think I’ll stop now. Some things I’ve learned:

😀It always feels good afterwards.

🌡How cold I feel has little to do with how cold the water is. Other factors like time of day, tiredness, when I last ate, who I am with, how windy it is have a much greater bearing.

⏰My circadian rhythms mean I find swimming in the morning much more painful than the afternoon. It’s different for everyone. When @suecrewe swam the channel in 1976, she had to train at 4am for a month to prepare her body for the 5am start (no wetsuits and no socks!).

🩸The stage in my cycle has the biggest impact on how I feel: it really hurts in the week before my period. The week of my period I feel like a super hero who could stay in for hours (I don’t though!).

⛸Ice swimming gives a tremendous adrenaline rush but I cannae be bothered chopping holes in the ice every day, even if it does look good on social.

🧤Neoprene socks and gloves make the experience pleasurable instead of painful.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦It’s more fun with friends.

🚿Hot showers don’t warm you up: you need to warm your core with hot drinks and moving around: likewise with hot water bottles.

🧦Putting socks on first when getting changed makes it way easier to put trousers on.

🧥You don’t need a fancy dryrobe or magic towel: swimming is cheap and good for the soul.

🦵A garden kneeler makes a brilliant changing mat.

💃🏽My body is brilliant! In a world of skinny climbers and “fitspo” models on Instagram, it’s easy to get lost in a narrative of thin-is-best. Cold water swimming has given me confidence to be proud of my body and how adaptable and capable it is at doing what it does. The most powerful take home.

🙏🏽I am lucky to choose to live near open water. I have been able to swim every day because a winter of uncertain unemployment meant I had time and headspace to form the habit and I could walk to the sea.

🐳I hope you get to go swimming soon too.

📸 @savannahparton
#cold

Hello old friend! Yesterday I was in the Cairngorm

Hello old friend! Yesterday I was in the Cairngorms for the first time in over a year for a CPD workshop that has been rearranged so many times this winter. @ecossemountains shared all his tips and tricks for working in the northern coires and I got a bonus dip at the second highest beach in the UK. Looking forward to getting back to ‘proper’ work and the arrival of spring.
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#mountains #cairngorms #cairngormsnationalpark #lochmorlichbeach #lochmorlich #scotland #sunshine #cpd #scrambling #wintermountaineering #wintermountain #swimming #wildswimming #wildscotland #wilddipping

💙DAY 80💙
I wasn’t sure if I would keep swi

💙DAY 80💙
I wasn’t sure if I would keep swimming in February. Some days started to feel like a hassle, some days I was just too busy, some days I just wasn’t feeling it. The novelty of swimming in ice just became annoying and time consuming.

They say it takes 28 days to form a habit. Well, somehow, I would manage a quick dip every day, even if it was dark, even if I was too busy, even if I just wasn’t feeling it. We’ve reached the end of February and somehow I have been dipping every day since December 1st!

Well done to all those folk who have been taking the plunge this winter. It feels good and I think I’ll keep it up.

📸Friday at Glenfinnan as a pair of F15s spun and twisted overhead. Magic.
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#wildswimming #dipaday #thisgirlcan #coldwatertherapy

Chatting with @niallgrimes about my favourite plac

Chatting with @niallgrimes about my favourite place, Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia for @teambmc new podcast, Wild Horizons. I loved going there in my mind, sharing shapes and stories and hopefully giving you a taste of why I love it there. Niall wants to hear from you: slide into his DMs to let him know what you want to hear about next.

The link is in my bio 👆
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#wildhorizons #podcast #snowdonia #hillwalking #hiking #hikingpodcast @ami_professionals

My long-legged, fast riding, massive striding, swi

My long-legged, fast riding, massive striding, swimming-in-circles-around-me valentine ❤️

#waitforme

💙DAY 62!! 🏊🏼‍♀️
Today was the last

💙DAY 62!! 🏊🏼‍♀️
Today was the last day of January which marks my sixty second day in a row of swimming in the cold. It started with #dipadaydecember inspired by @ellachloeswims. It took me some time to get in the habit but by the end of December I didn’t want it to end so I carried on into January. It was made easier by the total absence of my normal work which meant that I could always fit a cold swim into my day and also by living in a warm, safe home.

❤️Some of my pals have been raising money for @crisis_uk and rather than do a separate fundraiser, I thought I’d just spread their word. You can find the link in my bio or head over to @gillymcarthur to find out more.
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🏊🏽‍♀️Swimming is a privilege that I have felt thankful for every day.
🙏🏽Thankful that I can choose to live near a body of water.
🏡Thankful that lockdown has left me with less, but not homeless.
👭Thankful that sometimes friends like Pamela come and support me, take photos and dress me afterwards.
🏔In the ups and downs of my Covid world, today was a low day so the swim was short and sharp and over without a celebration so here is one from the most glorious and adrenaline-filled swim of 2021.

#wildswim #januarydip #coldwater #thankful #donate #crisisuk #thisgirlcan #thisgirlcanswim #lockdowndiary

💙Dip a Day December💙
31 days of cold water i

💙Dip a Day December💙
31 days of cold water immersion culminating in this joyful, frosty swim in the mountains above my home. Thanks to @bondddd and @bertiealbertbarnett for the company, the laughter and the frozen chocolate. Thanks to someone up there for the windless blue sky. Thanks for all the small but joyful blessings that 2020 helped us to see.
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Description: A picture of two white women and a bearded white man swimming in a mountain lake. There is snow on the mountainside. Rachael is laughing so much her face is screwed up.
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#dipadaydecember #joy #hot #swim #friends #coldwaterswimming #coldwater #appreciate #cloudnews #laughter #almostdrownedbymycamera #brokesomecovidrules #happynewyear #2020 #iceswimming #threedegrees

During lockdown I contributed to a new book from @

During lockdown I contributed to a new book from @danwilkinsoncoach and @paulsmith_coach. It’s just popped through my letterbox and I’m excited to have a good look at it. My story is about reviewing and how important this is to the performer. I am honoured to have been asked alongside other heavyweights of the outdoor coaching community like @alanhalewood @girlsonhillsuk @terryjameswalker @john_kettle_climbing @libby_peter and @katycurd. What an alumni! You can get the book from the authors or from @adventuresportsmediahouse : I think it will make good lockdown reading.
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#coaching #books #learnsomethingnew #moveyourworld #contributor

*More cool news*
This week I was nominated for an

Last day of coaching in 2020 with this group of ac

Last day of coaching in 2020 with this group of ace women at Coed Y Brenin. We worked on core skills of bike handling, facing fears, getting off and trying again, wheelies (obviously) and putting it all into context on the trail. It was cool to see their confidence grow as their bike handling improved. Can’t wait to see them on the trails in 2021! That’s it for this year, new dates coming soon for April 2021.
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#coaching #rideyourbike #learnsomethingnew #mtb #mountainbike #womensupportingwomen #sitatthetable #gojuliana #skillscoaching #improve #thisgirlcan

Delighted to be selected to provide the @teambmc W

Delighted to be selected to provide the @teambmc Women’s Ready to Rock courses here in Snowdonia in 2021. These are one-day events aimed at introducing women into outdoor ‘trad’ climbing. You can find out more on The BMC website and dates will be following shortly. Here I am dressed head to toe in my favourite colour 🧡 whilst mentoring at the brilliant, ground-breaking and wonderful @womenstradfestival in 2019. I’ve really missed sharing my love of adventurous climbing with women in 2020 so I am so chuffed to have this opportunity. There’s a team of awesome @ami_professionals women running these nationwide so look out for one in your area!

#tradisrad #thisgirlcan #tradclimbing #rockclimbing #outside #wearerab #moveyourworld #kineticalpine #themountainpeople #learnsomethingnew #mountainsisters #leadbyexample #climbing #womenwhorock #orange

Welsh winter providing a smorgasbord of fun challe

Welsh winter providing a smorgasbord of fun challenges: great mountaineering on Llech Ddu Spur, great snow, poor visibility, some breakable crust and a headtorch walk-off with slightly too much softrush. I was delighted to be out in such classic conditions, jabbering on with @bruton.james.
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#welshwinter #thinkwinter #outside #mountaineering #makewintercount #wearerab #themountainsarecalling #moveyourworld

☃️❄️💨WINTER💨❄️☃️
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Ooosh. Th

☃️❄️💨WINTER💨❄️☃️
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Ooosh. That was sharp! Morning jaunt up Y Garn with @loveagoodridge and Tryfan the dog. The first day of winter always feels a bit clunky: I forgot my thin gloves, stashed my thick gloves at the bottom of a tightly-packed dry bag, thought about crampons too late, didn’t eat anything, fell over a lot...

What was good though is that we chose a short journey, familiar to both of us, without too many tricky steps or slopes to make decisions on: it allowed us to faff and be slightly inefficient without adding in tricky route choice or a huge distance to the mix. It’s good to build up slowly in winter: start small. Funnily enough we bumped into lots of fellow @ami_professionals who were doing just the same!

Testing out the Kinetic Alpine technology from @rab.equipment. I stayed dry all day and felt really comfortable on the ascent even when I was working quite hard! Taking bookings for Scottish Winter, I’ll be there January to March. Crossing all my fingers and toes that you will be able to join me 🤞🏽.
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#winter #makewintercount #firstdayofwinter #snow #wintermountain #snowdog #snowdonia #fafffriday #thisgirlcan #weareexplorers #wearerab #moveyourworld #professionalmountaineer #getoutside #thinkwinter #stayfrosty

Some days start out clear and end up claggy. We co

Some days start out clear and end up claggy. We could have been anywhere, we could have run somewhere familiar, we could have been somewhere with a less faffy shuttle, we could have stayed at home... Life isn’t spicy enough if you just stay at home though.
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The Nantlle Ridge was in prime Welsh condition and luckily the company was jovial and full of great conversations.
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@wi11hardy @debbiemorgan9
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#running #mountains #wearerab #moveyourworld #getoutside #skyrunning #greasy #mountainrunning #outdoorwomen #friends #fellrunning #wales #scrunble #youcanrunfree

Hardy souls leaving their troubles in the water.

Hardy souls leaving their troubles in the water.
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Well done @hnorbbles for defeating the pump and holding the camera for the whole 13 minutes!
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#swim #cold #sheswims #wildswimming #llynpadarn #wherearetheboys #lonelytreedippers

Do you like returning to old, familiar haunts to g

Do you like returning to old, familiar haunts to gauge your progress? Laps with my chums today at Gwynedd’s finest downhill centre in the November sunshine. It’s five years since I last rode here and it was fun to see just how much my riding has improved. Bike park is my weakest style and it is easy to just avoid it so I make no gains. I am going to make an effort in 2021! I even enjoyed the bigger jumps today, who’d have thought it?! Thanks to @endurobiker, @snowskate75, Dan and coach @petecalkin 🤘🏽
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#mtb #downhill #myjuliana #rideyourbike #mountainbike #smithopticsuk #sheshreds #thisgirlcan #progress #improvement #rideyourbike #bikepark #joplin

Feeling melancholy about missing @kendalmountainfe

Feeling melancholy about missing @kendalmountainfestival this weekend and all the heart-warming friendships that are kept kindling there, I figured I should bring a little bit of Kendal back to Llanberis. Therefore in honour of the #buoy13swimmingclub, I thought we would make our own group here in North Wales. It started with six hardy souls but I am sure it will grow. Here’s to the Sunday morning exhilaration. Here’s to friendship. Here’s to home. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
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#lonelytree #swimming #wales #friends #wi #wonderfulwildwomen #whatwouldgillydo #outside #coldwaterswimming #coldwaterswimming #igdaily #wanderlust #sunrise #wintheday #winterswimming

Days out with my Diverge. Feeling grateful today f

Days out with my Diverge. Feeling grateful today for this jazzy bike, my ticket to freedom. Road? Rapid. Off-road track? No bother. Singletrack? Yes please! I’ve ridden thousands of kilometres on this bike since March and it’s barely skipped a beat. Even when my diary was empty and my immediate future was uncertain, I could guarantee a trip out on this fun machine would boost my mood and feed my brain with fresh air. It doesn’t have to be a fancy bike: the best bike is the one you own! I hope you can manage to get out on your bike soon too!
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#bike #outsideisthebestside #choosecycling #gravelbike #roadbike #mountainbike #specializeddiverge #breeze #freshairhead #lockdown2020

This weekend I have been coaching core skills to l

This weekend I have been coaching core skills to local riders and dodging rain showers. It was so awesome to see progress as we nipped out a few bad habits and created strong foundations to build upon. Thanks to these two groups for patiently rearranging their weekends post-lockdown and supporting local business. It was ace to be back! Get in touch for info and dates for Core Skills, ‘Blue to Red’ progressions days and private coaching.
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💥🚲
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#mtb #mtbcoach #learnsomethingnew #bccoaches #mountainbikeskills #thisgirlcan

The early bird catches the best worms.
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#lockd

The early bird catches the best worms.
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#lockdown #llanberis #lonelytree

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