After giving up hope that the blustery winds of Saturday would drop, I set off at 12.00 pm to do a loop from my house (Walkden) in search of lumpy ground in the Rivington Moors above Bolton and Horwich. The ride turned out to be 30 miles in total. I intend on using the same loop on future training rides so that i can test myself against the clock to see how my form improves (or dips!) over time.
I was drawn into a false sense of security by a tailwind on the outward leg of the loop (see map of route, below). The flat and 'false-flat' roads leading to Horwich did take me up gradually. The tailwind did allow me to spin the legs nicely at 20-24 mph however!
I then hit Rivington and whilst i was still heading in the same direction, it felt as though the wind was suddenly being thrown in my face. The road also ramped up significantly. I had a couple of k's of climbing and managed to stay in the big ring (50 teeth on compact chainset for any techies reading this) for some time before dropping it to the small ring. Still had plenty of gears left though!
As i reached Belmont near the Reservoir fly over i decided to turn around. The wind was blowing me all over the road and traffic on the road was quite heavy which was a little unsettling.
I therefore turned the bike around and headed eyeballs out downhill (40mph max) towards Horwich before finding the A6 and then grinding my way back home.
I managed 500 metres of climbing in total over the 30 mile route which i completed in 2hrs 10 minutes (including stopping to check in with my fiancee and take photos of my wind-swpet face and the scenerey) - not too bad considering the wind factor.
The ride was followed by Cappuccino (large), a cheese toastie (large) and Victoria Sponge (2 pieces) made by the fair hands of my good lady.
Photos of the ride will be posted once i have found my mobile phone USB cable.
Ciao.
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Saturday 19 April 2008
Friday 4 April 2008
Welcome to London to Paris Bike Ride!
This blog is going to chart my charity bike ride from London to Paris. You'll be able to follow my progress using GPS, and see pictures of my cycle ride.
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