Look Good, Bike Good... by jamieB

I did a couple of 10 milers on the £16 Raleigh.  It's comfortable and easy to ride on the trails around the Mersey near Stretford, Chorlton, Sale and Wythenshawe Park.  I've spent most of the week running with my neighbour but you can read more of that on the Look Good, Run Good page.

All week I've been trying to ride a 20 miler in an attempt to progress gently to hopefully 75-80 miles with the 100 miler on 4 September.  You'd expect that being unemployed would mean you'd have loads of time to do what you want. Once you've done the shopping, cleaning, washing, ironing, taken the Girl to school and picking up at the end of the day you just don't have time left.  Luckily I have some contract work for a couple of weeks so I'll escape the housework but I still need to find time.

My Love had been telling me all week to ride to Stockport.  There are two options with the first being on the road. This would mean riding the Giant and getting more road experience under my belt again.  The second is to ride the Mersey using the trails and tracks that make up the national cycle route 62(W).  I'd been reading up and felt option 2 would be good. However I read that the surface wasn't great especially after a heavy downpour.

Sunday morning was lift-off despite the heavy downpour yesterday.  The sun was shining early this morning and the first few miles were great leading to Chorlton Water Park with the usual good trails and not much surface water.  It started to rain as I got onto into West Didsbury and the surface started to get worse.

The problem wasn't the rain or surface water, it was the trail itself which was a combination of grass, rock and brick.  Really tough but it got worse.  Just before Didsbury there was a piece of trail that just turned into a beach.  Even with an easy gear the bike just sunk and stopped.  Couldn't unclip my cleats quick enough and boom over onto my knee.  A sigh, a giggle and onwards but made sure that an alternative route was sort on the way back.

It wasn't the distance, it wasn't the bike, it was the trail.  Luckily it improves a bit as you get nearer to Stockport where everything seemed shut when I arrived.  Managed to get a drink at Costa and then tried to get back onto the trail. 

Did see Hitler and Himmler being carried into the Scala which was a bit surreal...

Got a bit lost by missing a couple of signs for the Transpennine Trail and did a few extra miles finally getting back on it. Managed to avoid some of the really bad trail but got hit by a heavy downpour so was soaked on my legs. Luckily my jacket kept me dry.

So, 25 miles there and back. A few lessons learnt including stay on the road, follow the signs and plan a bit more (remember the "7 Pees").  I'm happy with the ride and think I could have done more.  I was able to up the pace when I could but was easy when I couldn't which was most of the trail by the water.

Focusing on a longer road ride next weekend and maybe a couple of shorter rides after work...