I had a hospital appointment at 9am, so thought I'd ride out for it instead of putting up with annoying rush hour bus types.
So I got the Everest ready for a partial dusk ride and set off, chuckling to myself as I passed the motorists in a jam on Ashton New Rd. I positively flew down to Alan Turing Way and along here, crossing Ashton Old Rd and Hyde Rd. Then I got stuck in a little bit of a jam at Stockport Rd, but soon cleared that before heading along Anson Rd and Upper Brook St to the MRI Eye Hospital.
Umpteen locks went on the bike, lobbed (in the street) a pair of trackies over the lycra and headed to the clinic...to be told that'd been cancelled. GRR! I hadn't received any notification of that! They also couldn't tell me when it was rescheduled for.
Stomped out, yanked the trackies off (again in the street), unlocked the bike and went for a hurtling ride through town into Salford for a little while and back into town before making my way past Piccadilly Station where I found the going tough - turns out I'd ridden so far with the front wheel rubbing on the brake blocks and it refused to spin all by itself. Hmm, more amazed now that I hurtled along quite happily earlier then...I must be getting stronger than I originally though I was!
Once the wheel was re-aligned, I gave myself some sprint training - get to the lights asap, pass such a person asap etc etc. Ashton Old Rd was perfect for this as at this time of day the traffic is quite light and it's a straight road with an incline (only noticeable on knackered days) to climb.
I took a diversion back along Alan Turing Way to the velodrome; partway along I stuck myself on the back end of the GB youth squad as they headed to the velo for their track training. had a little natter with Dave Daniel who had a bit of a hacking cough, poor love. Once at the velo I booked myself on for an early morning training session (8am) in a weeks time, then rode through the vale before heading up my hill repeat hill and home.
Boring bit -
Wet, mild (7 degrees)
Maximum mph: 23
Average mph: 15
Distance: 14.83
269ft climbed
Look on the bright side. A nice ride instead of a horrible hospital appointment.
ReplyDeleteSprint / interval training!!
Oooo, I used to hate doing that. So glad i'm not racing anymore.
I'm only doing the interval/sprint training on the roads cos I can't afford to be on the Velodrome a lot - that's where I race, but at almost 10 quid a pop it's a bit expensive to do it all the time!
ReplyDeleteI was mightily miffed bout the appointment though as wanted to know if they've worked out if my eyes are gonna get better or not.