Mad and muddy

After Sunday's chaotic ride, I wanted to get a bit of order in and do some hill climbing and some sprints if I could manage both on the same day. My shoulder was still sore too, so I wasn't holding out much hope on the hills.
As it was, I needn't have worried as the weather made my decision for me.

Thanks to the metrolink roadworks I couldn't take the immediate left once I'd left my crummy road so I had to tweak it a little to get onto Edge Lane and round through Fairfield, Daisy Nook and onto to Lees New Rd by Lily Lanes.
On the way up St Alban's the weather got a bit crap with drizzle and by the time I'd got to the top I couldn't see Hartshead Pike anymore due to mist and storm clouds. That was my mind made up; I wouldn't be going up that climb, so I focused on sprint training instead.

I carried on until I reached Alt Lane and swooped round by Alexandra Park to Hathershaw, around/through Limeside and to the start of Coal Pit Lane where I was going to practise my sprinting. Having no turbo yet and unable to afford the track sessions, this is the next best thing for me in preparation for the next club track championship in December.
The road is just over 1.03 miles long, little traffic and with approx 70ft of climbing along it's length. My LBS owner uses this road too for his sprinting, so I knew it'd be a good road to get top whack on.

I was, however, completely blown away by what I did mange to achieve.
I rode up it 4 times, each time sprinting as hard as I could for as long as I could. Granted, I know that the track sprint is only 200metres, but with the 1k TT and the 2k pursuit also ahead of me, I wanted to push myself.
The stats for the sprint are included in the usual stats below.

After nigh on wiping myself out to the point of nearly falling off the bike by the end of the sprinting (must've been doing it right then!), I carried on to Bardsley for my lovely off road route to the cafe where, due to the rain, I arrived very, very muddy, rather wet and knackered!

Stats - www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=24706
Miles: 18.34
Average speed: 26mph (thanks to the sprinting)
Maximum speed: 37mph (top whack! PB for max speed too)
Climbed: 619ft