The ouchy ride

After watching the Revolution series at the Manchester Velodrome on Saturday night, spending most of the time stood up, I possibly foolishly decided on riding Sunday morning. What was meant to be a nice easy flat ride became a slow paced ride with some climbing to do. A ride that became slower as it went on due to the pain in my knee getting progressively worse.

A portion of the Floop was ridden to Debdale before a jaunt on Hyde Rd/Manchester Rd through Denton Roundabout and into Hyde, then the climb up to Roe Cross via Victoria St and Matley. This was followed by the descent into Stalybridge then the climb back out to Ashton and up over to Park Bridge for the great descent there (rather busy this time round). Followed, naturally by my off-road jaunts that added mud to the road crud covering Everest and myself already. Over the M60 and climbing up a muddy, leafy slope on slicks brought me back out on the roads without having to get up the stupidly steep portion of road that would have finished me off as my perma-buggered knee was really whining now. Luckily I was close enough to home to really slow down without the fear of night descending before I got there.

Stats -
Temp: 11C with a real feel of 11C, wind 12mph WSW
Miles: 18.74
Average speed: 12.1mph
Climbed: 1002ft

Winter wonderland

I woke up to a bright crisp, chilly morning and I just had to get out and ride. I opted for a real easy route (one I use all the time) and loved it.

After clambering into my winter gear - Giordana winter tights, compression base layer, MCC jersey, Gore arm warmers, Endura overshoes and my cheats winter gloves (normal gloves with mitts over the top) - I threw my Discovery Channel windproof jacket on and hauled ass downstairs and into the pure air of a stunning winter morning.

Due to the roadworks that have now bred all over the place on my road (main Manchester to Ashton route) and will remain there for the next 3yrs or until they actually finish, whenever that may be; and given how I've already gone through 2 pairs of tyres this year because of the roadworks; I decided to try and avoid all of the diversions and contraflows so spent a fair while doubling back on myself via back streets to get through to Fairfield and then onto my usual route to Park Bridge. After coming out at Bardsley I took the road route to the John Hayworth Centre for a bacon butty (I know, I'm undoing all the good work I've just put in), a steaming mug of tea and a chat with Lesley and the countryside centre warden.

Once I'd winterproofed myself again I set off on the muddy but fun way back to Bardsley and along the roads through Ashton and along to the Snipe. Here I had a heart stopping nearly squished moment.

The road is 3 laned at this point leading up to the one way system: left hand lane is for straight on or left turn only, middle is for following the one way system to the right and then to the left, while the right hand lane is for following the one way system all the way to the right (right, then right again). Coming up to the Snipe I was ahead of a HGV who was being real good and staying far behind me and letting me rule the road. Coming up to the 2nd set of lights, I moved into the middle lane as that will take me home, but I sit to the left of this lane to allow traffic to still pass me on the right. The HGV was still real good and was slowly trundling in the left hand lane by now and was slowly passing me taking as much care as he could. I checked behind me, saw there was nothing there nor in the right hand lane, so I pulled over a little more to give the HGV more room to pass. HOONNNNNNNNNKKKKKKK!!!!! From nowhere a black cab had jumped on my ass, honked and scared the shit out of me so much that I nearly jumped into the side of the HGV. I purposely slowed down so that the cabbie was on my side, pointed to myself, then the HGV, then slid my finger across my throat, all while yelling at the tosser that he very nearly murdered me by being a tosspot. As in the life of the Spraggster, the cabbie just looked at me blankly shrugged his shoulders and then proceeded to undertake me and go into the left hand lane before putting his foot down. He was obviously way too lazy to just simply wait behind the HGV passing a vulnerable cyclist with extreme care.

The rest of the way home was filled with trepidation each time a vehicle got too close behind me (on slick roads too) half expecting to be splattered and scraped up into a jam jar.

Ah well, there's always another day to ride :oD

Stats -
Temp: 3C with real feel of 0C, wind 7mph wsw.
Miles: 15.73
Average speed: 13.6mph
Climbed: 470ft

Tour de Tameside

I arranged to meet Gaz at 8am for a nice easy ride of the Floop and then my Park Bridge route. Last night he asked if we could drop the Floop and concentrate on Park Bridge. Not a problem!

Bang on 8am as I stepped outside Gaz had just pulled up on his sexy Ribble, we discussed saddlebags for a little while (I put on the Topeak wedge to show him, usually have my Scicon on Everest) and we set off.

Out through Fairfield past a heritage area (Moravian Settlement) and out to Littlemoss/Daisy Nook and the first 'climb' of the day to Oldham Rd. i could have carried straight over the crossroads but as gaz wasn't feeling 100% I opted for the easier and flatter route to save killing him. So, up Smallshaw past the evil Vicarage, then onto another longish gradual climb to Alt Hill Lane and the start of the ace descent through Park Bridge. I'd forewarned Gaz that the going would be treacherous round here due to the rain slick tarmac, extreme leaf litter, cow shit (several farms along here) and the field run-off. Boy, was it lethal! We took it real slow which took the edge of the greatness of the descent, but it did mean we got to live another day!

I pointed out one of my hill rep hills to whimpers from Gaz and a huge sigh of relief from him once I'd said we weren't going up it. Onto Daisy Nook where the sexy Ribble got dirty (poor Gaz) and round to the cafe. After being there for a few minutes an MTBer on a sweet full sus Trek arrived and after asking us where we'd been, he proceeded to regale us with tales of his rides and his mates steeds (even telling us that his bike was nearly 2k and on one ride there were 20-20k worth of bikes). At this point gaz disappeared into his own world (don't blame you!) and I just abouts managed to keep up with the chat. Bit strange though that an MTBer would just blather on at 2 roadies like that. We than got bearated by him for taking the roadies along the singletrack/canal path. Why? the beasts are more than capable of handling them!

Anyway. Up Joby's 'mountain' which Gaz seemed to make it look like hard work (soz Gaz), while I pootled up it. Back up to Oldham Rd and down through Ashton town centre to the huge (and often lethal) Lidl roundabout where we went our separate ways: Gaz straight on to climb up through Dukinfield; myself turning right to Park Parade and sprint training alongside a police car.

After beating the cop car from a standing start to the stupid one way system I swooped and swooped some more before another sprinty bit to another stupid one way system. More swooping followed by sprinting meant that I was getting in some good training for the track champs in December (can't afford to get on the track at the moment to train).

Final mile to home was taken as a sprint for me; tucked up swooping through the contraflows was a little scary at times, but I made it safe and sound.
Stats - www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=24235
Miles: 13.92
Average speed: 13.2mph
Max speed: 185.9mph (apparantly!)
Sprinting max: 23.8mph (thanks to the pc balls up I had to keep looking at the pc. It was most likely more than stated above.)
Climbed: 459ft

Welcoming?

My legs decided they'd be kind to me today and let me get out for a ride with some climbing involved.

I set off on a deviated route to Droylsden centre avoiding the roadworks and contraflows and headed through Littlemoss where I got stuck behind a very slow moving hgv - I could understand it being cautious on the bends etc, but it was uber slow on the straights too. It decided to pull over before the M60 crossing so the huge line of traffic behind managed to get past before we all had to stop at the temporary traffic lights heralding another single laned section of road (they're breeding rapidly I tell you!). On passing through the narrow section the car in front clipped a roadworks sign (you know the one with the little man opening his umbrella to the ground, lol) and sent it careening into my path. I had two options: stop suddenly getting a car up the ass and maybe falling off, or ride over the thing. I chose to slaughter the sign and rode over it; it was a little noisy and lumpy but it beats a car up the butt any day!

On the gradient up to Oldham Rd the afore-mentioned slow moving hgv now got stuck behind me, although I was going quicker than it was doing on the flat straight road earlier. Somewhere along here it turned off, dunno where but god help those narrower streets with that beast driving down it!

Over and past Hartshead Sports College I made a quick decision to head to Hartshead Pike for a climb I haven't done in a while. Round two sides of Oldham Golf Course and the climbing keeps on coming until I'm at the top where the glare from the hazy sun is a nightmare and the wind has gotten chilly. A rapid descent and I'm in Mossley and ascending Under Lane into Grotten, along Thorley and across Abbey Hills Lane before getting onto Alt Lane.

At the Alt Lane junction I came across this rather sad sight:

Welcoming? Not likely!

Alt Lane began as a normal suburban street with a hump in the midst of it. Once over the hump however things change quickly. It becomes a narrow single laned, twisting, steep (9%ish) effort. Partway down this descent my brakes decided to play up and not actually slow my bike down much. When I did manage to slow down enough, I decided to walk the longest and steepest bit to be on the safe side until I got to a level(ish) section where I could tweak the brakes. When I got them working again I continued down Mill Brow and onto Park Bridge Rd and it's cobbled speed humps and it's final long cobbled section. Juddering about on these cobbles with a painful pelvis and shoulder isn't the best of practices, but I had actually forgotten they're as bad as they are - they're pretty spaced apart with some completely missing in places and with deep ruts between some of them. I came off the other end unscathed if a little tender.

The route home from here wasn't really thrilling as it's a route I do on a regular basis and there was nothing to write home about.

Near home however was a different matter. As I rode along St Andrew's nearing Eastwood a moronic driver in a mushy pea green metro decided to ignore the stop signs, white lines on the road and the fact that a rider was nearing and chose to just swing out into my path, just metres away from me. Come-uppance came when a car did the exact same to him at the next junction. I tried to not laugh, but it was hard not to.

Stats - www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=23486

Miles: 19.7

Average speed: 13.4mph

Climbed: 1073ft

Rerun of dusk desires

After finishing at the shop yesterday evening I set off for a ride using the majority of the route as that on Dusk Desires.

I had a headwind that was strengthening which made it a little hard going and standing up all day at work didn't make matters any easier on the legs, so I was expecting to struggle big time and was pleasantly surprised when I got home to find I was actually quicker than last time.

I followed the same route out with a slightly different return leg involving coming back through Ashton itself and a fair bit of dual carriageway to ride on before the delightful fight to get into lane on a 3 laned one-way system.

Stats - view route
Miles: 11.9
Av speed: 14.7mph
Climbed: 369ft

Dusk desires

At ride o'clock I decided that as the weather had been fab all day I'd get out for a ride that'd take me through dusk into night and hopefully see an amazing sunset. I wasn't to be disappointed.

After shovelling chowder down my throat for fuel I set off along my main road into Ashton setting a good pace due to the lack of traffic. Even making it through the rapidly breeding contraflows without a sniff of a problem (although from now on I probably will have problems!).

After making my way through Ashton town centre and the side of Ikea I suddenly decided that I wanted to head over to Park Bridge and the farmland over there as it'd be quiet and isolated, which is what I wanted seeing as I was in a contemplative mood. So off up Wilshaw with it's evil hump to get over and past Ashton golf course to get to Alt Hill Lane turning opposite Twirl Hill Lane.

I stopped to admire the view (what a view!) and spotted a bird of prey silhouette in the glowing skies as it hovered over it's next meal before rapidly swooping and gliding off victorious. Sadly my camera phone hasn't got a powerful enough zoom to capture its beauty, grace and effortlessness.

Climbing and descending through Alt Village was a dream. So much different than when I ride through here in the daylight. Although I had my lights on I was relying on memory for the road conditions and turns too and it made it more of a fun ride for me. That and the sheer isolation I got once I was in the valley bottom.

Once back into reality (sadly) I built some speed up as I shot along to Waterloo and made my turn-off onto a great twisting descent with stunning listed cottages abutting the road. Once past farmland I decided to go all guns blazing and got onto the outer ring (for some reason I very rarely use the front big ring, I always stay on the inner one) and put my foot down for some pacy flat riding.

Pretty soon I was turning off at Droylsden FC and winging round Fiveways before my lovely jaunt the wrong way up one-way systems - it's great when the roadworks mean you can do this! Especially when you see the faces of people who don't quite realise that this has happened.

Then home and a lovely radox bath before rubbish tv into the early hours.

Stats -
Amazing. Lovely and warm still.
Miles: 11.95
Average speed: 14.5mph
Climbed: 374ft

Easy pootle

Seeing as the sun was shining when I woke up early, I threw on the cycle gear and practically bounced out of my place for an easy ride. I opted for an easy ride on a route I know extremely well, with just a few tweaks to keep it fresh. The main tweak being a little bit more off road stuff along a portion of the Jericho Trail.

Stats - view route
Maximum speed: 31mph
Average speed: 13.9mph
Miles: 11.92
Climbed: 256ft
Time taken: 50 minutes

Appointment rides!

Seeing as I had an appointment in Ashton at 9:30 this morning, I though better of getting the bus which would take me anywhere up to 40 minutes due to roadworks for the metrolink causing havoc (it's going to be passing my place with a stop directly over the road from me), so I rode to the appointment instead. I also wanted to try out my windshell seeing as it was a little chilly out.
After leaving my place and getting onto the A662 very easily (despite it still being rush hour) thanks to a HGV that stopped the traffic for me, I had a fab fast ride for a couple of miles, seeing as I could weave my way past the traffic getting clogged up at the huge holes in the road. As I neared Ashton I noticed my chain was jumping a little. Each time it decided to play up I was pulling away from lights and pushing really hard; the chain jumped before I even got my other foot clipped in, so it would frequently slip off the pedal resulting in a few painful sudden drops onto the saddle for me (ouch) and watery eyes. After the third time I decided enough was enough and pulled over to sort it out - it was proving very hard to find anywhere to stop earlier due to being on the portion of road that is stupidly fast-paced and joins the motorway very close to where I was.


After hoicking Everest onto her saddle and playing the chain a bit, I realised what had caused the problem. When I wash her, I always take the wheels off to wash them separately and to ensure she gets a thorough clean. When I put her back together after her last wash, I'd obviously not pulled the rear wheel back far enough for the chain to be correct, so obviously the playing up was due to the chain being a little lax. Easy enough to sort out anyway!


It did mean I looked a little grubby when I got to my appointment though.


Afterwards i didn't want to come straight home, so carried on with the route I did on Tuesday 19th but with a tweak - I would ride up the very evil hill that is partway along Oldham Rd by Bardsley.

So, after 7 miles of undulations I pushed myself into riding up the 20% Bardsley Hill. Sadly I didn't time myself, but I don't think it took me too long. After that, it was to be very muddy as I took Everest through Daisy Nook and Medlock Vale before my usual hill climb attempt.

This hill may not look much - it may not even look like a hill - but it's an evil thing that drains you of energy while you push away and wonder why it feels so hard!

Once home I noticed that both myself and Everest was very mud-splattered - had to clean Everest before I took her into my place.

Stats view route
Cool, very drizzly, warming up rapidly
Maximum speed: 59.7 apparantly!
Average speed: 11.9
Miles: 16.61
Climbed: 371ft


Bardsley Hill view hill
Miles: 0.12
Climbed: 72ft at 20% max


Hill climb
Maximum speed: 10.3
Average speed: 6
Miles: 0.44
Climbed: 102ft at 19% max
Time: 2.20 mins

Out & About

Even though the weather was quite pants I decided it'd be good to get out for a ride. Usually I would get the main body of the ride out of the way and finish with a hill repeat or singular climb, or maybe a sprint. Not today. Oh no!

Today, for some extremely odd reason I decided to turn things about a little and it ended up in this order - sprint, hill repeat, main ride & (just to kill me off) a longer hill climb.

So, it all began with a sprint of about 3 miles (with a max gradient of 5%) to the entrance of Medlock Vale. After I sorted out the bike pc to record my efforts separate from the main ride, I set about doing 5 repeats of the hill. This section of road was recommended to me by Amy as the perfect spot to practice hill repeats due to the gradient - if Amy recommends it, it must be good!

After knackering myself for a good 15 minutes or so, the last repeat began the start of my main ride. After turning off the hill I joined a speed-humped road to take me past Droylsden High School's enormous playing field and left past the school itself, a cemetery and to the fun of the Fiveways roundabout (the place where Paul has been hit a few times, poor love); I usually avoid this like the plague, but couldn't be bothered turning off down one of the side streets. Once safely across, I headed up Chapel St and Medlock Rd to get onto my usual route to Daisy Nook.

My route changed a little from the last time I rode it again once I got to Oldham Rd in Ashton, as I decided to test the legs by going up Wilshaw Lane and it's little sting of an 8% section. Up along to Lees Rd and I turn left and prepare to hear the muppets at the 2 high schools I have to pass to get to Alt Hill Lane and my fun, twisty sections.

The first section of the descent is a 5% drop of 36ft to Alt Hill Rd, then onto a 6% drop of 138 twisty & single-laned feet and finally onto a rolling max 4% massively wide section to bring me out to the last 20% drop of 56ft in less than 0.09 of a mile! Finally I'm at Daisy Nook and the start of the off-road track section - the part that Everest has been longing for!

Naturally as it'd been raining almost non-stop for a few days the tracks were lovely and muddy and all too soon I had the compulsory skunk-tail as I flew along the track to Sammy's Basin and the first of the lock descents which would take me to the Dark Tunnel and the welcome butty and tea stop. Once I'd made a few hound chums - Blue, the ginormous Great Dane and Molly, the very cute tiny Jack Russell - I set off again refreshed and ready for action. First port of call was those locks again - 3 of them with a max gradient of 20% and cobbled/rutted/muddy, you name it and it was probably there under my tyres!
After hauling ass up the locks I very nearly came off crossing a ford - just before the wooden rickety bridge is another cobbled section, only these cobbles are loose and very, very wonky, and very nearly tipped me off into the ford!

After following my usual route back from Crime Lake end of Daisy Nook to Medlock Vale (not the direct route, oh no!) I had another trail section through the vale and back to THAT hill for yet another hill climb attempt. Only this time I made it more evil.....I would add another quarter mile to it. Ha ha ha...I'd obviously gone mad! Or had I?

Stats view route
Mild, windy & rainy
Maximum speed (mph): 71.1 apparently
Average speed (mph): 12.4
Miles: 19.55
Climbed 459ft

Hill repeat stats view hill
Maximum speed: 10.7
Average speed: 7.00
Best time: 1.50
Climbed 85ft in 0.26 miles with max 19% gradient

Hill climb stats
Maximum speed (mph): 11.3
Average speed: 7.7
Time: 2.55 mins
Climbed 102ft in 0.44 miles with max 19% gradient

Everest Liberation

Say Hurrah! Everest got liberated today and she got to play out!

After all the pondering I've been doing since Doc said I can ride again and, what with all the crummy weather, when I saw today's forecast I just thought if I'm gonna get out and try riding again, now would be a good shot.

So after a little bit of faffing about I set off and immediately headed in the direction I usually do - towards Daisy Nook and up Littlemoss and Newmarket Rds. Once at the crossroads I had to do a fast bit of thinking - do I feel strong enough to go straight across and up Wilshaw Lane with it's nasty kick in it, or go a little out of the way and head up Cranbourne? Just as the lights changed to green Everest decided she wanted to go the slightly easier route (isn't she good to me?).

Once on Lees Rd (in the rain) with Hartshead Pike looming on the hill in front of me, I chose to go through Park Bridge down the steep twisting lane - nothing like that road to ensure you get over your fear of turning left (was turning left when I got hit by the car in Feb). Once through the lanes there and back onto Ashton Rd I took Everest for a spin in the mud through Daisy Nook and to the visitor centre for a bite to eat.

While at the centre Everest found herself in lust with a Spesh Stumpy while I fed the squirrel that lives in the woods there.

After a breather I set off in the mud again to Crime Lake, past a few friendly fellows (horses) and up the hill there to cross the M60 and head through Failsworth and down to the railway crossing at Berry Brow. Annoyingly I only remembered the crossing was closed today when I got down the bugger of a hill to it. So begrudgingly I had to turn tail and climb back up it and find an alternative route to get to the other side of the crossing.The alternative took me to the far side of Clayton Vale (Medlock Vale) for another off road section. Everest and her new tyres coped brilliantly and all too soon I was at the point I wanted to be - my hill repeat section. Although I knew I was badly unfit, I thought I'd still give it a shot and did rather well. You'll see how well when you view the stats.

Although I've not ridden since February, I'm a little unsure whether I'm happy or not with my average speed on this ride as you can see from the look on my face! On the brighter side my pelvis didn't hurt at all and the legs only struggled half the time.

The route can be seen on mapmyride - main route & the hill

Stats -

Cool, light winds, rain

Max speed: 26mph

Average speed: 11.2mph

Miles: 16.26

Hill stats -

Max speed: 10.6mph

Average speed: 7.4mph

Miles: 0.25

85ft of climbing (max 17% gradient)

Annoying builders. Grrr!

Thanks to the annoying builders at the business premises next door to me, I got rudely woken at 8am when they started to use a pneumatic drill on god knows what!
So I thought that, seeing as I'm awake I may as well get out and ride. After crawling out of my nice warn bed and throwing on bike stuff, I set off on a ride towards Park Bridge - it's a loop that I really like and isn't too harsh for an early ride.

I set out along my usual route through Daisy Nook and Littlemoss, choosing to go up the hillier route of St Alban's Rd once over into Ashton before the nice little downhill section along Lees Rd into Lees itself. I usually go through Park Bridge along Alt Hill Rd through the pretty little village of Alt Hill, but today I thought I'd head along Mill Brow and right through the heart of Park Bridge itself, feeling the chill in the air as I flew down the hills.

Thankfully, the route I took also meant that I got to avoid the farms on Alt Hill Rd that where I've often encountered problems, so no tractors in the road for me this time round. Yay!
Once back in Bardsley, I decided to cross over Ashton Rd and head along Knott Lanes and Crime Lane to pass by Crime Lake before heading down through the conservation area of Waterhouses past beautiful farms such as the Grade 2 listed Diamond Hall Farm (15th Century), and very sweet cottages.
This brought me down past Millstream Animal Shelter and onto Berry Brow where a loop of the Medlock Vale was in order before heading back home, tired, muddy and cold, but happy that I've boosted my miles for the Challenge.

Boring bit -

Temperature: 7 degrees
Max speed: 25mph
Average speed: 15mph
Miles: 14.97
Challenge 39.86% complete with 180.12 miles left to go

Are we having a late Indian summer?!

The weather was gorgeous this morning - just perfect for a ride, so I headed out with all intentions of going to Hartshead Pike, but it all went a little bit wrong!

I set off through Daisy nook towards Ashton with the sun beating (well, trying to) down, but by the time I got to the road to take me to the Pike I couldn't see the top of it due to low lying mist, so a change of direction was the order of the day.


I turned off towards Park Bridge - excellent decision: narrow, twisty roads with some steep descents. Perfect. That is until I came nose to radiator grille with a truck trundling up the hill I was hurtling down! As this road has few passing places and is only just wide enough for the truck, I had to turn around and haul ass back to the top and eagerly wait to go again. This time success. It proved so much fun I just had to do it again.

By the time I got round to the turning again, the Pike & the hill it stands on were completely veiled by the mist. Back on the descent, I managed to hit a pocket of mist, although I'm convinced it was a very lost cloud, as I hit it dry and was totally wet when I came out the other side!

On the way home I managed to tuck in behind a British Cycling car and kept pace with it, so I got in a good mile or so of sprinting. Kept getting funny looks too; though I think that it's down to my Middleton CC strip as it has been mistaken for the British team strip before - well, it is red, white and blue with union jacks on it!!

The boring bit:
Temperature - 15 degrees
Max Speed - 27mph
Average Speed - 14.7mph