Floop

Myself, Gaz and Emma decided on Saturday night that we'd ride the Fallowfield Loop this morning. Partially as they'd not ridden it before, but also because Joby and Gaz have been looking for somewhere to do their 100 miles of nowhere ride. that, and seeing as they didn't have a clue where it was or how to get there, I'd come in very useful. I'd planned to ride anyway and decided to meet them and then ride my own loop afterwards.

At 8:30ish Gaz and Emma hurtled into my street and we all set off with Gaz doing a few wheel spins on the 'interesting' road surface before getting onto the roadwork area that has now appeared right at the end of my street.
We set off towards Wright Robinson College and got onto the Floop at its gravelly first quarter/fifth and set a good pace along the cycleway passing a fellow cyclist with extreme ease: well, he was on a full sus mtb that squeaked like an overgrown mouse, so the passing was done with ease.

As we neared the Kingsway bridge Gaz got a text from his misses saying his daughter was ill and could he come home. We turned tail and set off back towards Debdale Park and the Hyde Rd exit. Once on Hyde Rd I promptly adopted the tuck position and pelted along until I drew alongside Denton Golf Club near the fantastically lethal Denton roundabout. No RLJers as there was very little traffic thankfully: it's not the best of roundabouts to ride round, but ride it we did.

Into Denton Crown Point and while Emma and Gaz headed up to Devils Hill and Mottram Rd, I turned off to begin my own loop of madness. Up Shepley, through into Dukinfield, then Stalybridge, Ashton/Mossley and up Wilshaw to Lees Rd and the gradual climb up to Park Bridge.
Coming down the descent into the valley I got stuck behind a Jeep behind a horse rider who was in the middle of the road. Once the Jeep was passing her safely she acknowledged the driver, but when i said 'morning' to her I got a bit of a sour look from her and what sounded like a grunted reply. Hmm, so much for being friendly to other road users who are just as vulnerable.

Back in Bardsley and along through Daisy Nook and I was avoiding branches that'd been blown off the trees with last nights gales. Luckily the visitor centre was open (that early on a Sunday, I was surprised) and the warden was told about the branches while I waited for my bacon butty. Making friends with a beagle pup, very cute, I began to feel the cold despite being wrapped up warm, so pretty soon I was on the move again descending and climbing various parts of Oldham and Failsworth before heading back through Ashton towards home.

Stats - www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=22172
Cold, crisp gorgeous day
Miles: 32.89
Average speed: 12.4mph (fairly slow, but happy with it anyway)
Climbed: 1217ft

Shepley shuttle

How gorgeous does that view look??? That is where today's ride headed to.

Having woke up to a gorgeously clear, crisp bright day I just had to jump on Everest and free her from the constraints of being a clothes horse. A crap journey through umpteen contraflows - I swear they're breeding round here - and I managed to swerve off into a side road that'd take me to a rapid descent before over the hump that crosses the M60, round a rather desolate empty mini roundabout and onto another rapid descent down to the Tame Valley before I decided to do some hill reps on the climb back out of the valley. It's not a huge climb: a mere 0.22 mile of 6% average and 8% max gradient, but it's a hill of sorts. After looking like a numpty going up and down this bit several times and turning at the little roundabout at the top I finally left the climb and carried on through Globe Lane industrial estate before the descent through Dukinfield and the climb up to one of the huge roundabouts in Ashton. Oh, there's nothing like a hgv up the ass to get you sprinting up climbs.

Whoever decided to plonk a roundabout at the top of a 19% section needs shooting as, more often than not, I'm caught out behind traffic and stuck on the ascent trying not to roll backwards into whatever is behind me!

Anyway, following this lovely bit of engineering is an excellent sprinty section; only 0.22 mile but you can build up good speed on it until you slam the brakes on cos the set of lights is always against you at the end of it. I maxed out at 27mph on it - think I was a bit slow leaving the roundabout.

After a stint on Ashton's finest one-way systems and narrowing roads I took Everest off-road through Daisy Nook where we made friends with a Scotty dog and got lovely and muddy and all shook up on the trails before getting back onto the main road and mountain goating up the 20% section that other cyclists seem to really struggle on. This really is the only 'climb' where I can consistently pass cyclists without even trying. Hey-ho!

More of Tameside's greatest one-way systems followed with nice sprinty bits.

After a game of chicken trying to get into the middle of 3 lanes to get round another one-way bit, I was passing by the best factory in the world - the biscuit factory. I tell you, I wanna live in one of the houses next to it cos the smells emanating from it? They're out of this world! Just very mmmmmmmm!!

All the while since leaving Ashton centre I had a bus behind me that kept trying to pass, but finding I was going too quick or the road got crummy so couldn't. He finally got the upper hand as we passed over the M60 again by the Snipe; he had a little more horse power than I do. i could see him chuckling in the wing mirror as he passed me by, only for me to have the last laugh as the hgv in front of me decided he wanted to go in front of the bus. So as the hgv started to cross lanes I swung around his ass and floored it to the sound of 'what?!?!'. I don't think the bus driver thought cyclists could go quicker than motors. Mwa-hah-ha!

Sadly I think Joby has jinxed me. Going through yet another one-way system, as another hgv passed closely on my right shoulder something in the road got sucked up in his draft and thudded into my shin. I now have an egg-sized lump right on the shin bone that started to go a lovely shade of puce as soon as it got hit.

I haven't a clue what hit me as I had no time to react really, what with a line of traffic behind me and going at warp speed myself. I guess I'm just lucky I was so close to the hgv or the thing may've hit me in the head or smashed through a windscreen behind me.

Anyway although my leg hurt like bloody hell, I still managed to sprint the rest of the way home: a good mile and half and managed to max out at 31mph. So I'm happy.

Even happier that I managed to stay above 10mph on the reps at Shepley.

I'm thinking that something is definitely going right. Maybe not as quickly as I'd like, but you know we can't have it all our own way all the time. Unless you're Joby of course, lol.

Stats - view route

Simply devine for September, warm, clear.

Miles: 15.31 (including 6 hill reps)

Average speed: 14.2mph

Climbed: 448ft (including hill reps)