Commuting

I had yet another appointment to be at this morning, so I set off on yet another commute. No probs except for a kamikaze cat that nearly lost it's life as it jumped out right in front of my bike! A few squealing heart-stopping moments later, it finally remembered to move out of the way and dove under a parked car!

Aside from that, it was a pretty average commute.

Stats -
Maximum speed: 25mph
Average speed: 14mph
Miles: 12.32
Climbed: 154ft

Easy!!

Preparations

I've finally managed to book my place on the Manchester to Blackpool ride for 12th July. I've repeated what I did last year - picking the earliest possible start time, thereby giving me plenty of time to get to Blackpool before the last coach leaves to head back at 5:30. not that I'm expecting it to take me 10hrs!

I'm hoping to replicate my 2008 time of 4:15 or thereabouts; at the slowest I'd expect 5hrs.

I have another month before I ride the event, so I'll just keep on doing what I currently am doing as that is working a treat for me. The route has no major hills, the worst thing being a climb once out of Euxton that I managed last time so should have no problems this time.

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

Paupers Beach

After thinking long and hard over a few days (Friday and Saturday) I decided I would get out for a ride on Sunday.

As I woke up early and found the sun streaming and a very gentle breeze blowing through the window, I slapped on the Riemann P20 and readied Everest for a gorgeously sunny ride.

After a stint through Clayton and Failsworth I got onto Broadway for the long steady climb up through Hollinwood and Chadderton and past The Latics before having to follow a diversion through God Knows Where before it felt like all the hills in what I now know as Shaw were coming out to get me!

Once back on known land I ploughed onward and upwards, soon arriving in Newhey and hunting for the hill I prefer to climb than that on Kiln Lane. For once there was no furry Exocet missile on a suicide mission as I flew along Wild House Lane before turning at a dinky roundabout to head along the waters edge on Lake Bank passing John W (Middleton CC) and round to Halifax Rd where I trundled uphill to the start point of Middleton CC's hill climb route. I wanted to see how I did riding Blackstone Edge but my legs had other ideas as after a mile of 7% climbing they screamed at me to stop going uphill and then refused to push me any further! So I turned back and headed back the way I came in search of food which I found at the visitor centre for the Paupers Beach (Hollingworth Lake).

After some yummy sustenance and a phone call to Evans Cycles I set off back along Lake Bank where I spotted a few more members of Middleton CC - Paul, Lyndsey and Simon. After a rapid and twisty descent back down Pennine Drive I was flying down through Newhey, Shaw and Chadderton to the base of Broadway with it's junction at Oldham Rd. As I wanted to treat Everest to some new things I set off along Oldham Rd to Manchester City Centre and had the thrill of attacking the one way systems and skinny-laned contraflows while the victorian sewers get replaced and going in the opposite direction to Evans.

Eventually I managed to get back on a road that would take me to the shop and treated Everest to a new Knog Frog light and some lovely carbo effect Cinelli bar tape.

Once I'd left the shop I was back in the roadworks, only this time I could follow the buses and taxis through the no-go areas for other traffic and got onto Plymouth Grove which would take me to Longsight and the fast road through Ashbury's all the way to the Velo. Pretty soon I was zooming through Medlock Vale and at the start of my hill repeat hill. I thought I'd give it a shot while totally knackered after the rest of the climbing I'd done in the day. I was happy with my time for it.

Stats - view route

Beautifully sunny, hot and clear

Maximum speed: 29mph

Average speed: 13.7mph

Miles: 46.46

Climbed: 912ft

Time taken: 3hrs 19 mins

Hill climb

Maximum speed: 10.3

Average speed: 6.4

Miles: 0.26

Climbed: 85ft

Time taken: 2.10

Appointments, docs and a loony driver

I was kept busy today with a couple of appointments in differing parts of Manchester. Rather than fork out for a day ticket on the bus I though I'd ride to them and save a bit of cash.

The first appointment was up in Ashton. Seeing as my legs were a little achy still I left early to give myself a slow pootle if I needed to. However, I got into Ashton with more than half an hour spare, so I set on a random ride around the streets surrounding Stamford Park, up one of my favourite routes along Gorsey Lane and back down Mossley Rd and also a brief encounter with Bardsley. Finally my appointment time was near, so I set off to find a good place to lock Everest up where she'd be safe for half an hour or so.

After I rescued Everest from a horde of motorbikes I had to set off back towards Manchester for my other appointment at the docs (nowt untoward, just a review of a lifelong thing). I could have gone the most direct fast route, but I peddled through Audenshaw and Guide Bridge to the Snipe and then along the A662 before I turned off to waste yet more time around Clayton and the Velo.

Once I'd left the Phillips Park area I got onto Alan Turing Way to hurtle along to my docs (which is off this road); as I neared the huge A662/A6010 crossroads, happily pootling on the cycle lane and about to leave it to enter the main traffic to head straight across, I let the cars in front of me and one alongside to turn left as they'd indicated. All of a sudden, as I'm picking up speed out of the saddle (when not one car was indicating or even moving over to my lane) a VW came flying across several lanes - after indicating right and being in the correct lane for a right turn, the muppet decided that she'd go left instead and crossed 3 lanes without really looking. I managed to slow down, swerve to avoid the bonnet as she slammed the brakes on when she finally bother to look if anything was in the way, and came to a halt right in front of her car. After a very icy glare from me and umpteen honking horns she finally apologised for being an ass!

Stats - view route
Cloudy, cool bordering on warm
Maximum speed: 76mph - apparently I hit this while heading uphill!
Average speed: 12.7mph
Miles: 21.55
Climbed: 509ft
Time: unsure as cleared details off pc before making a note of them!

Impressive Apology

As you know, back in February I had the accident that rendered me unable to ride for 3 months due to a fractured pelvis. As a result of this and the way that I was treated by the NHS regarding ambulances etc - I was told I could have one and then had it cancelled and made to travel to hospital with no pain relief and by taxi - I issued a formal complaint to the NHS Trust Ombudsman.

There's been a few letters going back and forth between myself and the trust, and a little while ago I received the official letter from them.

"....Your call was routinely transferred from the Ambulance Trust to NHS Direct for further assessment by a registered nurse. The health advisor established the reason for your call and then transferred you to a nurse advisor for a clinical assessment. Our review showed that, regrettably, the health advisor failed to document and/or inform the nurse advisor that your injury was as a result of a collision with a car. Had this information been made available to the nurse advisor at the time, this would have resulted in a more urgent level of care.....The nurse advisor undertook a clinical assessment. During this it was confirmed that you had fallen off your bike but the nurse advisor didn't explore this further....Following this assessment, the nurse advisor gave self-care advice and advised should the symptoms not improve you attend your local Accident and Emergency.......The review showed that the nurse advisor did not explore the mechanism of your injury and I apologise for this.

I assure you that all our staff received ongoing training to support them in providing a high quality service to patients. On this occasion, the service that was provided did not reach the high standard that we expect. I uphold and agree with your complaint, and I offer my sincere apologies....."

I didn't make the complaint in order to get a form of compensation, as some people expected me to, I simply wanted the NHS to examine how they respond to people who were in my position. Granted, there are people who use the ambulance service as a taxi service; however, I have only contacted the trust for serious matters: for my mom which resulted in life-saving surgery, myself on this occasion, and the 2 times I helped people who'd been viciously assaulted in the street.

It is good to know that there is ongoing training for the staff. I am intrigued how they can try to diagnose a broken bone over the phone though. I've had several broken bones that have gone undiagnosed due to my high pain threshold. I had a broken ankle diagnosed years after it'd happened (I'd been happily walking on it all the while); I was able to walk after the most serious injury of my life had happened: when I got beat up by the ex and had fractured my tibial plateau, which resulted in a femoral brace for the majority of that year; and this one when I was still able to walk, albeit only just!

Despite all this, I'll still have no qualms about calling the trust again if I need to - after all, they are only human.

A Wandering We Go

I set off for a 'recovery' walk and left Bardsley to walk up the disused Hollinwood branch canal to Park Bridge and have a wander around the ruins of the Fairbottom Bobs, Bright Shop and the Steaming Mill. After a lovely wander round (I was the only person about at the time) I came back along Park Bridge Rd to Bardsley, crossed the road and entered Daisy Nook to amble along the canal bank to a very, very dry boating pond by Sammy's Basin and along to Crime Lake. Along this portion of the canal is a lot of lovely waterfowl families who seemed quite happy to let me take photos of them.

I climbed out of the valley opposite Crime View House and crossed the motorway to enter the delightful Woodhouses, where I continued through the village, past the cricket pitch and towards Rose Cottage and it's beautiful cottage neighbours.

After spotting a public footpath sign leading down a lane by the side of Christmas Cottage, I descended down a lovely old cobbled lane (quite steep) and past Medlock Vale Farm (very pretty) entering more into open countryside and away from the urban sprawl. After a peaceful rest stop by a weir on the Medlock with only the rabbits for company, I set off through the fields following a tiny footpath on the Oldham Way which took me past a largish pond I didn't even know existed which isn't put on many of the a-z publications. It seems this pond belongs to an angling club although it is on the Oldham Way, so maybe this is why it isn't publicised.

All too soon I was leaving Medlock Vale to cross Berry Brow and re-enter the Vale on the Manchester side of the border rather than the Oldham Side. Now following the Circular Walk route I made my way up the steep valley side to the top where I again left the Vale and entered urban sprawl to head home.

Stats - view route

Cooler, cloudy

Miles: 6.15

Climbed: 190ft

Max gradient: 4%

Time taken: 3:00

Wednesday Wander

I had arranged for a walk with Joe and we were both praying for a cooler day as the walk would be a tough one anyway without scorching weather. Thankfully our prayers were listened to and our wishes granted, as the day was nowhere near as hot as the previous days and any humidity had gone.

We arrived at Dovestone Reservoir car park to find it almost empty, but with a Traffic Warden already scouting for a vehicle to slap a fine onto.

After heading off along Chew Rd and the little wooden bridge that crosses Chew Brook, we left the road and took the track route as it's a little easier to climb to the halfway point of the ascent, due to it being more stepped rather than a constant climb up a 19% monster. This track joins onto where an old narrow gauge tramway was built when the reservoir was being created in the early 1900s, so the going was pretty good here. After crossing the narrow bridge over Chew Brook we joined the main access road which, at this point, is not quite so steep as the first half, but still steep enough to limit chat and cause both of us to be breathless - and not just for the views of the narrowing valley.

Once up at the top of the valley at Chew Reservoir a rest break was needed. While enjoying jam butties and tea, we were serenaded by a mating pair of Willow Warblers and treated to a little flirtatious dance from them. I was rather surprised to see these little birds as previously I've only seen rabbits and birds of prey up here; but having looked into it once home, Willow Warblers love the territory up here: scrub land & bog is their favoured nesting site.

We now had a choice of walks - across the other side of the valley along Indian's Head, across Ashway Gap and Dish Stone Rocks or across the peat bog to Laddow Rocks with many fords to cross. Seeing as we'd had excellent weather, I chose to go to Laddow Rocks - at any other time of year this would've been a very difficult walk due to the nature of it crossing the peat bogs and having to cross several fords with no real firm footing about. As it was, the recent heat had dried out many of the cloughs and peat making the going a fair bit easier although we still got sucked in at times. The heat had also rendered Chew low on water making the peat slopes leading to the waters edge look like an oil spill had occurred!

The going across the bog was made easier by the ground being more level due to being on top of the moor and we soon made good headway. After crossing a stile with an ingenious section for hounds - a panel was slid up to let them through (don't think any sheep would be able to figure that one out), we were more into heather territory as we closed in on Laddow Rocks and the spectacular (still a little misty) view down the valley to Crowden, across the Longdendale Reservoirs and over to the peak of Bleaklow.

After the rest of our lunch atop Laddow Rocks we set off back the way we came literally to where we crossed the tramway bridge. As we approached the next bridge across the brook, we turned off through Chew Piece Plantation and over to the Tank - a huge rock used for rock climbing with varying degrees of climb. Joe decided he'd have to be king of the castle and climbed up the easy route to the top.

Once he'd scrambled back down we continued through a fir tree forest where I got smacked on the head by an unseen low lying branch. The path continued through a farm where lots of lovely young lambs were out with their mothers; the lambs being very brave and coming up to us for a look before running off again the minute we spoke to them! After scrambling back down the hillside, we had to descend down the farmers drive while having 2 large hounds bark, growl and jump up at us. The farmer, meanwhile, did absolutely sod all to get the dogs off us until we were leaving through the furthest gate. Only then did he shout at the dogs and ask us if we were ok. I wonder if he really berates living on a farm with a public footpath through it?!

Finally we were back at the car park where ice cream was devoured instantly!

Stats - view route / map location

Cooler, but still warm, misty

Miles: 7.57

Climbed: 1014ft

Max gradient: 19%

Time taken: 3:45

Tuesday Pootle

On Tuesday I set out for what was meant to be a nice, easy ride - kind of a delayed recovery ride after Sunday's hilly efforts. What was planned and what actually happened were two completely different things!

I originally set off in the direction of Ashton, but changed my mind when I remembered there were lots of roadworks and contraflows to contend with; bad enough at any time of day, but nightmarish at the early hour I'd set off at. So, a change of direction and I was zig-zagging my way to Newton Heath, found myself unable to take a turning I wanted due to a lorry blocking the way and ended up heading down a steepish hill only to have to pretty much double back up the hill on another busier road by a level crossing - thankfully the traffic was at a standstill due to an incoming train, so I had the hill to myself, otherwise I wouldn't have even tried given how narrow and busy that road is.

Once back near Brookdale Park and my route followed my frequent pootles to Daisy Nook. Up through Failsworth and Cutler Hill Rd with a turn off to Woodhouses, then onto Crime Lake and the canal-side along to the John Haworth Centre before heading back along the canal-side to Oldham Rd and Bardsley.

After flying down and along Oldham Rd to Ashton and the fun of one-way systems on little roads, I seemed to hurtle along Stockport Rd through Guide Bridge and over the motorway to Ashton Moss and the Snipe, ready to join the busy, fast, multiple laned road that leads to home and the contraflows which had quietened down a lot as I flew through them.

Did I say that it was meant to be an easy ride? Erm, it wasn't that easy in the respect that it was faster than my previous rides with my average speed being at least 1 mph higher, my fastest speed was actually gained on a flat road and not downhill and I actively sought out the 17% section.

Stats - view route
Hottest day of the year (already 26C by the time I got home)
Maximum speed: 28mph
Average speed: 13.5mph
Miles: 14.86
Climbed: 203ft
Time: 1:05

May review

Seeing as I've only been back on the bike since May 10 I don't really expect my stats to be that great for May, so here goes:

Distance covered: 137.42 miles
Days ridden: 6
Hill repeats/climbs: 4 sessions
Middleton CC Club Ride: yeah 31/5
Chorlton Wanderers Ride: nope

The century-a-month challenge I began with Trio in January has fallen by the wayside, purely because at the moment I doubt I can ride that distance without some pain or extreme energy loss.
However, despite that I am happy with the progress for this month. Although I'm not riding up Hartshead Pike every week, I am using the hill Trio recommended almost every time I ride regardless of where my route has taken me.

June should be a better month for me as I'm now getting back into the riding, I now know I can ride up to 50 miles without dying and i have fortnightly appointments I can ride to each time.