Lashing the Snake

Yesterday being such a lovely sunny day I was dying to get out on my bike. I did decide as I was a bit tired to turn down the chance to cycle from Hyde to Macclesfield first thing in the morning as we went down to the Treacle Market in Macc to have a look. The Market itself was fabulous and a real experience. The kids loved it too and I even managed to buy myself one of the most unusual thing I have ever bought, Zebra Burgers!!! that is burgers made from Zebra meat in case you were wondering. I haven't eaten them yet and think it will be interesting to try at least once.

Anyway once we had got back home had dinner put the kids to bed and done all the other jobs around the house, Lynne sat down for a World of Warcraft epic battle online with her dad and I decided to go out for a little ride.

The weather wasn't too warm as it felt like it was earlier on but not too cold either and the wind had dropped, plus for once it wasn't raining so I took advantage and donned Lycra and headed for the hills.

My hill of choice for today was a local mammoth of a climb that I have been thinking about doing for a long time. So I headed up Matley lane which is a great warm up and gets the heat and lungs going plus you can feel your legs working up this cat 5 hill. Then after a fast(ish) run down the hill to the Gun Inn and right at the lights heading towards Glossop. I am sure somebody has put Glossop higher up on the Map since i cycled there last as it just seemed like uphill all the way. Even on the downhill bits!!! Well by the time I got into Glossop town center I had realised that either my rear wheel bearing or my bottom bracket bearing must be going as it was making a real grinding noise and things seemed a lot more sluggish. I thought about this and just decided it would make for better power training up the hill so cracked on regardless. The soldier on voice in the back of my head just whispered in my ear "Keep going or else its screaming time!!"

I got to what I can only say according to all the Strava segment details is really the start of the climb as I went past the Royal Oak pub and headed up past the Snake Pass. As I got to the Snake Pass sign I dropped to my lower ring on my pedals then immediately nearly fell off my bike as my chain jumped off the inside of my chain set just as I was starting to apply the power. Arrrgh! not a good start to a arduous climb indeed. As the hill started to steepen and the effort got harder I dug in and even managed one of two bursts of speed (or at least in my mind I was traveling faster). AS I turned each sweeping corner the road just carried on up and up ahead of me. Its about 6 miles in all and took me 28 minutes to ride up.

The view from the top was impressive

I spent 5 minutes appreciating the view then it was warp speed captain back down the road at a scary 45MPH in some sections. In all it took about 6 minutes to get back down to Glossop again and I wasn't even pushing it! Not a record by any stretch but it was fun and had the all requires WEEEEE factor to go with it.

It was great fun and I am going to be looking for my next big hill to climb. Plus I am wanting to get some more of the top 100 knocked off too. Surprisingly the Snake isn't one of them!!!

Still got a few good ones lurking at the back of my mind that I want to do. I will post again soon.

Still looking for the all important sponsor too and had nothing for all my efforts thus far.

Hold back and don't overdo it!!!

Today I decided to drive too and from work instead of cycling. Why? It's simple, I really don't want to do myself any damage by overtraining. I have read loads of books on what to do and not to do. I could feel this morning my legs really hurt and getting out of bed was physically hard work! I have been feeling a little lethargic yesterday and today, plus I just want to be able to pace myself. I do literally have a long road ahead and with a good training program up my sleeve I should be ok in the long run.

Training for my first big sportive ride the Great Manchester Cycle is my current short term aim. My next time on the bike will be Tuesday as I am looking after the kids all weekend and have to drop off/pick up on Monday. Long ride Thursday is still to be planned but I am still wanting to defeat the Monks lane monster. I shall keep you posted as to what I think and do.

10 days off makes a big difference!

Well after after a short return to cycling two weeks ago I went on a family holiday up in North Yorkshire. It was certainly a wonderful time and very scenic too. Best thing has got to be that the weather actually held up too for most of the week so we managed to get to places like Whitby, Saltburn and Staiths. All of which are wonderful places and brilliant uk holiday destinations. We stayed at a lovely country cottage near Castleton called Millinder House. The owners were great and couldn't do enough for us, plus the local farmer was a real live all singing and dancing ye olde sheep farmer, a busy time of year for this old chap being lambing season and he even let the kids feed a few lambs he was having to take care of before sending back into the fields. It was certainly a lovely week had by the whole family.

As I mentioned we holidayed in North Yorkshire so the scenery was breathtaking. Only problem being I was lacking a bike to go and really enjoy the scenery, however I think the wife may have killed me if I had spent the holiday out on my bike instead of with the family.

We did manage to get to Dalby Forest and hired some bikes from Dalby forest bike barn . Lynne and I took the kids on a 2.5 mile route twice, the kids were in a trailer that I pulled along and Lynne was on a normal mountain bike. It was really nice to get out as a family on the bikes and I feel that Lynne certainly is edging towards getting the cycling bug. We then went on the go ape high ropes adventure course which again was great fun for te grown ups!

Anyway, previous to going away on holiday I managed a very respectable 81 miles for the week and if all goes as planned I will hopefully be able to get over the 100 miles in a week barrier before long.

I did the run to work from Hyde, over to Glossop, south up and over a big hill to Hayfield, into New Mills then down the A6 through Dizzly and finally into Stockport. 23 odd miles in all with a few good climbs to account for too. A good bit of endurance training and all before work! I must be crackers.

This week after 10 days off however my legs feel like lead just trundling up the hill out of Hyde on Tuesday. I put some air in my tyres which has made a big difference but I can still feel that my legs are not completely recovered yet!

Tomorrow however I feel the need to tackle the Monks lane monster as his is a climb that hurt me last time and I am determined to get up and over it without putting a foot down this time. This is the same hill that I originally planned to do back in feb but instead decided to take the short and easy route to work, well that didn't end too well so perhaps I should have tackled the monster instead of taking it easy!!!

Happy to be back on the road anyway and as of Monday I was officially discharged from hospital for the broken ankle I sustained. Now however I just cant get enough of cycling and I am really looking forward to the Great Manchester Cycle in a few weeks time.

Great stuff!!!