Having had a bit of a Summer break from the blog and a bit
of a think about a change in the prolificacy with which I churn out material I
have decided to go away from writing each and every Sunday regardless of what I
have done and focus more on particular events or overviews of training segments
I have been doing. The weightloss is
still going well and I anticipate that it will only be another three to four
months to get to where I am going. My
goals are starting to change slightly in that I want to have a go at road
racing next year and also some track crits.
This winter will be key to those aspirations and I will be changing the
training to develop into a faster, fitter cyclist.
This Sunday past, however, saw another adventure on the
bike. I decided at the latter end of
2011 that I wanted to tick some trip boxes so to speak. On the list was cycling from Manchester
over to Hull. You may ask why, I am originally from Hull and still have
family over there and also there is the ‘fun’ element of the ride. I had been glued to my weather app on the
phone during the week hoping that the weather would be ok to do the trip and I
reckoned the 100 miles or so would take me 7 -8 hours. As it turns out the weather was exceptional
and really added to what was going to turn out to be a really enjoyable
ride. I was up early for a 07:00 start
and after some porridge and a pint of water I made my last checks to the bike
and kitted up. I had been researching
the route for a few weeks and had a list of the roads I was going to use on my
iPhone. In conjunction to the maps on
there the list would prove invaluable. I
headed out of Manchester
on the Oldham Road
and as it was a Sunday it was blissfully quiet and allowed me to tick along at
a reasonable pace. As I was unfamiliar
with the way over the moors I was checking the maps app regularly. I did manage however to get lost twice but
rectified the navigational issues and carried on. As I headed towards Uppermill there where
some sharp climbs and some nice decents.
The local council had decided to close one of the roads over night so I
had to detour round that up a particularly sharp climb. Many of you will know I am not a great
climber but my spirits where high and I was enjoying the peaks and
troughs. Another wrong turn saw me end
up going down a really nice decent into Uppermill only to have to turn round
and climb back up it to take the turn off.
Still I had a chuckle to myself and got on with it. I turned onto Holmfirth Road which would take me over
the moors and back into Gods own country Yorkshire. Little did I realise that there would be a
bit of a monster climb up to the top.
The climb itself was 1200 feet and took me nearly 25 minutes to do. It just seemed to keep going and going. There where two false peaks to. Half way up the climb I heard a hissing noise
from the front tyre and I had my first flint puncture. I pulled over and changed the inner tube in
rapid time for me of 15 minutes then carried on up the climb. It was hard.
I was averaging about 7 mph and my heart rate was 170 – 178bpm all the
way up. Saying that I really enjoyed it
and had a great sense of achievement at the top. It is probably the biggest climb I have ever
done.
As I went over the top a fellow cyclist going the other way
shouted “I bet you didn’t break any land speed records” I just thought you are
most definitely right sir but I am at the top!
The decent into Holmsfirth was unbelievable it went on for four miles with
a top speed of nearly 50mph. I was
holding back a little as I was unsure of the twists and turns but it went on
for ever and was a highlight of the trip.
After reaching Holmsfirth I took a small wrong turn and headed to Barnsley. This
section was lovely country roads in nice weather and hardly any wind. It was also nice to see a kids road cycling
club out with their adult chaperones.
They must have been between 8 and 12 years old and I was very encouraged
by their enthusiasm. I cycled with them
for a bit then pushed on through Barnsley up
towards Pontefract. As I headed up the
country roads I could hear a distant roar of engines. A few minutes later and I was overtaken by
around thirty cars heading to a car rally up the road. The noise was deafening and the fumes these
old machines where kicking out where choking.
I headed on to a section of dual carriageway next and this gave me
chance to think and to enjoy the weather.
After reaching Pontefract I stopped bought a sandwich and had fifteen minutes
making a couple of calls and texts before setting off again. The roads rolled a bit but nothing like Ireland so I
was steady and happy heading towards Knottingly then onwards through to
Selby. In Selby again the council had
decided to close the road I wanted to use so after a few wrong turns and curses
then made my way up the A19 towards the road I needed to head to Market
Weighton. At this point I roughly knew
where I was and set off down the A163 with some gusto and a feeling of home
legs. Little did I realise that the A163
was one of the longest roads ever… whether it was a mental feeling or an actual
physical feature it felt like I was cycling along there for hours. I reached Holme on Spalding Moor and stopped
for an icecream and some water refills. By
now it was midday and the temperature was rising. I had averaged around 20mps from Selby and felt
good but I was hot and the suncream I had put on was having little effect. I pushed on and reached Market Weighton which
was essentially 7 miles to go. I felt
strong and went around Market Weighton and up on to the South Cave
road. That is when the wind picked
up. From nowhere the head wind became exceptionally
strong. I was struggling to maintain
11mph into it and the sun was still beating down. After a last big push I decended into Brough
and Lindsey’s house where there was a welcome bottle of water and some
icepops!!
Ride stats
Distance: 103.48
miles
Moving Time: 6hours
25minutes
Avg Speed: 16.1mph
Top Speed: 46.8mph
Elevation Gain: 5072
feet
Calories burned: 5007
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