Aah the perils of the “grapevine”. 9.30 start? or 10.00 start?
Well if your not sure best to try both! As some of us did who believed the website!
There were about half a dozen of us who were very cold by the time we set off at 10.05 having hung around since before 9.30!
Moral of the story………………..believe the website NOT heresay. Sermon over.
So about 40 minutes after we arrived we set off for Allgreave knowing there was no way to get there without going up some pretty serious hills. The group was a healthy size as we rode east towards Macclesfield but mysteriously the closer we got to the hills the smaller the group became, not sure why?
We were left with a smaller group of hardy (spelt “Stupid”) souls who were committed to the full experience. They were not disappointed and were soon rewarded with soaring heartrates, asthma, hot flushes, high blood pressure, cramping muscles and self doubt.
Richard was determined to debunk the myth that you can only get to Blaze Farm up a big hill so a new route was used. This involved riding up Wildboarclough then taking a long steep climb up to the Buxton road. The beauty of this approach was that we rode DOWN to Blaze farm for a change, much less tiring.
A shortish lunch break ( must tell them to be slower in future!) allowed us to resume our efforts to defy gravity on the climb back over the Dumbers and then the shoosh down to Bosley Crossroads. From here we took the usual route through North Rode, least that was the plan but a runaway train completely missed the turn for Marton.
Eleanor and Richard waited for them but to no avail. Then there were two.
Richard had been looking forward to a wheel back home but was now faced with an agonizing decision. Should he sit on Eleanor’s wheel? No, he was too much of a gentleman for that so he took the lead and Eleanor dutifully tucked in. The problem then is you can’t just “potter” can you? You have to demonstrate that you are easily capable of riding at 20mph into a fierce headwind and be manly about it, so with soaring heartrate we “cruised” back to Byley where we parted company and I took a well earned break (no hard feeling Eleanor).
The heads-down brigade have not been seen or heard of since North Rode but they are all big boys so we assume they got home OK.
A good day out, stayed dry and no punctures.
Great report Richard – and thanks for letting me coast on your 20mph wheel – I was happily enjoying the lead out, freewheeling whilst doing my knitting, and plotting my sprint past you to the Byley road sign: when you turned left before I could surprise you – and it was only when you turned left that I realised how bad that wind was!
And whilst on the subject of thankyous, thanks too to Chris for towing me over the Dumbars. One of these days I'll return these favours but I'll have to get fitter first. I appreciate the "gentleman" thing v. much but I wish I could do a better job of demonstrating the equality of the sexes.
After a few more wrong turns around Swetenham we eventually made it back into Northwich before dark! Just goes to show you shouldn't drop the leader I suppose. Serves us right!
Good ride though, cheers Richard.
Not to mention the poor guy we came across at a traffic junction who had lost it on some slippery leaves. Hope he got home ok. Must remember to carry a first aid kit on the road as well as off road from now on…