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Today I was planning to ride the Eureka 200km Audax with Jimmy and Derek but decided to do my own thing instead. The Audax started in Cheadle in Manchester at 8 am which meant getting up at silly o'clock, driving there and then following a naff route out of the Manchester suburbs, also finishing in the same suburbs. This seemed a bit pointless when I live in the heart of beautiful Cheshire, so I changed the plan and memorized my own route, guessing the distance.
Instead I had a lie in and went straight from our house at 08:30, through Chester and to Mold and down the A541, which is a cracking scenic rolling road to St Asaph and it has very little traffic as most North Wales bound cars go down the A55. I Turned at 57 miles in Abergele, where I stopped to get some more water, then rode along the coastal cycle path to Prestatyn which was great apart from the inevitable dog walkers!! Got a good tail wind to Flint and was cruising along at 22 mph most of the time with little effort.
Realized at Mickle Trafford that I was going to be short on distance so added a loop on to Tarporley via Oscroft and then switched back via Cotebrook to Delamere, Kingsley and home in 124.5 miles which is bang on 200 Km (very satisfying for my OCD)!!
Only stopped for 1 puncture at 11 miles (bugger!!! .. cold fingers), 5 minutes to get more drink at 57 miles and that was it apart from a couple of very short stops to get food out of my saddlebag. Oh .... plus I realized at Rhyl that my saddle had tilted right back due to the ridiculous weight of tools and stuff in the saddlebag, so I stopped at a garage near Talacre to borrow a spanner as I had every tool known to man in my bag apart from the correct size spanner for my retro Campag SR seat pin. 😳
Really enjoyed the great weather and the route and still fresh at the end but couldn't get out of the shower as it was far too nice!. Averaged 17.2 mph on 81" fixed so ride time was 7 hours 13 minutes for the full 200 km. I wasn't hanging around but also not pushing it, just cruising along at a comfortable pace. Loved it as days like today are what it's all about!!!
Cheers
Dave
... just to add that I followed the club run rules, so nobody was dropped and everybody was comfortable with the pace set! 😆
Ill have a look at that run into Wales you did. I normaly go to Bagillt and Climb upto the hills from there. I then head to Dyserth then finish in Rhuddlan. Im tired of the same route all the time 😀
