60 miles.......oh yes!

                                                The end of the very first 60 mile ride.

Yes, we made it! 60 miles :)

We started bright and early if a little chilly from Poynton, topped up with carbs and for the very first time I was able to ride in only two layers of clothing rather than the three I have been cocooned in over the winter months. We got a positively balmy 8 deg for our ride out and a lovely sunny day. Can't complain about getting that in Feb in the UK!

So at 9am with timing tags afixed Gary and I set off along with over 500 other riders for the Cheshire Sportive. The route took us out from Poynton through the outskirts of Alderley Edge where we hit out one and only real "bump" on the route. Up that in one piece we headed off to our halfway refuelling stop.

We got there on target for the time we were trying for. I say trying rather than aiming because doing something like this for the first time, my aim was simply to get round it! So 30 miles in and I'm feeling surprisingly fresh. My legs feel good, no real niggles or pains and we have averaged 15.5 mph over the first 30 miles. Now I know the route in places and I know that the last 10 miles back to Poynton we are both capable of winding up the pace on the relatively flat last stretch. We have done it before on shorter rides, covering the last 6 miles of a hilly 35 miles at 17.5mph. So all we have to do is get through the next 20 miles at a decent pace and by golly, I think we can do this ;)

Except that is not what happened.....poor Gary got cramp in his quads and was really suffering, so we slowed right down. It became a case of just getting to the finish and forget the time, there will be other days. :) And then coming into Prestbury we both hit a pothole. I say pothole but this thing was the cycling equivalent of the Mariana Trench! ironically we hit it trying to avoid the two others on the exit of a roundabout. In taking the inside supposedly safer route we hit this huge hole. It immediately blew out Gary's back tyre making a dent in the rim that pushed a chunk of metal 3cm long, 8mm into where the tyre should be. Had to be straightened out with pliers! One new tube later and off we went.....for 250 yards when my front tyre went down......I managed to just blow it up again and it got me back but I got up the next morning to two flat tyres as did Gary.

Really, we should not be going out for a ride and all four tyres get wrecked like that. The state of our roads are appauling and if you try to navigate to the right of these holes you run the risk of being taken out by the next Range Rover driving way too close.

But make it we did, fairly respectable ride out for my first ever 60 mile ride. And it won't be my last. Although I am afraid to say that in the week and a half since my training has been aweful! I took a couple of days off, did a session on the turbo and only been out once on the road. But I did go and play with some hills :) More turbo time required. Next week. ;)