Sunday was the monthly Dawdling Doctors ride 'organised' by a local bike
shop, Bicycle Doctor. Web site was advertising Tour de Macclesfield, which
amounts to exit the suburbs, climb, climb a bit more, then do a circuit up
and down hills. Hills are not exactly Audrey's and my thing, but we thought
we'd start out with the group and part later, perhaps picking up another
back ender on the way. As things turned out I'm jolly glad we did.
Weather was fabulous, sunny and warm at 10am, got hotter later. 9 of us
hung around the meeting point putting on sunscreen and chatting, but the
leader didn't arrive, nor his substitute. So we decided to do our own
thing, which by common consent was not the Tour de Macclesfield. Stephen
(flash MTB having his monthly day off on roads) suggested heading to Tatton
Park, but as nearly all Dawdling Doctor rides go there I suggested another
route that I know without referring to a map. Turns out most of the group
are either not local or don't know any routes, so I got to be ride 'leader'
for the day.
From the Chorlton meeting point the only direction for reaching countryside
is south. We almost always slog up Styal road past the airport, which has
lots of traffic and a long steady depressing upward stretch. So I picked a
different set of suburbs (Northenden, Gatley, Cheadle, Bramhall, Woodford)
that does climb, flat, climb, flat ... I find this easier and therefore more
fun to ride. Not long after starting we go into a nice formation of me
first doing the route and Lucy second letting me know when everyone got
across junctions. This way I led to the bottom of the down and up dip to
the double roundabout at Dean Row. By the time we got to the top of the up,
I was near the back of the pack, and proceeded to lead from the back for the
rest of the day.
Getting to Dean Row was easy, Audrey and I had done that route a couple of
months back. From Dean Row we were headed to Henbury garden centre for the
lunch stop, a route I haven't cycled in more than 10 years. I was sure that
when I got to the junctions I'd recognise them and know where to go, but my
mind has jumbled up the order in which they arrive. The youngest rider out
was looking for some training for Manchester to Blackpool next week, and
found our pace a bit slow. He kept asking me where to go at the next
junction so he could ride ahead, and I kept saying don't know till I get
there. Most of the route seems to comprise road bends right, go up a hill,
or turn right then left, go up a hill. After all, we were going up
Alderley Edge, albeit the shallow face. Most people overtook Audrey and I
as we resumed our normal place at the back going up the hills. Have to give
credit to Stephen though, he not only played sweeper at the back, trundling
patiently along behind Audrey and I, but also followed the route on the map.
As we passed through Prestbury (ickly sweet village full of expensive homes
owned by Manchester footballers and the like) and up to the top of Alderley
Edge I kept being asked are we going to the Wizard, a cafe at the top of
Alderley Edge. Somehow, no we're going to Henbury didn't register because
no-one else knew the garden centre cafe there. I stuck to my plan, because
Henbury is very welcoming to cyclists, and provides a good starting point
for lots of options for the afternoon. I also justified it with the
prospect of a good down after all the morning's climbing, but failed to
mention that 90% of the down was after lunch ;-)
I hadn't really planned the afternoon, other than knowing I didn't intend to
go back the same way we came. One possibility was east to Knutsford and
Tatton, then one of the standard routes home, but the group was happy to let
me continue leading and go somewhere else. So it was onto consult the map
territory for a sweep west to Siddington, Lower Withington, north to
Marthall and then pick up a route I know back to Manchester from the west
side of Alderley Edge, basically flat with one big hill I planned to walk.
After feeding the inner cyclist, putting on more sun cream (thanks for the
reminder Audrey, but I got a red nose anyway) we tootled off south downhill
for a long gentle sweeping descent of about 3 miles to Redesmere near
Siddington. Lots of overfed ducks and swans, and an ice-cream van, so we
had a stop. I wish I'd had my camera here, cyclists eating ice-cream
watching the mere would have made a good photo, but the usual group
photographer wasn't out this time.
From Redesmere there's a little climb up to the A34, at this point a country
road that cars absolutely hammer down. Other than Stephen in his patient
sweeper position, the group split up on the hill and spread out all across
the junction, getting in the way of a car leaving the mere. A quick 100
yards south down the A34 and we turned west again into Siddington. There
were a couple of confused junctions where I was at the back with Audrey and
Stephen and the group was ahead; given that only Stephen and I had maps and
knew where we were going this was a bit foolish. Gradually the idea began
to dawn that letting me lead at a slow pace from the front worked rather
better than leaving me behind at the back. I was confident that Stephen was
still sweeping up at the back, and following with the map, so we wouldn't
loose anyone.
I wasn't at all surprised in mid-afternoon that the group spontaneously
turned into the car park of the Plough and Flail in Mobberly for the pint
they'd missed at lunch time. It was getting really hot so we sat in the
shade and did some yuppie watching.
The back of Alderley route goes through Mobberley to some bridle tracks
across Lindow Moss, where the body of a pre-historic man christened Lindow
Pete was found. The weather had been hot enough to dry up almost all the
mud on the tracks which is a very rare event. This time I found the route
I'd intended, and didn't drag them through brambles and nettles like I did
when taking Audrey and Cathy in the opposite direction a few weeks before.
The narrow concreted road out of Lindow Moss into the suburbs of Wilmslow
isn't much used by cars, except one idiot who having started a three point
turn couldn't wait a few seconds to let the group past, but hogged the
entire width of the road with his big estate bringing us to a halt. We
crossed the A538, went down a road with speed bumps and then Stephen
switched into MTB mode to go down the track to the bridge over the river
Bollin at the end of Quarry Bank Woods.
The car park here was packed with both cars and people getting in each
other's way. Lucy had worked out which hill I intended to walk, where the
B5166 climbs up from the Bollin to Styal, the mill and the prison. I
shifted into bottom gear and started twiddling. I was toying with the idea
of getting off, but knowing I have a lower bottom gear than Audrey does,
figured I had to at least stay on as far as she did. Audrey got more than
halfway up, and my legs weren't yet burning and I wasn't breathing too hard,
so I kept going. And going. And all of a sudden the bit of road left
didn't look too far, definitely not worth getting off for, so I kept on,
concentrating on my breathing, and I made it up without getting off and
pushing. It's at least 15 years since I was able to ride up there, and I
was a lot lighter then, so that was a real achievement.
From Styal we freewheeled most of the way down Styal road past the airport,
through Gatley and into Northenden. The more energetic members were pushing
hard down the hills, so we got split up again. All but one did stop to wait
for Audrey, Stephen and I, for which they were rewarded with a different
(and IMO better) route back to Chorlton Water park, where we met up with the
other person who had gone over the footbridge as usual.
The group ride was a 40 mile circuit. At this point I had done 42 miles,
and if I went immediately home I'd have equalled my best this year of 44
miles. But the Manchester 100km on 4 September is coming up fast, so I
decided I needed a higher mileage. Audrey agreed to let me tag along to her
friend's house for an extra few miles through the suburbs. I knew that
trying to follow Audrey, who by this time was going much faster than me,
would motivate me to carry on whereas on my own I'd turn round and go home.
When we got to our destination in Stretford I realised that I was flagging
because I hadn't eaten anything for about 4 hours, so ate a sandwich which
was duly restorative. At this point Audrey and I parted. I reckoned that
home would be far enough away to do 50 miles for the day, and with a couple
of extra wiggles on the route and once round the block past my house it was.
A great day with a lot of achievements for me - didn't get off and push
once, got up one of my bugbear hills, did my longest ride since September
2003, at a faster than normal speed, my longest and fastest whole week's
riding this year.
--
Lawyers, I suppose, were children once. - Charles Lamb
Steph Peters delete invalid from [email hidden]
Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm>