60 miles yesterday, most of it into another sodding strong headwind. I planned to ride to Rochdale then south on the Pennine Bridleway with some road bits inbetween. I’d forgot how rough the bridleway is between Hollingworth Lake and Piethorne Reservoir and almost rattled my teeth out. Just keeping my hands on the bars was a struggle, never mind riding to the bottom of the rock-strewn descent without crashing. I’m pleased I’ve taken the mudguards and slicks off the ‘cross bike and replaced them with “proper” tyres now though, this is much more fun and despite the tyres it’s still quick along the roads.

I took a short cut through Oldham and Glossop and rejoined the bridleway at Lantern Pike (I think). That was fun – dead busy though. The weather was great yesterday and it brought the walkers out in the hundreds. I was overdressed in fact – I’ve got used to temperatures around 4 degrees so 15 was making me sweat in my winter gear.

Two laps of the HTN course (plus a couple of variations) late last night on the singlespeed, returning at around midnight which is a late one even for me.   I got a bit carried away at one point after watching “24 Solo” on DVD earlier on and crashed into a tree. Nearly knocked my head off and I’ve got a badly grazed and bruised shoulder.

About 10 minutes later I hit another tree with my other shoulder. Dunno what went on there. Then my HID lamp went out as I’d not bothered to charge the battery, leaving me with just the helmet lamp. I went slower after that and didn’t crash any more.

I’ve been riding plenty in the last week, but I’m not quite where I want to be with the total mileage. The clocks change this weekend so hopefully that will give me a boost; perhaps this summer won’t be as dreadful as last summer….

An action-packed weekend. The Easter Bunny took time out from kicking ass and delivered loads of chocolate, Rachael was 2 on Sunday so we had a party, and we built a snowman (well, snowcyclops). I’ve not ridden half as much as I intended to, but that’s just how things tend to pan out these days. The training steps up a couple of gears this week now, so I’ve got to get my head into it. Only a few weeks until the Fred Whitton, then only a few weeks more than that until Mountain Mayhem so I’m doubling the weekly mileage at least.

Andrew, me and a small group of Hit The North entrants did a lap of the course today, we needed to make some adjustments to the route and it was a good opportunity to let others in on the plans and hopefully gain some good feedback/criticism/praise. Everyone looked like they were giving the course the thumbs up – rather predicatably though the tarmac section perhaps needs some fettling. It’s less than a mile in length and there’s rarely any cars on it, but it would be nice if we could make it more interesting. I’m off out again for another couple of laps and an exploration of a couple of trails that might allow us to reduce the amount of road. I think we’ve also decided on a “chicken run” for those that don’t fancy the bombhole. I’ll have to get out with my folding shovel soon….

Horrible ride this morning. Blown all over the place by a strong sidewind for pretty much the whole time. The strong wind added to the fact that the bike is light and twitchy gave me a few “moments”, one gust nearly sending me off the road and down an embankment into a river. Still, I made it in one piece to Simon’s house to drop off some bits for his bright red Wanga and had a cuppa tea, so it wasn’t all pain and terror.

Despite the weather, I saw loads of cyclists out this morning. I even saw a bloke on a Yeti mountain bike – you don’t see many of those around here. Everyone let on too, roadies and MTB’ers. I must have universal appeal. 😉

I’m in Mountain Mayhem again, this time a solo entry. I’ve also ticked the “singlespeed” sub category that I might yet go back on and take gears. Depends if the weather’s going to be wet I s’pose.

I’ve also just realised it’s the Cheshire Cat Sportive in 2 weeks. I’d better get some lights on that fancy road bike I’ve not ridden for months and get er…riding it.