Manchester-Anglesey – 128 miles, average HR 144, average speed 17.7 mph

Set off at 5:30am to my mum and dad’s place on Anglesey. I’ve ridden this route a few times in the past, but the last time was a couple of years ago. I assumed, quite wrongly, that the route would all be the same and the lack of wind and nice weather would equal a fast and incident-free ride.

Basically, the plan is to follow the A56 to Chester, then ride though Connah’s Quay, along the coast past Rhyl then pick up the Sustrans route 5 to Bangor. Route 5 pretty much runs parallel with the A55 and allows cyclists to avoid the busy dual carraigeway entirely. In theory anyway…

The first 100 miles flew by. My average speed was just short of 19mph and I was looking forward to completing the ride at least an hour earlier than I was expecting. 100 miles equals Conwy – it’s at this point that everything went wobbly. The Sustrans path appeared to be gone. “it can’t be” I thought, “I must have missed it”. For almost an hour I searched for the cycle lane, apparently the only alternative to riding, illegally and suicidally, on the A55. The annoying (extremely annoying) thing was that the cycle route signs were still there, so one assumed that the route still existed. It was a bit weird though that the signs were sending me around in circles – across the Conwy suspension bridge to the castle walls, then a U-turn through a subway, around a couple of busy roundabouts and then back again. WTF?

In the end, I rang Deb, vented my spleen, told her I was going to be late but stopped short of asking for a pick-up. A few minutes later I was asking my dad for advice (yes, I was desperate). He suggested the Sychnant Pass – a 200 metre climb that would bring me out a few miles west, exactly where I needed to be.

I pondered the climb for a bit, rode around the roundabouts once more just be be sure I’d not missed anything then thought “sod it” and started to climb to Sychnant from the castle. I’d lost a whole mile per hour off my average by now and I’d been fannying around for ages. Bah.

As it turned out, the Pass was tough but gorgeous. Once over the top, the downhill to Penmaenmawr is super-steep but really wide so off-the-brakes bravery is called for. Yay!

A few miles further on and the route 5 signs appear again. The cycle path runs up the hill between the two road tunnels then across a series of footbridges. Great stuff…until you get to the bit that isn’t finished yet

Once I’d clambered across the barriers I had to then climb down this

…which placed me neatly onto the A55 at the bottom. I had to ride on the A55 for half a mile here, which was exciting.

The Sustrans website (which admittedly I should have checked before I set off) says the following:

“Between Conwy town and Llanfairfechan National Route 5 has been dismantled due to its popularity! The Welsh Assembly Government’s Transport Division made the decision to remove the signs due to the number of people using the route and the narrow and missing sections at Penmaenbach and Pen-y-Clip. We are working with WAG to clarify when the route will be reinstated but at present no dates have been confirmed. Please do write to your local members, AM’s and Ministers highlighting this unacceptable step for cycle provision along the north Wales coast.”

…so the bit that was “missing” was indeed missing. Ah well, at least I’ve not gone completely mad. Dismantled due to too many people using it? Uh? If anyone understands the logic behind this feel free to comment.

Good ride though. Felt good, caught the sun 😉

Nice sunny weather all day yesterday, that was until I started to get ready for a ride. Then the rain started. Undeterred, I set off on my usual Macclesfield-via-the-Peaks route, feeling good despite the rain. Soon, the rain stopped and I was riding at a good average – my cold is definitely pretty much gone now as I only coughed up about 3 pounds of phlegm as opposed to 12 and that was early on in the ride. Once my lungs had opened up I felt fine. The climbs at Stalybridge, Chunal and Kettleshulme were dispatched quickly and I was feeling great….that was until the last 10 miles of the ride when I remembered that I’d not eaten anywhere near enough during the day – not only that, but I’d not bothered to bring anything with me. When will I learn? Just because the route is a familiar one I seemed to think that it was going to be easy. It wasn’t and I was getting dangerously close to the bonk. All I could think about was food – I swear if I’d seen anyone walking past I’d have asked them for some grub or just bit into them.

I stopped to get my heart rate down and to get my head together, set off again and kept the HR around 60%. I wasn’t sure if this would help in all honesty but it seemed to.

Within seconds of getting into the house I’d already eaten cake, a large bowl of cold baked beans and half a pint of milk….and that was just the start of a locust-style feeding frenzy (sorry about that Kath. Burp).

Freezing cold, dark, grimy winter misery is over for another few months, so I’ve ceremoniously removed the winter wheels and mudguards from the cyclocross bike and put the XTR wheels with Small Block 8 tyres back on (yay for fast dry-conditions CX tyres!). I also cleaned all the road grime and salt off the frame with some degreaser and greased the callipers in the brakes – the rear one was seized solid due to the salt on it. No wonder it felt crap.

I had a ride over to Rivington on it on Sunday morning to meet Junkyard John who had bought some bits off me. There were loads out on bikes and after a Twitter conversation the night before I found myself chasing people down whilst playing the theme from Jaws on my In-Head Jukebox. Well, it beats “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” any day of the week 😉

I stopped by Fred Dibnah’s house – it’s now got a blue paque on the front wall and I hear it’s being turned into a museum, which is brilliant. The back garden looks like he’s just stopped work for his dinner.

On the way back I met Deb and the kids and we had a picnic – good times. Due to me feeling pretty crap when I ride the bike still (this sodding cold just won’t admit it’s beaten) that was my only ride of the weekend; however I did go for a run twice. I’m doing more running than riding at the moment, which is good for my fitness but I’ve got to tip the balance back in favour of cycling now – not long until CLIC, then only a matter of weeks until Mayhem….bring it.

As usual, the hardest part will be sticking to the plan and staying motivated/awake. Oh, and not getting ill again would be really bloody handy.

I also managed to go and see shop-owner Shaun at Cooksons. I’d not been in since he’s taken over. He’s built a new counter and everything 😉

Dave has created a new site here where Lee Quarry-related videos, pics and news can be shared.

There’s some good stuff on there already – have a shufty and sign up, like. If you’ve not been over there for a ride…chop chop.

I’ve been feeling crap all week after catching another cold from the kids last weekend. I managed to get out for a ride last night for the first time since Sunday so went over to Simon’s to see how he is after his accident. I took a few DVD’s for him as a broken pelvis and collarbone normally results in long periods of boredom…

I was quite surprised to see him walking to be honest – he even made me a cup of coffee!

As for the ride, felt rubbish and short of breath on the way there, turned on the taps and felt great on the way back. Must have been the coffee.