45 miles on and off road

Another ride south along (some of) the Pennine Bridleway yesterday. Snow, warm sunshine, wind, snow, rain, snow, sunshine. Not as much mud as last week apart from one bit of Lantern Pike. The BB on the bike didn’t creak or groan once – I’ve either fixed it or I’m getting weaker.

Another road ride last night. The weather is so calm at the moment and dry too, it’d be rude not to. I deliberately rode at a slower pace because I needed a recovery ride. I sat down on the climbs instead of standing up and sprinting up them and pedalled more sedately on the flat bits. It was lovely. A bit foggy on the tops though…apparently winter hasn’t left the building just yet.

The wind dropped a bit last night so I took full advantage and got the fast bike out. Anything has got to be better than another turbo trainer session. I rode perhaps faster than I’ve ever rode before on a road bike last night (apart from that time last winter at Honister Pass, where admittedly I was not in full control of my bicycle). I’ve recently swapped the cacky stock Continental tyres on the Scott for a pair of Michelin Pro Race 2’s so maybe they made the difference. The ride definitely felt improved; more grip but less rolling resistance. If that’s possible.

The roads up on the tops were covered in squashed frogs. It must be spawning season that makes them commit suicide en masse, they were all big too. Toads, almost (what do I know? They might have been toads anyway. Or big newts). I rode through a few which isn’t a good thing whilst riding a white bike, I’ll be cleaning off the entrails this weekend no doubt.

In other news, we‘ve got a swanky new van at work. It’s a big bugger with enough space for 6 bikes and loads of kit, 2 rows of seats (for 6 people), a CD player and a smoooooth engine. We’ve also had our team entry for Sleepless accepted and we’re getting some JMC IT custom jerseys made.  Technically, I’m a sponsored rider. Which is rather nice.

 A “big up” to Budge, our mountain biking, 24 hour soloist Managing Director, in fact.

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.