A big bivvy adventure

TeaCake had come up with a crazy plan to ride the pennine bridleway, bivvy and ride back. Redbike booked the time off work but I was meant to be working the friday - trip was thurs/fri. So I came up with my own plan:

I would ride out to where they were meeting on wednesday and then ride part of the way with them on thursday before heading home via a train station. A bit of time was spent with maps and playing on bikehike and the route was planned - all 73miles of it. Redbike decided that he would ride over from leek and meet me there to save having to drive to cromford on the thursday morning. I told Ali not to worry I would be home before her on thurs to help her pack as I had to drop her off at the airport early friday morning.

So on wednesday I left at 9am and headed off, the first part towards manchester and round the outskirts was easy enough and the sun was shining. Soon I was on the killer climbs at the edge of the peaks. Around this point I realised how easy it was to get my maps on my sleeping bag so I could easily read it. Although I had my garmin I like to know where I am on a map!

I so enjoyed this setup that I will be making sure I always print out maps so they fit like this, I had the route on 5 double sided A5 maps so I was counting down as I switched maps.

The ride out was hard but fun. By the time I got to Hayfield I was wondering if I was going to make the pub in Cromford before they stopped serving food! About 7pm my phone rang with Jon asking where I was...he had said he was leaving home for the 25mile road ride from leek at 6:30pm - I know he is always early but..... My answer was miles away! As it turns out after being passed by fell runners on a hill it was downhill all the way and I got to Cromford at 8:10pm, in time for lots of food and a couple of drinks.

Jon kept getting dressed to leave but I insisted on finishing my drink, we then went the wrong way by miles and managed to eventually get to the visitors centre at Middleton Top after 8miles, most of which felt like they were uphill. Once I managed to get Jon to stop disappearing off up the pennine bridleway - he obviously wanted a head start! We pushed our bikes up the hill and found our spot for the night, it was just gone midnight!

I didn't sleep well but was quite pleased by the lack of midges in the morning. I like Jon's tent, although might have been more impressed if it had been put up a bit better ;-)

After breakfast we headed back to the visitor centre where Kate rode in, she managed not to get lost coming from Cromford!

So it was time to head off, I was shattered and glad I was only riding home - not sure I clicked that it was going to be 65miles at this point! The women at the visitor centre looked at us as if we were crazy when we explained the plan, she explained to us it wasn't all a nice disused railway line and the other week a couple of lads had taken 10days, they had planned 9 but it took longer!

Not long into the ride the kate's bottom bracket seized completely, some force applied and it was moving but it soon did it again. My suggestion of pedalling backwards every so now and again worked and we got to the cycle hire place at Parsley Hay. They were fantastic, took the bottom bracket out, cleaned it, put it in and it seemed fixed! It lasted the rest of the ride so what can you say. When Kate tried to pay them they told her to put a couple of quid in the charity box. Definetly buy something from the shop if you are passing!

After that it was Jon's turn for a mechanical! He had singlespeeded his bike and the chain kept coming off the tensioner. Kate helped, by hovering, knocking the bike over and making helpful comments. But that seemed to work!

My tired legs meant I was being dropped on all the hills! So it was nice to come round a corner and see the two of them walking, gave me an excuse for a rest as well!

My favorite comment of the day was Kate saying can we have a "faff stop" Jon heard "fag stop".

Descending down Roych clough was fun after pushing up it the day before. I think I made my best eveer attempt at it as well, only walking one drop - still think it is huge! Then it was into hayfield for a much deserved burger and chips!

I had two options at this point, go to New Mills or continue on to Glossop, I chose the latter ignoring the fact it was gone 3pm and I had said I would be home for 5!

That took ages, although it was lots of fun! We split company just on the outskirts of Glossop and I headed towards Ashton. Here I rang Ali to grovel, she kindly said I could ride home!

From here it was past the B of the Bang

Then home, somewhere my garmin died!

145miles over two days, I'm shattered my legs are very tired but it was so much fun!

All the rest of the pictures are here.

A trip to Southport

Due to the fact that I have been all busy recently Jon made sure that he booked me for a trip to Southport once I had a free day! The decision had been made that it was to be a cross ride. Ali decided she wanted to come so last night we replotted a bit to bring it nearer to 70miles than 90! Ali has only really done one long ride like this when we went to Southport for the tour of britain so it was going to be a challenge for her! During the night I was woke up by my knee but I was determined to ride so some strapping was put on. Jon arrived early, but we had said 10am so we were both up and dressed! The ride started easy enough along the middlebrook way then over to Haigh Hall where I had fun playing on a few bits through the trees. We carried on finding this ever so cute railway line running into someones back garden!

For a while we were following roads and trails covered in carrots, Ali decided she needed a carrot break. After I had washed one for her she took a bite and exclaimed "It tastes just like a carrot".

Jon was very pleased to reach the sea, for some reason he hadn't had breakfast this morning!!! We had our chippy then.

Then we decided to get to the sea, at Southport it is always quite far out so we rode across the beach, Ali made it look easy she must have magic skills as me and Jon struggled.

I even rode into the sea, but it was so shallow!

Then it was time for some kite flying, Ali got it going till somebody (me) got in her way. It never flew as well again!

After a paddle it was time for some ice-creams, Ali managed two!!!

Then it was time to head back, Jon was happy to have some carrying, apparently it wasn't a trio adventure otherwise!

A quick blast through rivington and home with a very tired Ali after 72miles! I think at least half was off-road although mainly just dirt tracks.

A fab day!

Rain in Lancashire

So I had planned out an epic, the idea being that we would ride about 100km before finding somewhere to sleep for the night. We had gone for different methods of carrying our load, mine was the same as last time only I had lost some weight from my back - which was nice. Jon had decided on paniers, after a few goes at towing a trailer before.

We set off in the drizzle with full waterproofs on. The first bit of off-road was a nice muddy walk up a fell and back down again.
Slow progress but smiles all round till we got to the vertical muddy slope! At this point my method looked best as I picked my bike up on my back and feeling a little smug I had hiking boots on I carried my bike down. Jon on the other hand had fun with his fully loaded bike getting down! Then it was the next fell, Dunsop Fell. We walked and walked and I carried my bike for the last bit, everytime I looked back Jon was having fun with his heavy bike! At the top I was looking forward to riding, but no now the terrain was a complete bog. At some point I mis-judged how wet it was going to be and ended up completely in the bog!

Originally my bike was on top of me and I couldn't shift it, Jon had to move it, it took a lot of effort to get out - almost like a swimming motion! I was most impressed not to lose a boot! That would have been terrible!

Fortunately the downhill was nice off the top, think Jon enjoyed it once he got used to the changed handling of his bike! At this point I was beginning to think the whole thing was a bad idea, the map had got wet! I realised how silly I had been not bringing the waterproof maps of the area that I had used when plotting the route (for some reason since I didn't have maps of the whole route I didn't bring the two I had!!!) I had a copy of the route we were doing but the map holder was less than waterproof so it became a bit soggy. So instead of heading up over Salter Fell I had us drop down into Slaidburn. At this point I thought it was time for a new plan so Gisburn Forest was the new destination. We headed to another cafe near the forest and wasted a few hours in there watching the rain getting heavier and the wind stronger. After chip butties it was time to head out. As we got into the forest something amazing happened and the sun came out and it stopped raining. I insisted we rode around for a while, whereas Jon wanted to stop and get his tent out asap! In the end we found the wet weather shelter then back-tracked to find a nice spot.

This was the moment of truth, would any of my stuff be dry, I had a text from Ali offering lifts, so although there was no mobile reception I knew there was a payphone only a few miles away. Always nice to know if everything goes wrong!! As it turns out all my dry-bags worked! Even the one on my bike and most exposed kept everything dry. The only bit of damp was a bit of my down jacket - its dry bag is a little too small so I hadn't rolled the top shut as well, going to buy a bigger one and that will be sorted! I got comfy while Jon spent his time pitching his tent!


As you can see Jon made sure he had room for his tent and I was left outside!

At this point I wasn't sure what to do, I had thought I would be riding/in a pub till dark. So I cooked my not very nice tinned spaghetti. I think I should of had the other tin I bought but at that point I thought I would have both!

The insects came out to bite not long after and Jon decided to hide in his tent. Ar this point I decided to get in my bag, first I removed a slug off my mat. I was beginning to wonder if I would like being outside afterall, especially when it started raining! I got all curled up and on my side, sleeping bag closed, bivvy too with my face covered. I kept checking to see how heavy the rain was and it seemed a steady drizzle. Eventually I fell asleep and slept till just after 4:30am, when it was light. I woke up felt a little cold, but fine, my shoulders were a little damp. So I put an extra jacket on - I had kept some extra clothes in my sleeping bag! But still had to get up as I needed the toilet. As I got back in a Jon surfaced and sounded like he was about to cook breakfast and take his tent down, something about it leaking, I went back to sleep though. He then took his tent down and cooked breakfast, still not sure why he took the tent down, even a leaking tent is better than nothing.


I surfaced again at about 7:30am, packed up and headed to the dry shelter, since it was still raining. I was impressed I was dry as I was sleeping in a puddle when I woke up. I can definitely recommend the alpkit bivvy! Once at the dry shelter I got to work on my breakfast. At the last bivvy Kate had pointed out how much my milk weighed. She suggested powdered milk as the alternative. So that is what I did, I mixed it up in a little bag and poured it on, it worked fine! A great weight saving tip!

Thenit was off on todays ride, we got back on the route I had planned and a mixture of road and walking through boggy fields brought us out on Waddington Fell where we dropped down to the cyclists a cafe. A nice feed and then country lanes all the way back to the car.

A great trip and I'm impressed with how well my kit stood up, just a couple of bits I want to change.

A planning and a printing

Jon wanted another adventure, I had some days definetly not working, he booked some off and I plotted. Map has been printed so now I just need to pack!

Lee Quarry

Tomorrow I am planning on racing the Brownbacks race at Lee Quarry. I have heard nothing but good things about the last race so I'm looking forward to it. I thought today it would be a good idea to check I could ride the place! So me and Jon headed over. Only a few laps as the legs were tired from yesterday and I can say, its's going to kill me! I can't get up one of the hills but all the downs were fine, at todays pace, race pace might be different. Also wondering if my legs will cope, the car is away so I'll have to ride there. Still all good practice!

Playing at Lee Quarry

Fit Freddie took a video today of me at lee quarry.

Mary Townley Loop

Today was the day planned to ride the mary townley loop. After a few bits of interest only fit freddie could make it. So we left mine at 7am to ride to Rochdale and get on Rooley Moor Road. This meant the biggest climb of the day was first as we were doing the loop in a clockwise direction. It was getting warm at this point so the armwarmers came off, at the top they were back on and that was the theme for the day. It depended if you were in the sun or not.I was quite excited to reach the stone in memory of mary townley and we had our first sandwich stop here! I think the bikes were ready for a rest after all that climbing!

The day continued with amazing views and lots of different sets of windmills on the horizon. We stopped for a pub lunch at 40miles into the ride which meant it was over half-way! It was nice to get a big feed but it made the next hill feel hard, I'm sure there was something wrong with my bike ;o) Soon after this we met someone doing the loop the opposite way, only he was riding in our direction, somehow he had managed to turn back without realising! Still he had only climbed for maybe five minutes extra. He was hoping to get round in 7 hours, which sounds pretty fast to me.
It wasn't long after this I had my first long push of the day - I had pushed one part of one climb earlier but rode the rest. This trail was switchbacks but they still were vertical. You can just see the footballers where we started the climb. After that it wasn't long before we caught a glance of the first set of windmills from the ride. Still a fair amount of climbing but actually it seemed like we suddenly found Rooley Moor Road again.

Then it was just a case of riding home and ordering pizza! I guess next time I'll have to ride it the other way. Although I think it might be harder. There were some descents I wouldn't get up as ascents.

69.88 miles @ 8.7 mph

2473m climbed

4745 kcals burnt!

3 hours of paused time (how? it must be the pub, two picnic stops and the photo stops I guess)

A peaks epic

4:30am found me getting up and putting on layers of bike clothes - it is cold at that time of the morning. A quick breakfast bike on the car and Ali dropped me into Manchester piccadilly. On the train at 5:44am and I was on my way to Sheffield to meet Kate, Simon and Jon. Kate and Simon were at that point on the train heading up from Nottingham. We got going at 7am and followed my GPS out of sheffield, much easier when an area is so built up. Soon we were off-road and onto Stanage as it warmed up. Simon got right out to admire the view up here and the layers started coming off.
Then it was down Bamford Clough, Simon scared us all at the top, but it was just steep and a little slippy, easier to ride than walk as Jon found out though! Into Hope and then up the broken road and onto Rushup Edge, along here we met Rich - he had told me he didn't have a singlespeed but didn't mention he would be on a fixie! Then it was a push up to Jacobs Ladder.

After a quick look Rich flew down it, its really impressive watchin a guy ride fixed on something I am almost too scared to ride at all! Then it was into Edale for lunch - a well deserved lunch! Before heading on via Jaggers Clough to the Beast. Here I have my favourite memory of the day, Rich riding down the first rocky bit looking like he is on a shopping bike just pedalling away! I would love to be there when a load of body armour big travel bikes are there, he looked like he was riding on a flat sustrans trail! It wasn't long before we started climbing again and I decided to throw myself in front of Simon's wheel no idea what happened!!! After this is was round Fairholmes and Rich decided to miss out cutgate - I think he wanted to get home before midnight!

The rest of us climbed up cutgate with bikes on our backs! Once at the top it was great, it is amazing singletrack I can see why people rave about it and why it is a dry weather route!

Simon got out his whiskey again here (hope he saved some for kate on the train home) being a proper singlespeeder! We got to the bottom of cutgate just as it started to get dark. Some bridleways and road - including a push through some grassy fields - led to the transpennine way. Where I tired legs propelled us to Warncliffe woods and then onto Sheffield. Once in Sheffield a straight line was made to the station by following the gps. Here we said goodbye to Jon and simon rode straight into the shop and bought it out of fig rolls.

We must have looked funny sat on the floor surrounded by food! I had about an hours wait until the train and was glad to get off and have Ali waiting there for me. (Even more glad I got away with my train ticket as it was only valid on the earlier train which we missed!)

It was an amazing trio adventure, it was nice to meet Simon one of my teammates for SITS - he is even more of a singlespeed nut than me! He has decided he doesn't like his geared bike at all now! I also loved Rich's bike, the geometry is really clever, sat in the saddle he is right over the rear wheel meaning he can stay sat there on most downhills. Much respect to anyone who can ride the beast and jacobs ladder on a fixie as well!

More pics on Simon's flickr and I'm sure the others will blog later!

My garmin stats:

66.54 miles ( although it always undermeasures)

2880m of climbing

Ride time 8:21:25 (average moving speed = 8mph)

Total time 14:14:35 (we were stopped in Edale for two hours as we ended up waiting ages for food)
Fun rating 10+

Route is here

Credit Crunch Sportive

Today I headed off to leek to ride the credit crunch sportive, collecting Julie on the way. It was a lot smaller than other events I have done but had a lovely friendly atmosphere. When we arrived we were given a start time of 10:05 and set off with a group of four lads. Since the event was 52miles I decided to try and sit in with them for as long as possible, this was about 10 miles and I even was on the front for a fair amount. After that we got a bit split up on the climbs but we kept seeing each other all day. There was a quite a headwind for a lot of the ride so when I got the chance I tried to sit in behind bigger blokes - they have their uses! At the feed station my average speed was 15.4 mph, I could hardly believe it! After the feed we were slower, but we went up gun hill - 8% on the chart above! Which was a killer. One last push towards the end and a final average of 15.1 mph. Al I can say is wow! My legs felt it but it felt good to have got a good time.

After lots of chatting at Julies I headed off home, tired but happy. The results are already up but in a pdf so I can't sort it. It looks like Julie and I just missed being joint fastest females by 2 minutes, the fastest time was 2:51 and we finished in 3:35. I thought that was quite respectable!

My garmin stats:

51.72 miles @ 15.1 mph
1336m ascent
Max speed 41.5 mph
Av HR 166bpm

My garmin says the route was 56.8% of climbing, 17.4% of flat and 25.9% of descending - not sure I like that!

redbike also rode the event, but his time is void due to him taking a short cut and missing the hardest hill!

Jon's Birthday Ride

This morning I headed over to Leek to ride with Jon since it was his birthday. I was a little late leaving, only ten minutes, but as soon as I got on the A666 I knew I would be late, roadworks and traffic not a good combination. I eventually got there with time for Jon to sort my brakes before his friend Rich came to join us for the ride. At this point I knew it would be hard as these were both fast blokes! Jon and I were on cross bikes and Rich a mountain bike, at least I had a slight advantage!!!The ride was a nice mixture of road and off-road to Disley. There Jon took us up an extra hill looking for a cafe! We ended up in a pub which seems very posh, but had nice food.

Then we headed back, me disappearing off the back every climb, but I think it was good for me, I can be very lazy riding on my own!

50.38miles @ 11.8mph
1113m ascent

Stuck in the mud

Today Jon came out to mine to come riding. Ali had decided to join us and so last night we plotted a route, Ali said it was important that some of it was new to me too! We set off up towards the Witton Weavers way, Ali had found a way that didn't involve scrambling up a cliff with bikes on our backs which was good! Once on the Witton Weaver way we began to wonder if it was going to be windy all day! we came across the following bunch.
Lots of talking to them and they kindly moved for me, before closing ranks again only moving when Jon and Ali asked nicely! After that it was over onto Great Hill, the first part was climbable, with the odd comedy moment due to it being a little boggy. But before long we were reduced to walking as we lost the path! But we got to the top of Great Hill and enjoyed some of Jon's biscuits before heading down the slabs in the direction of Winter Hill. This was nice and rideable but soon the slabs ran out and we entered bog central, all of us ended up lay in it at some point - Ali says she didn't but she got stuck more than either of us!


First it was my turn, Ali left me there while she took a picture!

Then Jon ended up in the bog. After a while it became obvious that Ali had some secret powers as she floated along the top, at this point Jon decided to try and catch her putting loads of power down and flying over his handlebars, it was a good impression of superman and I'm sure he was glad he landed in a bog as it is a little softer!

After that we dropped down the cheeky trail to belmont to some nice pub grub before spinning home on the road. (Thanks Jon for pushing me when I spun out!)

Jon's 1st 100km

Seeing as he doesn't have a blog here is his write-up:

Well I woke up this morning feeling very hung over and utterly depressed so I decided to try and put 2008 behind me (Dreadful year!) and start this year right by doing your 100 challenge.OMG the 100km was hard. I had to use the MTB because my road bikes are still out of action. It was so cold my feet, hands (and other parts) hurt like mad; and the tube on my camelbak froze up which meant I couldn't get a drink (Not the best when you're hung-over).I managed to motor along at a fare rate of knots for most of the ride. But when my front tyre started to slowly go down in the last 20miles and then my little legs decided they were tired the pace dropped off dramatically. Still not too bad considering this is the first ride in over a month. 100km Av moving speed 26.2km/h overall average (inc stops) 25.4km/h

Why I love biking

Jon came up today to ride, at first we had plans for a road ride to Southport but then it was just going to be the two of us so we were going to ride to Altringham with Ali, but the weather and time constraints meant that wouldn't be a good idea either. So I suggested that we rode my local trails, which meant no long map stops and just pedalling to keep warm seeing as it was forecast to be cold cold cold!



Just as we were about to set out I spotted Ali's keys so I thought we'd better drop them off with her. Then Jon realised his chain wasn't on correctly, after watching him struggle for a short while I undid the power link - no idea why he was making it look so hard! After dropping the keys off with Ali, turns out she had taken the front door key off and did have a key! We headed over to Rivington. Once there I took Jon down Jon's 200yards. Past the Lamas, one tried to eat my rucksac!


Then up the commonwealth down, where he rode my bike up and I rode his. I found his hard going, it was just too big, he says mine is lovely but I must have superhuman legs to get up the hills! Then I took him down the ICR, anyone who knows Jon will know he is not the biggest fan of downhills, he cleared it as well! Then over to Healey Nab where Jon thought I was joking when we got to the last drop - it really is a lot steeper than it looks in the photo's it looks vertical from the top - eventually after a few goes I got him down it.











Then we headed to the cafe, while we froze outside and they seemed to forget our bacon butties, but my chocolate cake was good. Before heading home via Belmont Old Road and the cheeky trail I had tried on thursday night, some of it was still a walk even in the light!

A great ride and reminded me how much fun biking is!

30.98miles @ 8.2mph
1100m climbed