I’ve been tempted out from my predominantly solo training by the Congleton CC reliability rides this winter. The first one of 49 miles was a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed that. I did however feel I contributed little to the ride and felt a little too fresh on my return to the HQ. This time I didn’t want to be simply swallowed up into a large group. So I and a few others broke away from our starting group early on.

This time I also remembered to load the route into my Garmin. On the 49 mile course two weeks ago I forgot to do this. I stopped for a natural break and realised I didn’t have a clue where to go. Luckily after a few good calls at junctions I caught up to a group that knew the rest of the route.

For the first 20 miles I was on home ground which lead to a navigation error. One of my more frequent routes is to Beeston Castle, I think I must have been day dreaming and was in autopilot mode when I took the group left at the Boot and Slipper pub heading for the castle. Our error was quickly rectified with a U-turn and we were back on our way with the next few miles re-passing riders me a little red faced.

The route was pretty flat with a lumpy section in the middle through Utkinton and Delamere, but nothing too challenging. In fact a brief tailwind blew us up Delamere.

to the left of the bridge a bad day out

The home leg was again back on to the roads I knew, this was except for one Batemill Lane. A lane that almost saw me swimming. A short descent lead into sharp right hander, sharper than I had expected, I was carrying too much speed and was forced outside on to the muddy churned up verge. Scrapping with the bike to stay upright I was out of control, the final destination came into view, a bridge over a river, to the right of the bridge the road, to the left of the bridge a bad day out.  How I managed to sneak the right side of the bridge wall I still don’t know. I later found out my dad was taking photos at this bridge. I had already had my incident before he had arrived, which is a shame as I would have loved the photos.

After I finished I had a quick break at HQ and then went to find my mum who was also riding to give her a bit of encouragement for the final miles. On my way to meet her the sunny morning weather disappeared and in it’s place came a cold wintry hail storm, fortunately this quickly passed. In the end my Mum didn’t seem to need my encouragement, I arrived and she was looking happy and pretty fresh, finishing the ride a good 1-2mph faster than the 49 mile only a few weeks ago.

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