Time trials, Needles & Birthdays

8 days and counting to the start of 'The Project' - but before then...........

I've got that weird feeling that always seems to be present in the lead up to a big trip.  It's a mixture of nervous anticipation and excitement, a time of questioning.  Is this a good idea? Have I bitten off more than I can chew?  What will happen if.......?

When these things are planned, months, or even years before as has been the case with some of my trips the time seems to pass quickly until the last week or so.  With 2 weeks to go I just want to get on with it, I don't want time to worry, doubt, over plan. 

The trip begins a week tomorrow but I fortunately (?) have a few distractions before then.  I've committed to doing a 10 mile cycle Time-Trial tomorrow.  This will be my 2nd, I did my 1st a month ago and the world of time-trialing was singularly unimpressed with my lack lustre performance.  I did, very shrewdly however, leave lots of room for improvement!

Next Tuesday I have the dubious pleasure of Facet joint injections to look forward to.  I've had 2 Facet joint injections in my lumbar spine before but as it's my birthday the following day the NHS have thoughtfully awarded me 6 in one sitting!  The timing is a concern as the trip starts just 5 days after.

The previous injections brought no improvement to my back pain at all so my expectations are not high,

I just hope it doesn't bugger me up for the trip!

Quart in to a pint pot!

Don't enter the dining room!  There appears to have been some sort of explosion in there.

It may look like an unholy mess to the uninitiated but I prefer to think of it as 'Work in Progress'.

Every available square inch of surface including the floor is covered with the essential ingredients needed for an extended cycle Tour, or rather with what I as novice think I may need for an extended cycle tour,
I suspect there is a big difference between the two!

I estimate there is room in my panniers for around 60% of the 'essential' items currently littering the room.  In the absence of a medium sized van and support driver I have some decisions to make.  

In the unlikely event that my tour is successful and I reach Andalusia some time around  the end of May I expect to be baking in the heat of a Spanish summer.  Contrast that with the current weather in the southwest of England (I'll be cycling for 2 days and camping in Devon to get to Plymouth for the ferry) and the dilemma over clothing choice becomes apparent.  

What to take?

Or more importanly,

what to leave behind?

The good news is that my 'To buy' list is down to 1 item, a bog standard 1.5l water bottle to fit my extra large Topeak bottle cage is proving difficult to find.  

My 'To do' list is dwindling niceley but the weather isn't conducive to ticking off 'mowing the lawns' so that may just have to be delegated.

10 days to go, back to my packing.......

The Project

2 Wheels and a Walking Stick head for the Med:

There are more reasons not to do this than to do it, but the reasons for doing it are better! 

 

November 2010 was when my back condition became so debilitating that I had to seek help.

18 months on and a succession of Physio's, GP's, Consultants and injections have done little to improve my situation.

Put simply, I can't walk, or rather walking even 20 metres is sufficiently unpleasant to make me not want to do it again. It's a cruel irony that somebody who's main passion was Hillwalking should succumb to such an affliction, not to mention that after 30 years in Engineering I had committed to a career change and launched my guided walking business, Sierra Trekking.

"Why me?"  I spent too much time with this thought, I would see everybody else walking around normally and ask this question.  It's a fundamental and essential human function to walk, why couldn't I?

Pain and disability play as much with the mind as the body and I have succumbed to the mind games played by these foes.  If it were ever possible to be 'more' of a pain in the arse to live with than I always was, then I have!  The first 8 months of being largely housebound were the worst, then I had a Eureka moment!

I'd tried in the early weeks to maintain some form of exercise  by way of using a cross-trainer machine in the garage but this soon became too painful to continue.  To someone used to the 'Freedom of the Hills' the confinement was stifling.  After 8 months I had an idea and it was a good one, with advancing years and dwindling brain cells good ideas are like erections, rare and to be acted upon.

I remembered my rusty old 'Turbo Trainer' (roller contraption to allow cycling in the garage).  I removed the worst of the cobwebs from my road bike and setup up the bike on the Turbo-trainer.  I tried 5 minutes of gentle spinning, it was fine.  The next day I did 10 minutes and the following day 15, all was well.

Over the following days and weeks, after making my old mountain and road bikes serviceable I ventured out on to the local roads and cycle tracks.  My excursions became longer and faster and despite a few punctures, a broken chain and an exploded tyre (thank you Claire for the rescues) things were progressing well.  Then I fell off.  I fell off my mountain bike, over-zealous braking on a steep and slippery descent required a third rescue, this time I was transported to the local hospital rather than home.

The pain from damaged ribs and shoulder/collar injuries wasn't going to deter me from my new found escape for long, I was back on the bikes within 4 weeks and continuing my transformation from walker into cyclist.

I was enjoying my bike rides hugely and even joined a local road cycling club.  I found the 'B' rides with Bolton Clarion challenging but doable and I could feel my fitness improving week by week.  I'm not entirely sure when the option of 'Cycle Touring' first occurred to me but I found myself realising that travel and adventure were once again a possibility, not on foot, but on 2 wheels.

The cost of a new or even a decent second hand Touring bike was prohibitive so I decided to convert my old GT Pantera mountain bike.  I seemed to have been spending money I can ill-afford ever since on bits and pieces for the bike and for bike-camping.

Before:

After:

                  

                                                                                                                    

 
The changes:-

New tyres/tubes, new back hub/wheel, 7 speed cassette replaced with 9 speed, new chain rings/chain, front and rear pannier racks, 4 Ortlieb Roller panniers, Altura rack pack, Avenir bar bag, bar-ends fitted, new larger bottle cage, bungees fitted to bars for 'Hand brakes', new Brookes leather touring saddle and by far the most important change, the addition of a 'Walking Stick' to the top tube, this doubles as a bike stand.

The 'All important' walking stick.

So, the bike is ready.  I've done a couple of short 'tours' - a 1 nighter from York to Whitby and a 2 nighter on the Trans Pennine Trail.  Hardly sufficient preparation for 'The Project' but it will have to do.

As happens with these things the project is almost upon me, departure is 2 weeks from today. 

So, about the project which has occupied my thoughts in recent months.  Well, I plan to cycle to see my brother and sister who live within a few miles of each other, in southern Spain.

I'll take a train on Sat 5th May from Manchester to Torquay and cycle from there via a camp somewhere en-route to Plymouth.  I have a ferry to Santander booked for Sunday and from Santander I'll take a short ferry hop across the estuary to the east for an overnight stay in Somo.

From Somo I plan to cycle along the coast to Bilbao camping 1 night on the way.


I have 2 nights accommodation booked in Bilbao so I hope to get to see the Guggenheim.  From Bilbao I'll point my compass to the south and with the help of a few pages torn from a road atlas I'll head for the Med, nothing else is fixed.


Of course I may well be be home within days having found that the obstacles are too great, that's a risk I'll take. 

Like all the best adventures, the outcome of this one is far from certain?


Now, where was I, oh yes - back to my list.........

Trans Pennine Trial - 'the good & the not so good'

Easter 2012: The first 2 days of the TPT from Southport.

                The start of the Trans Pennine Trail
                on a bright Good Friday morning.

6th April 2012:
Combined tactics were required to get the fully loaded 'Tank' onto the platform at my local station.  The 42 steps from the street make this a less than 'cycle friendly' station.  Claire, my wife and logistics coordinator ferried my 6 panniers/bags around to the station in the car whilst I cycled there. I deposited my delightfully light-weight bike on the platform and descended the steps to collect my payload.

Job done and with 10 minutes to spare before the train was due (20 minutes before the train arrived)

'a reminder that this isn't Switzerland' !  I was concerned that on a Bank Holiday a seaside bound train might be jam packed - would I get the bike on?  There was 1 other person in the 2 carriages that I could see, maybe everyone has flown to the Med?  

This being only my 2nd Cycle Touring venture I am still learning the basics and this morning I learned that not all trains are the same in terms of getting a fully loaded touring bike on.  This older train, unlike the one I'd taken to York a couple of weeks before was a right royal pain in the arse.  The guard and the one other passenger seemed to regard my struggles as the mornings entertainment and barely stopped short of giving me a round of applause when I finally succeeded!

Southport station seemed to deposit me out into an enclosed shopping mall!  I followed my nose until I spotted a sign for the seafront.  It must be 25 years since I was last at Southport but in the morning sunshine and without the usual workday traffic it was pleasant enough.  

'Travelling light'

A couple of roadies out for a Bank holiday ride on the seafront.

 

 The first hour or so on the TPT is very pleasant, passing the

 dunes at Ainsdale and Birkdale and taking a route on the very 

quiet roads and tracks of the Cheshire Lines cycleway.

There are lots of stiles on the TPT, this one like most of those in the early stages was easy enough to negotiate.  The same cannot be said for all the stiles!!  

Some stiles elicited a string of language so colourful that even my panniers looked dull by comparison.

It was actually impossible to get my bike through some of the stiles, they are too short and narrow and apart from removing the panniers there was only one way I managed to get through.  This involved a very strenuous upending of the bike so that it is shimmied through vertically on the back wheel only.  With such a heavy bike this really is a massive effort each time it was needed so anyone contemplating doing the TPT fully loaded "beware".
I understand the need for these stiles but for a multi-day cycle route, there has to be a better way?

The TPT is well signed for the most part but not everywhere, I first lost the route near Maghull where the signs seemed to dry up.  I ended up with the choice of a very busy dual-carriageway or heading initially in the wrong direction in the hope of finding a way round.  I consulted my TPT guidebook but that is of little use, the maps are totally inadequate and I'd decided to risk not having a 'propar' map.
I didn't fancy the busy road.

After some time circling around residential streets I asked a local who pointed me in the general direction of Aintree.  There was one major obstacle, a very awkward stile - this is where I first employed the 'vertical bike' strategy.  As I was struggling to get through the stile a couple of youths who were loitering on a bridge above were watching my progress.  "What's in the bags mate" came a shout from above in an accent which left me in no doubt as to my whereabouts. "Camping shit" I replied.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt and put their interest down to healthy inquisitiveness!

I eventually found myself on a canal towpath which came as a relief after the roads, it was an easy pleasant route.  There were locals relaxing by the canal and enjoying the produce of the local off-license.

I came across a group of Mountain bikers who were busy fixing a broken chain.  I stopped to make sure they had what they needed and was warned of a closure of the towpath ahead.  Several miles back on the road brought me in to Aintree where a succession of local navigation experts sent me on fruitless sorties to all points of the compass.  When I finally got back on the TPT I came across the first of the thoughtfully decorated sections  (multi-coloured broken glass festooned around the trail).

I'd negotiated one particularly perplexing stile and was struggling with a second when a helpful local assisted me.  Once I'd got the bike through I chatted with the guy who asked me where I was heading and where I'd started from.  The news that I was heading in the wrong direction came as something of a surprise but the re-crossing of the 2 killer stiles was the real cause of the deterioration in my language!

As I turned back he warned me that a certain section was 'full of broken glass and gangs on bikes' - I began to question my choice of route for a cycle tour!

With the dire warnings and a weakening resolve to tackle the stiles I came off the trail and used local roads to make progress.  With no map and a sketchy knowledge of the local place names I resorted to heading in a generally southerly direction which by now involved heading for the patch of sky which was slightly less dull than than the rest.

My philosophy of never getting stressed by cycle touring was sorely tested when I completed a 3 or 4 mile loop of a huge housing estate near Croxteth country park.  I passed through one ghost town where every house was boarded-up.  Passing close by Huyton, Prestcot and Rainhill I eventually crossed the M62 and had a few very unpleasant miles on the dual carriageway into Widnes, there's too much of a speed differential between cars doing 70 or 80mph and a cyclist doing 15.

Passing through an industrial estate in Widnes I finally re-joined the TPT at the St Helens canal with a distant view of the Runcorn bridge over the Manchester ship canal.

I'd been on the road and off the trail for almost 3 hours!



 

 I finally got a chance to eat something and took a well earned rest for half an hour, I was fairly sure I 'shouldn't' lose the trail again today.  The way onwards was quite scenic with views of the Mersey estuary marshlands.  After passing the belching giant of Fiddlers Ferry power station I came upon Fiddlers Ferry marina.

Fiddlers Ferry marina

Like the author of this blog, a little past it's best

I had contemplated a discreet wild camp along this route but the area that looked promising proved to be largely fenced off and signed for dangerous methane outlets!  The perils of planning things on Google Earth!

My fallback option was to make it to a campsite in Lymm.  Hollybank campsite is just a mile or so off the trail over the Warburton toll bridge and I arrived there around 5pm so had a couple of hours of daylight to relax after pedalling the Tank for 6 hours.

7th April 2012:

Up at 7:30 after a half decent sleep although once again my lightweight sleeping bag was on it's limit.
I left the campsite at 9:30 and was immediately tested by the short ascent up to Warburton bridge.  This is a ride I do regularly on a road bike but with leaden legs which were barely awake it was a struggle.

View from Warburton Bridge towards Manchester.











I'd done the section from Lymm to Carrington before on a local ride so managed not to get lost.
There are lots of stiles and road crossings on this section although nothing as awkward as the Merseyside monsters.  Broken glass seemed be less evident in Cheshire, I reflected on how lucky I was to survive the previous day without punctures.

Always a friendly wave from the locals.

 The River Mersey near Chorlton

                                             Chorlton Water Park


Day 2 was going far too well.  I first lost the trail at a diversion in Didsbury, the worst consequence of this was ending up on the A34 at busy traffic light junction where whilst waiting to turn right I was suddenly surrounded by darting traffic trying to make way for an Ambulance on blue lights, chaos.  I survived and picked up the trail again for Stockport where I lost the route once again.  Quite a long section 'off piste' this time as I headed up through Reddish and up to the A57 near Denton.

On the approach to Denton I heard a screaming engine behind and quickly nipped up onto the pavement.  The big Audi  flashed past doing at least 100mph!

I knew I had diverted too far north so I turned right (south) in Denton and stopped to ask directions.  I was sure a choice of 3 mature ladies at the bus stop would give me a good chance of salvation.  For the purposes of deciding the winner of 'The most bemused Facial expression' competition I couldn't decide between the 3 of them!  Fortunately a chap arrived who had a good knowledge of the area and knew where I could rejoin the TPT which turned out to be a couple of miles to the south in the valley of the River Tame.

Once the road was left I came across a welcome bench overlooking the river where, as was the case yesterday, I was able to take a break and eat after a long spell on the road.

The next section and through to Broadbottom and Mottram was fairly hilly with some steep but short pulls.

A short 'official' road section near Mottram showing the snow covered hills of the Peak district.














By now I was tiring and also low on water, thank you to the kind lady in Charlesworth who replenished my water bottle.  This was something else that was a first for me, I needed water so I just stopped and asked a householder, I may need to get accustomed to doing that.

Had to push on this section!

Looking east along Rhodeswood reservoir

An impressive fountain at the outlet of Bottoms reservoir

                                                               



My destination for the night was the campsite at Crowden on the Woodhead pass.  The final hour was the most scenic of the day and one steep climb defeated me requiring a push of 100m or so.  I had a warm welcome at the campsite and the cost was exactly half of the previous nights at Lymm. Highly recommended.

I was directed to an area for backpackers (I've just discovered that what I'm now doing is known as 'Bike-packing').  I pitched a discreet distance away from the only other tent in the area which turned out be occupied by a friendly Dutch guy who had had something of an epic in the snow walking from Edale on the Pennine way.  He had unintentionally spent the previous night 'on the hill' after struggling with snow conditions and navigation on the Bleaklow plateau.  He had planned to do the whole of the Pennine Way over 3 weeks but had now realised that he had bitten off more than he could chew at this time of year.  His legs were leaden and his relief at "surviving" was clear.  He planned to head to Manchester Airport the following day to return home.  I guess it's difficult to train for the hills in Holland!

Crowden campsite

A setting sun on the
Bleaklow plateau.



                       Best part of the day!



One further traveller appeared on the backpackers area in the early evening.  Like the Dutchman he had started the Pennine way at Edale and had walked over Kinder and Bleaklow that day but manged to avoid any epic adventures although he did report heavy going in the snow on high ground.  Clearly an experienced walker and backpacker he was travelling light and produces a super light 'Tarp Tent'.  It transpired that his objective wasn't only  the Pennine way but an altogether more 'epic' journey.  He was walking from Lands End to Cape Wrath, the most southwesterly to the most northwesterly point of the UK.  He had been walking for 6 weeks and was less than half way through his journey.

I've done some challenging walks myself over the years but this is in a different league altogether.  Respect.
His blog can be followed at:-

http://omnivorist.blogspot.co.uk/

8th April 2012:

My spell on the TPT was finished for now as I was to head home to Manchester today.  Initially I retraced my steps on the TPT and then picked up the old road into Glossop avoiding the busy A628 Woodhead pass.

From Glossop it was an uninspiring road ride back to Worsley, west of Manchester.  I stopped by in the city centre passing through the Gay village and China town en route and stopped off at the Castlefield canal basin to eat the last of my food.  After 3 days cycling, much of it off-road I very nearly came a cropper on the extremely slippery paving slabs around the back of Manchester YHA.

Beetham Tower, Manchester's tallest building seen from Castlefield

I'll probably return to the TPT to complete the route to Hornsea on the east coast, the trail has it's issues - not least of which is the negotiation of the troublesome stiles but it is on the whole very enjoyable and offers a largely off-road option for travelling from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

To be continued......

Cycle Touring - All the Gear & No idea !

Well I had to start some time.  I'd spent months converting my old Mountain Bike, spending inordinate amounts of money I can't afford and making excuses to the point where I couldn't think of any more.  My wheeled Zimmer frame was ready for action.

This is my old GT Pantera now weighed down with 2 pannier racks, 4 Ortlieb Roller panniers, Altura rack pack and Avenir bar bag.  By the time the substantial pilot straddles the saddle it's a wonder the aged cheapie tyres didn't explode!

The old suspension fork has been replaced with a rigid 'Exotic' carbon fork which briefly made for an excellent and lightweight rigid MTB until I bolted on several hundredweight of accoutrement's to realise the conversion to a Chieftain Tank!

22nd March 2012:

Having completed an exhaustive series of Road Trials  (a 5 minute spin around the block the day before departure) I tentatively wheeled the beast down the drive and with the self-consciousness befitting the brightly clad pilot of a Expedition loaded touring bike in the suburbs of Manchester I nervously wobbled down the road for my journey to Piccadilly station to get the midday train to York.

The plan was to cycle from York to Whitby over 2 days to meet with my wife and friends for the weekend.

The cycle path on the East Lancs road proved to be a good and safe opportunity to reduce my wobble factor before contending with city centre traffic.  I survived a couple of dodgy looking subways in Salford and committed to crossing the city centre of Manchester bound for the station.  A bit of uncertainty on the approach to the station precipitated 1 or 2 dubious manoeuvres which fortunately went unnoticed by the local constabulary.

To say that a fully loaded touring bike at a busy train station is an embuggerance would be something of an understatement!  I did quickly discover though that the 'gimmick' of my loops of Bungee cord on the handlebars to lock the brakes on was no gimmick but actually invaluable.  A bike so heavy does not want to stand still when propped-up against anything.

To my amazement and after much stress and consternation about where on the train I could stow my bike, the train pulled to a halt with a door displaying a 'Cycle' sign exactly opposite where I stood.  Also, my reserved seat was within 3 metres of where the bike was stashed so itall  went very smoothly.

I disembarked at York and cycled through the city in the sunshine, I seemed to attract lots of admiring glances (it may have been pity) from the numerous Japanese tourists in town.

I was soon out of town and heading north (ish) in the direction of Castle Howard where I planned to camp.

The Vale of York, with it's quiet country lanes and pleasant villages was a joy to cycle.  I was surprised that such a heavily loaded bike was no great effort to ride, at least when things were fairly level.

One steep pull towards the end of the day forewarned of things to come the following day but the final approach to Castle Howard was impressive indeed.

The camp site at Castle Howard is in a stunning location with distant views to the great house across the Lake.  Not the cheapest at £14 for 1 person and a bike but as I had the site to myself, it didn't seem so bad.

 

With  clear skies, my 1-2 season sleeping bag was left wanting, it was a long and chilly night.

23rd March 2012:

Day 2 was to be a much longer day with a lot more upping and downing, I hadn't realised it would be quite so steep!  From Castle Howard the route lay east then north, gradually climbing up on to the Roman road which runs north/south over the North York Moors.  Several sustained climbs brought home to me the realities of fully loaded touring and made me appreciate the newly added extra gears, from 7 speed to 9.

Crossing the Roman road on the North York Moors

 


The Roman road has been superseded by a main road further east so sees very little traffic.  The climb wasn't so bad and the descent to the north was worth the effort of the climb.

After dropping down from the moors I'd foolishly assumed the hardest work was over but found some of the climbs between the villages on the northeast edge of the moors to be a bit too challenging.  Three times I had to dismount and push including near the villages of Grosmont and Ugglebarnby.  For someone who doesn't walk too well at the best of times, pushing a Chieftain tank up 3 steep hills is not a good day at the office!

 

After one steep descent (into Grosmont) I was faced with fording a river or tackling a footbridge much too narrow to take my bike?

I pondered on whether to ford until a road cyclist came in the opposite direction and bravely ploughed into the river.  He skittered and skated until, after a few metres he thought better of it and retreated to the footbridge.

I had little choice, I had to remove all my panniers, carry them across the bridge and then return to collect the bike - getting tired now!

I made it into Whitby after around 6 hours on the road.  An excellent day only slightly blighted by the look of bemusement on the B & B landlady's face, I'd booked months before and hadwritten  confirmation but she had no record of the booking and was full for the weekend!  Luckily she had a brother who could accommodate us, ah well - it was a great introduction to Cycle Touring.

Yorkshire Dales hills get smaller !

Electric-bikes-plan-to-flatten-dales-hills