I did it - and well done to anyone else who did...

Manchester to Blackpool bike ride - tagged as a 56 miler but actually 62
due to a route change.

6 hours dead with an hour for stoppages - I know that's far from quick,
but I'm ecstatic that I finished it.

There were some serious riders, some non-serious riders and the plain
daft riders even half a dozen unicyclists - fair play!

I'd been told it was relatively flat, which was not the case, albeit the
hills were no mountains, there were plenty of people dismounting, I did
not, although I was spinning in first at one point - that felt like an
awful lot of wasted energy!

The downside is that I've screwed my crank, I felt the LHS pedal
lossening slightly, didn't have an 8mm hex key, so had to ride 20m to
the next rest stop and see the mechanic. He torqued the pedals back up,
but too late, the creaking and clicking persisted all the way to blackpool.

Right now I'm too happy to care - it's only bits right? excuse to buy
some trick stuff

And should by chance the "Christies Chicks" be reading, or anyone who
knows the two - I'd love to keep in contact!

Thanks for listening u.r.c

--
Dnc - heading for the bath!

Manchester to Blackpool bike ride - tagged as a 56 miler but actually 62
due to a route change.

6 hours dead with an hour for stoppages - I know that's far from quick,
but I'm ecstatic that I finished it.

There were some serious riders, some non-serious riders and the plain
daft riders even half a dozen unicyclists - fair play!

Well done, that's almost the same as the London to Brighton. We did that
in about 6 hours with a few long stops here and there. Sure, could have
done it faster but it's not a race and it gets dangerous if people try to
make it one. I really like being able to get out for a long ride without
constantly dodging cars and pedestrians !!

"Doesnotcompute" wrote in message
...
Manchester to Blackpool bike ride - tagged as a 56 miler but actually 62
due to a route change.

I thought it was 60. There seemed to be km markers, that never quite got to
100.

6 hours dead with an hour for stoppages - I know that's far from quick,
but I'm ecstatic that I finished it.

There were some serious riders, some non-serious riders and the plain
daft riders even half a dozen unicyclists - fair play!

Yes, cokers I believe. Going about 12mph but that was 5-10 miles from the
start.

I'd been told it was relatively flat, which was not the case, albeit the
hills were no mountains,

It is actually a 100m drop from the top of haigh hall park to the canal.
Dissapointingly there were chicanes etc. (as its just a tarmac path really)
so all that uphill effort wasted on the brakes.

The downside is that I've screwed my crank

Ah, bad knee tendon myself.

It was a novel experience - I never ride with other bikes.
With 3000+ people and random starting times, there were always plenty of
people to overtake etc. which made it a constant attempt to overtake safely.

I was in the middle ranking "crap road bike" league.
I did come across a couple of guys in full US postal-berry floor kits. Was
close to them for 20 miles, and then they stopped and went missing. pah!
There was a bloke with a "ton-ton tapis" kit, as featured in C+ as worse
ever tour kit.

As for bikes: plenty of tandems. one "quadruple" which looked like the lucky
contents of a skip welded together.
As above, cokers. but looks around shiftily no recuments.

As for me, I did 112 miles in total, just over 9 hours all inclusive.

W K wrote:

"Doesnotcompute" wrote

Manchester to Blackpool bike ride - tagged as a 56 miler but actually 62
due to a route change.


I thought it was 60. There seemed to be km markers, that never quite got to
100.

There was a Marshall on a right hand junction, who told me it was 62
total with 5 left to go?

There were some serious riders, some non-serious riders and the plain
daft riders even half a dozen unicyclists - fair play!


Yes, cokers I believe. Going about 12mph but that was 5-10 miles from the
start.

Cokers? I'm assuming that's a person? who maybe frequents here?


I'd been told it was relatively flat, which was not the case, albeit the
hills were no mountains,

It is actually a 100m drop from the top of haigh hall park to the canal.
Dissapointingly there were chicanes etc. (as its just a tarmac path really)
so all that uphill effort wasted on the brakes.

I must admit to making good progress down that drop and completely not
seeing the first bales, had to do a quick dodge round them instead of
through them. Good job I'm on a MTB! Saw plenty of people get beaten by
the RH hairpin too - how is beyond me.

The downside is that I've screwed my crank


Ah, bad knee tendon myself.

It was a novel experience - I never ride with other bikes.
With 3000+ people and random starting times, there were always plenty of
people to overtake etc. which made it a constant attempt to overtake safely.

Indeed - and I just found out one of our guys complete in 3h 40 with a
10min stop. He wishes he'd a) been on his road bike and b) less traffic
lights out of Manchester - reckons he'd have been a 3hr candidate.

As for bikes: plenty of tandems. one "quadruple" which looked like the lucky
contents of a skip welded together.

I saw that quad - I think they had to make roadside repairs on at least
2 seperate occasions - I bet that was fun up the hill into Kirkham!

As above, cokers. but looks around shiftily no recuments.

I saw one wobble past me at speed between Preston and Kirkham. Not
riding very safely at all I'm afraid to say.

As for me, I did 112 miles in total, just over 9 hours all inclusive.

Fair play - it was a bit gutting to see people doing the return leg when
I was still [n] miles from finishing.

[n] replace with large but unknown number.


I have to say I wasn't impressed with the setup at all, most roadside
marshalls were cluless about distance in, or to next stop etc, missed
the firt stop entirely due to lack of signposts, chargeable water at
haigh hall (although I found a tap labelled "water for your dog")
45pence for Banana? I didn't see a single motorbike marshall after Haigh
Hall, which I think is very poor. I've Marshalled motorbike rideouts,
and for the distance/number of participants, we'd have had 30 mobile
marshalls constantly cruising back and forth. And why didn't they have
compressors in their top boxes?

Anyway, rant over...

--
Dnc

W K wrote:
"Doesnotcompute" wrote in message
even half a dozen unicyclists - fair play!
Yes, cokers I believe. Going about 12mph but that was 5-10 miles from the
start.

Yup, 7 unicyclists all on Cokers. Coker being a brand of unicycle with a
36" wheel for the "long distance unicyclist". Now there's a niche market.

A group of 5 maintained the 12mph cruising speed for the duration - but
a couple of speedier riders must've averaged about 15mph.

As for bikes: plenty of tandems. one "quadruple" which looked like the lucky
contents of a skip welded together.
As above, cokers. but looks around shiftily no recuments.

We saw a few recumbents. One of the "joys" of riding a unicycle is you
get to see all of the bikes as they go past. Ahem. ;-)

Cheers for all the words of encouragement from the other riders. :-)

Regards,
Mark.