Well I did ask for it...

Today was a club run 50 miler out into the hilly region north of Bolton setting off from north Warrington with nearly 3000 ft climbing. A cool start had me wearing 2 base layers under my windtex jacket, £35's worth of Sealskinz winter gloves (thanks to the Mrs), shoe covers and hat - all kitted out for winter. But would I be too warm considering the climbing we had in store with all this gear on, time will tell...

Off we set riding out towards the east of Wigan and everything was ok, no problems so far and then we hit the mile long drag of Horwich where my 'war wound' started playing up as a stitch flared up slowing me to a crawl and when I mean crawl, I crawled, I wasn't happy...


After I recovered and after more miles of yet more ups and downs I glimpsed the climb up Winter Hill on Rivington Rd as it spun to the right with its twists and more worryingly it's ups and more ups, you can see them coming which was quite demoralising and I'm wondering if this is where I have to get off and walk but nope just 1.5 miles of steady plodding got me to the top to be rewarded with a 2.5 mile plunge down to the Chapel Tea rooms in Rivington. Coffee, cake and a piano player greeted us warmly at the tea rooms and then it was onwards once more.



Flat all too quickly swapped places with hills, up down up down, Jeckle & Hyde country this, one minute nicely descending then its climb climb climb, beauty and the beast - beastland. All this climbing and yes I'm warm but not roasting, perhaps I was a little too warm crawling up Horwich and Rivington but mostly I was just warm enough, those gloves were a little cool to start with but warmed up nicely as the ride progressed and as the day warmed up so I'm happy with them as winter gloves.

Close to home now and on the last small climb of the day and I get shooting cramps down both thighs, ouch that hurt, not had those since riding the LCL 'sportive' in sept 2009. So today tallying up although I rode all the climbs I suffered a stitch, twinges in my hamstrings and lower back and the already mentioned thigh cramps and it's not surprising really, I did ask for it attempting a hilly climb when I'm so obviously unfit due to this rotten cold/cough that took me 6 weeks to get rid of. Prior to this little spell of sickness this would have been a taxing but enjoyable ride fairly hard on the lungs/legs but easily manageable. I'm not complaining though, I'm glad I'm back on the road and back with the club, just telling it as it was...

9% of ride in Zone 5

My Stats
49.7 miles, 3 hrs 21 min, Av speed 14.5, Av/max Hr 149/176 (191 act max) 2990 ft climbing (Garmin)