Bike rides

Monday 16th July - Daisy Nook Country Park

Stats:

ttm 76:46 odo 745.4 dst 6.42 tm 0:48:24 avg 7.9 max 23.2

Yesterday morning I was in work, unloading the truck and taking it back; we had a half day so I asked Richard what he was up to... not a lot, seemed to be the answer, so he, his brother in law Al and I went for a shortish ride (since it seemed like it wouldn't be raining). It was broken cloud and sunshine, which was nice - just a couple of spots of rain so nothing major. No route this time above, because all we did was pootled up and down Daisy Nook country park to Park Bridge and round and about, and it wasn't far - but it was pleasant nonetheless. Bit muddy after the rains we've had recently, so very much a mud-spattered ride, but fun.

Achievement of the day though was cycling up an OS-marked arrowed road! We'd got to the bottom of it by sailing down a road - really rather fun - and then faced this to get back to the car. It didn't /seem/ too far (and I didn't know it was arrowed at the time) so although Al and Richard chickened out (partly due to the fact it was a road with cars'n'stuff) I figured I could probably do it.

The first few metres was OK... and then it got very steep. Or at least, it seemed to. I pushed on and on and... well, I made it and into the car park, but I was really really pushing myself and it took ages to get my breath back. However, I was really (sorry, too many reallys) pleased with my achievement. Hurrah!

Now for something completely different: a map. The arrowed road (between 14-20% incline) in the centre of the image is the hill in question!

Grid reference at centre - SD 919 004 GB Grid

All in all, it got me out of the house and although wasn't generally a record breaking ride, it was nice. I need to get my brakes sorted though - I've got the cantilever ones and can never quite work out how to adjust them properly, unfortunately. Theory in the Bike Book and on Sheldon Brown's site is all well and good but I can't apply that to my bike. Ah well.

PS Canal spotters: Daisy Nook Country Park is built around the now-disconnected Hollinwood Canal; the canal itself survives in places (as do the lock pounds) but in places the canal is now bridleway. More info on the Hollinwood Canal here. It looks like it used to join up with the Ashton Canal in Openshaw, by the top Fairfield lock. There's even the Hollinwood Canal Society formed to care for and look after it!

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.