You can sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Martin-Lally0
7am and the sun is shining. I spent the whole of the previous evening sorting my bike out - two inner tube changes before I realised the punctures were because there was a thorn in rear tyre - doh. However good practice changing the rear wheel in case of emergency....
So I set out along the bridgewater canal the sun warming my back. Amazingly tranquil just 5 mins from PB into cheshire countryside. Unfortunately heavy rain the night before has meant the canal path is heavily puddled. Britney (my Mountain bike) has no mud guards so my lycra clad bottom was pretty wet pretty soon. A man with a striking resemblance to Peppa Pigs grandad puffs by on his canal boat and waves me a cheery Hullo - this is the life.
Being the digital native I am (whatever one of those is) I am using my iphone to navigate - fantastic Ordinance survey app with my route marked on it - every twist and turn in stunning apple detail. The canal turns into a great cycle path going from outside Warrington to Manchester. I am soon in the outskirts of Sale and back on a canal - less picturesque now though, shopping trolleys floating past instead of painted canal boats. I pass Old Trafford, the path is getting thin and less discernible - I wonder how deep the canal is and whether my backpack would drag me to the bottom - gulp.
I notice the battery on my phone is on red - I am half way through the ride and about to go through the middle of Manchester - I would have no idea where to go if the battery gives out. No map - I curse the digital age and speed up. Weaving my way through the Manchester traffic I come out onto the cycle way to Bury. There are big blue sgns every 100 yeard "Bury this way". I heave a large sigh of relief - even if my phone goes now I should be OK. The route take me through a country park folowing the course of the river Irlam. My phone finally gives out but I checked the route and I just need to keep on this track all the way to Bury - only about 5 miles away now.
5 minutes after the phone dies and the signs have stopped - its like a conspiracy. The route splits into 3 "eeny meany miny mo" take the middle one. 10 minutes later I am mired up to my pedals in mud - this cannot be the path but I am pretty sure this was the right route. My confidence crashes as I am overtaken by horse - this cannot be a national cycle way. I turn back and as I squelch back up the track - disaster my back tyre goes flat. Mud up to my knees lost in the forest and now a puncture. I feel like blubbing but man up and find my spanner.
Luckily all that practice at changing wheels means at least I know what to do. I set about it and in not too long I have a new inner tube on. I carry on back down the track, back to the 3 way junction. There it is - a big blue sign pointing the way I have just come saying "cycle path to Bury" - how could I have missed it. Back up the mucky track. I emerge out of the woods tired and dirty, blinking the mud out of my eyes. I ask a taxi driver they way to Dumers lane, he looks me up and down and cheerfully points me in the right direction. I turn into the call centre car park, wheel past the smirking smokers liquid mud trailing behind me - half way there.
Miles completed - 50
Calories burned - 2750
Athletic snack of the day - a Snicker and a Mars Bar (king size)
you can sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/Martin-Lally0
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