Category Archives: Cycling Challenges

National Cycle Network NCN Route 66 Improvements, Rochdale Canal

By Cycling Challenges, Rides, , , , , , , , , ,

Getting Our Kicks On Route 66

On Sunday, the kids and I set out on a sunset ride up to my favourite place in the whole world.  Our outward journey was the usual Rochdale Canal towpath trawl out to wards The Waterside Restaurant, then up Lake Road to Hollingworth Lake.  Halfway around the lake we stopped to watch a beautiful sunset as a group of dinghies finished their afternoon’s races.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, we supped our hot drinks (chocolate for Em, cappuccino for Ben and tea for me) and pulled up our buffs as the temperature dropped.  Steeled against the cold, we set off home.

New Towpath Access = New Choices

For quite some time (around 200 years I think), it’s been possible to get onto the Rochdale Canal towpath at Clegg Hall by using a flight of steps or a steep, rutted short path.  In their wisdom, British Waterways and the National Cycle Network guys at Sustrans have replaced the terrible path with a properly-laid, gravel covered slip road which connects the bridge over the canal from Clegg Hall with the towpath.  It’s absolutely ideal for cyclists.

Having spotted the new slip road on recent rides, we travelled back from the lake via Wildhouse Lane (using the traffic-free cycle lane alongside the main road) then turned right down Branch Road and rode past Clegg Hall before joining the towpath for the last mile home.

We were glad of the new shortcut, as the temperature plummeted under beautiful clear skies once it got dark!  I think it’s full-fingered gloves time from now on!

Incidentally, if you like the look of Clegg Hall, it’s yours for a chunk over half a million.  Take a look.

Tell ’em Phill sent you! 🙂

Early #Oct100 #Cycling Round Up

By 7 commentsCycling Challenges, Rides, , , , ,

Why So Early?

I know that October hasn’t quite finished yet.  It’s only the 31st as I write this.  But I was thinking…. it’s Monday, it’s quite warm out (in the UK at any rate) and there’s technically one more riding day until November… So maybe, just maybe, this article might push a few people out of the door tonight.

I’m also hoping that I might pressure myself into a final ride, as I’m about 16 miles short of the target for #Oct100.

How’s The #Oct100 Looking?

As at today, we’ve got 4,169 miles ridden in October by 25 cyclists, of which 3,423 was either outdoor leisure miles or time on the turbo trainer.

You can see the graph by clicking onto the Monthly Cycling Challenge page on this site and if you haven’t joined in yet, why not give it a whirl? There’s a wee form there, just fill it in to join or to ask me about it.

Worth A Mention:

Mental John Berry turned in his 10,000th mile of 2011 during the month, with over 1,000 miles in this month alone.  If that’s not worth a special mention, then what the hell is?

End Note

If you think you can, just pull the bike out, check it works and get on it.  You might only get round the block, you might notch up a 100 mile day like Mental John does some days.  But I promise you this: you will enjoy yourself.

Just get the bike out and ride it...

Get Your Bike Out.

So just do it. Tell ’em Phill sent you.

Bikepacking – A New Bike Camping Adventure?

By 4 commentsCycling Challenges, Rides, , , , , ,

Bikepacking? What?

I think they used to call it “cycle touring“. According to bikepacking.net, the short answer is that it’s “backpacking with a bike“.

Why?

As a family, we spend our main holidays camping.  For us five, this means an 8-berth tent with separate bedrooms and lots of home comforts: electricity; a fridge; lighting; a heater; air beds; multiple changes of clothes; body boards; kits; inflatable dinghy…

We love our holidays.  But we’ve been thinking.

If my Other Half and myself want to go somewhere, an 8-berth tent is a bit much. So, we book into a hotel. At more cost than we really need to spend.  If my boy and I want to go exploring and doing some Father-Son bonding without the car, we couldn’t, to put it bluntly.

How?

I picked up a bunch of end-of-season bargains at Go Outdoors and added a few other bits so that we now have a full bikepacking kit.

A special note of thanks goes to Toby, from whose blog I won the panniers, saving us a small fortune.

As well as what you can see here, we’ve got a small gas burner; first aid kit; boy’s sleeping bag; mess tins and we’ll carry some food with us (most likely of the noodles-in-a-pot variety). We’ll head out with multiple thin layers; buffs; gloves and some baby wipes.

When? Where?

I’m kicking myself that the boy & me didn’t go on Saturday night for a dry run. The forecast was for horrible winds so we chickened out. As it happens, it was a warm, dry and fairly calm night. Ah well.

The updated plan is to have a short ride to Hollingworth Lake where there’s a little camp site for our first outing.  Then once we’re sure we’ve got what we need, we can graduate to something a little less organised and a little more wild.

So?

Do you think we’ve forgotten anything important?  I hope not.

#30DaysOfBiking – You Should, You Know.

By 9 commentsCycling Challenges, Rides, , ,

What’s #30DaysOfBiking Then?

To quote the 30DaysOfBiking facebook page:

“The only rule for 30 Days of Biking is that you bike every day for 30 days—around the block, 20 miles to work, whatever suits you—then share your adventures online. We believe biking enriches life, builds community, and preserves the Earth.”

 

I can’t put it any better than that.

– Enriching life?  Certainly.
– Building community?  Damn right, I’ll vouch for that.
– Preserving the Earth?  Time will tell. But it’s a hell of a lot better than burning dead dinosaurs.

What Is It For Me?

30 Days Of Biking is a real challenge.  I’ve seen it twice before and not joined in.  This September, I bit the bullet.  It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do and my (very) short rides show that it’s not really helping me increase my #Sep100 mileage.

 

30 Days Of Biking, So Far

30 Days Of Biking, So Far

 

My worst day so far was taking the bike out of the car after returning home from a trip to Dunfermline at around 10.45pm, then riding it as far the door to my shed at 10.46pm!  That was 0.03 miles done 🙂  Having said that, I did ride it around Dunfermline town centre the night before after a team meal out, before hitting the sack in a little hotel.

My best day was a lovely afternoon with my better half, riding from Crosby to Formby and back, along the Sefton Coastal Path on Merseyside.  A lovely trip, an easy path and two beautiful beaches – not to mention the rather splendid Antony Gormley “Another Place” sculptures at Crosby.

Another Idiot. Another Place.

Another Northern Monkey. Another Place.

What Is “30 Days Of Biking” For You?

This is where you tell me.

Tell me why you’re not doing it.
… or if you are…
Tell me how it’s going for you.

Thanks! 🙂

In Dorset?

By 2 commentsCycling Challenges, Rides, Tat, , , , , , , , ,

Yes, I’d recommend it to anyone.

Family Holiday Fun

We spent a week in a field in Dorset recently, staying at a Camping & Caravanning Club site a few minutes from the coast in Charmouth.

The site was excellent. Clean, welcoming, lovely big pitches with good drainage (a must in the British summertime), well-equipped shower blocks and a well-stocked shop.  As a family, we enjoyed 7 nights of restful fun, helped by an almost complete lack of 3G signal which prevented me from checking in on work emails! 🙂

Home

Home

From a cyclist’s point of view, let me tell you that Dorset is hilly.  Surprisingly hilly.  I took a brief excursion onto the Sustrans NCN2 past Monkton Wyld, just behind the camp site, and was alarmed by the steep drop, which led me to abandon my plans to ride to Bridport and back.  Instead, I turned back after a mile and a half and picked a different, flat loop which circled the site in a nice easy 5 miler.  Wimped out.

But not before dropping my bike accidentally and smashing my rear light off.  Two cable ties later it looks as good as new.

Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis is silly steep.  It’s basically a drop down to the coast with streets scattered along the hillside.  The roads are almost impossible to drive safely, so it’s a “point, hope and squint” experience!  In the end, I parked a little higher in the town and walked the family down towards the beach, vowing never to return.

But return I did. It’s such a pretty place once you take it in away from the car.  The day after our first visit, we went back for a lovely Italian meal and loved it.  We stayed so late that they were cleaning up around us and presented us with complimentary Limoncellos by way of an apology.  Limoncello’s lovely, once you get over the thought that it’s like drinking Flash kitchen floor cleaner.

 

Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis, very pretty

Cycling in Devon

The Dorset coast isn’t really made for cycling.  Far too hilly for an unfit bloke on an MTB plus a family of 4 other fairweather cyclists.  So, we took a 45 minute drive West and headed to a river basin in Devon.

However, we bought a fantastic little £5 Treasure Trails guide booklet for a ride around the river Exe and the Exeter Ship Canal which took us on an excellent 11 mile loop of around 3 hours.  The booklet presents a sort of treasure hunt, where you solve a puzzle by completing 21 clues.  Then you can submit your answer to be entered into a prize draw.

 

Treasure Trail Around Exeter

Treasure Trail Around Exeter

The Treasure Trails books cover walking and cycling, and can be bought for most areas in the UK.  What a brilliant little idea!  Learn more about them here.

Hopefully I’ll post more about our adventures in the next few days, but I hope this gives you a taster.  If you like the idea of the trails, please buy one and give it a try – I can’t recommend them highly enough if your kids have a short attention span! 🙂

Tell ’em Phill sent you.

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