Sunday was a base miles day, with a nice early start (2 AM!) out through the lanes of Cheshire to Congleton and back up through Knutsford, then to Birchwood and St Helens, out to Formby and Southport, then through Preston and across to Blackpool, back across the Fylde coast then down through Preston and Chorley back home. A reem day out – not much in the way of climbing, but a pretty grim headwind all the way back home made for some hard work!
Riding at night on country lanes is a brilliant experience with a light strong enough to pick out potholes and other road issues from a good distance – it’s peaceful, and often results in nice surprises – like the barn owl that swooped down alongside me outside Tatton Park to grab a mouse, or the bat that flew alongside me for a while near Jodrell Bank
One thing it brought home to me was just how much top end I’ve lost in the last couple of months. My average was well down on what I would have expected this time a couple of months ago. Makes me think that when training starts in a couple of weeks it’s going to be pretty grim for a while…
Confessions of a 3rd cat chopper 