Port

What a sunny day. It was a tri club ride day and I ended up leaving the house at 8:09am! That is significant because it's around a 60min ride to Didsbury for a 9am start! Just reaching Mottram, a chap with pro looking pins wooshed past! Rapid! I took the cut through and he passed me again in Hattersley!

He was on a Canyon bike, quite fancy but obviously a proper race machine rather than a play thing for a MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra). I stuck to his wheel like glue, occasionally getting dropped but always managing to catch up at traffic lights. He turned off in Gorton, where there were quite a few police cars outside a house with a bunch of black dudes hanging about outside. I think it had been an all night party! Everything seemed relaxed though.

I got to Didsbury 5 minutes early......sheesh! I had smashed it! The plan was to go with the less competitive people today and simply have a jolly time! A ride over the Brickworks and into the Goyt valley was planned. It was a pleasure until on one hill, I nearly fell sideways! I wasn't expecting a long 20% and smashed the initial section, lost momentum and couldn't change gear in time. Miriam, a relative novice, was struggling on the tough roads, especially because her bike was set-up to make steering problematic! The dope didn't have food or drink either so I shared mine! She won't make that mistake again.

On the decent of the Cat n Fiddle, I was waved down by a bunch of retro-bikers, resplendent in their beards and on pre-1985 bikes! They were on an event and had got lost! Hmmm, they weren't shy about asking me to look at my GPS!

In Macclesfield I lost the group in traffic, only noticing when going round a 2nd roundabout! I waited a minute but still no sign. Booo, they must have taken the 1st right! The jolly cycle turned into a time-trial effort but I knew something had gone wrong at the top of The Wizard (a climb). I knew that if I waited in Alderly Edge I would probably see them again which proved to be the case! They had been held up in traffic longer than expected and I had been chasing them when in fact they were behind me!

I was pleased to get home and although it had been a relaxed ride, I had still done over a 100km in the heat! A pig out from the garden centre deli was required.

Swimming was planned for the evening but I decided to have a glass of port instead!