Thursday 27 November 2008

Night riding with friends

About a month ago the group I used to ride with every Wednesday asked me to organise another Rivington ride so yesterday we all met at the Black Dog in Belmont at 7:15. As I was leaving to ride up to the meeting point I tried turning my light on and nothing happened, so it was a quick rush into the house and grab Ali's light, strap in to the bars and hope it'll stay there. Ten minutes later I was on my way, fortunately I had left loads of time to get there.
There were six of us all together, 5 girlie's and 1 boy who was meant to bring cake but forgot??? We set off from Belmont up the cheeky path, it was a little boggy in places so there was some walking to be had, but it was agreed that it was nice to get rid of the road climb, its nice for rides to be nearly 100% off-road. Then it was along the Belmont Old Road to Pigeon Tower. We dropped down the ICR, obviously no ice-cream van there at that time before climbing back up the AICR.
After this we headed up the Pike, it was a lovely clear day and the views over Bolton and Manchester were great. It was a little windy up there though. Here we went slightly different ways with half the group going off the back of the Pike and the other half following the path back down. Then it was time for the last climb, up two lads onto Winter Hill, once again the gates were open so no boggy diversion for us. Then down the Belmont descent, I had a few moments, like when my light pointed straight in my eyes or it came off my bars completely!
After that the only thing left was to retire to the pub for a quick drink. Then while the rest of them had a nice drive back to South Manchester I took the easy route home and freewheeled down the road.
Stats: 18.72miles @ 7.2mph 675m climbed

5 comments:

  1. Surprised we didn't bump into each other! Run club route last night was up Two Lads and then across the bog to the Pike, off the back then down the grassy slope, back up by the horse farm and through the woods back towards the leisure centre. Across the boggy bit made for some interesting running. Saw bike lights down on Georges Lane as we were at the Pike so maybe that was you?

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  2. I don't think Ali's light likes the Belmont Descent. - I hope you get yours fixed soon!

    I'm glad it didn't spoil your ride.

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  3. We were probably too late. We got to pigeon tower about 8pm, guessing you were nearly back by then? Sounds a good run!

    Jon: its because I was rushing to get out I think, I'll zip tie it next time!

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  4. We were a bit late starting off and ran for over an hour. It was probably about 8 when we were there, bet we only just missed each other.

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  5. Yes, I kept an eye for lights but didn't see any at all. Was a lovely evening for a ride.

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