i have started cycling most days as an attempt at training for the trip to espana. the most i've done is about 22 miles so far, and mainly on the road bike because it is SO light and i love it. and it still counts as training even though it's not the bike i'll be using. i did cycle to hebden bridge on the touring bike with abi yesterday , with panniers and handlebar bag, as a trial run. it was fine. but it is heavy and you go slow and i like going fast. we had cake and coffee then cycled back in the rain. a good bike ride always involves cake and coffee as any pro cyclist will tell you. there were no performance enhancing drugs in my cake.
so today i cycled over the moors into enemy territory - lancashire. you go up cragg vale hill from mytholmroyd, which is a 40 minute climb - probably not if you're fit, but for me it was a 40 minute climb. it's quite a dark valley with small little houses along it, many of which are for sale. then you get onto the moor, which is huge and the heather was just the right colour of purple today. probably enhanced by the lack of blue in the sky. there was sideways wind and lots of grey. you swoop down a fast hill into littleborough and on to hollingworth lake, where i'd arranged to meet helie for a walk (and some coffee). we had in mind some beautiful lake in a small forest, with squirrels ferretting around (if they do such a thing) and birds chirruping. it was in reality a half full / half empty reservoir, complete with pikey parade of shops selling fish and chips and shit crafts, and of course an amusement arcade where you can win enough to buy a bag of chips. in an attempt to be cosmopolitan, there was an italian restaurant called 'ristorante del lago'. whatever. i guess 'ristorante del reservoiro' doesn't sound as appealing, but it would be infinitely truer.
sorry to be so rude about the lake, but the website i'd read about it had really oversold it, so i was expecting more than i got, especially after my gruelling hill climb. anyway we walked around it, watched some windsurfers and canoers, shared a rocky bar, had an apple each, berated that we'd wasted 40p on the pay and display by overestimating how long we'd be staying there, and then headed back to the mothership of west yorkshire. in the fiesta……. i had decided 12 miles was enough training for one day by that point and it was threatening to rain…. as you can see, it’s not quite the training schedule of champions yet, but there’s still time: ferry is booked for the 16th september.
so today i cycled over the moors into enemy territory - lancashire. you go up cragg vale hill from mytholmroyd, which is a 40 minute climb - probably not if you're fit, but for me it was a 40 minute climb. it's quite a dark valley with small little houses along it, many of which are for sale. then you get onto the moor, which is huge and the heather was just the right colour of purple today. probably enhanced by the lack of blue in the sky. there was sideways wind and lots of grey. you swoop down a fast hill into littleborough and on to hollingworth lake, where i'd arranged to meet helie for a walk (and some coffee). we had in mind some beautiful lake in a small forest, with squirrels ferretting around (if they do such a thing) and birds chirruping. it was in reality a half full / half empty reservoir, complete with pikey parade of shops selling fish and chips and shit crafts, and of course an amusement arcade where you can win enough to buy a bag of chips. in an attempt to be cosmopolitan, there was an italian restaurant called 'ristorante del lago'. whatever. i guess 'ristorante del reservoiro' doesn't sound as appealing, but it would be infinitely truer.
sorry to be so rude about the lake, but the website i'd read about it had really oversold it, so i was expecting more than i got, especially after my gruelling hill climb. anyway we walked around it, watched some windsurfers and canoers, shared a rocky bar, had an apple each, berated that we'd wasted 40p on the pay and display by overestimating how long we'd be staying there, and then headed back to the mothership of west yorkshire. in the fiesta……. i had decided 12 miles was enough training for one day by that point and it was threatening to rain…. as you can see, it’s not quite the training schedule of champions yet, but there’s still time: ferry is booked for the 16th september.
No comments:
Post a Comment