Rode From Manchester To Liverpool Yesterday

http://www.justgiving.com/gb155

Yesterday I set out on a 38 mile ride from Manchester to Liverpool. The event was to serve as a warm up and also to raise funds and awareness for those suffering with fibromyalgia.

The route was something like below:

The day started at 5am where I woke up so nervous I could talk without a stutter, Once fueled and ready to again the nerve**** and I had to control my breathing, I was thinking “Can I do it'" “What do I tell people when I fail" etc. At 7am I rode from Tameside to Stockport, At the start line in Stockport I my my buddy and off we went.

We didn't quite realize what cycling to Stockport and starting from there would actually mean in terms of adding miles to the 38 mile target, We would find that out in a few hours though.

The first 2 hours were great, nice and easy even though it was over some of the roughest trails I have seen, The Trans Pennine Trail is billed as a flat smooth traffic free route, however from the Manchester section at Didsbury to Trafford at Stretford it was like a 4x4 assault course, The effort required just to keep the bike upright was immense and both me and my buddy had a couple of close calls on this section. It was overall pretty easy though and within 2 hours we had done 24 miles and took a rest stop in Lymm where we refueled with a snack and a drink.

The next section was pretty incident free and although the pace was not quite as fast we were enjoying and the sun was breaking though, Once in Warrington we needed to take a toilet stop, after we had done that I realized that we were having so much fun that I hadn't taken any pictures, out came the camera and my buddy snapped this shot at around 30 miles in.

I decided for comfort to wear something baggy and while from a comfort point of view it worked, Its not great for taking pictures.

We moved onto to just outside Widnes before stopping again and taking this picture.

We were on the final stretch at this point, However the wind was HORRENDUS around the waters edge at Widnes all the way till we left the trail at Speake.

By this point all the off road terrain from early on in the road was taking its toll on me, I was struggling, I wanted this so bad I was asking myself all the time just how much I really wanted it.

5 Hours after starting we arrived at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Now as I said at the start we had planned to do 38 miles however by this point we had done over 50 miles for the day, Although we planned to go to Lime Street we decided that as we had done an extra 12 Miles and the fact there was a coach headed back to Manchester that this would be our finish line, SO did I fini****hink it fair to say with those extra 12 miles not only did I finish but I did myself proud.

Ok so lessons learnt for other rides, Change the saddle, OUCH, Carry less rubbish in my Rucksack OUCH, I also learn yesterday that 65 Miles to Blackpool on real roads will be something that that I grab with both hands and ENJOY :D

Today My weight loss for the week after weighing myself on Tuesday is minus 5 LBS, Maybe I should head off to Liverpool More often as I actually feel totally fine with little after effects.

I will be editing and uploading a video later this weekend.

Thanks for all your support and messages, It kept me going, Blackpool next :D

http://www.justgiving.com/gb155