 |
| Me and Russ - pavement pirates ;] |
This was a day of bits. First up we had to ride to Preston as despite all billing the hotel we stayed at wasn't actually as far as Preston. Shorter day yesterday, longer day today. But the satnav was having a Wendy: 'Route Calculation Error' it said cos it couldn't work out how to cross the Ship Canal, the Mersey or the River Dee. Human intervention suggested we head for Chorley on the A6, and we set off in pouring rain.
Chorley must be a big place as we saw signs saying 'Chorley' for hours but never got there, skirting through outlying villages instead. A shame because I like their cakes (I know it shows) and wanted to try the authentic version. Eventually Wigan was our saviour and we turned towards that modern metropolis. (No I'm kidding on both counts). Colin wanted to know if we were near the sea because he'd seen signs for Wigan Pier, and I had to explain about the tiny loading dock and warehouse where narrowboats used to deliver their cargo.
As we headed towards Warrington, I called my buddy Russ who hails from that area and who as a member of the original 1998 LEJOG Chain-gang of Four had promised to ride with us on part of the route. We met up about 10 minutes later, and guess what the sun came out and the rain stopped. They say it only shines on the righteous! Russ's idea of riding with us turned out to be escorting us to lunch. No complaints here, but after lots of food and chat it was getting a bit 'mid-afternoon' and we realised we had to set off again.
Over lunch I'd re-programmed the satnav with Russ's local knowledge. 'I'll get you over the ship canal, but the best way over the estuary is Frodsham and I guess you'll get over the Dee at Chester'. Computer says yes - once again we had turn by turn instructions. It's a bit of a black art dealing with this thing as the routing algorithm often goes off on a wild tangent and has to be tamed by judicious waypoints. It will then insist that all waypoints are visited in turn - if you bypass one it's like a bulldog with a fresh bone.
We proceeded to ignore the satnav as Russ showed us the up the pavement through the alley across the pedestrian crossings and against the flow of traffic route to get to Warrington town centre. Which is pedestrianised so we rode through that too. What a blessing local knowledge is! Must have shaved miles off the satnav journey and to boost things further Russ landed us on a low traffic alternative to the A56. Cheers buddy!
It was about 3.15 as we climbed our way out of Warrington with 30 miles to go, but unfortunately Colin then suffered the puncture from hell. It was a pinch-flat from a rock he'd hit. With the wheel out of the frame (hmm, unusual, I thought - you can usually repair a puncture without removing the wheel) he started heaving at the tyre with some metal tyrelevers. "Give that here" I suggested waving my Milk Levers (made from recycled milk cartons) which usually master any tyre. Help! Not this one. Made by Gommitalia it's the tightest 700c tyre ever. It took both of us to get the tube free, which I fixed with a Park self adhesive patch. Meanwhile Colin had installed his spare tube, then we wrestled the tyre back on. The tube would not hold pressure. We wrestled the tyre back off, and I fixed the hole that had been made with the tyrelever using a self-adhesive patch. Meanwhile Colin had installed the tube I'd previously repaired, and we wrestled the tyre back on.
Pumping up the tyre, all seemed good but I was concerned that we get a certain pressure into it to guard against further pinch flats. Suddenly a 'psssshhhhhh' sound could be heard, and the tube deflated again. Rats. We wrestled the tyre off, to find that the patch Colin had installed days before on the Pitlochry Cycle Path (see earlier post) had come free. ....I fixed the hole with a self-adhesive patch.... we wrestled the tyre back on... thankfully for the last time. It was the blackest of comedies given our situation, a whole hour messing about with the world's tightest tyre. Talk about the obstinacy of inanimate objects. It's my opinion that the bike had taken on a mulish attitude and wished to bask in the sunshine for as long as possible.
And what do you know, within 5 miles we passed from brilliant sunshine into a squally shower.
Today's ride 69 miles, total so far is 542.6 miles. No max speed today 'cos I reset the computer accidentally whilst helping fix the puncture.
No comments:
Post a Comment