5th March: Well, I started March with the local 18 for 17.9 miles. Very boring but I did it at an average of 16mph - my best ever - so a promising start to the month.
9th March: Finally, sunny weather! I met James near Aspull today and we did a ride I found on cycle routes. There were some long hills, especially near the end of the ride but overall this was a very rural route that we both really enjoyed and it's another 27.1 towards the monthly total. We averaged 15.9mph as well which obviously proves that sunshine makes you ride faster!
11th March: Had a random day off today because we're all trying to use up annual leave at work before the end of March. The weather was fantastic so I did a route I'd been promising I'd do for ages. It was a visit to Leisure Lakes bikes in Tarleton taking a longer route home. I didn't actually go in because it's too tempting and too far from payday but hey ho... The ride was good with a decent average of 15.9 mph but I think I need to eat more on longer rides as I was feeling a bit 'out of fuel' for the last few miles. Still, another 33.8 for the month!
16th March: It was grey and overcast today but I met James in Longton near Preston and we did the following route, again inspired by Cycle Routes. We both agreed it was quite a good route, a real mix of north Lancastrian villages, countryside, farm land, town cycling and an unexpected two thirds of a mile through an extremely muddy sheep pasture and worth a nice 30.9 by the end. Our average speed was only 13.4 but we had a strong wind in our faces for the last 10 miles which didn't help.
22nd March: Oops, had a bit of a lazy week this week but hey ho. Met James today in Whalley for yet another ride I found on Cycle Routes. The ride starts very near where he lives; we both spend a ridiculous amount on diesel so we try to average out how far we have to drive to a meet up. Anyhow, the route... We both wildly mis-guessed the weather and ended up soaking wet, freezing and miserable, especially over the last 10 miles or so but both agreed this would be an absolutely cracking ride when the weather's nicer. It's a real mix of scenic countryside, small villages and towns and some pretty decent climbs, about 2,000 feet in total. The distance was another 30.7 miles towards the monthly total.
26th March: Did the local 18 after work tonight for 17.9 miles. It was quite windy on some stretches but I averaged 16mph which was cool.
30th March: I met James in Dunnockshaw today to do a ride called the 3 counties which was suggested by a new colleague at work, Alix. Her dad is a cyclist and he sent me the route via Alix and I converted it into a .GPX file for my Garmin. James and I were both a bit wary of this route as Map my Ride makes it look very hilly but we both ended up really enjoying it! The weather was warmish and bright but hazy and the hills weren't as bad as we'd feared totalling around 1,900 feet which wasn't too bad. The ride was worth another 34.5 towards the monthly total.
31st March: After a hard day at work and being a bit hungover, I decided to do my previous 'go to' route. It's called the Old Coach Road and is almost the same as my current go to but instead of heading over to Kirby, it cuts cross country down a four mile length of tree lined, horribly heaved up tarmac laid sometime around the second world war that runs through farm land.
Very, very jarring but worth 14.9 miles for a March total of 207.7 miles!
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