The weather was hot and hazy which proved ideal for the first run out with my new, and first, Camelbak. They are a great way of making sure you stay hydrated on long rides in hot weather but I'm sure it was part of the reason I was dying for a pee by the time I got back to the car - you can't have everything I suppose! One thing that surprised us was how damned hilly this ride was, we both suspect that the memory of how cold and freezing we were last time we did it had somehow over ridden the hillyness of the ride in our minds... Still, a good 30.3 miles to start the month.
4th June: Did the new Alec's hill route tonight for another 16.3.
This is the route, it climbs about 140 feet over a fairly short hill near the end that really gets the heart racing!
6th June: Did the above route again but came in around the back of the village so I could stop for a kebab. Another 17.8 for May.
8th June: Very warm today and James is stuck at a family christening so I did the above route again, but without the kebab, for another 17.8.
11th June: James and I both took today off and did an absolute corker I created last night in Map my Ride. It starts in my village, heads up to Leisure Lakes bikes in Tarleton (to drool over some full sussers) then heads across to Southport, down Marine Drive and back up into the town centre. We stopped at a cafe on the front where I had a huge chip barm and James had fish and chips and then back down the main Southport road, through Ormskirk and back to the village. As a slight aside, I felt awesome all the way back but James said he could feel his stomach. I think sticking with carb's and avoiding protein is the better bet when cycling long distances.
The weather was hot and sunny and I got to test out my new toy, a Garmin Edge Touring Plus so all round, a great ride! It was also our furthest ride so far at exactly 40.0 miles.
16th June: Bit of a disastrous ride yesterday but plenty of miles! James and I were doing a 35 miler I designed when we got seperated at around the half way point. We didn't think anything of it and carried on and after a while I noticed I'd passed the 35 mile mark and had no idea where I was in relation to the ride - the Garmin was no use if you go off course, the screen just turns black and displays 'off route' with no indication of how to get back on course. After I got to 39.5 miles and still no nearer to the end as far as I was aware, James called to say he was at the car so I told him which road I was on and he came to get me. At this point, we discovered you cannot fit two mountain bikes in a Volvo V70 saloon... Not to worry I thought, give me the postcode and I'll sat nav it back to the car which was about 3 miles away. I entered the postcode of where we'd parked the cars and 'No results found' from the Garmin! Oh well, address search it is I thought. I entered Aughton as the town and it asked me if I meant Aughton in Lancashire. I said yes and was somewhat surprised when it asked me which house number?! Seriously?! At this point I gave up and rang my dad who came and picked me up and dropped me at my car. This is the ride I actually did...
So, a review of the Garmin Edge Touring Plus so far? Utter shite. If I can't get it working properly soon, it's either going on eBay or into the 'Small electrical appliances' container at my local tip.
18th June: Did the Alec's hill route tonight for another 16.3. Very warm and sunny but quite windy all the way around.
29th June: Well, it finally arrived - my second 26.0 mile Great Manchester Cycle! James joined me this year for his first GMC and after predictions of rain earlier in the week, the weather was hot and sunny which was awesome.
We got seperated fairly quickly and James finished in 1h 22m and I beat last year's time by 10 minutes with 1h 24m so a couple of pretty respectable times and June goes out with 204.1 miles on the clock!
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