For my last “training” ride before SITS Chris and I headed out into the hills north of Bury straight after the shop closed. I had decided to ride my geared bike since I am racing gears at SITS. We start off flying along until the road goes uphill where Chris does his mountain goat impression and I go backwards. This continued as we did a magical mystery tour round the edge of Bury and up onto Owl Betts Road. I think Chris was trying to get me lost but we kept popping out on roads I recognised. Every hill he was reminding me to stay in middle ring, it was really hurting! Up onto Scout Moor and then down a new descent to me. Here I had to add a layer and a scramble in my bag found a cereal bar. In hindsight I should have brought more food with me. Up over onto Holcolme Moor, at this point it was too much and I dropped into my granny gear. It was a lovely evening and up here we bumped into the only other riders we saw all night. Down and over the firing range before weaving round near the Strawbury Duck and down the Witton Weavers Way.
It was at this point Chris pointed at Winter Hill and asked if we were going up it, he was actually joking. But me being me, even though I was already struggling, decided it was a good idea. So over we went and UP the Belmont descent. It was a long plod for me and I was struggling to follow the line I wanted leading to a few dead end ruts being followed. At the top Chris fed me some Cliff Shot Bloks and the burst of energy was enough to get me home. Back the easiest way, we split on the outskirts of Bolton and it was straight home, food, bed, shower for me.
46miles and 1247m of climbing and one very dead Amy
