Decided in a moment of madness to do this ride. I was up at 4:30 made my way to the Manchester United Football Ground where the ride was starting. I was one of the first there, which meant I was actually one of the first across the line at the start.
This ride was hard, the beginning after leaving Manchester was up hill, or rather up mountain as thats what it seemed. We seemed to climb for ever, up then down then up further and on. At one point we turned into Leigh Park and the view as we turned was amazing, we were so high up you could see for miles. Going through the park was lovely, we went downhill through the trees, it was nice and cool and apart from the ground which was stoney and holey, it was easy going. I keep breaking as I don't trust myself to go fast and stop if I need to. I stopped about 4 times on the way, usually for about 15 mins, apart from when we got to the last 20 miles, it was a headwind all the way, it was so hard. My legs were so sore, I had to stop as I just couldn't go on. After a rest I set off again. I was in a low gear as if I was going up hill, the wind was that bad, it kept blowing sand in my face and nearly blew me off on one occasion. I don't like fairgrounds, but when I saw the big dipper in the distance it was like a carrot to a donkey. I didn't go any faster, but I struggled on knowing I was near the end. Finally saw the Finish line, whoopeee, I was so relieved.
Picked up my goodie bag, which wasn't very good, but better than nothing. I finished in 5 past 12, then had to sit around until 1:30 when the coach took us back to Manchester. I did it in 5 hours, which includes my 45min break. I am happy with that.
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