Cheshire Cycleway - entire 176 mile route in a day?

[dodgy]

Hi all,

This route passes fairly close to my home and I thought it would be a good challenge to attempt it in a single day. Anyone have any experience of it? I would probably leave at sun up in June (04:30?) and have breakfast about 75 miles in (obviously would eat before leaving, too) which would be almost halfway and hopefully give me a psychological boost
I like the appeal of this circular route (no logistics to overcome like there would be on a C2C or similar), who else has experience of fairly big single day epics?

http://www.cheshirecycleway.co.uk

Cheers,

Dave.

 

[RedBike]

Wow, Now thats some ride.

Are you just going to use the signs to navigate around the route. Or do you have a backup plan to save missing a turn?

 

[dodgy]

I plan to design the route in Mapsource and upload it to my Edge 705 but I will of course have backup paper maps printed from Memory Map as a contingency. The Cheshire Cycleway signs, in common with other National Cycle network route signs are not to be fully relied on.

The longest ride I've done in recent years is 104 solo miles (August this year I think), but I have done 150 solo in the past when I was a bit younger . I reckon that a riding buddy is a must on a ride of this length for various reasons (drafting, company and mutual encouragement).
I suppose I should look into energy replacement drinks/snacks as I'll be deep into reserves I would imagine.
A realistic average speed would be in the region of 15mph, possibly slightly higher if riding with company so it's certainly (I hope) do-able in a day.
I welcome any insight from the audax types on here!

 

[andy_wrx]

I'm about 5 miles from it and have done all of it, in various stages, except your bit on the Wirral.

The Peak District bit, up from Bollington, Lamaload, Wildboarclough, SuttonLaneEnds, is seriously hilly - yes, Cheshire has some major hills !

Other than that, it's flat and fast.
I did a 120-miler on it a couple of years ago and it was ideal for it.
Someone from CTC came-up with the route and picked a good one, Cheshire Council have marked-out the route pretty decently.

I did find there were a few signs missing or twisted-round on the post to point the wrong way (most are just screwed onto existing Give Way and similar signs with a jubilee clip type fixing), so it's worth having an idea of where you are and what direction you are expecting to go, but mainly pretty straightforward.

Good luck !

 

[dodgy]

Cheers Andy,

I notice there is an option near Macclesfield to cut out some of the steepest hills, but that doesn't sit straight with me, I want to feel the satisfaction of completing the entire route!

It was Bob Clift who was the original designer of the route. Originally I was going to do it over 2 days, but that means I have to cart some stuff around me and I'm not really much of a tourer. This has the makings of being something great really, leave the house at sparrow's fart ride all day, home in time for tea and then bragging rights in the pub that night with a gallon of ale

 

[cheadle hulme]

Sounds like a good plan actually. I might think about it myself; I've ridden most of the roads this side (not the Wirral).

The google map in your link goes a bit astray near Manchester airport. They don't like you cycling on the runway!

 

[Crackle]

I've ridden most of those roads too, it is a great route. I'd never manage it in a day though.

 

[dodgy]

I've just manually created a route by looking at a leaflet I got today at the Eureka Cyclist's Cafe and putting the details into BikeHike (though will eventually put it into mapsource so I can have turn by turn directions).

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=2935

Crackle, maybe you're not ready for it now, but perhaps something to train for? That's the main reason for me really, gives me an excuse to up the mileage in the New Year.

Dave.

 

[dodgy]

The google map in your link goes a bit astray near Manchester airport. They don't like you cycling on the runway!

Well spotted, the error is also in the bikehike link I've just created, too. I'll have to take another look at that, it looks like there are other options to avoid the runway

 

[Baggy]

Chuffy and I rode a circular route in the New Forest a couple of years ago - ended up being 130 miles. It was a really good day out, but I can't imagine doing it solo. We had brekky, lots of snacky foods, stopped half way for many sandwiches and then carried on, breaking ocassionally.
We started riding at about 10am, and finished at 10pm. The last couple of hours were not quite as much fun as it was dark, we ran out of snacky foods, and some b*stard put all the hills at the end.
Make sure the hilly bits aren't the last bits you ride! It should be a good day out.

 

[dodgy]

Hi Baggy,

The hills on the Cheshire Cycleway are about 70 miles in for me, they are big hills but they don't last too long and the final 80 miles or so are rolling across the Cheshire plains.

I'll have done 184 miles after riding to and from the start, so perhaps I'll stitch on an extra 16 miles to take me over the magic double century!

 

[Stretfordender]

Hi Baggy,

The hills on the Cheshire Cycleway are about 70 miles in for me, they are big hills but they don't last too long and the final 80 miles or so are rolling across the Cheshire plains.

I'll have done 184 miles after riding to and from the start, so perhaps I'll stitch on an extra 16 miles to take me over the magic double century!

Have you still got the route map you made mate , i fancy doing the 176 miles im based in Prestbury . Cheers pal

 

[dodgy]

This is a blast from the past! If you search mapmyride / ridewithgps or probably Strava, you will find routes already made for it