Looking forward to a longer ride out on the Linear recumbent for the last couple of days but it has just been so hot and humid. This morning was much cooler and cloudier so I was all set to do some sandwiches and set off mid morning. Alas, Mrs Twiddler had other ideas and once the jobs list which she had produced was done I decided to have a snack first and go later.
The sun was out and it was getting hotter by the time I set off having slapped on a load of sun cream on the way out and grabbed a bottle of water.
Gettin' outta Dodge by the shortest route and leaving the mean streets behind I soon found things pleasantly cooler, heading for Oulton Park via Wettenhall. There was a slight headwind as is usual in this direction but rather than being annoying I found it pleasantly cooling today. Usually there is a little trepidation in riding the recumbent after a few days off it but everything fell into place straight away. I had intended to wear my helmet with new mirror attached but didn't fancy the prospect of slow cooking my head if the temperature reached the dizzy heights of the last couple of days. So the characterful old cap was also slapped on, on the way out. Not windy enough to worry about it getting blown off today.
I was going to take it easy, I told myself. Just roll along, enjoy the breeze. Chill out in your shades on your garden chair on wheels. And so I did, mostly.
King's Lane, Dogmore Lane, along part of the weathered red brick wall that encloses Oulton Park, then off left to Brownhills Road and across an awkward junction with poor sightlines to the left. Awkward enough on an upright bike, a little more hairy when you have 3 or 4 feet of LWB recumbent ahead of your eyeballs. I think my hearing has become more sensitive in even the short time that I have owned this unlikely machine.
On into Oulton Mill Lane, then a gloriously cooling downhill spoilt a little by a junction behind hedgebanks on the right. Nothing coming, so swooping up a slight climb then stopping at the A49 before waiting for a long enough gap in the traffic to attempt the uphill start straight across into Cotebrook Lane. Quite busy today. Past the church on the left where a cyclist was looking at his phone and gave an acknowledgement, stop again at a crossroads, wait for traffic, then right into Stable Lane. Downhill pedalling hard to get up momentum because there is a climb after this dip and I know that if I can keep the speed up I can keep going into the next downhill. Additional motivation is provided by this being a narrow, winding fast stretch with high banks either side. What was I telling myself a little earlier about chilling out?
What little traffic there was, was patient and gave me a wide berth. I could hear a tractor roaring away behind though I couldn't see it yet. I pounded away downhill just because I could, even though I am normally so, so fond of freewheeling. I hit the bottom of the dip and speed fell away while the tractor noises got louder. I fought a rearguard action against the diminishing speed but was still doing a respectable (for me) 8mph as I reached the crest. The tractor roaring disappeared and looking down at the mirror showed the end of the trailer vanishing into a farm gate just behind me.
The road was now straight and level to the Fishpool Inn crossroads with the A54 on to Abbey Lane with tall trees on the left all along giving merciful shade, so I eased off to take advantage of it. I could see a lot of vehicles queueing at the crossroads ahead with the A556 so I took advantage of a dip in the opposite kerb and rode carefully round the corner of the wide kerb. I think this is a cycle facility for the junction. A short way along there was a crossing place and I crossed over, following a red cycle path left. This ended just round the right hand corner but there was no way to cross in front of the cars to get to the opposite lane. I slowly trundled along the kerb with slow moving cars on the left and a selection of prickly and stinging plants on the right until I reached a spot where I could cross over safely. I certainly wouldn't ride on such a kerb normally but this seemed the least worst option.
A few hundred yards up the road there was a small shop so feeling hot and bothered I stopped for an ice cream. There was a bunch of young chaps on MTBs in all the gear outside obviously heading for Delamere Forest. They talked amongst themselves but happily for me I was obviously too old and eccentric (and sweaty) so I didn't have to answer any questions. One of the drawbacks of riding one of these a lot of the time, even if you're not in the mood.
Not feeling much cooler, I carried on through Delamere along Station Road. There was another queue of traffic not much further along, at some roadworks traffic lights. There was a gradual downhill towards the lights and I got some speed up but the traffic had cleared and the lights changed just as I got there. I pulled over to let the next accumulation of cars get by before setting off on green and gratifyingly got up to about 20mph without too much effort. I passed Delamere Station (where there was some kind of country event on which was generating all the traffic) and was only slowed on the short hill leading into Hatchmere, though this went smoothly because I was preceded by a slow moving 4 X 4 which unintentionally cleared the oncoming traffic for me. Swooping through Hatchmere towards Kingsley I made it a good way up the hill before finding that I couldn't hold on to a low gear on the derailleur without it unexpectedly jumping to a higher gear. I stopped in a gateway and got into low gear on the 3 speed hub and was able to use a higher ratio on the derailleur which then stayed put. I got going again, anticipating sorting it out once I got home. I arrived at Kingsley sooner than expected, crossed Norley Road into Top Road and then had a marvellous freewheel all the way through Kingsley, turning right up The Hurst and then right again into Roddy Lane which is a narrow lane with high hedges and little traffic. I pulled over once to let a following car go by.
Turning right at the T junction with Mill Lane I had the road to myself for a couple of miles before I heard voices behind me and a scrubbing of tyres. "Coming by on the right" someone said, (where else? It's a road, isn't it?) and two meaty chaps passed on mountain bikes. Almost immediately a large man on an upright trike with fat tyres and a small woman on a hybrid came out of a junction on the right ahead of them, and there were 5 of us in line. Any passer by might have thought we were together, a sort of cycling circus. The meaty chaps passed the other two at the beginning of a hill, powered by muscle. The other two left me behind on the hill, probably powered by electicity. I was left in solitary splendour, powered by wishful thinking, as in I wish I could use those bl**dy lower gears! Still, I climbed onwards to Acton Bridge Station, where since I was stopping to look at the gears, I took a photo opportunity.
Fortunately the solution was simple. The right hand shifter has a friction adjuster which just needed tightening. Sorted.
I should have zoomed in a bit tighter on the second picture.
I set off again in the opposite direction from the photo, down Station Road, and climbed gently to the bridge over the A49 and turned right on to West Road in Weaverham. Then a left turn on to Forest Rd and right on to Gorstage Lane, passing under a railway bridge. At the end of Gorstage Lane I went straight on up the climb on Weaverham Road to Sandiway. A bit hot on a day like today, but the bike was not difficult to ride up it. At the A556 I went straight across on to Kennel Lane, which was pleasantly shady, and was able to take it a bit easy, not least due to the surface being alternatively tarmac and gravel in places. The bike coped surprisingly well, and I was able to ride all of it, so my technique must be improving as last time I rode it on a similar surface uphill I ended up having to get off and push.
Over a humped bridge then down on to the old railway. Stopped for a choc bar and a drink of water. Then through old Whitegate Station, onto Grange Lane, through the the town centre and uphill to home. Overall, apart from the heat, a successful day.
Mileage according to the computer 28.3. Average speed despite the dawdling off road stretch 9.6mph. Max speed, somewhere, was 28.4.
