TDF wannabe

SO the tours on and after watching the arse end of last year I've started watching a bit earlier this year. Good stuff, watched the sky team destroy the peleton on the last hill on Saturday, so much damage in 6km. I just need to learn to keep my mouth shut and not text other people the results incase they aren't watching live. Sorry Johnnie.

Any from out of nowhere the sun put in an appearance yesterday so I dragged the road bike out of the attic, blew off the cobwebs and took the long route into work and a loooong route home. Round the edge of heaton park, through simister, oops bit of dirt road, passed by Si's place, onto ashworth valley, my own col du galibier. OK CdG is 1200 meters and ashy valley is only 600 feet but gotta work with what you've got. Hard going anyway but fun in a masochistic way. Onto the top road and a long drop into edenfield, nice. Climbing up through haslingden I missed my turn off and ended up heading into blackburn, no worries weathers nice I can nip back up grane rd and do broadhead. Things were going well til I reached blackburn where someone over took me right before a roundabout then cut me up pulling in right upto the kerb to turn left, then got all arsey when I swearily suggested they move out of my way.
Grane road was something else tho, evening commuters from blackburn to haslingden, what a bunch of arseholes. All uphill, my legs were shot, singletrack road, 50mph speed limit not good. Secondary position leaving room for people to pass meant no-one touched they brakes or indeed steering wheel and sped passed me at 50 with about 12" to spare, primary position meant they had to move over and brake slightly but still doing a fair whack squeezing between me and oncoming traffic, scary. Moving way over to the right led to people slowing right down but passing with in a couple of inches of my elbow. I was getting proper irate and doing a lot of swearing and arm waving. Then going down broadhead an oncoming motorbiker decided to overtake a car just as it was passing me, squeezing between the 2 of us doing an unholy rate of knots, yeah cheers my 2 wheeled brethren. Sooo many dicks.

Not long after I got onto broadhead I noticed a roadie behind me, I was determined to keep away from him till I hit the bottom but no chance, I was jiggered and he caught me before higher head. I tagged on, was going to compare notes with him on grane rd traffic but tbh I was having trouble holding his wheel. Followed him til he split then limped home. Had to stop for a minute to stretch and give me knees a break. Guy approached me saying he was a PTI and asking if I was having trouble with my calves (that I was stretching) I said "no my knees", he said "ah well not much you can do about that" not sure if he was going offer me a roadside massage if it was a muscular problem!!!

Not a bad ride, not going near grane rd again tho.