Silver Streak

Kick out the shocking summer we've had with a big road ride. Despite road riding for a few years now I've never managed a century but then again as I'm first and foremost a mountain biker I'm quite proud of my longest ride being a proper rufty tufty offroad one, so kinda mixed feelings on this issue. Anyway decided to head for blackpool and maybe manage a century. Forecast was for hot and sunny with no wind, half hour after setting off it transpired it was cloudy, cool and breezy, arm warmers and gillet donned I carried on, tockholes, hoghton, samlesbury, missed my turning and ended up on a M6 feeder dual carriageway, whoops won't do that again. Preston woodplumpton, headwind not very strong but relentless, inskip, elswick, singleton, weeton. **** me long flat road riding is boring, road is fun if you're going hell for leather but taking it easy is rubbish. Got to the seafront and had a ride up the prom, loads of people about but it was trying to rain so ate my cake, bought some rock for the boys and headed off. Back the way I came till woodplumpton then over to longridge and ribchester, get a few gentle hills in. Roads round ribchester are a right old mess, don't remember them being that broken up but they've had that filler stuff layed over the top and it's not good, got bounced about all over the place. Legs were fading so stopped for my customary mid ride newsagents refuel, double decker and a bottle of pop, just the ticket. Through Blackburn, diversion through longshaw and tracks round the back of ewood, then a lovely steep climb back to tockholes and back home the way I came, riding through Bromley Cross I realised the rock had gone out of my pocket, gutted! Got home feeling tired and legs pretty empty and starving! Major refuel time.

Mapped out my ride with some trepidation, final answer 101 woohoo! best of both worlds, bearing in mind keilder has been mapped out at between 102 and 107, I've managed a road century but still got an MTB ride as my longest ride, excellent. 101 in 7 hours, a not very inspiring 14.odd mph average.
Gratuitous bike by the beach shot