We met in Clitheroe as that's about half way between us with around a half hour drive each. The sky was spectacularly blue, the temperature was low but the spring(ish) sun promised to make it tolerable if not balmy.
We set off gloved and hatted (with Herb wearing something resembling an underwater diving suit under his helmet) and headed up the lane to Waddington. 2 miles in and we were onto the climb over Waddington Fell, which is long and straight without ever being steep. I'd decided this was going to be one of my "long run" replacements, so needed to get the HR up to something respectable, which meant that the usual etiquette of riding the first part of the climb together was ignored and I pressed on from the start. Rick (well he is my older brother) fell off the back fairly quickly, but I also managed to drop Herb and hit the top on my own. It's not the prettiest of climbs but it gets the heart rate up, and I was surprised to see my HR up in the high 140's and beyond - which is half marathon level. The beauty of it was there was no pressure on my calf at all.
A speedy (and for me, scary) descent saw us into Newton in no time, and then a few minutes later in Slaidburn and the start of lump number 2. Catlow Fell is its correct name, but we've always called it Cross o' Greet, and it goes over into Yorkshire via a double bump - the first one fairly pastoral and green, the second hitting the high moorland via one of my favourite climbs. I rode most of this with l'Herb but pressed on a bit at the steep section at the top. Rick (claiming 200+ miles of XC xkiing as his excuse) was a few minutes behind. I was feeling surprisingly good and felt positive to be doing something, and also that my fitness levels were still reasonable. At the top I managed to coax a single photo out of my flat-batteried camera, and captured the stunning vista of Whernside and Ingleborough that smacks you in the eyes as you breast the climb.
Another descent and a bimble through the lanes took us past the half way point of the ride and very close to Rick's old house near Keasden. The final climb was Keasden Fell (that's what we call it anyway) and is about 4 miles of climbing. I was soon alone again and enjoyed pushing on as I climbed higher and higher. There were snow patches on either side of the road, and at one point a tongue of the white stuff leaked across the road like a dribble of icing on the side of the cake.
We regrouped at the top and set off on the fastest of our descents, heading back into Lancashire towards Gisburn Forest and the habitat of that most impenetrable of creatures, the mountain biker. I'm sure it's terribly extreme, but I just don't get riding around on pre-prepared tracks with hundreds of other people and getting about 8 miles in. No doubt they think we're equally daft for riding along tarmac breathing in exhaust fumes and risking getting flattened!
The descent was even scarier than I remembered it, and I recall seeing my speed hit about 40mph as I approached a group of toddlers with doll's buggies, shortly followed by gravel all over the road, shortly followed by a sharp right hand bend. Herb was at this point catching me rapidly so was probably approaching 50mph, and had a bit of an "oh shit!" moment. Fortunately both of us made the bend and soon after we were mixing with the mountain bikers having a sausage butty and a brew. We couldn't believe the huge numbers of cars and vans spewing people out into Gisburn Forest - each to his own but give me a quiet lane and a long road climb anyday.
Suitably refreshed we headed down to Bolton-by-Bowland and followed the lanes back to the car for a fantastic 43 miles (with about 4,500' climbing), and a realisation that if these physio chaps can get me fit for Blackpool I just might be able to do my bit and stay fit enough to do myself justice. Just on the offchance they can't, and wanting to take some positive action I entered Abingdon marathon and booked a hotel yesterday - it's mid-October and if I do end up having to do it my LRs will start in August. Yum...
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