Tiny Rides of 2023
27/6/23
A spot of shopping on the Spirit recumbent then a return via one of my familiar routes to compare its feel with the Linear.
I got the bike out, got my gear together and set the Garmin. T shirt, dark trousers, old grey cap, everyday shoes and a light gilet for the pockets. A bit overcast, but I grabbed my prescription shades anyway. Perhaps I’m just as much a slave to fashion as anyone else, despite determinedly wearing nondescript non cycling gear when out on the bike.
So much easier to get this bike out through the gate than the Linear, but getting on and launching feels less of an occasion. Quickly under way, working through the gears. I was soon at Swanlow Lane en route to the uphill traffic lights where I stopped in the right hand lane at a red light. It changed and I was off to the right, slightly uphill then down to the left to the town centre, rolling freely all the way. Left into my first stop, chained up to a pillar, nipped in and back out with my shopping. I had another stop to do in the town centre precinct. However, access is now pretty restricted as a major refurbishment is under way. Normally I can ride most of it but today there were crowds of dozy pedestrians about so I got off and pushed. Again I chained up to a pillar, nipped in and out and got on my way. I would usually get on to the road and join the traffic heading for the lights to get across the A54 but the dynamics were wrong for me and I followed the pavement to the junction. On the way a man who had just crossed the road with a little girl stopped to let me by and said “now
that’s a bike!” Looks like I just had a Crocodile Dundee moment.
I carried on to the junction and crossed over with the pedestrian lights, then round the corner and got riding down Grange Lane. I seemed to be a bit detuned today with not riding much recently and getting any speed up seemed to take an effort. I got to the point where the lane turns off through some houses and I benefitted from the gradual downhill. A van was parked on the left and as I reached it a vast tractor with a trailer came the other way. I came to a stop with two cars behind me raring to go. I pulled well out to pass the van then in again and they went past. It might be me being a bit sensitive on an unfamiliar machine, but my impression is that although I still get plenty of room from passing traffic, the Linear and the trike get even more. Perhaps they have a higher score on the Weirdness Index of non standard human powered vehicles. I just eased off and enjoyed the gentle downhill. Soon it steepened and I was heading for a gravelly pot holed dip. The suspension would make it possible for me to ride quickly through it so as to get up the other side easily but as yet I’m not confident that the lightly loaded, small front wheel might not have some ideas of its own about where it wanted to go when it met the gravel.
Still, it was comfortable and I changed down ready to get up the gravelly ramp on the left that is the access to the Whitegate Way.
As I turned in to the narrow access I had to stop as there were some wood fragments there which I kicked to one side before carrying on. I was able to pedal up the steep slope in middle gear on the hub and bottom gear on the rear derailleur. This was reassuring, as I still had 8 potentially lower gears available if I’d used the low gear on the hub gear. Changing up on reaching the top I was puffing a bit, though speed increased as I changed up. There is a gradual uphill slope here and my speed didn’t increase as much as I’d hoped. It’s been a while since I’ve been this way and everything was bathed in a greenish light as the plants on either side crowded in to make the trail narrow. There was hardly anyone about and I stopped to take a photograph.
I pressed on and came to the car park for Whitegate Station. Here I stopped to inspect the plumbing. The nice thing about this facility is that there is room to take your bike in with you.
After draining off some fluid I continued to the car park exit and turned right over the road bridge. There are traffic lights on the bridge and as I passed them they changed to red. Fortunately I got over without meeting anything coming the other way. There was a car waiting at the lights as I went past. I assume there must be a long delay here between light phases.
I carried on towards Whitegate village. I came to a crossroads and finding it clear, carried on. I was about to descend what I used to call the Test Hill of Doom when I was first setting the Linear up, due to the weedy brakes it came with. With the original rear brake you had to heave on it for quite a while before anything happened, so speeds down here weren’t great. Once I’d changed the brake for something better things improved a lot. Your ability to go fast depends a huge amount on your ability to stop. So today was the turn of the Spirit. It has mechanical disc brakes which have a good bite so my plan was to pedal up to a reasonable speed and let it roll, and just hope no pesky motorists would insist on overtaking then cause me to have to brake as I caught up with them further down.
I took my cap off and sat on it so it wouldn’t blow off. I got into high gear and pedalled gently. As the slope steepened the speed increased. Ahead, a van came out of a side road on the left. He
had to pull out rather than wait, and turned right up the hill. Almost immediately, what seemed to be his mate pulled out and followed him. There was plenty of room, but I still had to brake slightly. Annoying. At least they weren’t going downhill. Heading to the bottom of the hill, I wanted to turn right just before the road started going up again. A large white SUV appeared in my mirror. I stuck my right arm out and he dropped back. I braked just enough to let my momentum carry me into Mill Lane. I rapidly changed down and carried on to the right turn at the bottom of Grange Lane. I stopped on Grange Lane to look at the Garmin reading. 33.8 was not bad, but if the vans hadn’t caused me to brake, could I have squeezed a few more mph out of the hill? Still pretty good for a first attempt.
Grange Lane is wide here with some nice individual houses but soon becomes muddy and narrower. I stopped to photograph a carved owl on a post before continuing.
819, 820.
Grange Lane was abandoned as a road by the council several years ago and is now a bridleway. After a United Utilities site there is a vehicle barrier with an access for horses and pedestrians. The woodland encroaches on the lane until it is no more than a footpath through a wood.
Although the nettles and various prickly green things are always at your elbow it is a bit easier on this bike with its high bars than the Linear with its underseat steering.
It’s a nice spot, with the Pettypool Brook on the right babbling its way to the River Weaver, the trees all about with birds everywhere and squirrels doing their squirrelly things dropping bark and nutshells on you to let you know they’re there. As I rolled along, a flash of brown and blue told me that a jay had passed by. Soon I came out on the part of the lane which is used as a farm access. It is wider here but still potholed, rutted and often muddy. Today I was spared the sea of mud and found it easily rideable despite the grass growing in the middle in places. It rises quite steeply for a mile or two before levelling off and after passing through another vehicle barrier becomes more like a lane again. Enjoying the lazy freewheel down through the bridge abutments of the Whitegate way, then down the gravelly potholed dip at the bottom before spinning steadily up the slope past a golf course, through some houses, then right and across the sports complex car park. Then along the path between the playing fields which leads to the “A” frame barrier at the exit into a steep lane. I would have taken a photo of the barrier as someone has cut back a mass of shrubbery along side it, making it rather redundant. A woman was coming towards me walking a dog so I just kept going. If you stop on one of these things sometimes it’s hard to get away without being rude. People will just stop and talk. I wasn’t feeling very sociable today, and just wanted to get home for my lunch.
Still testing the gear ratios, I managed to get up the lane in middle gear on the hub and bottom gear on the rear derailleur again. Thinking about future trips, that is quite promising, as if you have to climb a really long hill on a recumbent it’s good to know that there are plenty of lower gears in reserve.
I came out on an estate road, turned right uphill, and gradually worked up through the gears. I came to a T junction with Delamere St and turned left. There was an adverse wind so I wasn’t really able to get going until the gradient changed in my favour after a mile. I felt a bit better now I was rolling along until I came to the A 54 roundabout. Traffic was a bit hit or miss but the gaps weren’t big enough to be able to dive in. Eventually a bigger gap opened up and I was able to go round to my exit. Slowing drastically for the hill that doesn’t look like a hill, then speeding up a little I hopped on to the kerb to let a few cars pass then got on the road again for the approach to the now downhill traffic lights. I stopped with the rest of them on red then made a sprint for it to get up speed before my turnoff and a short sharp hill. Once over that I pedalled leisurely through the lanes in high gear to my back gate. I went in, unloaded my shopping, and chilled.
Distance 9.91 miles. Max Speed 33.8mph. Average 7.1 mph. According to Garmin.
Total Ascent 323ft. According to Bikehike.
