Your ride today
9/5/23
Trip to Moulton for a meeting. This was meant to be a lazy bimble down the Whitegate Way to the river then up the other side via the Meadowbank Swing Bridge. A cloudy day with showers but it has been mild.
Gathered my gear together and took the Linear out through the back gate. Locked the gate, climbed aboard, took a good look round and launched in the direction of Swanlow Lane. Once under way, I wondered if I were to change this bike to a handier sized recumbent how long it might take before I was able to casually leap aboard that and launch as I can with this one. Perhaps a lot of the pleasure is associated with the boat like length of the beast, and its stately progress. I was soon approaching the uphill traffic lights which seemed to be a long time on red. Nothing much about so as I was going right anyway I hopped on the pavement and pedalled warily round the corner. Still nothing much about so I crossed the road and then went left down the long downhill to the town centre. I just freewheeled and let gravity do its thing. Rolling easily to the town centre traffic lights I waited at the advance stop line until they changed then trundled straight on into Grange Lane.
I followed Grange lane to where it branches right into the countryside. Far ahead I saw a couple with an unfeasible number of loose small dogs who came from a field on the right obviously heading for their car which was parked on the left. They opened the car and most of the mutts poured into the back of it. Two of them saw me, barked then ran towards me. They looked like some sort of miniature Staffordshire terrier. At a shout from the owner the older one turned back and jumped into the car while the other one, not much more than a puppy, kept going. I didn’t change course or speed but this dog ran straight past me then turned round and just followed me at a distance, yapping furiously. As I passed the car it just stopped, then jumped in the car. I waved at the owners, and they smiled and waved back. I continued down a painfully potholed dip and up the other side to climb the narrow track on the right to get on to the Whitegate Way. There was a mass of mud and puddles in the road leading to the access so I took a less than perfect line and ended up pushing up the slope. I soon got on again and congratulated myself on making good time so far. No one about, a few spots of rain but mostly deflected by the overhanging trees. I carried on, wriggling through the narrow access at Marton crossing and carefully avoiding the lengths of old rail gleaming wetly in the drizzle. Then some more easy rolling under the sheltering trees. I soon arrived at the point where the old railway met the road opposite the salt works and turned left on to the road. A bit more leisurely, easy rolling got me past the salt works and my eye was taken by some kind of tent down by the river.
As I turned right towards Meadowbank swing bridge the road became muddy and festooned with signs. “ROAD CLOSED”. “NO ENTRY FOR PEDESTRIANS OR VEHICLES”. “DANGER KEEP OUT”. Well, no need to shout. I pressed on to see if there was any chance of me squeaking through somehow but it was all fenced off and the bridge covered in some sort of plastic material. Oh b*gger. So near yet so far. If I wanted to get across the river I would have to follow the road back to town and cross there. I realised that I’d suffered premature congratulation earlier on. To add to the post congratulatory ennui, the rain started to fall with some determination. After completing what felt like a 300 point turn, a couple of geese shepherding a cloud of fluffy goslings honked derisively at me as I squelched disconsolately past.
Back on the road to town the rain wasn’t so bad, and once past the salt works and the entrance to the rail trail the road was either flat or slightly downhill. I was able to clunk into highish gear and windmill gently along. I came to the large roundabout with two bridges over the Weaver and dived left on to the cyclepath.
Before the bypass was built there was a steep road here up Wharton Hill. The pavement had steps in places. A roundabout and the start of a dual carriageway have now flattened part of the hill, but what remains is still pretty steep. The cyclepath crosses a side road then there is a straight flat ramp that feels as if it is tilted at 45 degrees. It looks as if it could be used to launch a projectile. I usually use the path on the other side of the road when coming this way as it is longer, but less steep. Still, I was here now and I’ve often wondered if I could get up it, having seen many cyclists walking their bikes when I’ve passed this way. It’s a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians with a line up the middle. Initially down to bottom gear then found I could change up. There was nobody about apart from a young chap in a hoodie who was so engrossed in his phone he didn’t look up as he passed in the other direction. Even though the speed dropped and I had to change down again I found I had no trouble keeping going in a straight line even at 3.5 -4 mph. Puffing a bit as I levelled out and followed the cycle path to the left alongside the bypass, I thought that now I was ready to have a rematch with the road up Alsagers Bank in Staffordshire that defeated me a couple of years ago. Was it the frame stiffener that I’d fitted? Just practice and conditioning? Who knows. As I got my breath back my speed improved and soon I came to a roundabout where I turned left. I was heading for an unmade road which runs alongside the West Coast Main Line and comes out near the other end of Meadowbank Bridge. I passed several car dealerships then a new housing estate. Another roundabout then straight on past a few more houses.
I came to a locked gate with a large sized kissing gate alongside. I thought at the time that I could probably get the trike through here without too much difficulty. I stood the Linear on its back wheel and walked it through, then carried on at a good speed considering the surface. I came across a couple of walkers who advised that the barrier at the end of this track might be a problem. I thanked them, thinking I’d deal with it when I got there. They weren’t kidding. There was a solid welded gate with a narrow pedestrian access between it and a round steel post. The seat would go through, or the front end with the mirrors folded, but not the underseat bars. I was contemplating doing some dismantling but by putting the bars hard right and flexing the seat back I was able to inch it through. The gate itself had a horizontal top bar with a diagonal lower bar running from the lock side downwards to the hinge side forming a triangle. It was made of some pretty hefty square tube.You could probably get a diamond frame bike through the pedestrian gap by lifting the front end though you would probably have to remove panniers. It’s possible that a low trike could get under the gate towards the lock side of it.
I wouldn’t like to make a habit of this but I was determined that having got this far I wasn’t going to turn back. Having reset the mirrors and checked that everything was straight I went down a steep ramp to meet the track. The track then goes uphill through two tunnels under the railway and it occurred to me that I’ve ridden downhill through the tunnels many times but this is the first time I’ve ridden it in the uphill direction on this bike. It’s quite steep on an unmade surface but once I got going it was no real problem. What was more annoying was having to stop and pull in to let several vehicles overtake at intervals as the only exit they had from the nearby caravan park was uphill until the bridge work is finished.
I made my meeting in Moulton then took the road route back. I turned off at a farm access to follow the bridleway which uses the route of the former Jack Lane which was cut off when the local bypass was built. Do regular readers of my posts get the feeling I like this sort of thing? Old railways, canal paths, old roads, I’m a sucker for that stuff. Just as well the old Linear is so versatile.
On what used to be Jack Lane. Note the old cats eye just ahead. This used to be an actual road, possibly A533, not an unclassified lane.
Amongst the undergrowth old cats eyes and lane markings were still visible.
Soon I came to the point where the old road meets the new bypass. I needed to get across the road to go right. The traffic was fast and relentless and I spent several minutes waiting for a suitable gap.
Finally I got across and covered the short distance to the next roundabout. Straight on through the industrial estate, then after a couple of miles, through a set of traffic lights to Clive lane, then right on to Rilshaw Lane. I haven’t been this way for some time but I remembered that there were plenty of trees to shelter me from the intermittent rain.
A gradual downhill to where it climbed again to the bridge over the Station Road bypass. I stopped here under a tree to shelter from a burst of rain then turned down an overgrown path on the left.
This was steep and narrow with an alarming drop on the left but the Linear took it in its stride. Soon the path angled down very steeply giving the brakes a workout on the skittery surface before it opened out allowing an exhilarating swoop downhill. Some more braking where it joined a path from the riverside, separated from it by a row of stones. It’s easy to get caught out here, if one wheel ends up on one side of the stones and the other ends up on the other. No such problems today as I came out on the marina car park as a female cyclist passed me going the other way on to the path.
Out on to the pavement, round the corner and down the kerb on to Weaver Street ready for the climb away from the river. This short sharp climb which once filled me with trepidation seemed easy today. Perhaps the recumbent legs have returned. They’ve certainly had a bit of testing today.
Steadily up the rest of the hill, then over the kerb at the top, then the gradual climb up Gladstone St., Townfields Rd., over the top, left at the lights then the swoop down Swanlow Lane, up the other side and eventually through the lanes to my drive.
A relatively short ride, but a bit of variety. There would have been more photos but during the first part of the ride I was in a rush to get to my meeting, and on the way back I was reluctant to get my camera wet.
14.32 miles. Max speed 21.1 mph. Average speed 7.0 mph. According to Garmin.
Total Ascent: | 386 | ft | |
| Total Descent: | 385 | ft | |
| Start Elevation: | 192 | ft | |
| End Elevation: | 194 | ft | |
| Min Elevation: | 67 | ft | |
| Max Elevation: | 215 | ft | |
According to Bikehike.
54 feet per mile ascent approx.
