2 Men Went to Mow

An up and down outing!

Today's ride involved up down, quick and chilled, chocolate fudge cake and bacon butties!

Leaving Crewe 10 minutes later than planned due to missing gloves led to me belting it over to Weston and past Wychwood nice and warm in my new bib tights. A good portion towards Audley I pulled in for a drink and phone check worried that I hadn't seen the peleton yet. A message from Dave also put a beacon up so I could track him chasing us down and eating our 8 mile head start.

I was soon joined by Paul, #bigT and a gloveless Ian (too manly) and we set off at a decent pace towards Snape Lane keeping a solo rider in high viz at bay. As we prepared to turn for Barthomley the 'solo' rider was identified as Nick gunning it from behind preparing for the bumps.

Into Weston via a few lumps we headed for Slaughter Hill, Haslington and Winterley. A good pace was set back towards the New Inn and along Love Lane and I surprised myself with a PR down to the A34. Passing Glebe we we noted a few hundred cars and a couple of coaches breakfasting with Santa and were glad we chose Congleton option b. The road up to the bridge was a tad narrow and busy so in future we may head right and circumnavigate Mow.

Congleton coffee shop was warm and inviting for the second week running with chocolate cake having the added delights of cream or ice cream. We had barely pressed bums to cushion when Dave flew in having averaged 27kmh to close the gap!

A bacon sandwich was enjoyed by me and coffee and cakes were enjoyed all round - Dave made a note of tea pot size.

A couple of bites of a boost were required and my giddy excitement saw me agree to a trip over Mow, choosing a route that I've hit 49.8mph on the way down. Bidding farewell to the group as they turned right, Dave was surprised as I hit the bottom cog and went a bit power heavy at the start of the climb. About 340w was leaving my legs (whatever that means) and I enjoyed at least a minute or two of scampering off before Dave and a relentless rhythm cruised by. There was another rider on the climb whom I seemed to close on and then lose sporadically as gradients hit 12%, 16% and 18% before I gave up looking at the computer. As we turned the right bend at the top, Dave had took a segment time then nipped back down to "Allez" me onwards, though a crosswind had started to bite too.

Just as things levelled nicely we took a right turn to climb towards the top of the killer mile. I was happily a couple of gears to the good as Dave told me he was saving one for the second bit, grrrr! The drop was on the limit, both having discs but Dave with some understandable trepidation we didn't top 30mph. The brakes were still pretty hot as we reached the foot and one corner was still a little too close for comfort, some drop with slick roads. At the bottom of the killer mile a lone rider said he hadn't spotted a foursome so we turned left and attempted to chase the group down at a fair rate.

Down station road, through Scholar Green and past Poolside we were now unsure who was front and who was back. A brief stop for a chat and to tighten my Garmin mount and we headed thru the estate to see Ian on Milmead and Paul and Nick heading to Bargain Booze.

Dave and I continued to push a little and headed to New Inn, Betchton past the tip and into Alsager where he took a well earned left for home - thanks for the drag and kudos on the chase.

A brief call to the grandparents was had before Holmshaw and Maw Green were tackled trying to raise the 14.1 average to 14.5mph. Silly boy!

An enjoyable day and quite proud of the conquer of Mow :-) 

Type: 
Ride
Workout_type: 
default
Date: 
2016-12-11T08:58:32Z
Avg Pace: 
2:34/km
Elevation: 
442.6
Distance: 
70058.5
Moving time: 
10810
Activity id: 
799575036
Strava title: 
2 Men Went to Mow
Total photo count: 
2
Title: 
2 Men Went to Mow
Summary Polyline: 
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Average speed: 
6.481
Language: 
English
Cover image: 
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Comments

David Farrington
Mon, 12/12/2016 - 23:17
Nice write up Alan. See I did read it!
Alan Murphy
Wed, 12/14/2016 - 01:49
Ha ha, bit more hidden than anticipated and no easy links. C'mon Strava, you can do this!
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