27th June 2019
Journey Length 11ml
Click Here For Route Via Ride with GPS
After the holiday period we were now back in adventure mode. I text Graham to see if he was good to go. The reply I got was certainly from an extreme biker “ should be OK but apart from having a bad back and sore bum, there is now an issue with a broken bike. Hope to get it sorted tonight”
Graham had actually snapped the spindle of his wheel clean in half (see photo) . This he pointed out was probably due to the extreme biking we do, most bikes cannot cope with the stresses involved, and in fact we have been very lucky with damage to our bikes.
Our adventure tonight was an exploration of Worsley, I can’t be more specific as will become evident later. I arranged to meet Graham at our rendezvous point at the old Jag garage (now Hyundai). As I rode up Manchester Rd in the cycle lane a proper arsehole in a 4×4 decided it would be fun to cut me up, causing me to brake and swerve. Luckily our extreme training paid off as I managed to swerve and avoid an accident.
We met up and had a quick chat about Graham’s holiday and his physical condition due to a mishap on holiday due to him falling over for no apparent reason, ermm I think beer might have been consumed.
It was an absolute gorgeous night glorious sunshine not too hot and only a gentle breeze. We set off just as a car came hurtling down the road to get through the traffic lights as they turned red, this is one reason we avoid roads wherever possible.
We picked up cycle route No55 off Anchor Lane, this would take us all the way to Worsley and towards our destination for the evening. This route follows the old railway line, the Roe Green Loopline and is a smooth track that for us was on a slightly down hill which made our progress enjoyable easy and quick. We chatted as we rode and we quickly arrived at the turning we needed to take us off the main route, this was up the steps at the side of the M60 motorway heading into Worsley woods.
Things were going swimmingly good, like I said it was a beautiful evening for our adventure , the paths were smooth and dry, everything was rosey. Until, Graham shouted out behind me “ got a puncture !!”. We pulled over and indeed Graham’s rear tyre was completely flat, damn. We soon had his wheel off Graham had the inner tube out as I inspected his tyre, here I found the culprit, a metal tack, how he had managed to run over that on a dirt track is anybody’s guess.
Now as extreme bikers we are prepared for such catastrophes, with a spare inner tube and puncture repair kit. So with the offending object removed he placed the new inner tube in and began pumping it up, it began to inflate and wasn’t long before it was ready to go. Then disappointment, it started to go down, along with Graham’s face, “ for f**ks sake “ he exclaimed. So ff came the tyre , out with the inner tube. Unable to see why it wasn’t holding air we decided to repair the original inner tube . Out came the puncture repair kit complete with tools. We’ll soon be sorted we thought a quick repair and we would be on our way . On inspecting the repair kit I noticed the tube of glue was completely empty , more disappointment, it had obviously leaked out over time, I told Graham , he wasn’t happy “oh f**k, I’ve had enough now”.
Now we were stuck in the middle of Worsley woods, it was looking like a long walk home. Then Graham suggested we ring Val to see if anyone with a van could come to our rescue, thankfully that was exactly what happened, Grahams son-in-law was available and after emptying his van he set off to rescue us, but there was a snag he may be only able to fit one of the bikes in, bugger. I told Graham it wouldn’t be a problem for me to ride home, and he said I could set off straight away and leave him there, but he hadn’t thought it through , I was the only one with a phone and if Thunderbird 1 couldn’t find him, he could have been lost forever. Luckily when Thunderbird 1 arrived we could indeed just get both bikes in. We both squeezed into the front of the van as we headed home thanks to Tom the Tiler in Thunderbird 1.
Replacement parts are now being sourced so hopefully next week we will be fully equipped and can continue our adventure successfully to my secret location.
Disappointed faces