Manchester / Blackpool 2011

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markonezo 03 May 22:26  

Joined: 03 May 2011

Posts: 13

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My Profile 		My first long trek this and hopefully many more where this came from too.

Had a very close family member pass over from cancer not so long ago, so I'll be raising much needed cash for a particular charity in hand. The longest I've gone on a bike is 20 miles (ish) and I've not been on one in around 5 years so it's a bit of a big thing for me this, ....any recommendations how to prep for such a mission. By the way I want to keep an average speed of 20 mph.

Cheers, Marko.

markonezo 08 May 23:20  

Joined: 03 May 2011

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My Profile 		Geeze! managed to do 33 miles on the exercise bike within 2 hours last night. Wasn't out of breath or anything just a massive puddle of sweat underneath me and my backside was killing me haha, felt very drained after it too. I won't be on the road till I get my bike back (hopefully) tomorrow... it'll still build some decent fitness up anyway.


muz379 05 Jun 21:42  

Joined: 05 Jun 2011

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My Profile 		Heyy , I did mcr to Blackpool last year , kept an average of 16mph the whole way , hoping to do it again this year a little bit faster though .

My training last year was this
Started off in may being able to do 20-30 miles just built it up weekly till I could do a 50 mile ride then just worked on the speed on 45 mile plus rides the end of June and the first week of July . had a few days of the bike before the ride

See you in Blackpool Marko



My Latest Route: Apr 2010 Manchester to Disley

markonezo 24 Jun 17:48  

Joined: 03 May 2011

Posts: 13

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My Profile 		Good stuff.... going off my own training atm I’ll be lucky for an ave of 14mph. Might just squeeze the 4 hours though?

Been finding it hard to get the training in to be honest, when I have, just been getting puncture after puncture - so had to buy Slime liners and Marathon Pro tyres (damn heavy) bit of a stinger on the wallet too, but plenty of confidence on the road without the potential puncture factor lol. Managed to get out there today (20 miles spot on / hour and half) plenty of hills to speed the training up. Next 10 days from Sunday though I’ll try and push it up a notch or two, like you say, do two 40 mile round routes at a decent pace, and a few 20’s in-between with one of my mates who's on the ride – then chill out a couple of days before the day. Feel cream crackered just thinking about it lol.

See you in a couple of weeks mate, all the best :)


Spartacus2809 11 Jul 22:11  

Joined: 11 Jul 2011

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I took part in the Manchester to Blackpool ride yesterday , although i am a keen cyclist it was my first time in this event . Good points - very well organised , signage and marshalls were excellent . Bad points - you could fully understand why cyclists get such a bad name when they insist on riding so many abreast throughout the entire route , 4 and 5 abreast was not an uncommon sight . My rider number was 3390 and my time was 3 hours and 23 minutes . Next year we`ll set off earlier to avoid the masses and crack the 3 hour mark . See you there . Neil .


charitycyclist 14 Jul 09:57  

Joined: 14 Jul 2011

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Hi Spartacus2809 - congratulations on completing the Mcr - Blackpool route! A very small group of us are hoping to do the same this weekend to raise money for a youth development charity. I don't think we'll complete it in anywhere near the time you have but we're determined to finish! Which route did you take? As we're not doing it with a large charity we don't have the fortune of signage, marshalls etc. If you could describe the route you took and any key landmarks/ stop off points that would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!


markonezo 21 Jul 21:58  

Joined: 03 May 2011

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My Profile 		Hi Neil real good time mate! 3.43 here, first ever bike event with very little road training though. Much respect for everyone there I was well impressed with the riders, marshals, police/paramedics, and the organizers! Like you say, its better setting off early thouigh think we set off at around 07.00 quite light really - most abreast riders I seen were at the start but they knew the score of not keeping the formation to let others pass. Yeah the signs were brilliant all the way apart from one that totally threw me off about 30 odd miles in, had to look back 100 yards at the marshal, confused the hell out of me that one. Ultimately a top day for raising cash for charity! See you next year.

@charitycyclist hope you managed to find a decent route mate. It would've been hard to say though really there were that many twists and turns. Hope you all got around safely and raised plenty for charity, all the best.