Great Manchester Cycle

There are few things that will get me out of bed at 5am on a Sunday morning, but the Great Manchester Cycle did it today.

This is the second event that Gillian and I have entered as part of our training for Cuba, the last one being the Tatton Cycletta back in October, so we were excited but a bit nervous.  We had entered the longest of the 3 events - 52 miles - and had set ourselves the optimistic target of finishing in 3.5 hours.  The course was fast and flat, so a perfect opportunity to test our fitness and push our speed.

We met up at The Etihad Stadium in Manchester city centre, along with several thousand other cyclists.  The atmosphere was fantastic, with music and welcoming commentary over the loudspeakers.  Very quickly, a snake of cyclists built up around the stadium as we waited for the start at 8am.

Pre-race strategy discussion!

It was a slow start due to the number of cyclists, and we were rather alarmed by the speed at which we were overtaken on both sides.  I just focussed on moving forwards at a steady speed, in a straight line, and hoped I wouldn't collide with anyone.  We soon got into it though, and built up a nice steady speed.

The roads had been closed for this event and it was fantastic cycling through the city centre, and along a section of the Mancunian Way, a 4 lane dual carriageway that runs through the heart of the city, with no traffic in sight.  All you could hear was the whirring of cycle wheels speeding along the tarmac.

The route took us from the Etihad, home of 'The Blues', to Old Trafford, home of 'The Reds' where a few sharp twists and turns took us back towards the looping point (we had 4 laps to complete).

By lap 3 we were starting to feel it, particularly along the elevated Mancuian Way sections where the wind had built up.  It seemed as though we were cycling into it which ever way we turned!

A quick pit-stop for some malt loaf and sports drink half way round lap 3 revitalised us, and we set off with renewed energy and only a lap and a half to go.

Me, Chris and Gillian going for it

It was particularly tough coming to the start of the final lap, and watching the faster cyclists who had lapped us, heading for the finishing lane!  One turned and said to me with a smile 'Only a mile to go!' and I couldn't bring myself to admit that I still had another lap to complete, so just smiled - I must have looked tired enough to be finishing!  It was a struggle into the wind for the first half of the last lap, but we gritted our teeth and dug in, encouraging each other and hoping that we could keep enough speed up to achieve our target time.

Gillian was counting down the miles and deducting a bit each time to make us feel better (not sure it worked!) but we mustered a final burst and even managed to overtake a few people, much more enjoyable than being overtaken!

We crossed the line together in 3:13:58 - over 15 minutes faster than our target time.  Our average speed was 16.17 miles per hour.  Really chuffed!  You can see our glorious finish here -

- bring on the London to Surrey 100 miler in 5 weeks time!

Proudly sporting our new Women v Cancer Cycle Cuba tops and finishers medals

A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this such an enjoyable event to take part in.  The organisation, route, support and marshalling were superb, as well as the entertainment at the finishing line.  I hope they run this again next year - if they do, I would definitely recommend giving it a go.

http://www.greatcycle.org/default.aspx