It didn't bode well when I set off to get the train from Sheffield and had a comedy fall on the icy black brick surface outside Hallam Uni and slid for quite a while. It was a bit unsettling riding up from Stockport Station to the start and if I had any sense about me at all I would have turned home by now and it would have been a fair call. Still, I decided to get out there and see what happened.
It was slow and slushy as far as A626 and then tramlines all the way to Hazel Grove so not a lot faster. After that, the percentage of road surface uncovered was definitely more than that covered and my pace picked up, even though I was checking behind me to see if anyone else was coming.
Out of Wilmslow the roads were perfectly rideable as long as you kept away from the edge and didn't go flying into any corners but as soon as the Cheshire Plains opened up in front of me the temperature dropped so I decided to do nothing less than B roads so left the instructions at the turning onto Hulme Lane and kept on down the B 5081. I did find some patches of slush but the tramlines afforded me safe passage.
The roll along the A54/A49 and A51 were momentarily busy biut most drivers were very courteous and I was only mainly troubled by a bit of a headwind. I resisted the temptation of rejoining through Little Budworth and picked up again in Tarporley. At this point the sun was out and the lanes were fantastic. Clear, dry in places with the occaisional narrow strip of ice in the middle of the lane, which was easily avoided.
I was glad to make it to Old Ma's due to hunger and ran into a guy from Stourbridge. He had been on the route all the way and told tales of terror and walking before leaving me to a massive plate of beans on toast. As I was finishing up, the Wakefield Tri Club seven turned up with similar tales of walking. Back out on the road I decided to stick to the route based on the l roads being pretty good at the time and worth using for as long as this seemed to be the case.
The route down through Malpas and Whitchurch to Market Drayton were some of the finest winter riding I've ever had with bits of tailwind, sun, lovely scenery and views of snowcapped Welsh mountains. I only regreted no camera and doing it alone. The temperature dropped in Market Drayton so I up-layered and went into look for ice mode. However, as the dusklight lasted a good long while I didn't find any all the way up to Nantwich and the Secret Bunker road was still great.
I did toy with the notion of getting onto A roads but as the next section was B road, thought it worth a gamble. For those that live near Worlseton, there is an impressive array of Christmas lighting that could be worth a visit. Alas things got less beautiful outside Church Minshull things got a lot less beautiful and a lot more skittery underwheel. I slowed right down and proceded with extreme caution for the A530. Alas with less than 100m to go a car came up behind me and instinctively I started to move over a bit, lost the front wheel and went down with a crash. It wasn't too bad, although I knew it would hurt this morning so walked over the last of the ice to the main road and hopped back on.
From there it was main road to the Little Chef control in Middlewich for a restorative coffee and cake and ponder how the Wakey 7 would fare as apprently they only had the routesheet for navigation. After the control I left along the A54 and stayed with it to Holmes Chapel and then up the A535 past the spooky sight of Jodrell Bank. The only risk here was the occaisional fan of ice pushed out from side roads but easily avoided.
Alas I got a bit confused at the A537 roundabout as this wasn't on the routesheet and the A535 seems to just stop here. I pressed on into Alderly Edge but not wanting to head onto the backroad Heyes Lane. Alas the new bypass and stuff mean that the signs at the next roundabout make almost no sense at all to a cold tired audaxer in the dark. I stuck north and found the A538 anyway. Back onto the route again I followed it back to the finish. There were the occaisional moments of wheelspin on climbs but nothing too unsettling. I don't mind what the back wheel does, it's the front that scares me.
I concede that I had to walk the last 100m as Redhouse Ln and Redbarn Close were as shiny as a brand new penny. I'd lost my pen in the crash so texted the organiser to let him know I was done. He called me to say I was crazy to have gone out and that the Wakey 7 had packed at Church Minshull. I'm willing to bet there was crashing and the only thing worse than crashing alone is crashing in a group. I told him of my previous icy endeavour a few years ago and he said I should have known better. I think that's probably true of all audaxing.
I wonder how the Stourbridge rider fared? Was he fast enough to keep ahead of the ice or did he bail out as well. I might be the sole finisher of an act of mid-winter foolishness. Next time I may heed the organisers advice if they suggest it's better not to ride, but all in all it wasn't too bad a day out, just a little challenging at times.
