I had a cracking time goiing along on BHF's first Manchester - Blackpool night ride last night. There were all kinds of bikes taking part, from knobbly tires full suspension mountain bikes, to brand new hub geared commuters, to whippet thin carbon road bikes... and of course, a fair selection of steel. There was a Steve Goff Audax bike in pea green with red lettering which I kept coming across without pointing my camera at it that I particularly liked.
It was a lovely ride - there is a steady climb out of Manchester through Walkden to the A6 and then essentially a long gradual descent to Preston and a flat run through Lytham to Blackpool, which looked great in the soggy pre-dawn with all of the illuminations lit. I'd recommend this to anyone next year - it was very good natured and although there was a lot of bike traffic, the roads were pretty much empty of cars so you could (and some people did) put in some smoking runs down the hills...
I took my silver Viking along, which did fine, in spite of being a heavy bike to begin with, and having a saddle bag full of items that I'd randomly grabbed on the way out of the house, in a sleep addled haze. Here's a few pictures...
Start at Barton Square:
Viking and Elswick Electron - whose rider was making good time - at the first rest stop:
Mercian tourer and unidentified friend:
Hurray! The blurry, soggy finsh line:
Viking and illuminations:
Battaglin:
Sunrise:
It was a lovely ride - there is a steady climb out of Manchester through Walkden to the A6 and then essentially a long gradual descent to Preston and a flat run through Lytham to Blackpool, which looked great in the soggy pre-dawn with all of the illuminations lit. I'd recommend this to anyone next year - it was very good natured and although there was a lot of bike traffic, the roads were pretty much empty of cars so you could (and some people did) put in some smoking runs down the hills...
I took my silver Viking along, which did fine, in spite of being a heavy bike to begin with, and having a saddle bag full of items that I'd randomly grabbed on the way out of the house, in a sleep addled haze. Here's a few pictures...
Start at Barton Square:
Viking and Elswick Electron - whose rider was making good time - at the first rest stop:
Mercian tourer and unidentified friend:
Hurray! The blurry, soggy finsh line:
Viking and illuminations:
Battaglin:
Sunrise:
