Week 5 - I-cycle icicles

So this weekend takes me to Southport to see my brother and family. As I've been feeling a bit down in the dumps and lacking motivation, I have a feeling spending time with my family will be just what I need. Plus for inspiration, my brother Andrew ran the New York marathon 5 years ago in memory of his wonderful mother-in-law Pat & raised over £7,000 for Queenscourt hospice who looked after her in her final stages of terminal cancer. If he can do that, I can do this......nothing like a bit of sibling rivalry to spur me on! (and lot's of sisterly proudness of course!)

So for those of you who know Southport it's flat, it's on the coast and has lots of cycle paths. Perfect for cyclists. I also have very fond childhood memories of day trips to the seaside when we were small, driving the 2 hours drive from Hadfield, hitting the Coastal Road covered in sand blown in off the dunes on hot, hazy summer days knowing in a few minutes our bare feet would be playing in the hot sand................STOP right there...........I learnt a little too late...........Southport Coastal Road is NOT like this in January!


So I wake up Saturday morning, it's cold and a bit damp, but the weather forecast tomorrow is worse, so I don my thermals and brave the elements. I'm borrowing Andrews mountain bike this morning, and I'm looking forward to giving it a good old hammering through the pine woods at the back of the beach in Formby. As I step into the garden I go flying on the ice on the patio.....hmmmmm is this really a good idea?!

The roads don't look too bad, so on I go, after approximately 300 yards I come to a roundabout, as cars are approaching I squeeze the brakes, I squeeze and squeeze....AND NOTHING....eeeeeeek! My brother has sent me out on a death trip. Still not to be deterred, I figure that once I'm on the seafront and off the road, I won't really need to slam my brakes on again and I will be able to control the bike with the speed - you've got to give me brownie points for determination or maybe just plain stupidness.

So onward to the seafront I go, the drizzle starts & the wind seems to be picking up, when I say picking up, have you ever walked on a seafront in January? It was like someone was throwing sharp knives at my face - nice! I stopped to take a photo, just to capture how unlike my mental image this was and I couldn't feel my fingers to press the shutter - what the bloody hell was I doing?

But onwards I went, on the Coastal Road I was the only soul there apart from a few cars whizzing past. By this point I couldn't feel my hands or my feet, I needed to motivate myself, so started to sing "Oh Happy Day" my least favourite song FG are singing this term to cheer me up, oh the irony! It did warm my cheeks up though and took my mind of the force gale winds!

I turned into the beautiful pine woods I talked about earlier, I was nearly at Formby, which meant I had hit around 10 miles and could turn round and go home - I can't tell you how elated I was that I had reached the point where I could turn round........and do it all again, whaaaaaat?!!!! Anyway, back to the Pine Woods, what I discovered at this point was the only hills I have ever encountered in Southport, well not hills but a track with some short sharp inclines, which were paved with ice, unfortunately for me the trauma of the lack of brakes was now a distant memory, I'm just glad I didn't come off worse than I did and at least there was no one else mad enough to be out to see me fall.

Now I say there was no one out, I hadn't seen any form of life form for a good hour or so, the shock of the fall made me desperate for the loo, I had god knows how many layers on and it was blowing a hooley, but really duty did call...........there I was....you can picture the scene, suddenly from nowhere.......voices....OMG  I was backed onto a bloody golf course So I learned I had reached my tipping point, freezing, arse out, having just fallen off my brother's death trap - I finally admitted defeat, time to turn round and head back!

On the plus side, the wind was with me on the way home, so it was much faster, but by the time I made it back into Southport and civilisation I realised just how awful the weather had turned since I set out, I hadn't noticed it gradually getting worse, the pain in my hands and feet was hideous and I have to admit, there were  a few woe is me tears going on. When I made it home and took of my helmet, there were actual icicles hanging off it!

But do you know what I made it, I've never been so pleased to get into a warm house, have a hot bath and then spend a guilt-free afternoon holed up on the sofa in the haven that is Andrew & Lisa's cosy front room, watching back to catch-up Corrie. Oh and the wine and chinese that evening was all the more enjoyable.

I didn't realise something so awful could be so motivating, if I could get through that (when I mapped it I was dead chuffed to see it was about 22 miles) I can get through anything - 500km to Paris? BRING IT ON!!!!