Sunday 2 July 2006

Ride: Darlington to Barnard Castle to Hamsterley to Darlington

Well, despite getting to the Market Place with 5 minutes of registration time for the Darlington 70 mile tourist trial remaining, there was no-one to be seen. So, I went home to collect a couple of maps and rode to Ingleton, where I joined up with the Sustrans W2W route to Barnard Castle. Had lunch in Barny, when followed the W2W to Hamsterley Forest and then back to Darlington.

About 65 miles, including the faffing about in the morning, which makes it my first metric century! All on the ss Kona, which was great until I blew out the rear tyre near Archdeacon Newton, meaning I had a very slow last five miles or so (I wore right through the tyre, so there was a 1.5 inch gash right in the middle of the tread; I could have bodges a repair with a crisp packet or something if I'd been further from home). 55psi leaving a tyre in one go is loud!

Distance: 65 miles
Surface: Road
Time: About 7 hours with the slow last few miles
Weather: Hot and sunny
Bike: Rigid singlespeed Kona Hahanna, with Panaracer Cinder on the front and semi slick on the back (32:16)

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