Yesterday, mate Ian and I finally begun our preparations for the Coast to Coast. That's the good news. We cycled from home to Bury, then on to Holcombe Brook (and Peel Tower) via Summerseat, and then straight back home.

I reckon we covered 18 miles in 2.30 hours including 15' rest at Peel Tower. This chap I've met the last couple of 'Critical Commute' days, who lives in Holcombe and cycles there and back every day (28 miles total) has my admiration. It is no walk in the park!

Going up hill was damned hard - the path to Peel Tower from the road, I had to do mostly on foot, as I found the wet soil and gravel just too much.

I got a few learning points out of the excursion:

• Trousers: for comfort, I am going to have to yield to lycra... men in tights, here I come...


• Top: ditto. For city cycling it is OK to wrap up warm as I do, but for the open road I need to keep light


• Sun glasses: would be nice

I'm afraid Ian has the edge in terms of performance, both up hill and down. Apart from that, we should be OK to do the Coast to Coast, if we keep training. We'll see.