I rode a section of the Middlewood Way earlier this year and decided that it was worth another trip to follow the trail all the way to Macclesfield. The trail from Marple to Macc is an old railway line and in reasonably continuous until you get to the outskirts where the original line is broken by urban sprawl and a dual carriageway. Still it was a horribly humid day in Manchester and it was nice to get out into the countryside. It was drizzling most of the day and the Planet X was certainly introduced to British mud.
Manchester to Macclesfield
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Of course it takes a proper ride to really identify the bits and piece on a new bike that need some more fettling. One o the bar end plugs fell out, a bottle boss bolt vibrated loose and disappeared and the front brake yoke wasn’t done up tight enough and I forgot the 9mm spanner so the front brake wasn’t much use, still rode all the technical sections I’d ride on a mountain bike, although probably not as fast, but made up time on the flat sections. The 700c wheels certainly carry some momentum so once you’ve spun it up to speed it carried on rolling well, perhaps partly thanks to the CST tyres I picked up from Tim at Sideways that turned out to be rather good. Singletrack riding on a cross bike officially rocks.
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