Bakewell to Bradford - 65 miles, 6.5 hours in the saddle, 7.5 hour journey time
A stunning 1st half of the ride, a miserable and industrial 2nd half through Huddersfield and Bradford. As soon as I pedaled away from the start point I knew I was carrying far too much equipment. The trailer is far too heavy - so much so that on the downhills the brakes are smoking and I have gone through 1/4 set of pads in one day. The disk brakes I am running are not up to the job with the weight I am towing. Additionally the rear shock absorber is bottoming out as the bag on the back is too heavy (and so am I a bit!) Tomorrow I will have to redistribute and jettison some provisions and equipment. Have considered getting rid of the tent and cooking equipment and see if I can use my charm to scrounge meal and lodging each night - it might be quite a fun challenge!
The ride up over the peaks to Ladybower reservoir and through the Dales was gorgeous. The 8 mile hill from Huddersfield to the rim of the Bradford Crater, however was not.
Day 1 will always be hard, but it was only hard physically, mentally I was fine, except on one hill where I had to get off and push the bike (first time in years, I'll have you know!) and I said to myself "what on earth am I doing cycling to Iceland?" I called myself and idiot, loudly so that the sheep were scared. Funnily enough, when I stopped in Huddersfield for lunch (not recommended!) some old chap asked where I was headed, and when I told him Iceland - he too called me an idiot and didn't even smile!
Thankfully my online technical support team (Nathan in Oxford on the Internet) was able to source all the spares I needed to at least patch the technical problems until I reach Edinburgh where I am tempted to buy a new bike! He kindly pointed me in the direction of All Terrain Cycles in The World Heritage site of Salts Mill in Saltaire. This turned out to be a highlight of the day as this was the biggest and best stocked cycle shop I have ever visited. Staff were very helpful and even dissuaded me from purchasing kit I didn't need! Child in sweetie shop sprung to mind.
No point in listing what hurts, as the list is too long, but overall a good day - I have eaten like a hog since arriving, so my thanks go out to my hosts Lara and Darryl and their kids - who are feeding me as if they had 10 children, but I have stayed away from the local specialities of Curry, not a great fuel source for cycling 60 miles a day. The first thing I smelt on entering the Bradford suburbs, were curry spices wafting from a house on the road. This city really is another world, very different to the south, strange to see English shop signs translated into Urdu and having everyone stare at me as I amble by.
Fortunately nothing actually failed on the bike, so it was more the continuous threat that troubled me, but on the upside this prevented me from thinking about my slow pace, sore backside and how far I have to go.
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