13 Feb
VeloChampion prizewinner Adam Carr talks about his 2020 ride
In terms of preparation, I was super-new to road cycling. I’d only got my first road bike a few weeks earlier. I am generally fit thanks to group exercise classes, a little football and I had always pottered around from A to B on bikes. As soon as I had the road bike I joined in as many rides as I could. That’s how I got to meet, Alastair, Tony and Danny on the Tour de Manc team – and found out about Tour de Manc. I also met lots of great people. Some of them were tackling the Half Manc on the Sunday and didn’t mind me tagging along.
However, I also wanted to tackle the full 100 miles touching all the boroughs. I set out solo.
I went wrong somewhere, and looped a section of the course. Quite a hilly section too. When I got close to home, I knew there were bee-lines I could have taken back to warmth, food and light (all daylight was long gone at this point). But I stuck to the route. When I returned home I realised via Strava I’d covered enough ground and elevation to qualify me for the Mad Manc. Total accident, but I was very pleased (or maybe just glad to have made it home at all)!
I was grateful for the ones riding with me the day before and I could feel their encouragement, as I went on various parts of the route that had been scoped out on the Taster Rides.
I am really looking forward to the ride in May 2021. I will be sporting my VeloChampion clothing, and no doubt adding to my kit with them too. I’ll be more preprepared with sponsorship too next year, and I’m hoping to raise funds for again for Barnabus who help the homeless and vulnerable.