In a parallel universe, I am at this moment creeping up Mow Cop, surrounded by hundreds of cyclists keen to assert their early season fitness on the Cheshire Cat.
In reality, I’m typing this blog post into my phone, sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea, looking out at a very cold and snowy scene and having just taken another anti – inflammatory.
Perhaps I’m one of the few who were delighted to receive news from the organisers, Kilo To Go, that they’d decided to postpone the event until July 7th, because of the apparent imminent return to the ice age.
Apart from the obvious risks of ice on the road, there would surely have been hypothermia casualties caused by punctures and other mechanicals. A potential nightmare for the organisers, and even more so for the poor unfortunates caught out. I know from bitter experience how quickly you can get into trouble in circumstances like this. Read about our recent epic.
So from a safety perspective, it made perfect sense. What made it even sweeter for me was
that I’d had to make the decision to pull out anyway due to a recent injury. I think I did an involuntary little celebratory dance in the office generic clomiphene when the email came through, and I realised I wouldn’t miss the Cat after all.
Many people are pointing out that the new date July 7th, clashes with the Liverpool-Chester-Liverpool
event, with the mind bending realisation that the two events actually share some common sections. Some have queried how this received approval from the relevant Safety Advisory Group, bearing in mind the potential additional demand on emergency services with 6000 riders in one area.
Who knows, perhaps Schrödinger’s sportive will make it necessary for this particular Cat to pop into existence at yet another point in time before natural order is returned to the universe.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobcatnorth
Stuck inside with 6in of snow on the drive watching the weatherman talk about -5 windchill. @kilotogo made the right call #cheshirecat
— Danny Blackburn (@Danny_Blackburn) March 24, 2013
#cheshirecat postponed for this Sunday, a sensible decision made by event organisers @kilotogo see you in July guys!! :-)) — David Bridgeford (@dabridg01) March 21, 2013
@kilotogo A photo from last years #cheshirecat. I think I’ll add a few layers, hat and a scarf thing this year :-) twitter.com/robgriff/statu… — Robgriff (@robgriff) March 21, 2013
@kilotogo Back of Mow Cop today. Stuck cars, drifting snow, high winds.#correctdecision twitter.com/andrewowen28/s…
— andrew owen (@andrewowen28) March 22, 2013