Cyclist in Mersey dash eyes second record

He was still suffering saddle sores two months after he completed the 255-mile ride on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath.

Seven months on from the ride the sores have healed and he is gearing up to do it all again – not just to beat his previous time, which was the quickest ever officially recorded, but also to raise more money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, in memory of his mother-in-law Brenda Fox. She died from the muscle wasting condition in 2004.

The Mr Dobson, 37, believes he can shave at least an hour off his time of 22 hours and 38 minutes and maybe even complete the route in less than 20 hours.

Last August he carried a tent, sleeping bag and groundsheet in a backpack (with a total weight of 10kg) and had every intention of taking a leisurely three days for the trip. He had no thoughts of setting a record on his Scott mountain bike.

But Mr Dobson, a self-employed electrician from Hemsworth, near Wakefield, soon got into a rhythm and ended up breaking a record

and very nearly breaking himself.

He now admits that he took too few breaks and had carried far too much kit in a backpack that weighed him down and unbalanced him.

"I pushed myself too far and in hindsight I took fewer breaks than I should," he said. "I had chronic saddle sores that saw me sat on a cushion and wincing every time I moved.

"My knees were aching so badly that It took me ages to sit, stand, bend or do anything except lie down.

"My backpack ended up being 10kg of extra weight that I didn't need. It made the ride more challenging and I learned what I actually needed rather than what I thought I would need."

Despite the post-ride aches and pains he is planning to do it all again in June and is looking for someone brave and fit enough to match him pedal turn for pedal turn.

But anyone who thinks the Leeds to Liverpool towpath is a flat and easy ride will be in for a shock.

Though most stretches are good for cycling, Colin says there are some narrow, rutted and rocky parts between Crossflatts and Skipton, and between Skipton and Gargrave, with a "very rough" part near Church in Lancashire, the half-way point. The going also gets heavy again a few miles after Wigan.

Mr Dobson added: "I would say that about 80 per cent of the towpath is good enough to get a decent speed in comfort. The built-up areas have the best paths and the worst are in the middle of nowhere."

And over the tops of the Pennines – the canal summit is Foulridge, Lancashire at 487 ft above sea level – it can get cold and windy and summer storms can dump a lot of rain in a few hours, turning dry towpaths into muddy and slippery tracks.

Anyone considering joining him will need to be an early riser.

His first day of cycling last August began at Lock 1 in Leeds city centre at 5.30am and his second day began in Liverpool at 4.50am, just as it was getting light.

Cycling at what he calls a "steady pace" with five minute rests every 30 minutes and 30 minutes for lunch, he arrived in Liverpool with a total cycling time of 11 hours 15 minutes, averaging just over 11mph.

On the return trip he took fewer rests and made use of the tail wind to increase his speed.

"I only took one five-minute break every hour and had 10 minutes for lunch and completed the 127 and a quarter miles in 11 hours and 23 minutes."

Altogether he took 22 hours and 38 minutes to cover 255.8 miles, which is a mile more than it should be thanks to a diversion at Kirkstall, Leeds.

His on-bike computer, which includes details such as his weight and height, calculated that he had burned a staggering 8,900 calories on the outward journey and 9,250 on the return – more than 18,000 calories in just two days.

He also raised over 3,000 for the Brenda Fox Tribute Fund, which is supported by the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

For details of how to sponsor Mr Dobson, go to www.forbrenda.co.uk

TRADE ARTERY RUNS 127 MILES

At 127-and-a-quarter miles, the Leeds-Liverpool Canal is the longest in Britain historically to be run by a single company. It took almost half a century to complete from its beginnings in 1770.

Although it was the earliest trans-Pennine canal to be mooted, delays meant it was not ready until after the other two routes, Huddersfield Narrow and the Rochdale Canal.

Together with the Aire and Calder Navigation, the Leeds and Liverpool offered a coast-to-coast route between the Irish Sea and the North Sea.

The canal includes 91 locks on the main line and rises to a height of 487ft above sea level.

One of the toughest and most expensive pieces of work involved the cutting of a tunnel at Foulridge, Lancashire, which opened in 1796 and was 1,640 yards (1,500 metres) long.

The most important cargo was coal, of which more than a million tons was delivered to Liverpool every year in the 1860s.

A famous part of the canal is at Aintree, where it passes close to the racecourse and gives its name to the Canal Turn.