52 - Cycling Voices - 16: Annia Modlinsky

Annia Modlinsky is a fellow club cyclist I met about three years ago when I was based up in Macclesfield and joined Manchester Wheelers cycling club. It's a big club, with a lot of female members and they organise women's rides in different parts of Cheshire. I met Annia while we were on a ride in Tatton Park, a favourite hang-out for the local cyclists in the North West. (I call it a Northern version of London's Richmond Park!)

I was impressed by Annia's determination to get into cycling, as it was quite new to her at that time. She's made lots of progress and is doing some pretty decent times in her time trials.

Annia Modlinksky, aged 42

From: Matanzas, Cuba

Lives: Timperley, near Altrincham, Cheshire

Occupation: Self-employed manicurist (including nail extensions), and pedicurist

I started club cycling four years ago because I wanted to take my cycling to a more competitive level, meet other cyclists, including women and be more involved in the cycling community in the Manchester area.

I am originally from Cuba and was born in a town called Colon, Matanzas province. I have lived in Manchester since 1998 when I came from Cuba with my ex-husband, a Mancunian, whom I met over there.

My childhood was lovely, and my education in Cuba was great. It is not a developed country but I had the basics. Life in Cuba can be as tough or as easy as you make it, and as Cubans we are brought up to believe in ourselves, smile, and be friendly.

I didn’t do any competitive cycling at all when I lived in Cuba, just cycling to get from A to B. Cycling is not such a popular sport, as people are more interested in baseball or basketball. 

At the time when I lived in Cuba, there were no cycling clubs. Perhaps some have formed in the last 15 years, but I don’t know of any. In any case the number of professional cyclists in Cuba is pretty low. Some people are interested in cycling but it is difficult to pursue as an elite sport due to the lack of facilities needed to develop.

In the last couple of years when I have visited Cuba I have been cycling, and it is quite a contrast to cycling in Manchester, as you would expect! I have gotten used to cycling in the cold, rain, and wind in Manchester, whereas in Cuba I have to cope with 70–80% humidity and extreme heat, especially between May and July. For that reason my rides have to start at around 5:30/6:00 am and I get in a one-and-a-half hour bike ride, if staying in the town. Otherwise, I head towards the beach where I can ride for a little longer.

The other difference is that the roads in Cuba are less congested than in Manchester. Even in Havana it is reasonably easy to get around by bike. Car drivers are more cycle friendly than in Manchester, and there is plenty of space on the road for cyclists.

Nowadays I do time trialling. I started doing them last year and enjoyed it so much I decided to focus on that, training for them over the Winter to get me ready for the Spring and Summer events. What I really enjoy about time trialling is reaching a high speed on my bike on the aero bars. It’s a great feeling!  It’s hard, but very rewarding once you finish a race.

In Summer I usually try and do a training ride at least three times a week. My rides are generally short with interval efforts, either on my own or ride with friends.  In Winter I try to keep up with the rides, weather-permitting, but I prefer to use my turbo trainer. The sessions are tough, but all worthwhile to keep me fit for Summer rides and events.

I love the scenery that Cheshire possesses. There are many narrow lanes but they are generally pretty, quiet and full of friendly cyclists.  I can’t really say the same about cars, in terms of being cycling friendly but it is getting better. I have my favourite Cheshire routes and never get bored of riding them again and again. Artists Lane in Alderley Edge and The Brickworks, near Bollington have become addictive to ride! They are tough hills, but not impossible. You always get a good feeling when you reach the end of both.

As a woman riding on my own, I have to be prepared for the encounters that cycling can have. I never leave my saddle bag behind without my essentials: inner tubes, tyre levers, money (small change), mobile phone.  Also, a small air pump, bottles of water, and a few packets of cereal bars. 

Manchester Wheelers, where I am a member, is a great club to belong to and cycle with.  They have cycling events going on all year round to choose from. I have done a few events with them this year and last year, and they were all good fun.

Being a single mum is hard, but I try to be as well-organised as possible. Taking care of my daughter and providing for her is my top priority.

I have just started studying full-time, which makes it even busier for me to find the spare time to ride my bikes. On top of that I run a small part-time business from home, so every single day for me is a challenge. 

My eight-year-old daughter, Lara had learnt to ride a bike by the time she was four. I guess she didn’t have much of choice, having both parents completely devoted to cycling! However, she’s not really into cycling unfortunately.

She has travelled with myself and my ex-husband in the past to watch many cycling events and races, including The Tour of France.  She has been a spectator in many of the events I have taken part in, and even been with me when I was marshalling at the club events.

Being a single mum means that she sometimes has to sit beside my turbo trainer reading a book whilst I do a session, and she has even mentioned that she would like to try the turbo one day. But she has shown no interest in taking part in a race yet. Football seems to be her inclination at the moment.

Having said that, Lara cycles to school, and does off-road leisurely rides. She has even ridden some long distances with her dad. They did a two-day cycling trip to Southport last year, which involved doing about 30 miles a day. At that time she was seven years old, which is fantastic for her age. 

For me, the most important thing is that Lara enjoys practising a sport, no matter what. There are many ways to be competitive and I think she is too young to be pushed towards cycling. I think interest will drive competition and she will only work that out herself. She might one day realise that cycling is more fun than what she thought, and the ambition to practise it at a competitive level might start from there. 

Cycling is my passion. I have met some wonderful people on the way, and they have even taught me to dress up according to the weather, and how to keep fit and healthy! My bikes are always at the ready to sneak in a ride at any time of the day when I get a spare moment. I can’t believe my bikes have taken me to places I only previously dreamed of going to.

Instagram: @anniabichiehija

Strava: Annia Modlinksky

Other Cycling Voices

Rebecca Charlton

Ayesha McGowan

Peggy Crome

Gema Fernandez Hernando

Giorgia Bronzini

Tracy Moseley

Geraldine Glowinski

Emily Chappell

Michelle Webster

Grace and Lucy Garner

Hannah Bussey

Carolyn Hewett-Maessen

Caroline Martinez

Niusha Doyom

Maria David

Leisure Cheshire Bike Ride

A ride through the hills of the Goyt Valley or the Cat and Fiddle climb near Macclesfield is lovely on the eye, but tough on the legs - especially when you are unfit, like me. Instead, the Cheshire Plain is a less onerous alternative.

One route that I like is to ride from Macclesfield via Broken Cross and then down the sweeping country lanes towards Siddington. There is a main road to cross, the A34, after which you arrive in the village of Lower Withington. I have good memories of this area as it's where I did a "lads 'n' lasses" 2-up time trial with the Manchester Wheelers. All I had to do was to ride in the slipstream of a guy who made a big hole in the air for 10 miles. The road was flat and I was shielded from the slightest wind. I wish all time trials were like that! Then we went for a pub meal afterwards at the Red Lion pub. Happy days!

From Lower Withington I find some even quieter roads which lead to the famous observatory at Jodrell Bank. I would have liked to ride a bit closer to the radio telescope but some of the roads shown on my map turned out to be off limits on the bike, so I pressed on with the rest of my ride to other nearby villages.

The best thing was that once I had left the main A535 road there was barely any traffic at all. At one point the road swooped down a lovely twisty descent, below the railway line and I felt like I was just out in my own private world of cycle lanes. Well, my world of Peover and Chelford!

I finally reach "civilisation" in the shape of the Chelford Island - not particularly exotic, it's just an asymmetric roundabout on the Knutsford Road. Soon I'm heading out towards the Chelsea of the North, Alderley Edge. In fact, I don't reach the heart of the Village with its smattering of Mancunian soap opera actors or footballers. I prefer to go properly to the edge - the chalky escarpment that gives views all over Cheshire and beyond.

Escarpment, I hear you cry? I said it is a flat ride, but in fact, dear reader, there is one teeny climb in the ride - Artists Lane. It's a popular climb in the area and often included in cyclosportive events. I said teeny, but in fact, dear reader it goes on for about 10 minutes if you have average fitness.

So, compared to Alpe d'Huez or Tourmalet it is a tiny baby! The only thing is because the road twists you are never quite sure when you are near the top, and that makes it a real slog at the end of your ride. That's exactly how it felt for me, as an unfit forty-something. At least I wasn't alone, for this is a popular road with cyclists - some of whom gave me sympathetic encouragement!

After tea and cake at the Wizard Pub and a quick look at the Cheshire plain panorama it's a nice steady descent back to Macc. Not a bad little leisure ride.  

Route map for this ride.

Shoot Story - Alderley Edge and Tatton Park

The current issue of Cycling Active includes my ride story, Made in Cheshire. It was the first photo shoots I did for Cycling Active after starting my job in Macclesfield and was in the area known as the golden triangle of Cheshire. This includes places like Wilmslow, Knutsford, Alderley Edge, Mottram St Andrew - some of the most affluent parts of England outside of London and the South East.

And yes, we certainly got that feel about the place while we were there. Our first area for the photo shoot was on the main road through Alderley Edge. That certainly had a Primrose Hill village feeling about it, with independent clothes shops, trendy cafes, and a few beauty salons. Like every high street in the UK there are a few charity shops. The ones in Alderley Edge are decked out like designer fashion shops! Who needs Zara when you've got the Oxfam shop selling the cast-offs of celebrities?

The street was flush with 4x4 Mercedes, BMWs some Land Rovers plus a number of luxury cars. Of course there were ordinary cars - Audis, VWs, BMW saloon cars, etc that are less than 2 years old.
I am not sure we quite fitted in rolling up in our hired 5 year-old Vauxhall Astra van!

We took a pic of me riding past a Bentley parked along the high street. Of course we were careful not to photograph the number plate. Some of the folks were a little bemused at the way I kept riding up and down past the same car. But they were amenable and some cars stopped for us while Aodan finished his shot. People may have been wondering what I was up to going up and down the street on my bike, but I have to say that I was a little bemused when we saw that same Bentley carousing up and down the road to Mottram St Andrew. We couldn't see the driver through the greyed out windows. So we just assumed it to be the chauffeur who just wanted to parade around out of boredom!

The Village Café seemed to be another hangout where people were there "to be seen". This wasn't just your greasy spoon or even Café Nero where you rock up to the joint at random. You needed a reservation to pick up your morning cappuccino. The women were either blonde or had highlights, while the men all seemed to be of a certain age and had that permanent tan to match their silver fox hair style. Some of them looked like actors from some northern based soap opera. It's been ages since I watched Coronation Street or Emmerdale so I wouldn't know who the actors were even if I tripped over them! Maybe they weren't so high profile but they certainly had that ac-tor way of speaking and they spoke in a way that tended towards Stratford-on-Avon rather than Stockport!

Later we were in Tatton Park, which for me was like Richmond Park in London, but with more stately homes and gardens and not as hilly. There were parking restrictions in the park to allow space for the guests of "James and Julia's wedding". We took a few shots outside the mansion anyway, managing to do this before the wedding party emerged, and we tried to snap shots in between the various families that were passing by. Families like this one consisting of George on his scooter, Poppy with her stabilisers, yummy daddy Rupert carrying baby Oliver in his pouch, and mum on her lady's hybrid. The kids looked at us curiously, while their parents hurried them along so that they could get to the Garden Café serving organic food.

Because the mansion was in the shadow and the light was not so bright Aodan told me I had to ride slowly during these shots to stop the photo looking blurred. Of course passers-by didn't understand this, and some kids passed me, giving a look of triumph as they managed to overtake this lady on a racing bike while they were riding their first two-wheeler. Ah well, let them have their day of "glory"!

Later on while in Tatton Park my mum rang me. I hadn't had the chance to talk to her since returning from Milan. (I'd only been back in the UK for a week at that point.) As ever she was surprised to hear where I was, and she was quite excited to hear that I was in Tatton Park. Even though we were in the middle of the shoot I took the time to talk to her because I hadn't spoken to her in a while, so I thought it would be nice to chat. Thankfully, Aodan kept himself busy photographing deer while waiting. She didn't know Tatton and had never been there before so I described it to her and where else we had been that day as the planes into and from Manchester Airport roared up above me. She was quite interested to hear about this plush part of the North-West. "You might even see George Osborne!" (the local Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer) she joked.

We took a few more photos in Tatton Park and then called it a day. It had been a fun day with nice weather, and we had enjoyed a very pleasant café stop at the Wizard Café on Alderley Edge.

My mum always liked reading the ride stories and other articles of mine that were published in Cycling Active and Cycling Weekly. I had really been looking forward to showing my mum the finished article on Cheshire in Cycling Active magazine. Sadly, on the day the issue was published my mum was critically ill and under sedation in hospital after a sudden illness. She died the following day, 27th March, aged 64 years. It's incredible how things can change so suddenly.

I dedicate my Cycling Active feature, "Made in Cheshire" to my mum, Esther David.
May she live in eternal peace and happiness in Heaven.
I hope that when I write future articles she will look down and continue to enjoy them.

Lunchtime jaunt - 1

Bollington - Blaze Hill - Macclesfield

One of the advantages of working in the new place, up in Macclesfield, is being able to ride my bike at lunchtime.

It is something that I have been able to do in the past - for instance, the times when I was home based  in London I could easily find quick routes around South London. When I worked in Central London it was even possible to do reps around St James's Park or Hyde Park, while trying not to frighten the tourists crossing the road!

Sadly, when I was in Milan this was a definite no, no. First of all there were no changing/shower facilities after finishing my ride. Secondly, places to ride were quite limited. There was only really a stretch of canal path on the Naviglio Grande. Thirdly, and most importantly there was no secure bike park so there was no way I'd leave a road bike chained up outside the building. It wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds - and I know through bitter experience! So really, if I went to work in the morning with my road bike, by lunchtime I would have had no bike to use for my lunch-time jaunt!

Moving to Macclesfield, situated right on the edge of the Peak District has been the best antidote to 18 months of being in an urban sprawl of Milan with its lack of green spaces. This area of Cheshire offers the best lunchtime cycling that I have ever had so far.

So I make the most of it. There are lots of country lanes near where I work. Quite a few of them go uphill! There are even some steep roads with cobbles for if I wish to practice for the Tour of Flanders, which I have signed up to ride. I will talk about the different routes over time.

The route I will talk about in this post is the standard jaunt that I take at lunchtimes. Even though it's only around 9-miles long it is a good little work-out, since it involves around 250m of climbing. One of the local hills to where I work is Blaze Hill - a climb that lasts less than 2 miles but gives a height gain of around 170m. There are a couple of 15% gradient sections, especially the early part of the climb, coming out of Bollington. Prior to doing Blaze Hill there is also the leg tester on Grimshaw Lane, which I always find a bit of challenge, especially as I tackle it from a low speed after having taken a sharp right from the main road through Bollington. But it's all good fun.

The descent back towards Macclesfield is lovely and sweeping, with a couple of tight bends but great for maintaining your cornering skills. There is also a short spike known as Tower Hill to stop you getting too complacent about freewheeling!

This is a good quick spin that can be done in a lunch hour without being accused of "skiving away from your desk!" When I get back to the office I feel like I deserve my lunch!
I can certainly feel myself getting stronger these days, so the hills must be good for me. I must just try to remember that whenever I heave and wind my way up Smithy Brow!

The route is here