Topic Title

Come on then - how was it all? Scotton 100 and everything else?

Nothing to report from me - a big fat zero on the cycling front, boo.....

Saturday saw a clutch of Clifton MTBers enter Round 2 of the NYMBO Trailquest league at Wykeham. Conditions were cold and extremely muddy making for really difficult progress on the steep, muddy slopes. Even the flat forest sections were severely waterlogged. Steph and Bernard took up their usual place at the top of their section. Gill, Seb and Jodie entered the full event (not fun!) and finished with a very respectable 95 points. Andy and Hazel did admirably in the conditions on their Tandem. I finished 4th Vet with 340.

Yesterday, still nursing sore legs from Saturday, Steph and I joined a number of other Clifton riders at the Scotton 100. It was the first time I'd done the event but my original description of 'a mixed on-road/off-road Sportive' was spot on. Despite the forecast of 'light showers with sunny intervals' it turned out to be 'heavy rain mixed with light showers' - conditions were awful.

We met up with Simon and opted for the 'medium' group, the others being a 'fast', 'steady' and 50k. I was aiming to get round in under 5 hours on a MTB. The initial pace was very quick and we struggled to keep up with the rest of the group who were all on road or cross bikes. However, when we turned on to the first off road section the advantage turned as the road bikes slthered around. We broke the golden rule of not following others in case they're lost and followed 2 riders in the distance, taking a detour costing us a couple of miles. The event is famous for 2 things as far as I can make out, mud and punctures, and there was plenty of both. I managed to survive until Aldwarke without puncturing before getting one in the rear. A group of 4 by then, we all mucked in, literally, to fix it before realising my front had gone down too, then Steph's front then another chap's rear. 45 minutes later we were on the way again and eventually finished, exhausted and some way down the field, in 5 hours 10 min. Nigel G won in 3.27. Great event and welcome food afterwards.

I got up at 5am yesterday to travel across to Ambleside and do the Lakeland Loop, the hardest 70 miles I've endured, I was doing okay, albeit with heavy legs, on the approach to Hardknott Pass, and got about 100yards past the bottom cattle grid and had to walk a bit, got back on for the middle section, and then the steep hairpins at the top got me again.

The descent on the other side was equally as treacherous, brakes fully on and still sliding down at 15mph trying to dodge oncoming cars, and then on to face Wrynose Pass.

All of this in glorious warmth and sunshine, I'd miscalculated in the morning when setting off as it was cold and had heavier winter gear on which saw me overheating later on.

A truly stunning ride though, amazing scenery, and the legs are ok today which is a bonus.

I was at the Scotton and travelled round with Willy and Mark. The first three hours riding were pretty horrible. At one stage Mark stopped to help another cyclist who had got so cold whilst changing a puncture he could no longer put the tyre back on. Mark then went down with a puncture himself due from a particularly large thorn. We finished with a time 5:40.

as paul said - did the scotton !! using my old faithful 11yr old mtb with
semi - slick tyres, conditions were awful but didn't seem to bother me, i was well wrapped up.

set off with fast group and it was a quick pace from the off, i felt strong virtually all way round and attacked on ouseburn section as it climbs up before hitting the muddy section and got a small gap before arkingdale
off road section and went again and came in about 3mins in front of next
rider. i even managed to big ring the whole course ( 48 tooth )
so was very pleased.

won in a time of 3hrs 27 mins

the food afterwards was very welcome

I was testing over at ravensthorpe cc 10m time trial. It was a brand new course and probably could be quite fast if the wind drops uphill out & downhill back. Didn't do a pb but starting to see a bit of form.

I plodded up and down the hills in the Wolds in the rain until I got too wet and fed up, then went home. It's amazing how many stiff (by my standards) climbs there are on the west facing side of the Wolds and in and out of Thixendale.

I rode the Bridlington road race at Burton Fleming yesterday, good 8 mile circuit with a long drag of around a mile and half out of the village in the direction of Hummanby. A break went on the 3rd lap which stayed away until the finish, I didnt feature much but finished in the bunch so was reasonably happy.

As luck would have it the heavens opened just as the race started, nothing heavy just a constant drizzle, I heard one guy describe it as Bloody Baltic?

Scotton 100 results up:

http://www.cliftoncc.org/static.php?content=scotton_100

I too rode the Brid CC RR at Burton Fleming. A steady & slightly dull affair & nothing like as hard as the previous weeks race at Stokesley. However there was never any threat of me livening things up.
Approaching the top of the climb to the finish with 2 laps to go with 5 riders up the road, I was starting to think about pulling something out of the bag in the sprint (had a couple of top ten finishes here previously) when I became aware of that bouncy feeling closely followed by that flat feeling from the back tyre. A quick U-turn and I coasted back to the hq. A cold, damp but not horrendous day, if slightly disappointing - but at least on Sunday I stopped with 2 to go instead of 2 laps completed!
Next event is an 85 mile Elite race in early May -should be well rested if nothing else?

I rode the Leeds Mercury LVRC on a course near Cawood on Sunday, dead flat except for 2 railway bridges on each of the 8 laps, the weather was very wet and cold right from the start, I went off with the C and D cats, 50 to 54 year olds and 55 to 59 year olds who set off 3 minutes behind the A and B cats.

The pace was quite brisk with one or two breaks getting away and staying away, on the last but one lap I made one lone attempt to jump to the two guys about 100 metres in front of us and just could not make it across to them, after that several attempts by the bunch to close the gap saw me and a couple of others dropped, by then I was very wet and cold and ready for the end.

I must say the standard of these Vets was very good . I hope I do better as the season goes on .

Sounds like you were on the pace, Ian. They don't hang around tho, these old fellas - come on all you just-turned-forty-somethings, make the most of it while you're at the young end of the age group!

The Saturday social riders congregated as usual. Howard led a 'fast' group of 10 to Rievaux via White Horse Bank with a cafe stop at Helmsley, then across to the Wolds via Castle Howard. I believe Kath and Kevin led intermediate and steady groups as well.

Not a great day for me - my first proper outing for a month and my legs have evidentally lost their steel (what steel I hear you all cry!). First a p****** before Coxwold, then a steady loss of ooomph after lunch led to my heading back into York after Castle Howard via Howsham with James M (thanks for being patient with my slow pace James) leaving the remnant of the ride - now down to 3 of the original 10 - heading off towards Acklam for some Real Man's hillclimbing.

Thanks again to Howard and I'll hopefully be back next week for another kicking if my aches and sprains have resolved

Scored 13th place in the first round of the national XC series at Thetford Forest on Saturday. Racing was fast and furious, with 42 starters and the terrain suiting some road race type tactics (including an attack through the feed station by me!), although there was the usual Thetford single track too to negotiate. Such an intense race, possibly one of the hardest ive done, simply due to the relentless pace. The average speed was around 15 mph, which for an MTB race was high. What great weather we had too. Have a look at the reports and pics on the BC site.
Great to be back out there and still in the mix, despite the winter I've had...

As Dr Dave as already said there were 3 groups on Saturday. I personally went with Cath and 4 others which included Elaine, Dave, B (ithink!), John and Willy. Willy turned back just before the cafe stop saving his legs for the Scotton. As for the rest I too had a p******* having gone over a cattle grid with an exterme thud, a pinch puncture I think not form any debris on the road. Anyway we headed to Hovin..... sorry meant to say Kilburn (dont tell Kevin), it was a unaminous decision for the cafe stop and then head back to York via Ampleforth which I can only assume would have been the way back anyway from Kilburn so we didnt disobey Kevin that much. Amazingley avoided the worst of the rain whilst sat in the cafe and it managed to brighten very nicly on the way back. With my ride to and from York I clocked 100miles for frist time this year.

Jon