Illegitimate Banks.
What a day! Perfect weather, a barely noticeable Easterly breeze, not too hot or we would have been micro-waved on the climbs. 12 started, 5 opted out in the morning session for various reasons, which left 7 self-proclaimed hard-core types to finish the ride from mid-morning onwards. From where I sat, the others should take a serious bow because they were all absolutely sensational today without exception - Steen, Sue, Andy G, Rob, Eric & Peter H.
As for the detail, 8 big climbs were advertised but we went for the BOGOF offer (Buy one get one free). It went like this:
1. Dream Bank - Kicked off with one of the hardest climbs of the day, (clock said 7.00am, body clock said 6.00am!), struggled to find my legs early as I climbed out of bed, eventually had to put a foot down.
2. Barclays Bank - Looped past this bank to open up navigation path to 10th climb of the day, the Food Bank. Approached with caution, preferred to do it alone, jury’s out as to whether I felt richer or poorer for the experience.
3. High Town Bank (Parallel with White Horse Bank) – In short, this was a shocker! - A narrow, steep crumbly path. Struggled to stay upright as the wheels spun on loose gravel, leaf litter and damp broken tarmac. Most found it tough, lungs almost popped. Andy G once told me of an old adage from a wise man about how to approach a long ride: “Last up the first climb, first up the last climb”. Well, on that basis, I absolutely nailed the first climb of the day!
4. Sutton Bank - Felt good on this bank, best ride of the day for me, got into a nice gear early and found a nice rhythm – To be fair, probably helped that we were going down it rather than up it.
7. Boltby (Sneck Yate) Bank – It’s Mothers Day and this is the Mother-in-law of all climbs. A real trap for young players to go too hard too early on this one – it’s a monster concave climb, ie. the higher you go, the steeper it gets. The final kink to the right is the doorway to freedom at the top of the world, offered prayers to climbing gods. At this point our love affair with Rievaulx began.
8. Murton Bank – A long difficult climb above Hawnby. Rewarded with great views at the top, probably best of the day. Now back to Rievaulx.
9. River Bank – Opted for the footbridge along this one rather than take a dip in the ford, smart move, all stayed dry.
10. Caydale Mill Bank – Big climb out of the ford, starting to feel cumulative effects of climbing and altitude sickness. Followed up with another difficult climb out of Rievaulx which I now notice was a transition stage and didn’t even count!
11. Bradley Bank into Scawton – 16% gradient. I think what made this one difficult was the long drag up the road before we even got to the bank. Made it up OK, but petrol gauge close to empty.
12. Food bank – Steen took us to the Gliding Club above Whitehorse Bank. Never been there before but fantastic venue! – really added to the novelty of the day. We got into a bit of glider talk with the locals - Misty conditions meant no-one was going up because of the lack of ‘horizontal visuals’. Great place to re-fuel.
13. White Horse Bank - Another downer, made a change from the traditional post-lunch lung-buster. Don’t know why we didn’t go down all the climbs like this instead of going up them, it’s so much easier! Maybe a tip for next year to get everyone signed up in the right frame of mind – call it the “8 descents”, just don’t tell anyone about what links them.
14. Wass bank – Said to be the origin of the street phrase "Wassup" - because it does, ...go up, I mean. A beautiful climb through the forest. Exited onto main road for blast downwind to Sproxton.
15. Beacon Bank into Ampleforth – A slow grinder, Like La Cage aux Folles - very draggy! Legs tiring.
16. Painter Rig Bank – Not sure I've ever done this before, - getting delirious...
17. Yearsley Bank – Head fell off.
18. Blood Bank - shed tears and sweat onto this one, had little left, lucky there’s no more climbing!
19. Memory Bank - cleared this nicely, left message: “Absolutely sensational day, but remember to buy some climbing legs before doing this again”.
We blasted back to York on the flat after Yearsley Bank – doubled average speed for the day in final miles. On Andy G’s old adage, there remained a little climb as I approached home – managed to be “first up the last climb!” Also, Rob will thank me for not cracking the most obvious bank joke.
Garmin profile was like a saw-tooth – climb after climb after climb. 105 miles with elevation gain of 6,444 ft. One thing is for certain based on today – Steen is the Man! Sensational day, everyone loved it.
D.
