Meanwhile... ...the
steadier group set off a few minutes later on the same route. Blue skies and a chill north-westerly but far more pleasant than we'd expected. Like the first group, we did a synchronised sideways slide onto the A168 (initially put down to ice but - given the strong smell of diesel was probably oil on the road) and had a steady ride up to Boroughbridge.
The driving, though! Was it some Festival of Stupidity today? Berk Of The Day award went to a bloke who pulled his 4X4 out from a turn on the right and then stopped right in front of us, but there were plenty of other contenders.
At Boroughbridge we had a brief flirtation with the road to Helperby but - after fording the first full-road-width flood - turned back, did the Kirby Hill loop, and then the rather wonderful wind-assisted southerly leg of the A168. Half the group carried on when we had a puncture near Walshford, and the remaining five of us did a brisk team TT back to York.
We were certainly steadier than the less-steady group; my box of tricks makes it bang on 18mph and 190W for the out-of-town bit, which will do nicely.
Generally good tight riding but a few points probably worth emphasising (and I heard Tim verbally emphasising a few of 'em on the ride):-
-Try to keep effort steady and let speed sort itself out; accelerating up hills just makes everything ragged. Likewise keep pedalling on downhills - freewheeling's just a waste of training time...
-Related to the above... ...if you're on the front and someone shouts
"keep it steady" or
"knock one off" then please just keep it steady or knock one off - don't stop pedalling or clap the brakes on or anything, otherwise everyone, to be blunt, goes up your chuff and accidents happen. As it did.
End of chat, as the legendary Kevin would say.