Weekend Roundup

[Rob]

6 in the Square for the first proper winter clubrun of the season. Ginnie was after a slightly less hilly route and swung off for Malton after an hour. Cooky decided Hutton-le-Hole was far enough and retired to the cafe which left Muzzy, Howard, Richard and self to tackle Rosedale Moor in rapidly deteriorating weather. The descent of the chimney was negotiated without incident in misty sleety rain. Across to Fryupdale where Muzzy punctured at the bottom of a freezing descent. He managed to breath enough life into his fingers to effect a repair (culpret was the biggest flint I've seen - like a shark's tooth). The cafe was warm, food superb and we were in no rush to venture out again. On the climb of Westerdale the cold was forgotten! From the high point on Blakey Ridge we made great progress back to York, finishing before total darkness. Apparently it had been "quite nice" in York!

I was running like a bag of spanners for much of the day and thanks to my colleagues for looking out for me. Strangley satisfying ride.

Bolton Abbey or Darley Mill next week.

[barberj]

Did the NYMBO Trailquest on Saturday ay the Hambleton Inn near Sutton Bank. Lots of people turned up for a rather hilly course. I entered it with my daughter Amelia (7years) in the Generations class. We Stayed north of the A170 riding through Scawton to Rievaulx and then back via Old Byland, Cold Kirby and Cleveland road before finishing in 1hour 55 mins. We had real problems at the start getting stuck behind a hay bailer and tractor moving at walking pace which cost us a good 5 to 10 minutes especially over the bridge near Rievaulx where the hay bailer had to inch its way over the bridge. Amelia was very proud that she managed to ride all the way without once stopping especially up the hills. She even managed to overtake me on a hill on a bridleway near Cold Kirby when she thought a cow was chasing her!

We got 125 points and did about 14miles which was enough to give us a class win!

Well done to Steph Fountain who also won her category (as usual) :

[At the back as usual]

Just another couple of classic hilly rides in the Dublin / Wicklow mountains for me over the weekend. Friday consisted of fitting new FSA K Force calipers to the bike before heading out to the mountains and a lovely route through Rathfarnham and Glencree up to the highest point at Three Rock, turned around here and headed towards Sally Gap, Laragh, Blessington and back towards town along the beautiful Pollaphuca Reservoir.
Great route that involved an unscheduled stop at an unusual place that has over 100 German graves from WW2 sat in the hill side, wish I'd brought my camera
Great weather and a comfortable 75 miles d2d at 17.2 average.

Saturday I was out on my own on my back up the same hill, it's great for training as it's over 10 mile of climbing from bottom to top with an average gradient of 8-9% - just under 40 miles in 2hrs 16