Weekend Round up - Bank Holiday w/e 28th - 30th May

Darren N · Post by **Darren N** » Sun May 29, 2011 8:53 am

I joined my now traditional (well, my 2nd year in a row), and somewhat eventful, K-Ride on the May Bank holiday weekend to Sledmere House Café which is only open on a weekend on Bank Holidays. It was very nice of Kev to allow us freeloaders to join his group of around 18 on a hugely pleasant ride out via Settrington Bank to Sledmere, returning via Wetwang, Huggate and Millington. The pace was just what the doctor ordered for me. For the 2nd year in a row we were joined in the café by people dressed in full period costume, not sure what festival runs at this time to attract these immaculately adorned revellers however it does make us cyclists look scruffier than usual!

The ride was overshadowed somewhat by poor Ros’ accident. Ros came down quite heavily on the descent into Kirkham and created another pothole in Yorkshire’s roads with her head. She was in La La Land there for a while,…tweety birds, stars, the works. An ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital. With dark clouds above and the road enclosed by thick vegetation, the flashing lights of both the ambulance and the ambulance car amid a mass of cyclists made for some dramatic scenes. Cliftonites will be impressed by Ros’ ethic though because as she gradually became more lucid, Ros was more worried about her bike than her own well-being! Special thanks to Mike & Caroline and Steve & Dawn for making Ros comfortable and sorting out the ambulance and her bike. If anyone hears any news on Ros, please post asap because we all have concerns for her. We certainly wish you a quick recovery Ros!

If the above wasn’t bad enough, we arrived back in the middle of York and a car decided to run into the back of Tony G’s bike and climb all over his back wheel. He somehow spat out ahead of the car and both he and his bike seemed fine, but closer inspections at home often reveal unseen damage in these situations. I hope everything’s ok Tony!

I have to say that the above events are very rare. This was a truly great ride and anyone out there riding heaps of solo miles rather than enjoying an enormously pleasant time on the K-Ride should park themselves in front of a mirror for a very long time and reassess where their lives are taking them.

D.

Dawn · Post by **Dawn** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:38 am

I understand that Ros came out of hospital yesterday and, although probably feeling a bit bruised and battered today, is hopefully on the mend now. She has already collected her bike, which should be a good sign!

Best wishes Ros, I hope you're back out on the bike soon.

Jon G · Post by **Jon G** » Sun May 29, 2011 11:26 am

Crikey!!!

Hope you are well Ros. Never good to hear about people crashing. Have had my fair share over last couple of years. Quite funny to hear that you were more worried about the bike

Now thats a true cyclist

Hope your back on your bike soon.

Jon

Broom Wagon · Post by **Broom Wagon** » Sun May 29, 2011 12:38 pm

Sounds like a terrible ride.

For me after the last two successive weekends of long hard hilly rides it was the short hard training ride.

There were only four of us out and with strong winds we discussed that we'd ride briskly but not too fast. That turned out to be an average of 21mph for the ride, I think the fastest the training ride has done that route (though I could be wrong).

We did cheat though. As mentioned elsewhere Jess, was on her new Cervelo. Like all Cervelos these days it comes with a hidden electric motor (like the one used allegedly by Cancellara). I must admit it is very impressive because no matter how hard I looked I couldn't tell, though the area around the bottom bracket is so beefy you could definitely put a few batteries there. Jess seemed to think it was faster on the climbs, but to me it also seemed faster on the flats and the descents and into the wind and with the wind behind, though I can't help the thought jigetting around my brain that it wouldn't have been anything like as fast if it had been me riding it.

As a result of this Jess rode like a train everywhere with us lads hanging on behind with only Jacques able to salvage a bit of male pride by spiritedly riding on the front every now and again.

Now 25+ mph into an aggressive head wind isn't always as hard as it sounds because people that can do that, tend to be big strapping muscular chaps, ideal for shurkers like me to sit right behind, tucked completely out of the wind. However the natural order of this was upset by Jess riding on the front at the previously mentioned speed. So svelte and slippy is she that she's cut though the wind and buggered off before it's had time to realise what's happened. Wind being wind, having been dodged by Jess this annoys it, so that it has a go full force at the red faced, wheezing old bloke trying to take shelter on Jess's wheel.

Anyway enough of that, time for a bit of conceited self congratulation. Riding on the limit like this it seemed inevitable that my lardy arse would get dropped on the drag up to Crayke, it's not steep and it's not long but it's often enough to cause me trouble. In the event tucked in nicely in the group I was still there at the top and indeed the thought that I needed to go off the back never popped into the old brain. All those long steep climbs Rob had me riding up last week were indeed for my own good.

Once after Crayke either Jess's batteries had run flat so she had to rely on muscular power only

or the youngsters Jess & Jacques thought it fair let the veterans of the group (Dave and I) have a go on the front, though Dave would have to destroy the remnants of my ego by riding just as well as me on his winter bike with a set of mudguards which seemed specifically designed to catch as much wind as possible.

JSimon · Post by **JSimon** » Sun May 29, 2011 1:23 pm

great report Broom Wagon, that summarizes it quite well.
For my part it didn't have anything to with fairness to give the "veterans" a turn on the front, I struggled enough to keep on your wheel at that point.
Well done to Jess indeed. I'm thinking of getting one of those engines. Can you buy them separately or do you need to buy a new Cervelo bike Jess? On top of yesterday's performance she also towed me back into town today after the york triathlon training at the Allerthorpe Lake.
A great thanks also to Cycleheaven who squeezed my bike in for a quick inspection on Friday night and enabled me to ride on the weekend!

Jess · Post by **Jess** » Sun May 29, 2011 1:57 pm

Ah come on guys - you're exaggerating a little here

and anyway, the on board motor is actually under the seat.....

In all seriousness, was a great ride & we all worked hard. I've had the bike a week & have been thwarted a little by cable stretch here & there, resulting in some sloppy gears and dodgy riding but finally seems to be done & settled down (and I've actually learned how to ride the thing

)
So when we got over the A168 it was feeling good. So I pushed on a bit and it felt even better, so I thought I'd push on a bit more & it still felt great - and so on and so on...
Mind you by the time we got on the stretch into Strensall I was pretty much on empty so was very grateful of the tow back into town. (methinks the boys are being overly modest - they still had some energy up their sleeves really...)

Legs felt ok this morning so hotfooted it to Allerthorpe with York TriClub, where Jacques & I managed to polish off a lap of the 20k Triathlon course @ 23mph.

All in all, encouraging riding in some very strong company- hoping the bike is money well spent & I might actually be able to hang on properly in a few races soon.

Elsewhere, sounds like a dramatic ride to Sledmere & a nasty fall for Ros - best wishes & hope she's ok & back out on her bike again soon.

G. · Post by G. » Sun May 29, 2011 5:18 pm

Like Darren, I was feeling a bit down after some hard rides recently and the K ride provided just the sort of break I needed. Then again, 'break' is possibly not the most apposite word given the high attrition rate. Row, I hope you're getting better after your fall. You get several cycling toughness awards for worrying about the bike, all you need to do now is start riding as a pro racer: they give you a spare bike when you crash, so you can carry on riding as before!

Sorry to hear about Tony too. Shaun and I had played impatient and shot off the front by this point, so I had no idea. Where precisely was this?

Apart from all that and despite the headwind on the way back, this was a really enjoyable ride! Jess, I'm in the market for a new bike. Could you show me the secret handshake that tells Fraz I want the motor option?

PhilBixby · Post by **PhilBixby** » Sun May 29, 2011 5:22 pm

I was over at Hartshead today for the Batley RR, along with Cam and Andy Coates. 14 laps of a hilly circuit with no resting place and a steadily freshening westerly was always going to be hard, but when it set off at a cracking pace (with half the field sprinting most of the way down the first long descent) those of us at the lower end of the food chain knew our days were numbered. By the top of the first climb I was doing a two-up with another lad shelled out the back, and Cam and Andy were likewise having a hard time. By the time I packed I'd been beaten to it by about twenty others, and when Cam climbed off there were about 25 riders left out there. Andy reported seeing a couple of others taken off their bikes by gusty crosswinds, so I don't feel too bad about not seeing it through to the end.

Had an interesting chat with a couple of riders about why these 2nd/3rd/4th races are getting a bit out of hand:- it seems a lot of 2nd cats ended their previous season when they hit 190-odd BC points, to avoid going up to 1st cat and hence having a far smaller choice of events. As a result, 2/3/4 races are kicking off at silly speeds. For those of us who were only just about up to speed in these events, this is not good!

Dr Dave · Post by **Dr Dave** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:04 pm

Jess wrote:Ah come on guys - you're exaggerating a little here and anyway, the on board motor is actually under the seat.....

In all seriousness, was a great ride & we all worked hard. I've had the bike a week & have been thwarted a little by cable stretch here & there, resulting in some sloppy gears and dodgy riding but finally seems to be done & settled down (and I've actually learned how to ride the thing )
So when we got over the A168 it was feeling good. So I pushed on a bit and it felt even better, so I thought I'd push on a bit more & it still felt great - and so on and so on...
Mind you by the time we got on the stretch into Strensall I was pretty much on empty so was very grateful of the tow back into town. (methinks the boys are being overly modest - they still had some energy up their sleeves really...)

Don't fall for the modesty thing anyone. Jess towed all of us round and whenever anyone tried to take a turn they were quickly found to be too slow and were overtaken - I consider my butt well and truly kicked! Have spent the remainder of the weekend trying to find the funds for a Cervelo of my own on the 'Arms Race' principle but alas the piggy bank is empty. Shame as I don't think the engine is upgradable on my bikes

Today went to Dalby and did the section of the Red Route from Low Dalby to Dixon's Hollow for the first time, with my son. Really enjoyed it and only needed to put a foot down a few times! The lad seemed to take it all in his stride - youth

Hopefully will go again and do the remainder of the route. Maybe The Dark Side so bad is not.......

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Mon May 30, 2011 8:35 am

I along with Victoria my wife was at Glentress this weekend with the Clifton mountain bike section. It was a year ago whilst at Glentress I broke my collar bone so going back was to face my demons! We arrived on Friday night at the bunkhouse near Cardrona after a very scenic drive up the A82 to avoid Friday bank holiday weekend traffic.

On the Saturday morning I headed out from the bunkhouse with the group to Glentress where we split with some starting on the Blue route and the rest including me tackling the black. It was the black route where I fell off so I've only done about 2/3's of the track before. I was on a new bike that climbed and gripped like a mountain goat so on the uphills and flats I was ok but with my confidence dented took the decents very cautiously. I passed the point I fell off and continued with no major issues and finished the course, although I did miss out the last section of technical decending opting for the safer fire road back to the cafe. After an enjoyable lunch a few of us did the blue route. I really enjoyed this and even enjoyed all the bermed decending. After completing the two routes I decided that was enough and headed back to the bunkhouse. Saturdays weather was sunshine and showers with some very heavy downpours and hail but luckily the weather improved for the evening and our BBQ.

On the Sunday morning I headed out with a few others to do the red route. I was now starting to find a little more decending confidence now so had a incident free enjoyable ride. Once completing the red route it was back to the cafe for lunch then for me back to the bunkhouse to pack as we were driving home that afternoon as we needed to be back in York on Sunday.

Victoria isn't a mountain biker but spent two days walking in Cardrona forest enjoying the fresh air and beautiful countryside and I had a great weekend would like to thank everyone who was there especially Hannah for organising and to the people who brought food and did the cooking and also my fellow BBQ chef Rich!

Hope you all had a good day on Monday with no incidents!

Ros · Post by **Ros** » Mon May 30, 2011 2:24 pm

Thank you to all K riders for caring for me following my crash on Saturday

. Still have no memory of what happened and with the bruises sustained by the crash coupled with the dizziness, I don't think I want to remember. Thankfully my bike is good with the exception of the handlebar extensions, one is scrapped back to the bare metal, so they are going!
Sorry if I made yet another pothole in the road (thanks Darren

) it really wasn't my intention

and we cyclists don't need yet another pothole do we? Thanks again guys and see you soon - Ros
Anyone heard from Tony yet?

Darren N · Post by **Darren N** » Mon May 30, 2011 4:32 pm

Ros, it’s excellent news to hear that you’re recovering well and feeling better, we were all very worried about you there for a while, head injuries are scary things! We do hope to see you out there again soon!

Just to reassure you about Tony, we were stationary at an intersection near the Minster and the car behind was too busy worrying about turning right than looking ahead. When we moved off, the car’s left hand bumper climbed all over Tony’s back wheel and I was sure he was going down but his obviously excellent bike skills enabled him to stay upright! (You can pay me for that later Tony

). The worry then was whether his back wheel was ok, which in the middle of a busy intersection was difficult to properly assess. He would only see the true damage at home on closer inspection. I recall a similar thing happening to Dr Dave last year, didn’t his rear mech cop it? Anyway, Tony escaped unharmed himself which was obviously the main thing.

D.

dave c · Post by **dave c** » Tue May 31, 2011 8:24 am

I did Holme Valley Wheelers 25 TT on Saturday. It was another windy day so didn't get a pb. 01:04:50 which I was disappointed with but hopefully better next time.

Hope you are feeling better Ros, I had a similar experience at a Croft Race last year, don't remember what happened but apparently went over bars, landed on head (saved by helmet) and spent night in hospital. OK apart from cuts, black eye, and scar.

Dave

StephF · Post by **StephF** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:25 am

Hope you're OK Ros!

This weekend I did guiding on a Saddle Skedaddle roadie holiday. It was a really good break, so much nicer than anything I have done recently. I was so fed up of cycling I was ready to give up! But this weekend made me remember what I enjoy, and that is meeting nice new people and having fun. All the endurance stuff we've been doing lately in rubbish weather was not fun (for me at least) at all!

The Skedaddle trip is actually really good if there are any roadies out there who want to get out and meet people from all walks of life who are at a similar level. The trip I guided on was 50 miles a day with a decent amount of climbing, in Wales. They do trips for all levels though.

mal · Post by **mal** » Tue May 31, 2011 10:00 am

Piggin' washout weekend with weak and wobbly legs and nary a tale to be told. Only incident of any note was being hit by bit of flying ballast on Saturday. It pinged off helmet with bit of thwack but I gave it no mind - got home to find big dint in outer casing and the inner "foam" cracked. Don't like to think about head without helmet! Hopefully that makes up the superstitious 3 that troubles are said to come in and everybody else is OK.