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Very interested in joining this one! How far is the route? Looks about 60 miles? Need to be back in york by 12:30!

There are a couple of "short cuts" on this route, so if time becomes of the essence you can dive back to York.

I'd ask DamianE, he's got the garmin route. 34 mins to edge of elvington judging by the last one!

Be careful son, that might be from Skelton!

Blimey, two pages and it hasn't even happened yet!

Get to bed, you need your sleep!!

Just about everybody turned up at the square this morning, so that when I suggested splitting into a "faster" and a "not so fast " group, we had about half a dozen in the NSF group and a seething mass of around twenty-five people all pulling "I'm well 'ard, me" faces. Since the NSF group lacked one crucial ingredient - someone who knew the route - I joined them, made tactful suggestions that the rest might like to split into two groups ("there'll be a selection", said Darren ominously) and then led them (the wrong way, to confuse the opposition) out of the square.

Our group of seven included two newcomers but some steady old hands too and quickly settled into nice neat teamwork which kept everyone involved and let people take turns which reflected how strong they were feeling. We got passed by Darren towing along "the selection" just before Howden, but didn't see anyone else until half the group short-cutted back at Wheldrake, and Muzzy joined the remaining three. Thereafter the pace - inevitably - ramped up again.

So for the "not so fast" group it was just over 19mph for the out-of-town chunk of the ride, and for me that meant 218W average putting it up there in effort terms with the last two Saturday rides. Full marks to both of the newcomers in the group who stuck in there until Wheldrake - not easy on a ride where the strong wind opened up gaps at the slightest opportunity.

So, how was it for everyone else??

Not a good start for me this morning..I forgot my flask, then I had a flat 2 miles out of Sherburn which meant I had to batter myself all the way to York to get to the square in time...fortunately I had a tailwind.

Got into a steady group and it was a good workout..anyone for the clubrun tomorrow?

As one of the aforementioned "newcomers", I'd like to say thanks for putting on a good group and tolerating my near-total lack of contributions at the business end of the bunch.

I don't suppose anyone heard my mutterings at about the 1hr30 mark of "another 2 minutes and you can drop" - either the pace dropped or I crossed through a pain barrier and out the other side, as I found myself still with the group on the 2hr mark! I really don't think I could have kept contact for much longer, and was keen to be facing home. It was nice to join another group on the way in along the A19.

My reckoning is that I averaged 27.7kph all told, mostly down to the losses when I slowed down to about 22kph in the last hour. If anyone has the average speed/power for the first 2 hours of the NSF group, I'd like to know them!

I'm sure that, for some, that was all very normal (boring?) stuff, but it certainly put a smile on my face to have doubled my original target of staying with the group an hour and I had a lot of fun pushing myself to keep up. Thanks. I hope to make it along next week and try for a little longer in the bunch.

I was also somewhat surprised to see so many people and I think that it was jess who took the initiative of the remaining 25ish riders and led out a group of around 10-12, I joined figuring it is kinda the 'fast group' as I had previously committed. Jess p*unctured about 5mins in, and the group behind went past, Darren called me to join them and after not really thinking about it, I joined them. We set a nice pace with some smooth group riding.

People gradually dropped off, and when we turned back into the wind, whoever felt good to take a turn did so. Darren kept the pace up, and kept everything in working order (whilst making sure that I had eaten enough) I assume he turned home to head towards home.

Damien and cam worked hard on the front keeping the speed high and, I assume that at the same turning as you phil, some people kept going towards York, That left the three of us to take it home, I managed to take a few turns on the front which was nice and I finally dropped off at the final flyover before the turn into fulford.

Very pleased with how I was going, certainly felt a whole lot better than last week average speed of 32.8kmh and just under an 800W av for the ride

Cheers

Tobz

I was in Darren's group also. It may be a flat route but when it's windy like today it can be hard one. I was keen to get a long ride in today and got up at an unearthly hour to ensure I got a some steady miles in before getting to the square.. Managed to get 85 miles in by time got back to York so pretty happy...all the more to draw on in the summer, etc, etc. It proved to be a good hard ride and particularly so after the turn at Howden. I left refuelling a little late (it is hard to eat anything when you are doing thru and off into a crosswind!) so retreated to back of group after crossing raliway line for second time to eat posssibly the driest muesli bar I have ever eaten and nearly choked in the process...

Toby...you did ride very strongly today...best I've seen you go on these training rides...I don't know much about this watt business but 800w!!...must have been a harder ride than I thought

..I reckon the extra 580W was spent eating...

Yes, one of the last 3 standing but only just

It seemed to take forever to get into a rhythm but by the time we caught Phils group we had a good lick on with nearly everyone helping out. Turning into the wind reduced those going through to 4 and was a bit grippy. But if I thought that was bad, I ended up doing a 2up with Cam for waaayyy too long. Once we (I) realised that if we kept it up I'd be arriving home in a body bag, we managed to let Toby through, who was doing great and we ground our way back to Fulford. We all chose different points to ease off so a lonely 15mph ride through town and out to Skelton. Body bag narrowly avoided, but only just. Must ride my bike more! Big congratulations to Colin aka fatsprinter who managed to do through and off for 2 hours before taking the short cut home to Bish. Well done son

Hi
Really looking forward to todays ride after feeling a whole lot stronger last week and some good long rides over christmas but got too Huby and chain snapped.Mended it ok then same thing so rode back home and put new link in.Wont go anywhere without a spare again.Set off over an hour later coxwold Thirsk Norhallerton and back over Kepwick SUWCliffe coxwold home so still had a good ride hopefully see u all next week cheers

First ride on a "Clifton" for years and with the big boys. Was expecting to be spat out by Elvington and turn right to ride to Wheldrake, Naburn and Bish but managed to do 2hrs through and off. Legs empty at that point - needed a gel. But scratty and untidy at points, but then I was fine up to two hours. Surprise one could do so little training and keep up!! Still, bodes well if I get training proper. Just need to avoid illness and family illness Really enjoyed it. Surprise at how many million people out? Could set it up as a proper road race league type training a la Jims session in Hull and get people properly into ability groups with proper time gaps. You all must really try a Jims session in Hull, really, you must! This was excellent, but it would give another angle to things!! Cheers guys, I'm fired up to start training properly and give up the beer!!

As Phil says, the 'slow group' worked well given the blustery conditions, with the newcomers hanging on valiantly ( with some interesting facial expressions at times ). Found things a lot easier than the previous week, but got a bit of tightness on my L achilles towards the end so when Martin turned at Wheldrake made a snap decision to do likewise.
Glad to see that Phil's normalised power was on the right side of 200! Must get some of those fancy pedals this year so I can get my own personalized data. Some decent legs would also come in handy mind u !