Many thanks AJ and the team for what was, for me, a cracking day. The route was great, the feed stations and end of ride hospitality was spot on.
A couple of navigation errors left me with a total of 93 miles for the day in 5.53 so pretty pleased with that considering I am miss-firing on one pot at the moment. Once again I struggled with the section after Meltonby and that Givendale hill is a bit cheeky. A fast last 5 miles after Millington Pastures make up for it though!
Pock Pedal Roundup
Moderator: Moderators
Pock Pedal Roundup
Allan
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------ (+) / (+)______ better by bike!
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------ (+) / (+)______ better by bike!
Another enjoyable day here, thanks Andy and all involved. Weather stayed dry but it was cold - average temp 46 degrees in May! Happy with my time - a la Garmin pending official timings - of 5hrs 26mins approx. Feed stations were just right. Agree with Allan about the pull up to Givendale - legs now aching nicely....
Was sorry to hear at the end that John C p******d not once but twice! Bad luck
Was sorry to hear at the end that John C p******d not once but twice! Bad luck
Brilliant Ride
Thanks for organising such a great ride to day, I had a brilliant time. How did you organise the nice weather!!!
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Broom Wagon
- Posts: 435
- Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:15 pm
One of the questions on the feedback sheet was something like: have you done enough training for this event? I wonder if anyone actually answered yes? It was obvious I was going to put no. Though I think you can go into the Wolds carrying too much weight and not especially fit and still have a spirited ride. The majority of the climbs tend to be draggy ones that never get too steep and you can sit in the saddle and grind your way up. The North York moors and the Dales allow no such courtesy.
The ride was excellently organised and despite the cold and my lack of fitness I couldn’t help enjoying myself. One thing it did bring into contrast is that you get spoilt riding with Clifton. The club has a lot of experience and new members soon learn how to ride well from the example set. By contrast on today’s ride, Dave C and I found ourselves in what should have been a good group, it was about the right size with everyone reasonably matched on the climbs and the flats. Under normal circumstances one would have expected a group like that to carve up the miles like there was no tomorrow, but for most of the time whenever someone came to the front they absolutely stomped on the pedals and put 5 bike lengths between themselves and the poor chap that had been on the front resulting in the whole group making a big effort to close the gap. I couldn’t get my head around it. It was a timed ride so there was nothing to be gained by it. I was on the verge of throwing my teddy out of the cot and start telling people how to ride their bikes. No doubt there would have been handbags at dawn so I was glad when the final feed came at Stamford Bridge. Dave C and I had a quick chat and decided to let them get on it and rode the final section together on our own.
The last climb through Millington into a head wind was tough, but as cyclists, admit it, that’s what we like.
All in all it was the most enjoyable ride I’ve had this year (first time on my summer bike). I didn’t even mind taking a couple of detours (I must have made all the same mistakes as Alan because I recorded exactly the same distance) and after all I certainly needed the miles. Thanks to Andy and the team for all their hard work.
I can’t help thinking wouldn’t it be great to do this ride next year and be a stone lighter with 5000 miles in my legs – all I need is will power, so I’ll be back next year overweight and under trained as usual then.
The ride was excellently organised and despite the cold and my lack of fitness I couldn’t help enjoying myself. One thing it did bring into contrast is that you get spoilt riding with Clifton. The club has a lot of experience and new members soon learn how to ride well from the example set. By contrast on today’s ride, Dave C and I found ourselves in what should have been a good group, it was about the right size with everyone reasonably matched on the climbs and the flats. Under normal circumstances one would have expected a group like that to carve up the miles like there was no tomorrow, but for most of the time whenever someone came to the front they absolutely stomped on the pedals and put 5 bike lengths between themselves and the poor chap that had been on the front resulting in the whole group making a big effort to close the gap. I couldn’t get my head around it. It was a timed ride so there was nothing to be gained by it. I was on the verge of throwing my teddy out of the cot and start telling people how to ride their bikes. No doubt there would have been handbags at dawn so I was glad when the final feed came at Stamford Bridge. Dave C and I had a quick chat and decided to let them get on it and rode the final section together on our own.
The last climb through Millington into a head wind was tough, but as cyclists, admit it, that’s what we like.
All in all it was the most enjoyable ride I’ve had this year (first time on my summer bike). I didn’t even mind taking a couple of detours (I must have made all the same mistakes as Alan because I recorded exactly the same distance) and after all I certainly needed the miles. Thanks to Andy and the team for all their hard work.
I can’t help thinking wouldn’t it be great to do this ride next year and be a stone lighter with 5000 miles in my legs – all I need is will power, so I’ll be back next year overweight and under trained as usual then.
although the climb out of thixendale was a pain -
like my bike
- Posts: 697
- Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:19 pm
- Location: The East
Thanks for all the positive comments guys really appreciate it. Finishing times and links to some fantastic images are all on the event page.
Special congratulatins to our 5 under 16 riders who completed the 20 miles Mini Route, well done everyone.
http://www.cliftoncc.org/challen/pockli ... -challenge
Lastly but most importantly to our volunteers who made it happen a great Clifton cc effort.
Special congratulatins to our 5 under 16 riders who completed the 20 miles Mini Route, well done everyone.
http://www.cliftoncc.org/challen/pockli ... -challenge
Lastly but most importantly to our volunteers who made it happen a great Clifton cc effort.
A J
Another superb Pocklington Pedal organised by Andy and his Clifton team! I’ve been to two events in the past month organised by Clifton CC, the Scotton and the Pocklington Pedal, and the professionalism of both events made me feel proud to be a member of such a great Club.
Once the Town Crier had done his ‘Hear Ye’ thing, we started solidly. A big group hit the first climb at a solid pace and I thought we were in for a quick one. Then, at only the 12-mile mark, John C punctured. Only 3 of us stopped! (sadly) …and that was that! A big pat on the back to Neil S and Jon G who also stopped. – We watched almost the entire field ride past (although I heard Bernard may also have had some problems early too?)
On the re-start, we entertained aspirations of fighting our way back to the pointy end but just as we thought we were making progress, we arrived at the 27-mile mark between Kirby Grindalythe and Settrington and poor John punctured again…and that definitely was that! Our GC aspirations were over. While fixing this one, Karl caught up with us after a late start, which left 5 of us to enjoy a nice Intermediate-paced ride for the rest of the day.
We saw some familiar faces going in the opposite direction on the out ‘n’ back section into Scagglethorpe, which was nice. The ascent of Birdsall was done in textbook fashion in a tight group - John wanted to take a picture of us for ride guide books! – Rob would have been delirious!- Sustained effort rather than sustained speed all the way up. The run through Thixendale was quick – this photo told the story of our day, http://www.cyclesportphotos.com/_photo_9499088.html - 3 Cliftonites on the front plus two others in the group dragging various hangers-on around the course, without anyone else ever wanting to take a turn.
We made an error after Howsham where we should have taken a left to Bossall. Unfortunately the arrow pointed straight ahead to Harton and out on to A64! We did the right thing, gathered together a pack of 30-40 riders who were standing bewildered on the side of the road and led them back to the Bossall turn. Karl jumped off his bike and turned the sign around to the right direction. We then led a big peloton into the Stamford Bridge feed station.
We left Stamford Bridge into a headwind, again with a big group of hangers-on behind us – thankfully, by the time we’d arrived at the Great Givendale climb, we’d dropped almost everyone else. The headwind through the valley at Millington pastures was tough, before we splintered a bit as we unloaded everything we had left in the tank for the final plunge down into Pocklington.
I thought the route was much better than last year – We also ended up with 92.5 miles, with a deceptively large amount of climbing logged (for comparison purposes, almost 25% more climbing than doing the Cockayne Loop out of the Square). It truly was a beautiful route with sensational panoramic views throughout. Our time was nothing flash, but the 50 minute difference between my Moving Time and Elapsed Time said it all.
Well done to Dan C (never saw you Dan!) and Shaun W for outstanding times. Well done also to the 5 youngsters who finished the Mini route – you’ll be dishing it up to us Oldies in no time! Special thanks to my ride buddies for the day, John C, Neil S, Jon G and Karl – we didn’t have a lot of luck but you guys made it a superb day.
If you haven’t ridden this event yet, definitely sign up next year, it’s a beautiful ride. Thanks again to Andy and his Clifton team – a great job executed superbly!
D.
Once the Town Crier had done his ‘Hear Ye’ thing, we started solidly. A big group hit the first climb at a solid pace and I thought we were in for a quick one. Then, at only the 12-mile mark, John C punctured. Only 3 of us stopped! (sadly) …and that was that! A big pat on the back to Neil S and Jon G who also stopped. – We watched almost the entire field ride past (although I heard Bernard may also have had some problems early too?)
On the re-start, we entertained aspirations of fighting our way back to the pointy end but just as we thought we were making progress, we arrived at the 27-mile mark between Kirby Grindalythe and Settrington and poor John punctured again…and that definitely was that! Our GC aspirations were over. While fixing this one, Karl caught up with us after a late start, which left 5 of us to enjoy a nice Intermediate-paced ride for the rest of the day.
We saw some familiar faces going in the opposite direction on the out ‘n’ back section into Scagglethorpe, which was nice. The ascent of Birdsall was done in textbook fashion in a tight group - John wanted to take a picture of us for ride guide books! – Rob would have been delirious!- Sustained effort rather than sustained speed all the way up. The run through Thixendale was quick – this photo told the story of our day, http://www.cyclesportphotos.com/_photo_9499088.html - 3 Cliftonites on the front plus two others in the group dragging various hangers-on around the course, without anyone else ever wanting to take a turn.
We made an error after Howsham where we should have taken a left to Bossall. Unfortunately the arrow pointed straight ahead to Harton and out on to A64! We did the right thing, gathered together a pack of 30-40 riders who were standing bewildered on the side of the road and led them back to the Bossall turn. Karl jumped off his bike and turned the sign around to the right direction. We then led a big peloton into the Stamford Bridge feed station.
We left Stamford Bridge into a headwind, again with a big group of hangers-on behind us – thankfully, by the time we’d arrived at the Great Givendale climb, we’d dropped almost everyone else. The headwind through the valley at Millington pastures was tough, before we splintered a bit as we unloaded everything we had left in the tank for the final plunge down into Pocklington.
I thought the route was much better than last year – We also ended up with 92.5 miles, with a deceptively large amount of climbing logged (for comparison purposes, almost 25% more climbing than doing the Cockayne Loop out of the Square). It truly was a beautiful route with sensational panoramic views throughout. Our time was nothing flash, but the 50 minute difference between my Moving Time and Elapsed Time said it all.
Well done to Dan C (never saw you Dan!) and Shaun W for outstanding times. Well done also to the 5 youngsters who finished the Mini route – you’ll be dishing it up to us Oldies in no time! Special thanks to my ride buddies for the day, John C, Neil S, Jon G and Karl – we didn’t have a lot of luck but you guys made it a superb day.
If you haven’t ridden this event yet, definitely sign up next year, it’s a beautiful ride. Thanks again to Andy and his Clifton team – a great job executed superbly!
D.
Hi Andy, I did the midi ride and really enjoyed it. Most people had set off when I ambled to the front of the school but it gave me plenty of people to chase! I've ridden the 9am Saturday rides with Phil et al since moving back to England last year and set off with the intentions of a similar tempo for 3 and a bit hours. Unfortunately given the constant rabbit to chase of another cyclist and the uphill/headwind combo for most of the first 2 hours, I spent too much time going a bit harder than my condition allowed. So much chasing meant I had to ease off coming into the feed as I'd given myself the bonk after 2 weeks sick off the bike. Thankfully food and water helped as did the caffeine gel obtained at the start. My word, buying some more of those! Went like 10 men after that, still haven't slept. Looks like I ended up with the quickest time so there must be something in them eh?
I see on your website some pictures of the climb out of Thixendale but they don't seem to be on the official photographers site? it's the only one I tried to smile for but I fear it will be a mask of pain!
Anyway if I can keep riding all year I'll enter the 100 miles next year I think. Thanks for organising the event, see you next year.
I see on your website some pictures of the climb out of Thixendale but they don't seem to be on the official photographers site? it's the only one I tried to smile for but I fear it will be a mask of pain!
Anyway if I can keep riding all year I'll enter the 100 miles next year I think. Thanks for organising the event, see you next year.
Not sure what happened to Dan. He was with Bob and I , and another rider named Jeremy, climbing Birdsall but wasn't with us at the top. We assumed he must have had a p*****r or something.
Well done to Dan C (never saw you Dan!) and Shaun W for outstanding times.
D.
We never saw him again but somehow he finished 30 mins before us?
pock pedal
Thanks to Darren,Neil and JohnG for waiting when I suffered 2 flats. I thought the route was great and the company even better.
Again thanks and see you on the next one.
Again thanks and see you on the next one.
Having just missed the 8.30am mass departure from Pocklington, I started alone a few minutes later and headed into the sunny countryside. After a mile, the excitement of spotting the first of many British Cycling route signs quickly soured, because it was facing the opposite way… for cyclists returning from 90-odd miles.
Should’ve turned left out of the HQ instead of right.
Passing HQ again, care was taken to avoid riding over the transponder mat and not only risk receiving a stunning time of 6mins 28secs for the event, but also giving the next cyclist using transponder no. 51 a time of 21 days for their sportive (go over the timing start/ stop device three times
).
As if that wasn’t enough, the front tyre then needed the services of a £3 pump. Perhaps the Chinese only inflate their tyres to 60 psi, because this little pump decided to stop at that point. Or maybe the Chinese have strong arms, because these little arms decided to stop at that point (slogan for a new bicycle pump “designed for those with arms built like a cyclist’s”).
Back on, a few sentences were gasped at a group including Dave I’an, Mark, Steve A, Steve S and Dawn, before heroically catching up with a very static intermediate group- thanks to Neil S, Jon G, Darren, John C … and Continental Gatorskins.
Well done to one of the Intermediate’s diesel locomotives- Shaun W- for completing the hilly course at 18.5 mph. And hats off to those who completed it in under 6hrs; surely a sportive “gold” time cut-off.
Thanks for organising the event, Andy J, along with your team (Martin H and others). Especially to whoever had to signpost the route. Imagine driving approx. 110 miles on country lanes at around 30 mph, stopping every few minutes to put up a sign. 5 hrs or more of effort… only to then repeat it again with the removal of the signs.
It's easy to overlook the work that goes into this Pock Pedal and the Scotton.
Should’ve turned left out of the HQ instead of right.
Passing HQ again, care was taken to avoid riding over the transponder mat and not only risk receiving a stunning time of 6mins 28secs for the event, but also giving the next cyclist using transponder no. 51 a time of 21 days for their sportive (go over the timing start/ stop device three times
).As if that wasn’t enough, the front tyre then needed the services of a £3 pump. Perhaps the Chinese only inflate their tyres to 60 psi, because this little pump decided to stop at that point. Or maybe the Chinese have strong arms, because these little arms decided to stop at that point (slogan for a new bicycle pump “designed for those with arms built like a cyclist’s”).
Back on, a few sentences were gasped at a group including Dave I’an, Mark, Steve A, Steve S and Dawn, before heroically catching up with a very static intermediate group- thanks to Neil S, Jon G, Darren, John C … and Continental Gatorskins.
Well done to one of the Intermediate’s diesel locomotives- Shaun W- for completing the hilly course at 18.5 mph. And hats off to those who completed it in under 6hrs; surely a sportive “gold” time cut-off.
Thanks for organising the event, Andy J, along with your team (Martin H and others). Especially to whoever had to signpost the route. Imagine driving approx. 110 miles on country lanes at around 30 mph, stopping every few minutes to put up a sign. 5 hrs or more of effort… only to then repeat it again with the removal of the signs.
It's easy to overlook the work that goes into this Pock Pedal and the Scotton.