Had a grand day out on the 3 Bridges (one day classic) on Saturday. Turned up to the Scout Hut at Stamford Bridge expecting to do the 140 mile ride. John C soon volunteered me, army-style, into the 100 miler instead. Soon after, we had everyone recruited on to the shorter ride, regardless of prior intention. 7 participants departed at 8.30 for the long ride (I wonder if there’s enough differentiation to warrant this ride??) while a load of us departed at 9.00am on the 100 miler.
Before long, a group of thirteen containing the usual names separated off the front of the peloton and settled into a hefty pace. This group contained Shaun W, Tony G, Ian H, Dr Dave, John C, John S, Jon G, Andy J, another Andy (S, I think?, not G or M), Broomwagon, Allan, Ross and myself. Broomo asked me whether the pace would settle down at some point. I said that it would, but neglected to tell him that this wouldn’t happen until about 95 miles time! We got over the bumpy bits around North Newbald and headed towards the Humber.
At the Humber Bridge, we stopped for a cuppa at the control point. We picked up Craig (a regular on chaingangs around York) and headed across the river into the open flat country of nowhere land. Once across the Trent at Gunness, the traditional slog started northwards and then west towards Goole. Tony G and John S put in a huge stint between Ousefleet and Goole. John hasn’t done as much cycling as usual this year and his pistons were smokin’!
Lunch was had at the Yorkshire Waterways Museum in Goole. Thankfully, I was aware of the wait time at this café. I’d put in my order on last year’s ride and was at the table this year for when it eventually came out. Veterans of this ride knew what to expect when we left Goole for the final 25 miles back to Stamford Bridge. When we turned left onto the B1228, two things happened, the speed doubled and then chaingang rotations set up. The group was flying, and except for Craig’s puncture in a pot hole, the pace never let up. It got a bit jittery in places, some finding themselves in very odd positions, and it paid to stay clear at times while the decks cleared. The biggest challenge was to close down the gaps to avoid getting flung out the back. Anyway, after an exhilarating run home, we soon were back in Stamford Bridge for tea & cakes with Greg. Our collective Garmins showed an average speed of 19.5 – 19.7 mph for the 105 mile trip, no wonder we felt like our tanks were empty!
I’d like to thank Greg in particular for organising such a fantastic event, it was excellent and Greg had done a sensational job. Well done indeed!
I’d also like to thank my fellow clubbers for not giving me too much stick about the TdF,…yet!
D.
Weekend Roundup 14th & 15th July
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Cyan Skymoos
- Posts: 525
- Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:46 pm
3 Bridges was indeed a brilliant ride, my second 100miler and a tour of some of East Yorkshires finest industrial estates 
Massive thanks to my little gang of 8 for a fantastic day and well done to the young lads (whose names i have shamefully forgotten) who came with us and were still full of energy when we got back to the hut!
H
Massive thanks to my little gang of 8 for a fantastic day and well done to the young lads (whose names i have shamefully forgotten) who came with us and were still full of energy when we got back to the hut!H
It was an hour on the turbo and a lot of zip-tying on Saturday for me, followed by the annual road race day on Sunday.
It had been a good run-up to it, with the Met Office website gradually shifting from various cloud/raindrop combo's to a nice row of unimpeded suns. And so it dawned - blue skies and a fresh south-westerly as I turfed my bleary-eyed daughter out of her bed ("I need tea! I need make-up!") and off up to Aldborough for 8am. The morning team of helpers quickly arrived, Melly and I headed out to plant road signs and by the time we got back the hall was full of elderly bare flesh and traffic manager Rich Houghton nearly had an asthma attack from the embrocation when he came in.
All went well with both races; everyone got round safely apart from one faller in the E/F/G vets race which annoyingly cost Dave C a spoke and therefore a finish. We had a few inevitable complaints and Melly suffered an extraordinary-sounding road-rage incident, but thankfully no harm done. Feedback via comments on the day and emails since has been good -
"great races and you managed to deliver the '2 Races in one day' challenge"
"Fantastic organisation, an enjoyable race and the sun was out! Thanks to all at Clifton who did all the hard work allowing the event to happen"
"Thanks for todays event....good course, not many fast circuits like that get used in Yorkshire which makes a nice change"
I want to thank everyone who took on jobs on the day and did so in such an assured way that there was no drama and no stress about it all. Specifically Cath for a fantastic job dealing with the catering, Lisa for helping her in the afternoon (and sorting out the vets' finishing order - a horrendous task); Nigel, Melly, Muzzy, Dave C, Cam and Broomwagon for driving the race convoy cars; Dave I, Rich T, Tom, Rich D and Andy M for marshalling (and Darren who turned up and did an impromptu solo marshalling session for the afternoon race), Anthony for helping at the finish and anyone else who I've missed who turned up and helped out without me even seeing them. Thanks also to daughter Hannah who coped expertly with all the signing-on (and the mild trauma of being asked by one of the vets "are you on Facebook?" - possibly still less scarring than Cath and Lisa's incident with the Y-Fronts last year though...).
Lastly well done to all the club's riders who raced - the combination of speed and the blustery wind made it look gruelling. As Nigel commented - "It's easier in a car, y'know..."
It had been a good run-up to it, with the Met Office website gradually shifting from various cloud/raindrop combo's to a nice row of unimpeded suns. And so it dawned - blue skies and a fresh south-westerly as I turfed my bleary-eyed daughter out of her bed ("I need tea! I need make-up!") and off up to Aldborough for 8am. The morning team of helpers quickly arrived, Melly and I headed out to plant road signs and by the time we got back the hall was full of elderly bare flesh and traffic manager Rich Houghton nearly had an asthma attack from the embrocation when he came in.
All went well with both races; everyone got round safely apart from one faller in the E/F/G vets race which annoyingly cost Dave C a spoke and therefore a finish. We had a few inevitable complaints and Melly suffered an extraordinary-sounding road-rage incident, but thankfully no harm done. Feedback via comments on the day and emails since has been good -
"great races and you managed to deliver the '2 Races in one day' challenge"
"Fantastic organisation, an enjoyable race and the sun was out! Thanks to all at Clifton who did all the hard work allowing the event to happen"
"Thanks for todays event....good course, not many fast circuits like that get used in Yorkshire which makes a nice change"
I want to thank everyone who took on jobs on the day and did so in such an assured way that there was no drama and no stress about it all. Specifically Cath for a fantastic job dealing with the catering, Lisa for helping her in the afternoon (and sorting out the vets' finishing order - a horrendous task); Nigel, Melly, Muzzy, Dave C, Cam and Broomwagon for driving the race convoy cars; Dave I, Rich T, Tom, Rich D and Andy M for marshalling (and Darren who turned up and did an impromptu solo marshalling session for the afternoon race), Anthony for helping at the finish and anyone else who I've missed who turned up and helped out without me even seeing them. Thanks also to daughter Hannah who coped expertly with all the signing-on (and the mild trauma of being asked by one of the vets "are you on Facebook?" - possibly still less scarring than Cath and Lisa's incident with the Y-Fronts last year though...).
Lastly well done to all the club's riders who raced - the combination of speed and the blustery wind made it look gruelling. As Nigel commented - "It's easier in a car, y'know..."
Yorkshire Alps on Sunday for me. With so much going on this weekend I didn't expect many in the Square, indeed I'd psyched myself up for a probable solo ride. In the event i was pleased to be joined by heather and Mark D. Lovely morning and we tapped out a steady tempo all the way to Richmond - 50 miles/just under 3 hours.
From here though we turned into the wind, the clouds bubbled up and the temperature dropped. Still you don't ride up here for the weather. The climb from reeth to TH took about an hour and we didn't linger at the top. Down into Swaledale then on some of the best roads in the country. Buttertubs to follow - Heather climbed out of sight (she doesn't do too badly for a girl you know
), Mark and I taking it a bit more cautiously.
Hawes full to the limit with middle aged blokes on motorbikes - all admiring each other's shiny bits. Only just room in the cafe for us.
Fleets Moss was the hardest climb, as usual. But the descent with a tailwind down by the upper Wharfe was just cycling heaven.
By Grassington we'd covered 106 miles, and this was now Mark's longest ride. With the wind now firmly at our backs we romped home from here. Door to door 155miles for me, in exactly 12 hours, 2500m of climbing. Mark peeled off at Tockwith with the intension of riding home to Wass
Grand day out. Thanks for the company.
From here though we turned into the wind, the clouds bubbled up and the temperature dropped. Still you don't ride up here for the weather. The climb from reeth to TH took about an hour and we didn't linger at the top. Down into Swaledale then on some of the best roads in the country. Buttertubs to follow - Heather climbed out of sight (she doesn't do too badly for a girl you know
), Mark and I taking it a bit more cautiously.Hawes full to the limit with middle aged blokes on motorbikes - all admiring each other's shiny bits. Only just room in the cafe for us.
Fleets Moss was the hardest climb, as usual. But the descent with a tailwind down by the upper Wharfe was just cycling heaven.
By Grassington we'd covered 106 miles, and this was now Mark's longest ride. With the wind now firmly at our backs we romped home from here. Door to door 155miles for me, in exactly 12 hours, 2500m of climbing. Mark peeled off at Tockwith with the intension of riding home to Wass
Grand day out. Thanks for the company.
Did the LVRC Clifton RR as Phil describes above. My 1st race of the season and not expecting much, try and sit in the bunch and hopefully have a go at the sprint. On the 2nd of 5 and thee quarter laps ending up chasing a break but gave up as was approaching the slope out of Thorton and decided to save energy to make sure hung onto bunch as they came past. On the 5th lap we were chasing a break and a guy moved across behind and just caught my back wheel, he crashed (took another with him apparently) and I pressed on but after a couple of 100 yards pulled up with a broken spoke. A pity about that I was enjoying it and feeling good.
Dave
Dave
Had planned to do the 3 Bridges Audax with the Intermediates, but was so excited the night before that I didn’t sleep ‘til 3 am. Haven’t we all been there before?
There’s a moment in the early hours when you decide “sod it, I’m not going to cycle the flippin’ event on 4 hours kip” and with the obstacle to your sleep removed, you promptly nod off!
Instead, offered to help Greg but he had things under control, so did a steady 70 miles to West Lutton, stopping briefly to chat with Claire G and Elaine at the Square. We just hope Wiggins/ Froome don’t crack as the pressure mounts in this final week of the Tour (whereas 3rd and 4th placed Nibali and Evans know how to win grand tours).
And we agreed that Cadel Evans’ jersey looks strangely familiar…
Evans:
Clifton club member on Saturday’s 3 Bridges Audax:
There’s a moment in the early hours when you decide “sod it, I’m not going to cycle the flippin’ event on 4 hours kip” and with the obstacle to your sleep removed, you promptly nod off!
Instead, offered to help Greg but he had things under control, so did a steady 70 miles to West Lutton, stopping briefly to chat with Claire G and Elaine at the Square. We just hope Wiggins/ Froome don’t crack as the pressure mounts in this final week of the Tour (whereas 3rd and 4th placed Nibali and Evans know how to win grand tours).
And we agreed that Cadel Evans’ jersey looks strangely familiar…
Evans:
Clifton club member on Saturday’s 3 Bridges Audax:
Did the Clifton Vets race on Sunday. In the A/Bs with Richard, Tim, Tom. Two lads stayed away I think. Bunch sprint for the rest of us. Managed to follow a good wheel but got squeezed out of the the top ten and brown envelope places unfortunately. Enjoyed the race though. Good fast course.
Enjoyed watching the BC race later on in the afternoon from the comfort of my car. They weren't hanging about - ave. somewhere north of 26 mph! Well done to Phil and everyone else for putting this on. It was great to come back to a fine spread of food at HQ afterwards as well. All in all, a good day out
Enjoyed watching the BC race later on in the afternoon from the comfort of my car. They weren't hanging about - ave. somewhere north of 26 mph! Well done to Phil and everyone else for putting this on. It was great to come back to a fine spread of food at HQ afterwards as well. All in all, a good day out
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m-k-lewis@msn.com
- Posts: 87
- Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 9:28 pm
- Location: Copmanthorpe
Three Bridges was my first Clifton ride for ages. I've missed you all! It was really good to catch up with Darren, Bernard, Ginnie, Dave et al.
Knee problems and my son Ben getting rather good at the 1500m have kept me off the bike most weekends. He didn't have a race this weekend so I got to accompany him and his friend, Eugene, on their first 100 mile ride (which they completed sickeningly easily).
Many thanks to Dave and Bernard who spent most of the day on the front, and particular thanks to Bernard from the two boys for making their first ton so enjoyable.
Mark
Knee problems and my son Ben getting rather good at the 1500m have kept me off the bike most weekends. He didn't have a race this weekend so I got to accompany him and his friend, Eugene, on their first 100 mile ride (which they completed sickeningly easily).
Many thanks to Dave and Bernard who spent most of the day on the front, and particular thanks to Bernard from the two boys for making their first ton so enjoyable.
Mark
The three bridges indeed was a spirited ride. Managed to equal the av. Speed of 2010. I was another one planning on doing the long route but got worryingly easily talked out of it. I might regret that on Saturday on the Roses ride. The Yorkshire alps may have been the better option, sorry Rob. It was a good event Greg thoughAnd thanks for organising and everybody else for the company
Jon
Jon
Rolling up in Stamford Bridge at 8.00 on Saturday morning, I found that a few of you had beaten me to it, clearly uber keen to ride the B&B. These included an Australian on a very shiny new bike, who I think I recognise from Karl's photo! Of course, all the Clifton riders then proceeded to talk each other out of it and onto the shorter Three Bridges! Eventually, nine survivors started the ride, including two who snuck in at the last minute - one of which confused me into giving him a Three Bridges brevet card - and one tandem. The tandemmers sadly burst a tyre before Bridlington and ended up packing it in, leaving a guy called Graeme to take line honours in just over 10 hours. This rode to Glasgow with me earlier this year, but he was doing his first calendar Audax and he thought he'd been rather slow until I managed to convince him that he was the opposite. Forza Graeme! Everyone enjoyed it, so who's up for being a bit audacious next year, eh?
The Three Bridges (but no beaches) went well from all I heard, everyone seemed happy at the end, including the bonkers group at the front, both Bentons and at least two riders on their first imperial 100. Does anyone have any photos?
The next day was my own bike ride, the YCF 100. Unfortunately, (dis)organising the audaxes the previous day had taken more out of me than I'd realised, so I struggled round the first lap and packed at Topcliffe, as I stood more chance of falling asleep on the bike than of beating my time from the Anfield BC race. I wandered home via meetings with the Sunday clubrun and Phil putting out signs (sorry I didn't come out again, Phil) and made an appointment with the sofa: the start of a comprehensive program of R&R in preparation for the 12 hour in a fortnight.
The Three Bridges (but no beaches) went well from all I heard, everyone seemed happy at the end, including the bonkers group at the front, both Bentons and at least two riders on their first imperial 100. Does anyone have any photos?
The next day was my own bike ride, the YCF 100. Unfortunately, (dis)organising the audaxes the previous day had taken more out of me than I'd realised, so I struggled round the first lap and packed at Topcliffe, as I stood more chance of falling asleep on the bike than of beating my time from the Anfield BC race. I wandered home via meetings with the Sunday clubrun and Phil putting out signs (sorry I didn't come out again, Phil) and made an appointment with the sofa: the start of a comprehensive program of R&R in preparation for the 12 hour in a fortnight.
Thanks to Rob & Heather!
A big thanks to Rob and Heather for putting up with my wheel-sucking all the way to the Yorkshire Dales and back! I made it to Easingwold so maybe only 3 challenge points???
Mark
Mark
Clifton RR - vets race for me too. Lovely sunny morning, great course, and was really pleased to survive 50 miles with the bunch, get up the front a couple of times (and off it briefly) while still having legs left to contest the sprint. Finished a couple of wheels behind Cam; and went back to marshall the Thornton Bridge corner for the BC race, where riders swept the bend so wide I had to stand on the verge with my 'Stop/Go' sign or they would have knocked me down! Looked like an exciting race with a 2-man break staying about 50s away for (almost?) the whole thing.
Great organisation by Phil and the team; this course again next year?
tom
Great organisation by Phil and the team; this course again next year?
tom
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Broom Wagon
- Posts: 435
- Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:15 pm
A weekend of thanks. Firstly thanks to Greg for putting on the Audaxes on Saturday. More by accident than design I think I've done all the Three Bridges rides, right from the first one, though if someone says to me "oh no you haven't," they might have a better memory than me. I had intended a bit of a steady sociable ride but found myself stuck with the usual fire breathing monsters not able to talk for 100 miles. Hope to do the longer ride at a easy pace if Greg runs it next year.
Secondly thanks to Phil for putting on the road race. As I'm someone who's taken far more out of this club than I've ever put back in, I can't help having a huge amount of admiration for Phil and I'm in awe of his swan like (calm and serene on the surface but perhaps paddling away like billy-o underneath) capability. Nice to feel I might have been of some use this time, though, bringing the medics to the poor chap in a heap that took out Dave's spoke in the morning race and taking him back to the HQ along with his bike. He was forswearing racing for good as a result of his crash - he'll be back next year.........
P.S Mr Bixby - it's all very well sending me a cheque, but there's not a thing you can do to make me cash it
Secondly thanks to Phil for putting on the road race. As I'm someone who's taken far more out of this club than I've ever put back in, I can't help having a huge amount of admiration for Phil and I'm in awe of his swan like (calm and serene on the surface but perhaps paddling away like billy-o underneath) capability. Nice to feel I might have been of some use this time, though, bringing the medics to the poor chap in a heap that took out Dave's spoke in the morning race and taking him back to the HQ along with his bike. He was forswearing racing for good as a result of his crash - he'll be back next year.........
P.S Mr Bixby - it's all very well sending me a cheque, but there's not a thing you can do to make me cash it