I'll start this week. There is another Saturday club ride that doesn't get much of a mention on these threads and that is the "K" ride. Unfortunately Kevin had an arguement with a pothole last week so I was handed the metaphorical baton (i.e. the map). The format of the K ride is 60-70 scenic miles, a bit of banter at the cafe, and we ride together looking out for each other, regrouping after every hill and go out as a group and come back as a group.
This week the group comprised Dawn, Julia, Andy, Bernard, Jonathon, John, Howard, Neil, Mark, Dave and newcomer Amid. We went out via Crayke, Yearsley, Dalby, Terrington, Coneysthorpe and into Malton. Bernard had recc'd a new cafe in the Market Square so we were treated to own room complete with white tablecloths and a blazing fire. Back to York into the wind via Menethorpe, Kirkham and Bossall. The weather stayed dry and we even had a bit of sunshine on the way home.
Stats for those who like them - 61 miles, average 13.5mph, 2 pots of tea
Weekend Roundup 16/17th March
Moderator: Moderators
I managed two rides this weekend. The first was 5 hour non stop 63 miles on Saturday via Beningbrough, Easingwold, Coxwold, White Horse Bank, then across the top to on the A170 back to Hovingham (for a meat and potato pie and cheese scone) then back to York. I did it on the trekking bike again (about 16kg) which made hard work coming back in against the wind into york with all its front and rear rack infrastructure.
The second was a ride back from Boltby via Bolby Bank on Sunday afternoon via the A170 then Ampleforth, Yearley, Farlington and back. Around 30 miles done in snow then rain followed by snow again. It was nice to be back on the race bike though. Certainly the weather for maximum effort without the remotest chance of overheating! The chill pains when I got back were excruciating.
The second was a ride back from Boltby via Bolby Bank on Sunday afternoon via the A170 then Ampleforth, Yearley, Farlington and back. Around 30 miles done in snow then rain followed by snow again. It was nice to be back on the race bike though. Certainly the weather for maximum effort without the remotest chance of overheating! The chill pains when I got back were excruciating.
I'm not going to be able to compete with most of the rides that get posted here...yet.
Its almost 2 years since I was last able to do a club run, a knee injury meant zero exercise for about a year and then some intermittent steady cycling when it wasn't hurting too much. However, at the beginning of Jan I had knee surgery, a few weeks hobbling about on crutches and yesterday I exposed my bike to the fresh air for the first time in 10 weeks and did 20 very flat, very steady miles and it felt fantastic!
It'll be a long time before I'm back on club runs - 2 years of sedentary comfort-eating and a long recovery from the knee op, but I can't wait to be back riding with everyone again on the K rides.
Special thanks to Kevin, Claire & Bernard for all their encouragement! Kevin - I hope you're feeling a bit less battered and bruised after last week.
Its almost 2 years since I was last able to do a club run, a knee injury meant zero exercise for about a year and then some intermittent steady cycling when it wasn't hurting too much. However, at the beginning of Jan I had knee surgery, a few weeks hobbling about on crutches and yesterday I exposed my bike to the fresh air for the first time in 10 weeks and did 20 very flat, very steady miles and it felt fantastic!
It'll be a long time before I'm back on club runs - 2 years of sedentary comfort-eating and a long recovery from the knee op, but I can't wait to be back riding with everyone again on the K rides.
Special thanks to Kevin, Claire & Bernard for all their encouragement! Kevin - I hope you're feeling a bit less battered and bruised after last week.
Team Intermediates/ “A” on Saturday were Matt, Dr.Dave and Joe, Julian, John C, Jon G, Stuart, Tony G, Dave C and Ian H.
Before leaving the Square, it was good to meet two recently fallen comrades: Dave W with a plaster cast on his elbow and Shaun W with bruised ribs, both after hitting road obstacles.
Then we had an idea. So that our two wounded riders could cycle with us, we were going to all nip back home and fetch our static turbo trainers and just cycle at the Square for some hours.
Perhaps another Saturday.
Anyway, we headed into the Moors for the first time this year. When we arrived at Farndale just past Hutton-le-Hole, the area looked beautiful in its bleakness. Streaks of snow etched the brown moorland and winter-weary sheep eyed us with slightly carnivorous thoughts (well it made me pedal a bit quicker).
Descending down into Rosedale, the wind chill felt like sub-zero and we were grateful for the café stop. But the café hadn’t seen many visitors that day, so we were treated to a slightly cool room with a solitary log on the fire. Nice.
(Since food is cropping up this week, during the ride the skinniest guy ate half a baguette, an energy bar, two bananas, a burger and chips and a slice of chocolate cake!).
Cycling hurriedly away from the café with several of its wooden chairs now missing and the fire roaring, something strange then happened. It felt as though we were floating into the air like those bmx kids in the film ‘ET’. But when we looked down in fact we were cycling on Probably the Smoothest Road Surface in the World. The sheer lack of road buzz was stunning.
We even took a picture of it:
Isn’t it lovely. We nearly turned back and rode it again it was so nice. But instead returned to pothole-pointing and chugging back to York.
At 90 miles in a little under 6 hours, it was a long day made shorter by the usual good company.
Before leaving the Square, it was good to meet two recently fallen comrades: Dave W with a plaster cast on his elbow and Shaun W with bruised ribs, both after hitting road obstacles.
Then we had an idea. So that our two wounded riders could cycle with us, we were going to all nip back home and fetch our static turbo trainers and just cycle at the Square for some hours.
Perhaps another Saturday.
Anyway, we headed into the Moors for the first time this year. When we arrived at Farndale just past Hutton-le-Hole, the area looked beautiful in its bleakness. Streaks of snow etched the brown moorland and winter-weary sheep eyed us with slightly carnivorous thoughts (well it made me pedal a bit quicker).
Descending down into Rosedale, the wind chill felt like sub-zero and we were grateful for the café stop. But the café hadn’t seen many visitors that day, so we were treated to a slightly cool room with a solitary log on the fire. Nice.
(Since food is cropping up this week, during the ride the skinniest guy ate half a baguette, an energy bar, two bananas, a burger and chips and a slice of chocolate cake!).
Cycling hurriedly away from the café with several of its wooden chairs now missing and the fire roaring, something strange then happened. It felt as though we were floating into the air like those bmx kids in the film ‘ET’. But when we looked down in fact we were cycling on Probably the Smoothest Road Surface in the World. The sheer lack of road buzz was stunning.
We even took a picture of it:
Isn’t it lovely. We nearly turned back and rode it again it was so nice. But instead returned to pothole-pointing and chugging back to York.
At 90 miles in a little under 6 hours, it was a long day made shorter by the usual good company.
Last edited by Karl M on Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Work and daughters have kept me away from the Square on a Saturday for the last couple of weeks. Youngest daughters 18th birthday saw me down in Cardiff this weekend and what I thought would be a lonely cycle. I was only about 5 miles into my solitary ride around the Valley's when I was caught at the lights by a group of 5 riders from Jif Cycle Club from Cardiff. They very kindly asked me to join them and we shot off at an average 18 mph! As anyone who knows me will understand, this was a bit of a struggle for me! I kept with it and 35 miles later we stopped at a cafe in Cowbridge for a coffee. It was then another 15 miles home and I had found some great cycling buddies. I think the moral here is there are always other cyclists out there even when away from home.
Over coffee I also found that I had been cycling with Luke Rowe's (he of Sky) father and that Gariant Thomas rides with them when back in Whitchurch. A real good bunch of guys and a great mix (3 men and 2 women).
Looking at the other posts on here about ride organisation, maybe this 'fast social' with a cafe stop that only takes in a few hours may be something that would appeal to those Clifton members who are a little short of time on a Saturday but not up to the training rides?
Over coffee I also found that I had been cycling with Luke Rowe's (he of Sky) father and that Gariant Thomas rides with them when back in Whitchurch. A real good bunch of guys and a great mix (3 men and 2 women).
Looking at the other posts on here about ride organisation, maybe this 'fast social' with a cafe stop that only takes in a few hours may be something that would appeal to those Clifton members who are a little short of time on a Saturday but not up to the training rides?
Firstly, huge well done to Steve for submitting the Holy Grail of discussion forum posts: a K-Ride write-up! Keep them coming!! Best wishes also to Cath, Claire, Kevin, Dave and Shaun on their respective recoveries.
In Rob's absence, I feel compelled to make it a Full House of club run reports. Joined the Sunday club run again (…am in grave danger of being called a regular!) Chose the Cockayne Loop (ACW) instead of Osmotherley - didn’t want to be caught struggling all the way back from Oz in bad weather – a good call as it turned out.
3 clubbers out: Steen, Andrew and myself. Started comically, 3 navigational no-hopers trying to pick the right direction out of the Square! At Foston, Steen and I spotted a lady waving madly at Andrew from the roadside…Andrew tragically didn’t see her,…apparently it was his M-In-Law! – he’ll pay for that. Took the Monument climb, Castle Howard Drive and Slingsby route out to the Loop. Andrew was a first-time Looper, and even though Steen and I were multi-Loopers, Cockayne never gets any easier, it’s always a tough challenge. Weather was strange too, darkness one minute, brightness the next. A little bit of snow around but roads were fine. We refuelled in Helmsley before setting out for Ampleforth. We must have been ahead of Jeff at this point as the rain started slowly and then progressively increased through Yearsley Bank, Brandsby, Whenby and Sheriff Hutton. We team time trialled through the last 15 miles with a nice bit of teamwork in cold, soggy conditions. Arrived home dripping, luckily just before the heavy rain drops turned to snow flakes.
Had almost 90 miles on the clock, 5 and a half hours of pedal turning, 5k feet of climbing, loads of bike squeakiness, soggy socks and a multitude of numb appendages. Big thanks to Steen and Andrew for facing up to the challenges of the day in good humour.
Just wanted to flag the 2nd Challenge Series event of the year next Sunday, the Fountains Monk'y-business 102 k’er out of Wigginton. The distance is not epic, so definitely accessible to all, and is always great comedy value too!
D.
In Rob's absence, I feel compelled to make it a Full House of club run reports. Joined the Sunday club run again (…am in grave danger of being called a regular!) Chose the Cockayne Loop (ACW) instead of Osmotherley - didn’t want to be caught struggling all the way back from Oz in bad weather – a good call as it turned out.
3 clubbers out: Steen, Andrew and myself. Started comically, 3 navigational no-hopers trying to pick the right direction out of the Square! At Foston, Steen and I spotted a lady waving madly at Andrew from the roadside…Andrew tragically didn’t see her,…apparently it was his M-In-Law! – he’ll pay for that. Took the Monument climb, Castle Howard Drive and Slingsby route out to the Loop. Andrew was a first-time Looper, and even though Steen and I were multi-Loopers, Cockayne never gets any easier, it’s always a tough challenge. Weather was strange too, darkness one minute, brightness the next. A little bit of snow around but roads were fine. We refuelled in Helmsley before setting out for Ampleforth. We must have been ahead of Jeff at this point as the rain started slowly and then progressively increased through Yearsley Bank, Brandsby, Whenby and Sheriff Hutton. We team time trialled through the last 15 miles with a nice bit of teamwork in cold, soggy conditions. Arrived home dripping, luckily just before the heavy rain drops turned to snow flakes.
Had almost 90 miles on the clock, 5 and a half hours of pedal turning, 5k feet of climbing, loads of bike squeakiness, soggy socks and a multitude of numb appendages. Big thanks to Steen and Andrew for facing up to the challenges of the day in good humour.
Just wanted to flag the 2nd Challenge Series event of the year next Sunday, the Fountains Monk'y-business 102 k’er out of Wigginton. The distance is not epic, so definitely accessible to all, and is always great comedy value too!
D.
I too had Cockayne in mind for a solo Sunday morning ride. I was pedalling out of New Earswick at ten past nine and was considering the more left field direction ie clockwise. However I sixth sensed that it would be a tough ride with head wind most of the way back. I turned left after Strensall into Pottery Lane. There is a really bad stretch of road just after the ponds with holes and gravel on both sides. Only problem being the water was right across the road. Even keeping to the middle of the road I managed to smack a deep pothole with my front wheel. I Couldn't believe the tyre stayed up although the wheel was a bit out of true. Only realised this morning the rim is cracked. So that is a complete wheelset I've wrecked in 2 months - just glad I'm not on the racebike yet! So I left the flatlands via the usual route - Snargate farm and onto the B road for Helmsley. At the top of the Oswaldkirk climb I decide on Hutton Le Hole instead of Cockayne so turned right and left for Nunnington. Welburn, over the Kirkdale ford, Fadmoor. I think I was following in the wheel tracks of Darren & co as I got to Fadmoor they were just leaving having stopped briefly. However I turned for Gillamoor and then the climb up to Hutton Le Hole which was a bit grim into the wind. The ride back seemed to be getting harder which is when I realised my back tyre was going down. So I fixed that in Marton and pressed on for home - Amotherby, Castle Howard, Flaxton. Caught a guy up after Strensall and rode in with him just as the rain started. Really glad I wasnt out for the day in that!
Who saw Milan San Remo? That looked proper hardcore - normally short sleeves you dont normally see them wearing marigolds. Great ride by Stannard. I said last year after the Nationals he looked good for a classic win - that wasnt the one I had in mind however!
Who saw Milan San Remo? That looked proper hardcore - normally short sleeves you dont normally see them wearing marigolds. Great ride by Stannard. I said last year after the Nationals he looked good for a classic win - that wasnt the one I had in mind however!
I feel a special affinity for the Milan Sanremo guys this year.
The uni club were having their weekend away in Snowdonia, so with my usual lack of logic I decided that riding there over Friday night would be a good idea. That was ages ago, then this silly second winter season came along to replace spring, leaving me checking the weather forecast every 2 minutes for the past week. The last train left Huddersfield at 11:05, if it threatened to be at all icy, I'd take it to Stalybridge or Manchester rather than risk the Pennines - or if it looked even icier I'd give up on the hare-brained riding to Wales plan altogether.
Friday turned out to be rainy but ice-free; damn, that meant I had to ride it. I finished teaching at 5pm Friday and had planned to leave by 6, but life (read disorganisation) meant that I eventually rolled out at 8, and got about as far as Rothwell before the rain started. This would sometimes be a mere suggestion and sometimes rain proper, but would occupy about 11 of the 14 hours it took to do the 275km - that's why I feel such an affinity with the MSR crowd. I'd hoped to complete it in 12, the extra couple of hours were spent shivering in various establishments along the way, wringing out my (supposedly waterproof) gloves and once my socks (that time in a bus shelter), shivering and generally wishing that the winter would hurry up and sod off.
The Good: The first hour or so and the last hour or so were both quite nice! We also had a fantastic weekend away once I'd arrived, with some top riding and some even better cafes.
The Bad: the realisation that my route through Manchester didn't pass such a thing as a 24h laundrette; the trip along N Wales before I reached Prestatyn, when I hadn't had anything hot since Oldham.
The Ugly: wondering how much I could wind up an anti-cyclist drunkard in a takeaway in Manchester before he took a swipe at one of my wheels on the way out; the time that my botom gears finally refused to work after 13h of rain, just as I hit the hills in N Wales.
The guys doing LEL have got all this to look forward to, though hopefully it will be a bit warmer for them!
The uni club were having their weekend away in Snowdonia, so with my usual lack of logic I decided that riding there over Friday night would be a good idea. That was ages ago, then this silly second winter season came along to replace spring, leaving me checking the weather forecast every 2 minutes for the past week. The last train left Huddersfield at 11:05, if it threatened to be at all icy, I'd take it to Stalybridge or Manchester rather than risk the Pennines - or if it looked even icier I'd give up on the hare-brained riding to Wales plan altogether.
Friday turned out to be rainy but ice-free; damn, that meant I had to ride it. I finished teaching at 5pm Friday and had planned to leave by 6, but life (read disorganisation) meant that I eventually rolled out at 8, and got about as far as Rothwell before the rain started. This would sometimes be a mere suggestion and sometimes rain proper, but would occupy about 11 of the 14 hours it took to do the 275km - that's why I feel such an affinity with the MSR crowd. I'd hoped to complete it in 12, the extra couple of hours were spent shivering in various establishments along the way, wringing out my (supposedly waterproof) gloves and once my socks (that time in a bus shelter), shivering and generally wishing that the winter would hurry up and sod off.
The Good: The first hour or so and the last hour or so were both quite nice! We also had a fantastic weekend away once I'd arrived, with some top riding and some even better cafes.
The Bad: the realisation that my route through Manchester didn't pass such a thing as a 24h laundrette; the trip along N Wales before I reached Prestatyn, when I hadn't had anything hot since Oldham.
The Ugly: wondering how much I could wind up an anti-cyclist drunkard in a takeaway in Manchester before he took a swipe at one of my wheels on the way out; the time that my botom gears finally refused to work after 13h of rain, just as I hit the hills in N Wales.
The guys doing LEL have got all this to look forward to, though hopefully it will be a bit warmer for them!
It was the A ride for me, Karl has covered it above and a good ride out it was, the only downside for me was hitting a pothole covered with water between Strensal and Flaxton the rear tyre punctured and the front wheel only bought last summer had the rim damaged by the impact however I was able to carry on but each time I braked I could feel it catching, can't seem to get a Mavic Aksium rim to replace it with but I don't want to replace the whole wheel again so may have to get a different make for 20 hole spokes and have a go at building one up.
After reading Paul's post above and the injuries some club members have suffered due to the terrible state of the roads I wondered if it would it be worth keeping some sort of record of all the incidents by club members just to get an idea of the extent of the problem.
I have sent a report to the CTC's app "fill that hole" which I thought was a good idea when it was first launched but feel that its maybe a lost cause now.
Ian H
After reading Paul's post above and the injuries some club members have suffered due to the terrible state of the roads I wondered if it would it be worth keeping some sort of record of all the incidents by club members just to get an idea of the extent of the problem.
I have sent a report to the CTC's app "fill that hole" which I thought was a good idea when it was first launched but feel that its maybe a lost cause now.
Ian H
Are we there yet
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Cyan Skymoos
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