Weekend round-up 21st/22nd

[Dr Dave]

A dry but cold day on Saturday with a brisk northerly wind. 8 set off on the 'A' ride to Lofthouse this week - Jon G, Jenny, Graham, Simon, Tony G, Kevin, Luke and self. The outbound ride into the wind to Masham proved to be quite tough and definitely attritional: Luke only lasted as far as Clifton before his rear wheel's grating proved terminal, Kevin turned shortly after the A168 crossing and Tony headed back at Masham leaving 5 of us to ascend Jordan's Moss before dropping to Lofthouse. We had planned to meet Dr Joe at the cafe at How Stein Gorge but he (wisely?) thought better of it so we lunched in Pateley Bridge instead where I was the only one not to have beans on toast with 2 poached eggs!
Whichever way you leave Pateley Bridge there is a stiff climb to tackle. This week we ascended Church Lane to Wath - for me at least this is the stiffest way out of town. Once this was accomplished (at a pedestrian crawl )we came back via Brimham Rocks Lane to Markington, Arkendale and Linton and were back in York by 5pm with 95 miles and 5500 ft of climbing in the bank. Thanks to all for the company

[craigdabrown]

Fewston, we had a problem!

As Dave mentioned in the “A” Ride write-up, a cold, northerly wind as 9 riders (Kevin, Ollie, PeteS, Tony, Claire, Alison, Rich, Arnie and myself) set off for Fewston Farm Shop Cafe.

In Julia's absence, Claire had intended to lead the “J” Ride to Millington but some no-shows resulted in us persuading her to join the “K” Ride instead. We headed out through Beningbrough Hall and over Aldwark Bridge and by the time we reached Great Ouseburn a decision was made to split the group into two with Kevin handing the map to yours truly and Arnie, PeteS, Rich, Ollie, Tony and I let loose on our own.

A couple of missed junctions and some communication issues due to the wind but we just about survived through Arkendale, Stavely, Burton Leonard and Markington before arriving at Fountains Abbey. I suspected we'd taken a wrong turn and as we stopped to check the map we were caught up by a lady with a couple of horses, who we’d already overtaken. We set off up the climb, some ahead and some behind the horses, but when we reached the top Arnie was nowhere to be seen. We waited for a few minutes before retracing our tracks and deciding that he must've taken the turn-off past Fountains and onto Ripon. So we decided to follow suit but didn't see him again for the rest of the ride.

On arriving at Ripon, we headed for the cafe in the park and enjoyed some good value food, markedly cheaper than the garden centre the previous weekend, and pondered where the rest of the “K” Ride might've lunched.

Taking no chances with the route home, we chose Givendale, Skelton on Ure and Boroghbridge with a nice tailwind and a welcome burst of sunshine before deciding on Cattal, Tockwith and Long Marston, rather than revisiting Aldwark Bridge and Beningbrough.

Over 70 miles and a pretty good ride actually, apart from losing one rider and not quite reaching our planned destination. A quick phone call to Arnie when I got home confirmed our suspicions about what had happened at Fountains and that he was safe and well. Special mention to Ollie for staying with the group on his first Club ride for three years.

[Luke Patterson]

Damn looks like I missed a great ride, was really looking forward to this one too! But yes sadly the rear wheel has taken a turn for the worse.. Back to halfords it goes. Time to get looking for a summer bike! Sorry I couldn't get a chance to say I was turning back, didn't want to annoy everyone with the horrible noise it was making!

[Jon G]

One of the five to ascend Jordan's moss on Saturday. Firstly can I mention the stirling efforts of tony, Dave, Simon and graham pushing the wind all the way to masham virtually. If I'd have been on the front our speed would have dropped to a about 10mph

The tailwind up Jordan's certainly helped at least. And thanks Dave for choosing one of the steepest roads out of pateley bridge straight after lunch good ride though and good company as usually. Tired legs by the end, I really do think rides seem harder in cold weather, muscles just done function as well. Roll on spring

Will post some thing later in week if I'm out saturday, don't usulally know until Thursday or Friday because of work issues, I may have to work as I've been out the last 4 weeks which is rare for me.

Jon

[Rob]

Perfect riding conditions on Sunday for our fourth running of the Thix Spiro. 10 in The Square, but by half distance we were down to just 5, the others having peeled off home for a variety of reasons. Does this suggest there's a market for a three hour ride on a Sunday morning? Am not volunteering to organise anything, just flagging it up.

Back to the Spiro, we plunged up hill and down dale with carefree abandon all day. Lovely quiet lanes, unique landscape. Just a couple of punctures and a bust spoke to sort out, and nobody minded a 10 minute repose in the sun now and again. Refuel in the biker cafe in Fridaythorpe after 4 of the 6 categorised climbs. All in all we spent about 4 hours within a 5 mile radius of of Thix village.....

150km Square to Square, about 2000m of climb at full day average of just 25kph. Take a bow: AndyG, Steen, Broomy and Eric.

Steen's jaunt around the "Illegitimate Banks" next week, 0900 rendez-vous for some more gratuitous climbing. Don't forget the clocks change!

[Darren N]

Thought I’d break the posting drought - I did the ‘other’ challenge series ride on Sunday – the Fountains Monk’y Business audax out of Wigginton. It was great to be greeted by typically spritely looking types in Ian H and Bernard at the start, along with possibly one or two other Cliftonites who I didn’t know. Harbouring worries over fitness levels, my pre-ride plan was to sensibly ease into a nicely paced group – but by the time I’d turned a few revs and hit the Wiggy traffic lights, my instincts switched on, Plan A was turfed in the gutter and I excitedly latched on to the front group. I snatched a look over my shoulder in the group of about 10-12 hammering up Wiggy Road and smiled as Ian eased up to my shoulder. We stuck together all the way round and saw the front group reduce to 7, then 5. I somehow managed to avoid being ‘de-selected’ on the hilly section between Ripon and Ripley Castle – Ian even asked what I was still doing here, a question I’d even asked myself! With half hour wait times at the busy café at Ripley, we decided instead to push on and was back at Wigginton by 2.00, and home by 2.45 – I think it was the earliest I’d ever finished this ride – but tbh that was most probably due to the glorious riding conditions, as Rob alluded to earlier. My personal thanks to Ian for helping to make my return ride such a massively pleasurable experience.

Just a quick plug for Steen’s Banksy ride next Sunday –unfortunately I can’t make it but if you want a hugely interesting ride in the hills around Rievaulx Abbey, give this ride a go, it was one of the highlights of the year for me last year. I’ll also give you a tip for free – (assuming it’s the same route) the hardest two climbs are the first two, High Town Bank and Boltby - once you get over those, you’re home and dry – so do give it a go!



D.

[MikeR]

Six left the square for the 08:45, Gerard, Pete, Mark, Simon and self with Paul arriving rather out of breath as the bells rang out. We headed out into the wind to Crayke with Peter catching us on the way out of town. Our seven became six again as Simon pulled off at Crayke to hunt down a dirt bike track (not sure if he found it).

We then became five as Mark headed back to appease the other half and get home early. Paul headed back to Malton having suffered a bit too much in the wind after his dash to the square. The remaining four of us then sailed home with the strong wind at our backs from thirsk. Back in York safely before 12:30.