Weekend round up 20th/21st August

[James Milner]

Wiggle Yorkshire Tour.

Nine of us made our way up to Thirsk racecourse early Saturday morning to take part in the 'Wiggle Yorkshire Tour' sportive. Other than myself there were Rich, Graham, John B, Dr Joe, Ben, Ian W, Craig and Craig's work colleague Ian making the trip over from his home in Halifax.

When we originally decided to do this sportive it was based largely on the fact that we don't ride these roads all that often, not realising at the time that many of us would have done the 'Into the west' ride the previous week. However, although this route covered much of the same area it only crossed paths with the previous week's ride on the odd occasion and so, once again, made a welcome change from our usual roads.

Under threatening skies we headed north on back roads in the general direction of Northallerton with a decent tailwind assisting us on our way. We gradually looped round in an anticlockwise direction to follow the A1 which we crossed just south of Leeming Bar and began to head west on more familiar roads through the likes of Snape, Newton le Willows, etc and on to Leyburn for the second time in two weeks.

Other than the occasional flurry of rain the weather was still more or less behaving itself at this stage and the wind was right at our backs as we headed out of Leyburn and up onto Grinton Moor. It has to be said that this is undoubtedly the easier way to tackle Grinton Moor and, with the strength of the following wind, I would imagine that a few PBs were achieved.

The second feed stop of the day awaited us in Reeth where we all regrouped before tackling the climb up over the moors to Askrigg. The rain, which had been forecast all day, was now starting to fall and, as we turned towards the south west we had to battle a fierce crosswind blowing horizontal rain across the moors, just to remind us what proper cycling is all about. I'm not sure what this climb's called, but it's a long one and it's one of those that keeps on and on giving. Just when you think you've reached the top another rise appears and you start going up again. On a better day it would be a very enjoyable climb, as it does offer respite and never gets stupidly steep. On this particular day it was all some people could do to stay upright and I heard at least one report of someone being blown off his bike.

Given the conditions we descended with care into Askrigg where we regrouped, took a quick head count and realised someone was missing. Rich, in the meantime, regaled us with a story of how he'd seen a couple of riders having an altercation with a dry stone wall on the way down. After further discussion it gradually dawned on us that our missing rider, Craig's colleague Ian, could well have been one of those seen propping up the aforementioned wall. Craig headed back up the 25% slope (I know it was 25% because Craig may have mentioned it once or twice!) to be met by Ian riding gingerly downhill with his rain jacket in tatters and a couple of bloody scrapes on his nose and face. It seems he had overcooked it a little and locked his back wheel trying to slow down before the wall finished the job for him. Fortunately he was more shaken than anything and in spite of having a deepish cut on his arm which the on course medics saw to, managed to ride the remaining 40 or so miles to the finish.

In the confusion of all this three of the group managed to take a wrong turn which actually put them on the 'standard route' for a few miles and so surreptitiously gain some time on the rest of us. Their ploy didn't quite go according to plan however, and when we finally caught up with them we found John B attempting to mend a puncture with inner tubes which displayed all the properties of a pin cushion. I think it was the fourth attempt before he finally found a tube to successfully do the job. I'm sure we all resolved to check the kit in our saddle bags when we got back, and I'm equally sure that we all forgot about it too. Until you read this, of course!

Following the final feed stop at Wensleydale Rugby Club the group split with Craig nursing his mate home and, in the front group, myself and John B sounding increasingly like a couple asthmatics as we attempted to keep up with Rich and Ben who had surely eaten something stronger than flapjack at the feed stop. Fortunately we managed to get the shout in to 'knock one off' before they got out of earshot and we all finished together back at Thirsk Racecourse. The rest of the group arrived in dribs and drabs within 10 minutes or so and gave us all the chance to chew the fat for a while and sample the excellent coffee from the mobile unit there.

In spite of the awful weather in the middle part of the ride we finished in bright sunshine and so had all more or less dried out before packing our bikes up into various cars and heading for home.

For the record I registered 103 miles with a shade under 5600 feet of climbing with 6 hours 17 minutes moving time at an average of 16.1mph.

The consensus seems to be for a ride north to Castleton next Saturday, which we haven't done for a while, possibly coming back through Fryupdale.

See you in the square!

[craigdabrown]

Just a quick update on my work colleague Ian.

He had to go to A&E when he got back to Halifax to have 3 stitches inserted into the wound on his arm. Apart from that, a cut on his nose, various abrasions, a ripped jacket and a broken saddle rail he’s none the worse for wear but his wife says he’s not allowed to come out to play with the older lads again until after their road-trip holiday to California.

I actually enjoyed the route, especially the climbs, but it was just one of those days.

[Steen Berg]

9 Turned out on Sunday at 7.30 in the morning for the Tan Hill ride MarkB Dawn Steve George RichardD IanH Psychoandy Johnny and me
We kept a nice group together to Leyburn the biggest issue we had was Richards bladder. Carradice need to produce a bag for such issues. After Leyburn we split into two groups as I am sure the novelty of trying to over take large groups of cyclists is now getting a bit old for people needing to get from A to B on narrow Dales roads.
This worked for our group and I think it did for the others who were waiting for us at the top of Tan Hill after tackling Buttertubs. We had a side wind which turned to a head wind for the first part of the ride. However from the top of Tan Hill down to Reeth this tuned into the most glorious tailwind which only added speed to that long decent. The laughing stopped once we started the climb up Grinton Moor.
Another cafe stop in Leyburn. The Posthorn Cafe has done well out of Clifton over the past two weeks. Steve and Dawn were still eating as we left and were quiet insistent that we didn't bother them any longer. The rest of us went back the way we had come in the morning.
So our stats were 140 miles two TdF climbs a view from the highest pub in England and £20 each spent in the Post Horn. Well £16.42 in my case.

The next big Challenge day out is The Circuit of the Moors on 25th of September. Expect a good group from the Saturday regulars for this now they have an appetite for long rides.

Big thanks to all who took part on Sunday I enjoyed your company.

Next Sunday I think we are back to normal service.
Steen

[Dawn]

As Steen says above, I was part of the group that rode to Tan Hill on Sunday and I just wanted to thank Steen for doing a great job of keeping us all together when it was possible and rightly splitting the group at Leyburn (first time round) so that we could all ride at a suitable pace. A headwind on the way out made for a tailwind on the way home and we had lovely weather and amazing scenery. Plenty of good food too (!) and Steve and I were happy to let everyone head off after the second café stop so that they could get home at a reasonably decent time.

Most importantly, thanks to Steen, George, Mark and (as always) Steve for keeping me company over Buttertubs and to everyone else who waited (rather a long time!) for us at the Tan Hill Inn so that we could all head back to Leyburn together. It’s a tough ride this, but good company and a group who looks out for each other makes a massive difference - I really enjoyed Sunday, thank you.