by craigdabrown
Mon Nov 25, 2019 12:09 pm
Haven’t posted a ride report on here for a while, so thought I’d give it a go.
Only 3 (fool)hardy souls (Claire, JohnB and myself) in The Square for the 10am Saturday rides. DarrenN had indicated he’d be out but was picking up his newly serviced bike first thing and so we gave it until around 10:10 and set off for Pickering, rather bizarrely, without Darren but with a bidon of his, which he’d left in the cafe at Driffield a fortnight earlier, neatly secured with two cable ties to the rack on John’s bike.
The rain had already been falling for a couple of hours and so there was a bit of surface water as we headed out via Haxby and Strensall and that annoyingly rough stretch of tarmac, lurking just beneath the puddles, before Flaxton. By the time we’d climbed Bulmer Bank, passed through Coneysthorpe and onto Amotherby I’d concluded my waterproof gear wasn’t quite as “Waterproof!” as it said on the labels but Claire and John were chatting away merrily and didn’t seem to notice the rain or headwind.
We reached Pickering as planed but decided to continue onto Thornton-le-Dale and as we went across the junction we spied the aforementioned Mr. Neylon. Darren had collected his bike as planned and then ridden solo, definitely more dedicated than I’d have been, out from York. He’d literally just stopped to check if we’d replied to his text as we passed by. I’d a puncture immediately after that and was feeling a bit bedraggled and sorry for myself when we got to Balderson’s.
Good banter, especially when Ms. Gilmartin selected a ridiculous amount of food from the menu, the pitstop was just sufficient to allow the weather and my mood to lighten considerably. Then a favourable wind ensured good progress home via Kirkby Misperton, Barton-le-Street and Castle Howard. Darren even suggested we had enough time to stop at Flamingo Land but we decided we'd had enough fun already and to save the rollercoaster for another day.
A big thank you to the others for getting me round on Saturday. My frustration at my lack of fitness, dodgy collarbones and what felt like an instantaneous transition into winter weather conditions meant I wasn’t quite my usual, ahem, cheery self - ha-ha!
Another good route from JohnB and great to be out riding again though.
Only 3 (fool)hardy souls (Claire, JohnB and myself) in The Square for the 10am Saturday rides. DarrenN had indicated he’d be out but was picking up his newly serviced bike first thing and so we gave it until around 10:10 and set off for Pickering, rather bizarrely, without Darren but with a bidon of his, which he’d left in the cafe at Driffield a fortnight earlier, neatly secured with two cable ties to the rack on John’s bike.
The rain had already been falling for a couple of hours and so there was a bit of surface water as we headed out via Haxby and Strensall and that annoyingly rough stretch of tarmac, lurking just beneath the puddles, before Flaxton. By the time we’d climbed Bulmer Bank, passed through Coneysthorpe and onto Amotherby I’d concluded my waterproof gear wasn’t quite as “Waterproof!” as it said on the labels but Claire and John were chatting away merrily and didn’t seem to notice the rain or headwind.
We reached Pickering as planed but decided to continue onto Thornton-le-Dale and as we went across the junction we spied the aforementioned Mr. Neylon. Darren had collected his bike as planned and then ridden solo, definitely more dedicated than I’d have been, out from York. He’d literally just stopped to check if we’d replied to his text as we passed by. I’d a puncture immediately after that and was feeling a bit bedraggled and sorry for myself when we got to Balderson’s.
Good banter, especially when Ms. Gilmartin selected a ridiculous amount of food from the menu, the pitstop was just sufficient to allow the weather and my mood to lighten considerably. Then a favourable wind ensured good progress home via Kirkby Misperton, Barton-le-Street and Castle Howard. Darren even suggested we had enough time to stop at Flamingo Land but we decided we'd had enough fun already and to save the rollercoaster for another day.
A big thank you to the others for getting me round on Saturday. My frustration at my lack of fitness, dodgy collarbones and what felt like an instantaneous transition into winter weather conditions meant I wasn’t quite my usual, ahem, cheery self - ha-ha!
Another good route from JohnB and great to be out riding again though.