7 of us made the early start for the Yorkshire Alps on Saturday - Ivan (coming over from Hessle), Howard, Andy S, Tom, Will, Helen and I.
The roads were pretty wet to Richmond, but started to dry out and we had a glorious run over The Stang, Tan Hill, Buttertubs, Fleet Moss and a rather late "lunch" at Grassington.
Good teamwork had us home inside the 12 hours (give or take).
Looking forward to next year already.
Nick
Weekend round up
Moderator: Moderators
Finally have something at the weekend to report! Did the East Coast LVRC (veterans) Road Race on Sunday - last race of the season for me. Blue skies, nice circuit around Burton Fleming, pleasantly warm, and a typically relaxed-but-serious vets race atmosphere. As with most vets races this year I was sole "official" Clifton rep, although Dave Byworth rode, and local lad Simon Wright was there too.
Decided to end the season in style and attacked straight from the neutralised start; was joined by three others but we only survived the first lap. Another break of about eight then went away up the start/finish drag, and the rest of the race was devoted to chasing duties up front in the bunch. We brought back three of them but the rest cleared off completely - they were lapping about a minute quicker than us. I spent the last lap carefully avoiding ending up on the front and conserving remaining energy but - hey ho, it's six weeks since I last raced - both thighs cramped up at the start of the run to the finish. Tenth or so in the sprint, fifteenth or so overall, not what I'd had in mind. Still good fun tho.
Next year it's the 50-59 group for me....
Decided to end the season in style and attacked straight from the neutralised start; was joined by three others but we only survived the first lap. Another break of about eight then went away up the start/finish drag, and the rest of the race was devoted to chasing duties up front in the bunch. We brought back three of them but the rest cleared off completely - they were lapping about a minute quicker than us. I spent the last lap carefully avoiding ending up on the front and conserving remaining energy but - hey ho, it's six weeks since I last raced - both thighs cramped up at the start of the run to the finish. Tenth or so in the sprint, fifteenth or so overall, not what I'd had in mind. Still good fun tho.
Next year it's the 50-59 group for me....
A good Clifton turnout at the Penrith MTB Marathon and Sportive weekend.
12 of us headed up after work on Friday and camped in the grounds of the Deer Park...beautiful spot just off the A6 overlooking the Lakes. Heavy rain overnight tested a couple of tents too far but the morning drizzle on Saturday gave way to clearer skies and sunshine for the rest of the weekend.
Rachel did her first Sportive on Saturday and came back 1st in class. Meanwhile some of us headed to Keswick to do some local trails.
Seb did the 25k Marathon on his own on Sunday and finished 3rd Junior....despite missing the turn for the finish and adding 2k on
. Of the rest Jez did his first Marathon and bravely attempted the 100k with the others but thought better of it mid ride and cut it to 75k. Jeff did the 50k and came back 4th in class I think. Steph, Gully and Gill battled there way together round the 100k.
There was even an unexpected, by too brief, 'special guest' appearance by Steve Wood on Sunday, who seemed to be enjoying himself. Where were you the rest of the weekend Steve??
12 of us headed up after work on Friday and camped in the grounds of the Deer Park...beautiful spot just off the A6 overlooking the Lakes. Heavy rain overnight tested a couple of tents too far but the morning drizzle on Saturday gave way to clearer skies and sunshine for the rest of the weekend.
Rachel did her first Sportive on Saturday and came back 1st in class. Meanwhile some of us headed to Keswick to do some local trails.
Seb did the 25k Marathon on his own on Sunday and finished 3rd Junior....despite missing the turn for the finish and adding 2k on
. Of the rest Jez did his first Marathon and bravely attempted the 100k with the others but thought better of it mid ride and cut it to 75k. Jeff did the 50k and came back 4th in class I think. Steph, Gully and Gill battled there way together round the 100k.There was even an unexpected, by too brief, 'special guest' appearance by Steve Wood on Sunday, who seemed to be enjoying himself. Where were you the rest of the weekend Steve??
I took my wife Rachel and Family to the Meridia Mountain Marathon at Penrith at the weekend along with Paul and Gill Crane and family. Rachel did the 50 mile Sportive ride on Saturday and managed to come in as the 1st lady. Me and Gill and all the children gave her a cheer as she passed another competior going up the final hill to the finish.
Rachel and Amelia (my 5 year old daughter) then did another ride around the deer park where we camped and impressed a group of Mountain bikers by getting up a steep hill without getting off.
On Sunday I did the half Marathon (47km), whilst everybody else (bar Seb,) went for the 87km ride. I quickly became detached from our group. Though I was doing well going up the mountain I got really quite bad back ache coming down the other side without suspension and loads of people overtook me. At the 33km drinks stop I felt good so started going for it and managed to come in 13th (4th veteran) in a time of 3hrs 5mins.
Rachel and Amelia (my 5 year old daughter) then did another ride around the deer park where we camped and impressed a group of Mountain bikers by getting up a steep hill without getting off.
On Sunday I did the half Marathon (47km), whilst everybody else (bar Seb,) went for the 87km ride. I quickly became detached from our group. Though I was doing well going up the mountain I got really quite bad back ache coming down the other side without suspension and loads of people overtook me. At the 33km drinks stop I felt good so started going for it and managed to come in 13th (4th veteran) in a time of 3hrs 5mins.
EasyWeekendRiders had their first Saturday ride, leaving York at 1.30 from Exhibition Square, and headed east out to the Wolds as far as Bishop Wilton, yes, where the Clifton hill climb will be enacted in a few weeks time. (And I can tell you by observation that there's some preparation effort going on already!)
The riding pace was pleasantly purposeful, the conversations stimulating ranging over many subjects, the heart rates adequately elevated but remaining well ouside any danger zones.
We were back in York around 5, and the feeling was that the EasyRides should continue on Saturday afternoons until spring, for people who like cycling, but not quite to the performance levels of the Saturday 10 am rides (yet)
There will be an EasyWeekendRiders announcement on the CliftonCC diary soon, but if you'd like to be kept up-to-date with plans you could send your E-address to wh6@york.ac.uk.
The riding pace was pleasantly purposeful, the conversations stimulating ranging over many subjects, the heart rates adequately elevated but remaining well ouside any danger zones.
We were back in York around 5, and the feeling was that the EasyRides should continue on Saturday afternoons until spring, for people who like cycling, but not quite to the performance levels of the Saturday 10 am rides (yet)
There will be an EasyWeekendRiders announcement on the CliftonCC diary soon, but if you'd like to be kept up-to-date with plans you could send your E-address to wh6@york.ac.uk.
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Richmond Cyclo Cross
Naomi and I rode the first round of the NECCL http://www.neccl.co.uk/
cyclo cross due the the cancellation of the Yorkshire Points event http://www.yorkshirecyclocross.org.uk/ . Richmond was fine and dry a really varied and challenging course, we were both happy with our rides finishing mid field in the U12's and Senior races. Next race Temple Newsam Park, Leeds, weather permitting.
cyclo cross due the the cancellation of the Yorkshire Points event http://www.yorkshirecyclocross.org.uk/ . Richmond was fine and dry a really varied and challenging course, we were both happy with our rides finishing mid field in the U12's and Senior races. Next race Temple Newsam Park, Leeds, weather permitting.
A J
What a fantastic and fun weekend that was. From the entertaining ride up on Friday at a restricted 60mph, from pitching our tents in the rain (and mistakenly taking Mike's tent out of the van and beginning to erect it). To a superb warm up ride on the Saturday which we all will be going back to ride at some point as it was so good. The marathon itself was a challenge and when cramp set in at around 30km I wasn't sure how much more I could bear. But with a feeding station just around the corner, and some great encouragement and inspiration from my team mates Steph, Gill and Mike, they got me through it. To whom I would like to say a big thank you.
Jez
Jez
Hey, what a great bunch of reports! Variety is the spice of Clifton eh? Particular congrats to the Alpinists.
Claire and I just back from some light touring on the NW coast of Scotland. 500km and 5000m of climbing in 4 days over some classic roads - Skye, Bealach na Ba, "Mad Little Roads of Ross", Glen Torridon, Inverpolly.... got within 30k of the north coast before heading SE to Lairg for the train home. The train ride out to Mallaig has to be one of the great train journeys of the world - Palin would have been impressed (Michael that is, not Sarah.)
The tour was also characterised by some great food, there not being many times I've done that sort of mileage and put weight on! Highlight was a "Highland Tart", no not that sort of tart, in Lochinver - layers of haggis and back pudding covered in melted cheddar - Howard, you'd have been impressed.
Claire and I just back from some light touring on the NW coast of Scotland. 500km and 5000m of climbing in 4 days over some classic roads - Skye, Bealach na Ba, "Mad Little Roads of Ross", Glen Torridon, Inverpolly.... got within 30k of the north coast before heading SE to Lairg for the train home. The train ride out to Mallaig has to be one of the great train journeys of the world - Palin would have been impressed (Michael that is, not Sarah.)
The tour was also characterised by some great food, there not being many times I've done that sort of mileage and put weight on! Highlight was a "Highland Tart", no not that sort of tart, in Lochinver - layers of haggis and back pudding covered in melted cheddar - Howard, you'd have been impressed.
I joined Nick's Alps ride on Saturday. As the weather was iffy and it was my first proper club ride, first trip into the dales and in fact first venture over 80 miles I was a bit nervous and brought a couple of pounds of food, mudguards, and overshoes. Arrived at the Square to find a selection of sprightly summer bikes and nothing to match the suitcase-sized pack I had winched into place under my saddle 
. It soon became obvious that mudguards only benefit the folks behind as we set about spraying our way up the A19 at a healthy 23mph. A great incentive to go to the front or tag behind the only other 'guardie (AndyS).
After we crossed the A1 the going got good. Richmond was bathed in sunshine, which inspired us to spend 40mins hanging around the public toilets talking Dales Tales with the Mtb-keen maintenance crew. I think someone was looking for a shop - I hope they found it. Then straight up over to Teesdale in the first climb of the day. We played tag with the sunshine for the rest of the morning, grinding up the Stang, down into Arkengarthdale, and all the way to the top for a bottle-stop at the Tan Hill Inn, into a damp, blustery headwind. Thence straight on through Stonesdale, down into Swaledale at Keld, and off again at Thwaite to climb the Buttertubs. The promise of 'no café until Grassington' was broken at Hawes as the leaders warmed up waiting for the stragglers to come in. After that it was sunny almost all the way as we climbed Fleet Moss and raced down Wharefedale to Grassington for our second sit-down. A lot of ice-cream, plum pie and other high-performance nutrition got gobbled, although the choice of a vegetarian café didn't please all the punters...
From there only Fancarl hill remained to tackle, which wasn't bad once I'd dislodged some unwelcome vegetation from my mudguards. By now it was a glorious evening. We dropped Will outside Harrogate where his dad was going to meet him [Will - hope you found him OK] and continued round to Spofforth, then back to York on the chaingang route. We were very lucky with the sunshine but still needed lights to navigate back through the town. I reckon we missed the 12hr mark by three minutes, but it didn't matter.
For me it was a grand day out and a great introduction to Dales cycling. It didn't rain, nothing broke (Nick's self-repairing tyre soaked up the only puncture), the fantastic views justified the climbs and I could still walk when we got back. I was disappointed I had to stop on most of the big climbs (I blame the ratio, of course!) and I hadn't anticipated the head-to-toe 'fake tan' of road sludge in the first fifty miles. But cruising home double-file past Harrogate as the sun sets behind you with 100 miles already in your legs is a very good feeling. Clifton riders are a strong, friendly, exceptionally generous bunch. It was a privilege to join in such a well-planned tour (only 2 missed turns, both spotted immediately, in 160 miles!). Many thanks to Nick and Helen for organising.
Next year, maybe we can ride it at the June solstice and I'll bring my summer bike with a few bigger sprockets. Looking forward to it...
tom
. It soon became obvious that mudguards only benefit the folks behind as we set about spraying our way up the A19 at a healthy 23mph. A great incentive to go to the front or tag behind the only other 'guardie (AndyS).After we crossed the A1 the going got good. Richmond was bathed in sunshine, which inspired us to spend 40mins hanging around the public toilets talking Dales Tales with the Mtb-keen maintenance crew. I think someone was looking for a shop - I hope they found it. Then straight up over to Teesdale in the first climb of the day. We played tag with the sunshine for the rest of the morning, grinding up the Stang, down into Arkengarthdale, and all the way to the top for a bottle-stop at the Tan Hill Inn, into a damp, blustery headwind. Thence straight on through Stonesdale, down into Swaledale at Keld, and off again at Thwaite to climb the Buttertubs. The promise of 'no café until Grassington' was broken at Hawes as the leaders warmed up waiting for the stragglers to come in. After that it was sunny almost all the way as we climbed Fleet Moss and raced down Wharefedale to Grassington for our second sit-down. A lot of ice-cream, plum pie and other high-performance nutrition got gobbled, although the choice of a vegetarian café didn't please all the punters...
From there only Fancarl hill remained to tackle, which wasn't bad once I'd dislodged some unwelcome vegetation from my mudguards. By now it was a glorious evening. We dropped Will outside Harrogate where his dad was going to meet him [Will - hope you found him OK] and continued round to Spofforth, then back to York on the chaingang route. We were very lucky with the sunshine but still needed lights to navigate back through the town. I reckon we missed the 12hr mark by three minutes, but it didn't matter.
For me it was a grand day out and a great introduction to Dales cycling. It didn't rain, nothing broke (Nick's self-repairing tyre soaked up the only puncture), the fantastic views justified the climbs and I could still walk when we got back. I was disappointed I had to stop on most of the big climbs (I blame the ratio, of course!) and I hadn't anticipated the head-to-toe 'fake tan' of road sludge in the first fifty miles. But cruising home double-file past Harrogate as the sun sets behind you with 100 miles already in your legs is a very good feeling. Clifton riders are a strong, friendly, exceptionally generous bunch. It was a privilege to join in such a well-planned tour (only 2 missed turns, both spotted immediately, in 160 miles!). Many thanks to Nick and Helen for organising.
Next year, maybe we can ride it at the June solstice and I'll bring my summer bike with a few bigger sprockets. Looking forward to it...
tom