Clifton CC

For the second time this year, I left the bike and took the car to the station in Selby. (In my defence, I've a stinking cold and hadn't been cycling before six inches of snow showed up, so...)

But there on the platform was a guy from Cawood who'd ridden in on his On-one hybrid. Anyone else chosen balaclava and knobblies to dice with sliding cars and drifting snow? Credit is due...

I rode in, but that's not saying much. Two miles across the Millenium Bridge and Walmgate stray. It was fine. The snow hasn't been compacted yet so you could just plow through it all.

Tomorrow will be another story

tomf wrote:But there on the platform was a guy from Cawood who'd ridden in on his On-one hybrid.

That'll be Jim who worked at fulford cycles!

I rode my MTB to work this morning hoping to pass miles of traffic but the roads were clearer than a usual monday morning! Disappointed

I did 4 and a half miles across town this morning and the same this evening, nearly fell off a few times (couldn't see speed bumps or pot holes) but it's all part of the fun!

I think it's really funny how a bit of snow almost brings the country to a standstill. Couldn't bring myself to watch the news with all the Southern Jessies (*) complaining about it (but then again, I'm sure Look North was as bad... wonder if Christa Ackroyd mentioned "Dunkirk spirit" like she usually does when it rains or snows for 5 minutes?!)

(* Not meant to be prejudice against anyone from down south or called Jessie)

I woke up, usual time 5.45am and looked out of the window - oh, I thought I will have to use my MTB for my eight mile commute, instead of my road bike. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a good thick layer of crisp snow, but on the plus side I was only overtaken by two cars compared to the usual countless number, but hang on who are all these people who can look out and see a bit of snow and roll over and go back to sleep - how do you get a job like that?

Of course all the schools shut and the trains packed in and people arrived late to work saying what a nightmare journey their (3 mile) car commute had been. What do they do in Canada - do their kids never go to school in the snow, do they never go to work.......cue scraping noise as soap box is dragged up to mic.......a bit of snow and the nation gives up, are we really the race who withstood nazi tyranny when everyone else seemed to want to give in or appease. Were the Brits really the people that endured the blitz, launched the fleet of little ships to save the British expeditionary force and did the Dieppe raid. Are we the same people that conquered Everest, bred Captain Oates - I'm just going outside, I may be some time. Are we the race that stood aside on the Titanic - statistically you were most likely to die if you were a British man - it really was women and children first - we'd rather die than behave dishonorably (the same couldn't be said of the Americans on the ship). We tried really to live up to Rudyard Kipling's 'If', behave like Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter or carry on like Uncle Walter, in Uncle Walter's War - the spirit that won the empire - but now two inches of snow and we pack it in........

I know that was a load of jingoistic cobblers (worthy of Jeremy Clarkson) but you get the point.

So that British pluck, the stiff upper lip, carry on in adversity - did it ever exist and it definitely doesn't now? Couple of years ago I did Keith Bentons 300km Audax - 5am start, nearly 200miles to go, only a few eccentrics would mad enough to do such a thing? How wrong I was, I contemplated as I looked at the long line of swaying red lights stretching into the distance ahead and white lights doing the same into the distance behind.....oh yes that spirit still exists but it seems to be confined to those that use two wheels and human power to get around.

Good for you fixie riding man at Selby station, good for you.....

Sorry about that....I'll keep taking the pills

Inspirational stuff, I can almost hear 'Land of Hope and Glory' playing out (or is this the Little Britain theme tune, can't tell at this time). As for the pills, can I have some?

Great stuff BW!

Apparently 1ft of snow :\.

Hope it's not like this on the day I come home it'll make for scary cycling!

I was going up Cat and Fiddle yesterday and my bottle froze!!!!

Boris was on his bike...spotted by Steve Bell in the Grauniad page 27.

Continuing on the BW theme... although I resorted to four wheels, I did make it to Selby and thence to London - only to find no buses at all, and most tube lines shut or restricted (normally I'd have the bike with me so this wouldn't matter).

Eventually got on the underground. got to work around an hour late, and found almost nobody there - all the south/west london commuters were knee deep in snow with no trains and even less pluck. As an ex-pat Southerner I was sickened by the overwhelming stench of lame Jessiness.

But one guy made it in from Putney, having had to try 3 different trains and eventually walking from Waterloo to Liverpool St which is a few miles of slushy pavement. Of course, he's Australian.

What a shame all snow will have vanished by Friday. Would have been worth a trip into town to see how the Micklegaiters out on the town would react to blizzards!
Dress code as usual for them I'm sure. Still hot pants and high heels? True brit grit there!

Still hot pants and high heels?

I think this is 'survival of the fittest' in action: Those who are able to withstand the cold wear less amounts of clothes, and are therefore more 'successful'. The resulting offspring are genetically predisposed to feel less cold, and the cycle is repeated...

Conclusion: In the future, everyone is immune to cold, but have no taste in clothes*.

A

* I realise the irony in this, lycra is not often described as tasteful (eg. Phonak, T-Mobile)

willyh wrote: Still hot pants and high heels? True brit grit there!

Right, but what will the women wear?

Gotta get one of these for the next snowy day!!!

http://cyclotherapy.independentminds.li ... /1836.html