Clifton CC

Yesterday was the March MTB Club Run on the Moors.

Taking a leaf out of our Roadie Cousin's book 14 of us decided to split into 3 Groups, albeit in a less organised manner. The 'T' Group, comprising Tom and Rachel, went to the wrong Car Park so never met up with the main group but enjoyed a 3 hour ride around Fylingdales none the less. The rest of us set off from the top of the Moors turning down an obvious Bridleway to Esk Valley. Unfortunately my track record of following tracks where the bridge is missing continued and we were presented with a river at the bottom of the Valley with no crossing. Most (the 'P' Group) retraced to the nearest bridge whilst some hardy ones (the 'D' Group) followed Debs for some river wading with the intention of re-grouping the other side. We never saw eachother again until the Cafe after the ride.

The 'P' Group had a warm, hilly ride around the Esk Valley and onto the Moors although we were distinctly 'Kieraned' up the hills (he's getting faster every time I see him!). Peter was out on his first ride with us, better known for bringing his unique SOH to the Saturday rides, but showed us that he's as good as any of us on a MTB...at launching himself at mud and brambles 'P' Group so named due to the amount of flats we had...I think we hit double figures between 7 of us.

Great ride though, I haven't laughed so much in ages.

Many thanks Tullio to the great route chosen for my 1st ride yesterday, my legs are now feeling it
Still laughing myself at some of the mishaps that occured, thoroughly enjoyable day and I hope to be out on more this season

Sunday was certainly a good day to be out riding.

The club run went round the Cockayne loop and it was so clear we could see across to the moors.
Rob ,Nigel and I were joined by Arnie (bringing the good weather),Tom on a very nice new bike,Nigel's mate whom I think was called Matt and Mike C in shorts. We headed out up Yearsley bank,through Ampleforth to Helmsley. Mike turned for home and the rest of us went on round the loop We had a cafe stop in Hutton-Le -Hole and then back to York via Castle Howard.
Being a clear day the views were really good and one of the high lights was seeing an owl out hunting.

Alice went out for a ride in to the wolds in the afternoon which she enjoyed although she found the head wind home hard going. It was her longest ride since New Years day and whilst her leg is still not healed she is hopefull that she can begin to increase her mileage.

Helen

Another very good day of cycling acheived along with 10 others in the intermediate group on Saturday. Annabel, Mal, Ian H and Cath didnt make the cafe due to the furious pace set by Ginny on the front Only kidding. Seven of us survived however including myself, Clare, Dan, Alistair, Paul John and Ginny and we chose to stop at Hutton-le- Hole for the cafe stop before heading the scenic way to Pickering and back via Marton, Great Barugh, down Terrngton Bank and back through Sheriff Hutton and Strensall. We seemed to lose Dan around Terrington hope you got home OK. Arrived home having smashed my previous Club ride record which was with Howard's group with 114 miles and about 1400m of climbing. Felt pretty good though despite the effort and even managed an easy ride on Sunday.

Jonathan

Oh! I nearly forgot

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2532477

Good ride on Saturday with the intermediate group as Jon said to Hutton-le-Hole. A strong cross wind in some parts made for difficult riding with deep section rims but it stayed dry with some great views over the Moors. I made it home fine thanks Jon, I deceided to press on at Terrington as I had to get home as I was going out in the evening.

81.5 miles in all for me, furthest so far this year! Thanks to Ginny and Clare for leading an enjoyable day. This will be my last ride for four weeks now going on holiday next weekend. Wish I was taking my bike!

Dan...

Hey, the mountain biking sounds fun! Might have to dust off the cobwebs (literally) from my, er, hardtail as I believe it’s technically known (it only bounces at the front end), and come out to play with you one day soon. I reckon I might be able to manage a bit of firetrack, as long as there aren’t too many potholes to negotiate!


The Sat. “H” group comprised of me, JonC, DaveC and Dr Dave (who only had a morning pass out and therefore peeled off at Sheriff Hutton).

I do observe a “group numbers imbalance” occurring recently. The intermediate group seems to be getting more and more popular whereas group “H”, er, doesn’t! I’m not sure what the answer is to this. Personally, I’m all in favour of conscription but I understand that this concept many not be universally popular…

I can only stress that the pace isn’t that high and that we do spend a great deal of time in the café and I for one always indulge myself with a multi course meal…


Anyway back to the ride, Blakey Ridge was a bit of a handful, the vicious crosswind giving me some handling and control issues. I’d spent part of time prior to that thinking how nice it would be to have a pair of Zipps like Dan’s (forgive me Dan, I don’t think we’ve met yet but I’ve certainly coveted your wheels for some considerable time, oh yes!) so I’m pleased to read that they were OK for you on Saturday. No reason at all not to get some now apart from the, I assume, eye watering cost that is.

Hubstats below:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2524216

Don't worry H - once numbers get so high that the motorcycles of the NEG are needed to escort/marshall the intermediate group (and cafes become unable to accommodate so many cyclists) we will get a few more recruits!

Seriously though as the summer approaches and fitness levels soar I'm sure that we'll get a few more......... victims

I took my Ridgeback Voyage away for the weekend again. This time to Grinton Lodge in Swaledale.

Saturday was hard work as I followed the lanes to Knaresborough, then Fountains Abbey (for a well earned cup of tea) before carrying on through Kirkby Malzeard, to Masham, and then to Jervaux Abbey, via Fearby and Ellingstring.

I got to the Youth Hostel at 3pm so decided to pop up to Tan Hill, which was a big mistake, due to the terrain, the high winds and my parachute mudguards. I only managed to get to the C B Inn.

Sunday made up for it though. I cycled With Howard from Rochdale Triathlon Club down Coverdale to Kettlewell and then Grassington, where we parted company.

I carried on to Bolton Abbey , Ilkley, and Otley, before viewing a magnificent Red Kite (which caused a motorist to let me know that I was cycling down the middle of the A658)! I then carried on to Weeton, Sicklinghall, Wetherby and then home to Acomb.

I think the mileage for my 3 abbey tour came to about 150.

Phillip

Sounds a superb tour Phil - could be the makings of a Club YH trip?


It certainly was a ‘blustery day’ in our ‘100 acre wood’ playground for the Saturday (‘Windsday’) rides.
Christopher Robin (Kevin, of course) carefully handed out his meticulously planned routes for each of the groups.
Tigger (who else, but Howard!) grasped his eagerly and bounced his group off towards Rosedale.
Rabbit (moi!) nearly bit off more carrot than she could chew, by expanding on Kevin’s proposed 70 mile Pickering ride – ‘to add in a few more miles and a few more hills’ (quoting myself at the square).

The route has been described by my team mates above, the extra detour taking in Surprise View, Lastingham, Cropton and the loop round Newton Rawcliffe, which gave us smashing NY Moors views. Hutton Le Hole café also made for an easier & quieter group café stop, than trying to find the café & space in busier Pickering.

My Saturday social ride legs started to struggle around Pickering and I fought to maintain the faster speed of the group into the headwind. However, thoughtful riding from John O’D and Alistair (should they be Kanga’s?) saved me from a long solo ride and meant we could keep the pace reasonably high. Thanks to them both for easing their own speed to pace me back on and for taking long turns on the front. Mal was out earlier in the day, but I’m resisting saying he’d definitely have been Eeyore!

I must add for this group, whether led by myself, Bernard or an other, hopefully the above descriptions will not to deter riders from the intermediate group. The early returning riders chose to return, for their own various reasons being only out for a few hours – that’s great! The middle group is aimed to challenge those riders not yet up to the pace / distance of Howard’s group, but wanting a ‘sportier’ ride versus the ‘newer’ riders group. The intention is always to maintain a ‘group’ sociable ride, riding where possible in 2’s, with extra effort made by the stronger riders on the climbs or leading the less strong riders into the wind – if riders think the intermediate ride is too slow, then there is Howard’s Group to move on to or take a ‘proper’ Training Ride slot, not currently covered by the Club on a Saturday.

Thanks for a smashing ride,
A bientot!

An inspired and delightful comparison Claire; loved it!

For those of us who haven't been recently acquainted with the work of AA Milne, here's some guidance notes courtesy of Mr. PetrolHead himself (I actually find his writing extremely palatable whenever he's not exclusively banging on about tin cans...):

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 212444.ece

Helen wrote:Sunday was certainly a good day to be out riding.

A near-perfect day for a ride in the hills - great weather, great route, great views, great company, great shiny new bike, and err.. a great long wait at the (very friendly) Cafe in Hutton-le-Hole. (Hint: when running a cafe in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, don't give the only member of staff who understands the menu the day off on the only sunny Sunday of the year!).
The moor at Cockayne truly was spectacular. And a classic piece of Cliftonism as, at the furthest, remotest point of the ride, we bumped into two guys everyone seemed to know (from York CTC - Dr D, I checked and they were sandal-free).
92 miles door-to-door for me, rimstats are here.

fascinating stats tomf!

Mr Hub will be decoding them for ages I'm sure! Hello Will!

I also went to the Huton-le-Hole cafe after walking in the area on Sunday, stood near the front of the queue for ages for just a coffee, there was a few cyclists queing with me and the service was taking ages, I think it is under new management as it's always been pretty quick in the past, more people who started to queue did not wait and left including quite a large group of cyclists, as Tom said the staff was very friendly and pleasant but unless they have more staff on a weekend or speed up a lot the trade they get from cyclists will certainly go down.

Rabbit (moi!) nearly bit off more carrot than she could chew, by expanding on Kevin’s proposed 70 mile Pickering ride – ‘to add in a few more miles and a few more hills’ (quoting myself at the square).

Seems that I missed out on an enjoyable ride on Saturday. I instead decided to tackle the supposedly dreaded "Cockayne Loop" - anti clockwise as my resident cycling guru (Mr H D) advised on - and apart from the headwind all the way round, am looking forward to tackling it again in more pleasant weather condiditons. The ride was made even more enjoyable by the company I had thanks Steph.

Fun from Sunday - How many punctures?!