Clifton CC

Its been a bit quiet on here this week. So, to distract you from the cold winter day outside, lets hear your highlights (or most memorable) cycling related stories of 2009. Rides you did, stuff you witnessed.

OK, well here's mine to get us started.

August. Family camping holiday in the French Alps. Site at 1000m at the foot of the Col de Joux Plaine. Early morning rise and on the bike at 0700 to climb the col and return before breakfast. Its freezing and misty, but am soon sweating cobs on the climb. No ski stations on this one and its a real rural affair with narrow stretches through farm buildings and an ever changing gradient. I have to take my glasses off to cope with the mist. Get in a race with a couple of Germans but eventually shake them off. After about 45mins of climbing, at about 1700m I burst out of the mist into dazzling sunshine. What an absolutely stunning view! The valley below is filled with cotton wool mist with the mountains all around resplendent in the sunshine, the white glaciered peak of Mont Blanc regal above it all. I just have toi stop in a hair pin and I share the view with about a dozen other cyclists, all different nationalities. I've not brought a camera and have to commit the scene to memory for relaying to the family later over pain au chocolat.

Its still 10-15mins of sweating to the col, but spirits are high. The descent is out of this world.

Mine was also in the French Alps. It has to be the l'Etape du Tour and more precisely climbing Mont Ventoux. Anybody who receives the Cliftonite might have already read my account so I wont repeat myself but for anyone who enjoys cycling is has to be one of the climbs you have to try and do. There are 3 routes up it but the one from the town of Bedoin is considered the most difficult and is the one used most commonly in TdF and was the climb used in this years lEtape. What makes it unique to alot of aipine climbs is that it doesnt really have any hairpin bends and is just a relentless gradient for 13 miles. The only respite is at Chalet Reynard at 4 miles from the summit but by this point you are above the treeline and so are exposed to shadeless sun or a howling gale deppending on the weather which is unpredictabel on any mountain but especially this one (the last time they held the etape on the Ventoux it was abandoned due to blizzards). But all this this still isnt enough to put you off as i have entered the Etpae again in 2010 which culminates with the iconic Col du Tourmalet.

Jon

Ps Merry Xmas and Happy New Year and see you all in 2010

Time trialled every weekend from march to end of august.
PB's at all distances this year.

10 miles = 21:23
25 miles = 57:13
50 miles = 1:57:19
BAR short (10,25,50) ave speed = 26.6157 mph.

4th at margham park NPS in the open class.
Top ten finish in Midlands XC series open class.
Not mentioning the Yorkshire 10m TT champs, lets just say I was having an off day!

Next year the 100 in less than 4 hours? and edging closer to doing a 19 minute 10 !!!. Although I won't be riding in Clifton CC colours.

Also the Etape, similar to Jon G memories. I climbed Ventoux with no cramp, but I did get some cramp as I was getting off my bike at our planned food stop just after the official one at Buis les Baronnies with my wife and daughter supplying the food and drink. After a leg massage from my wife, Tuna sandwich and food and drink stocked up I was on my way and no more cramp. We watched the Tour from the same place a few days later.

Othe notables for me was a Milby TLi where I, for once, got in a good position and had a good, for me, sprint to the line, also the Burton Fleming LVRC road race where I actually won some money!

Others included the Thirsk 50 mile TT, White Rose Challenge and many club runs. I'll never forget Howard, Shaun and me narrowly missing a Tractor and Trailer coming down from Menwith Hill on an August 'H' ride.

Racing in the pouring rain at Croft with TimJ freezing at the side after retiring, I had the car keys in my pocket, sorry Tim.

Well whilst I can't compete with the French highlights already mentioned, there where three rides in Yorkshire that for me in 2009 stand out has my own favourites. First the Spurn point ride with my solo ride home from the toll gate with a tale wind & speeds of over 25 mph whilst free wheeling and despite stopping several times to see how far back the group was behind; I still some how got home about an hour before the rest. Second was the Ron Kitchen ride when I seemed to have ridden on my own from Terrington bank until the tea/cake stop at Marton on the return leg, and in between had some fantastic views from Blakey bank, & then the ride thro' Fryup dale before the descent into Rosedale. And the third was the suffering followed by the elation of finishing the Wolds Grimpeur, I think the toughest ride that I have done since last years dales grimpeur.
Happy New Year to All
Bernard

Let's make it 3 for Etape du Tour:

Looking down from top of Ventoux across miles of sunlit blinding white moonscape after 2 hours of unrelieved darkest torture, then blue skies, distant hazy green-blue valley bottom, amazed feeling of 'How on earth did I get up here?'

Did Mr Wiggins enjoy the scenery too a few days later?

Postscript: Will be gratifying to see some Pyrenean mountain scenery in this year's Etape. Was peeing down out of fog during the 2008 Etape. That's when I said 'what's the point travelling 1000 miles doing November rides in July', but Ventoux death and rebirth experience changed all that.

Lots of great days out for me:

Doing a solo version of 90% of the Fred Whit route in April, getting over Hardknott and Wrynose OK, and feeling that maybe I was starting to get the hang of this cycling game.

The highlight has to be Calais to the Pyrenees in May: miles & miles (strictly of course kilometres) of rural France, banter and mayhem with 'The Lads' and then the mountains at the end - roll on May 2010!

Sportive season, improving my times from last year on each.

November in Majorca with Dave C and the Wednesday wheelers.

And of course endless Saturdays with my legs burning in pursuit of Howard et al on the 'H' rides.

Thanks to all for your companionship and shared wisdom. Here's to a similarly enjoyable 2010.

hi all
Dave C WONT forget that in a while
Highlights of the year were entering my first races TTand RR Best newcomer in Clifton TT series .Getting some prime points at TLI races .Tan Hill ride Ryedale Rumble with Dave C ,Ian H and Dr Dave.
Thanks to all members for making me feel welcome in my first year with the club.Heres to next year
cheers Timj.

Bit of an odd year for me - felt very jealous reading about rides on the Ventoux - I didn't manage to get abroad with the bike (or the climbing kit) this year.

I started the year with good intentions for celebrating my 50th with a "best ever" year's racing, but it just slipped away. My mum's cancer and death in the summer meant a year of juggling life, work, riding, and trekking up and down to the south. It rather took its toll with training sessions being downsized and races being crossed off the calendar at short notice. I was still going better than in previous years (with the exception of a few really dismal rides) - and I had some good races, albeit without any placings. But I wasn't where I wanted to be.

If I learned anything from this it was that although my legs and lungs had come on a bit, my head was still a mess. So, I got in some serious sports psychology, and set to some late summer reading. Gagging heavily on the American-ness of it all, I swallowed what I could.

The first test of this mind-****ing was my end-of-rest-month test TT to see where my threshold power was before this winter's training. This should really be nice and slow, with grim power figures, to give me something to improve on through the planned Winter of Suffering. This was not to be, as I did the best "10" I've ever done - by some margin - with power figures up on anything I'd done during the season.

So I've come out of 2009 with a smile on my face and a conviction that I'll just have to celebrate turning 50 a year late, happy that I've still got challenges and can still stick a number on my back and mean business. And a date pencilled in the diary to get the bike loaded onto Eurostar, too....

For me the event that took me most by suprise was the Scotton 100.
Having never done this ride before it held some suprises to say the least.
I was amazed at how quick fellow cyclist took off!! never mind the scenery.
It was a fantastic day the weather in the morning was cool but eventually the sun broke through and it became a lot warmer. One thing that was strange about the whole ride was how dry and dusty it was for so early in the year. I have to admit the terrain and ride surfaces caught me off guard and my legs eventually started to object.
My most desperate moment was.
I was 3 - 4 miles from the finish when I was hit with a puncture in the back wheel. I changed the tube only to find that my hand pump had failed no way could I get any air into the tyre. What was frustrating I had lent my pump to another cyclist only half an hour earlier and it had worked fine.
I started to walk but my legs didn't want to know me any more and not exactly sure of how far I had to go to finish I reluctantly threw in the towel.
I sat at the roadside waiting to be picked up in Arkendale. Two lads from C.C. saw me they pulled up in their car asked me what the problem was, got out a pump and blew up my deflated tyre. I was back on the road, a quick call and I was off again.
I coasted home to the finish last. 6hrs 23mins job done and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
I would like to say a big 'thanks' to those two lads who helped me without their help I would not have finished, a fantastic ride and look forward to next years Scotton 100. The non return valve in the pump had failed, unlucky!

Easy one for me

Highlight of 2009 was definitely the Clifton Come and Try It Time Trial

Competed with daughter no 2 on kiddy back tandem

What an excellent day which showed off Clifton at its finest

Another memorable occasion was Phil Graves thundering towards me on finish line of evening 10. Some amazing new course records along with record turnouts.

Other Clifton achievements

1. The MTB section doing the impossible by exceeding last years successes

2. A new baby is born with Willys Easy Riders. Sociable cycling at its best.

My main highlight of the year was my audax season. Before, I'd only done distances up to 200k, I think my hardest ride was the Tan Hill. In May I entered the Wiggy 300 and had a fantastic time, enough to convince me to form a 400k Arrows team the next month. I was then only one ride short of a super-randonneur series, so late August found me doing the Spa Trek 600. I came in as lanterne rouge with a time of 38:50 total (about 27:30 rolling) but I'd done it, and trebled my distance in a year.

Another hilight was starting to ride with you guys when I moved to York! Annoyingly I've had to lay off recently, but should be out again before the month's over.

Finally, I had excellent fun riding up Honister Pass in the summer, then nipping down to the Lakeland Peddlar in Keswick for a much needed double espresso.

A few highlights for me - been an enjoyable year on the bike.

Managing to ride enough Spoco events to actually qualify for the first time in a few years, and with times not too much slower than when i was racing and training regularly.

The 2 Grimpeurs - Finished the Dales Grimp for the 2nd time, it's always an amazing ride and usually quite eventful! The Wolds ride was my first Sportive, another great day out on mostly familiar roads with familiar hills - ones that I usually try really hard to avoid!

But the real highlight for me was the Tan Hill ride - it was the furthest I've ever ridden by quite some and a fantastic day out.

Final 2009 highlight....Bye Bye Gary Megson!