Clifton CC

I did the Bishop Auckland 32TT which was the 1st round of the Clifton open TT series. It was an amazing experience, battling against the headwind/sidewinds on the 1st half of 2 laps of a 16 mile route which was also uphill most of the way down to 12 mph in places. Then the downhill with a tailwind on tribars 35/40 mph was quite an experience also.

Anyway it was good training and a sunny day aswell.

Thank you Rob for shouting words of encouragement at various points on the course.

There were 7 Cliftonites in the entry and congrats to Richard Wilson Jun winner and Nollaig 2nd Lady.

Dave

I joined Paul Bennett, Tim and Tom at the Seacroft Wheelers Spring RR at Bishopwood, down towards Selby. Completely flat with the exception of two railway bridges, the nine laps of the circuit were made hard work by the strong and gusty westerly. Parts of the circuit were ridden in an echelon, with most of the riders in the right-hand gutter. In the event hanging on proved impossible for about half of the field; with a couple of laps to go I took a breather and drifted back to what I guessed was about mid-pack and took a glance over my shoulder; all there was behind me was the safety car!

Tactics were to try to get into breaks and avoid a mass (and hair-raising) sprint but they were so short-lived (with the exception of a bunch of four who did well to get away towards the end) that my couple of goes off the front were futile. Paul had a bold go early in the race but also got pulled back. In the event both of us spent the race keeping up near the front and out of trouble, and sharing work to keep it all moving. I managed to stay there until things got a bit strung out by the crosswind with a mile or so to go, and rounded the final corner for the run to the line with nothing at all left in my legs. 50 miles in 2hrs 10min, Normalised Power 242W. Lots of photos at http://martin.photium.com/portfolio91186.html

A big group of MTBers headed to Swaledale for the monthly Club Run. We did a large figure of 8 around the Moors above Gunnerside, Gunnerside Gill, Great Pinseat and Fremington Edge, mostly mud free.

Good weather but cold when stationary especially on the tops. Barring a few minor mechanicals, and some assassination attempts on me by my carbon riding buddies!, we didn't have any mishaps. A few moans about the light breeze and a couple of small hills but I think everyone enjoyed doing their 1st big ride of the year.

It was the first of many "team-weekends" for three-quarters of the team, one quarter being on holiday, for the terrex event this year (www.adidas-ar.com) - focusing on Mountain Biking as the discipline this weekend.
This took the form of some night road racing on the bikes - very enjoyable! - and then a fantastic 70 mile mountain bike ride on Sunday. Despite the constant headwind (how does that happen?) we all made it round with smiles on our faces.
Wayne put both Ben and I to shame as he did the entire ride on his rigid Singlespeed and beat us both up Glaisdale Rigg....more training required for us two then.
This ride was the first that the three of us have done together and whilst Wayne has been training me up over winter and building up my endurance with such lovelies as the double red loop of Dalby this is was our first "biggy" on open moorland. Bring on more of them! It was awesome.

PhilBixby wrote:Seacroft Wheelers Spring RR at Bishopwood, down towards Selby.

So thats where you were heading Phil when I saw you Sunday morning, I was the cyclist you past between Stiilingfleet and Naburn. I was heading to Wiggington for the Fountains Audax. And what a beautiful Spring day to be out on the bike albeit a bit windy but thats being picky. Compared to last Saturday is was like mid Summer. Again there was a decent representation from Clifton and again like last year it was a mass start until we reached Boroughbridge when everything split, which to be honest is no bad thing. these events are not races after all. The gusty wind made for an interesting stop at Ripley Castle whilst sat outside. However a swift return to Wiggington folowed thanks to the same gusty wind.

Jon

The Sunday training consisted of myself and Nick, one of the Saturday training ride regulars. I'd had a short ride on Saturday and felt rubbish and Sunday was a continuation of this. Out through Haxby, Flaxton, Castle Howard, Slingsby, Harome, Helmsley. This is a regular training stamping ground for me and on another day I would have climbed off the B road up to Ampleforth ( the one we descend on the Reliability) and then the long climb upto Yearsley. But instead we carried on to Oswaldkirk and Gilling turning off and decending to Snarsgate farm and Farlington and back to Strensall - at least zig zagging through the lanes kept us out of the wind a bit. Nick had been the stronger but even he was beginning to flag by then. Scores on the doors were nearly 60 miles at nearly 18 mph so nothing to shout about but I'd felt every pedal rev. On the other hand it was another great, clear & dry day with fab views and some new roads for Nick. I was glad to get home though.

Well, I joined Howard's group for a change. Nice early spring day. Small group of 7 left the Square. Chris and Will peeled off wanting to be home for lunch and John followed suit soon after. That left 4 for Driffield. Mark, Howard and Sean were doing prodigious amounts of work while I used all my guile to conserve energy. As Howard claims to be on some sort of diet (you heard it here first) we were in and out of the cafe in less than an hour . Hard, hard ride back into the wind. Again, I kept off the front until the cracks started to show in the form of some of the others. Nice ride, thanks for the company guys.

As Skymoos said the other week, there's really not a lot of difference between the different groups at the moment, other than the cafe stops and chance to duke it out on the hills (which is always optional). If you're comfortable on the Sunday ride, you'll be fine on Howard's ride. He did asure me that they never leave anyone behind.

Onto Sunday, and I went to watch Claire et al in the Bishop Aukland Hilly (first of the Open Series counters). Quite inspiring stuff to watch. The wind got stronger and stronger until it was all but stopping riders in their tracks in Hamsterley on lap #2. As a result the field was split asunder with the tail enders taking nearly twice as long as the winner. Of the Clifton contingent - special mention in dispatches for Nollaig who looked strong and was pedalling well and to young Richard Wilson (who I never saw on the course, but produced an excellent time on such a hard day).

Following on from John G's comments, I thought that I would add a comment or two; first it was good to hear of Nollaigs ride up North, obviousy last weeks saturday was good prep for you, well done to all who took part. It must have been tough into that wind it certainly was once we travelled west from Boroughbridge; and the decent into Ripley was a bit dodgy with the side wind almost blowing into the kerb on several occasions; also good to see some new faces trying an Audax for the first time well done Lee & co. I know that it was tough the way my legs felt afterwards, so I'm sure we will all benefit as the season develops.
Bernard

I was battling the crosswinds at Bishopwood with Phil et al. The season's first race is always nerve-wracking and I got off to a nervous start, managing to drop most of the way to the back before the flag dropped. What followed was a good lesson in how unforgiving a flat circuit could be.

Two straights were exposed to strong crosswinds, which strung out the back of the pack who couldn't shelter in the echelon at the front, leading to frantic sprinting to stay in touch (or not...). I didn't cope with this at all well and at the end of the third lap (of nine) I came unstuck. I had a fair bit of company though, and chased down a few more riders, building up a group of four who set up a good pace line to try to regain the bunch.

After a lap two others dropped away, leaving me and a strong guy (Carl?) from Malton to keep trying. Into the headwind we came tantalisingly close to the race car, but got dumped again in the cross-wind between the railway bridges. I waited for the race to catch me again and pursued them for one more lap before heading back to HQ to find the carpark one-third empty already.

It was definitely a good hard ride and far from a waste of time, but a shame not to finish and disappointing to fall for the false comforts of the back of the bunch again. Some lessons learned, and plenty to work on before Wetwang...
tom

oh, the patter of hail on the window...

I have just returned from a few days in belgium, where spring seems to be more apparent than here, so we had a good few days riding on quiet flemish lanes. Lovely and smooth... except for the cobbles of the kemmelberg!

We managed to catch gent wevelgem on sunday, first on the monteberg, then on the kemmelberg for the next lap. We got a good view despite the crowds, it is amazing how fast they ride up it!

When we rode up on saturday, i could hear someone behind, which i assumed was my sister. However, once they overtook, it turned out not to be family at all, it was the Skil-Shimano team out training! I wasnt able to keep up their pace on the cobbles!

Hopefully I should be able to get back to regular weekend riding again now, as long as the weather doesnt decide to go back to winter...