Clifton CC

I'll kick this off this week...

Was down at Tom Simpson's home town on Sunday for the Doncaster Wheelers vets race, run over eight laps of a safe circuit between Harworth and Scrooby. It poured with rain on the way down, but the start area was awash with riders feverishly peeling off layers as the sun came out and it suddenly went steamy. I was sole Cliftonite in a fairly big field, with about 35 riders in the C/D (50 to 59) race. This was pretty brisk from the off, and a good race; no cooperation at all within the bunch and lots of attacks. All - including a few that I got in - got pulled back by the pressure of further attacks from the bunch until a couple of riders slipped away about midway through, and another pair escaped nearer the end. I decided to get myself near the front for the wiggly-lane run-in towards the finish, but inadvertently ended up *on* the front and was completely done for by the climb to the finish, crossing the line last in the bunch. Good fun though, and a good warm-up for next weekend's Tom Simpson Memorial vets race - the "big one" on the local vets calendar.

Sunday Clubrun for me. Bernard's Ron Kit Preview Event as trailed elsewhere.

Have never ridden RK, but done this basic route many times, usually though going the other way round. This change of aspect made for a really interesting ride with some unfamiliar vistas in Farndale and Fry-up Dale.

8 in the Square and we split in Farndale with Bernard and Ginnie tackling the more sensible shorter version while self, Andy, Scottish John, Cookie and Ian H pushed on to Castleton. Jeff turned for home and an early bath.

Went for the Full English in Castleton in celebration of the next to be tackled Fry-up Dale! A few showers around, but never got soaked. 5 punctures though made the ride a little stop-start at times. Not been up Chimney Bank in a while - am sure its not good for you.

Bernard and Ginnie got a few extra miles in on the way home and clocked 84 miles. We followed the traditional route and did 90 odd.

Good ride. Plan to get entry in for the Peter Gray Mem this week - hope for some company.

Had intended doing the RK warm-up but knee still a little sore so decided against aggravating it (and forecast was predicting heavy rain). Had a quiet family day and pottered around the Airfield to keep legs ticking over.

Appalling how quickly you lose fitness Since coming back from France when I felt OK I've hardly been out (apart from 2 longer rides which might have maintained a bit of aerobic base I suppose). I really need to get back to brisk efforts once the knee will tolerate them. Still, at least I'm learning more about what works for me and what doesn't in terms of speed/performance.

Lisa and I did the Sam Houghton memorial mountain bike race in Staveley this weekend. We thought we were going quite fast but it took us 4 hours to get around the course, which was 45km over lots of Lake District mountains all off road. There were nice cakes and snacks at the food stops so I think that's where we must have lost our time! We would have got the prize for the least amount of walking up the rocky climbs though. We've been practising our jumping over rocks climbing in a trials biking skills day on Sunday too

Well I did a ride on saturday that i've been daring myself to do for a while now. I got set off at 03:15 on saturday morning and rode to winchester to visit my daughter who's at university there.
I was very lucky with the weather and seemed to have a slight tailwind all day.
I must say that riding on empty roads after sunrise was a fantastic experience, just me and the wild life!
As the sun set later on I seemed to lose what little directional awareness that I posess and got a wee bit lost.
Anyway finally arrived at winchester at about 01:00 after nearly 22 hours in the saddle and 268 miles on the clock.
A grand day out!

tim r wrote: I got set off at 03:15 on saturday morning and rode to winchester

Goodness gracious!
What route did you take? Did you have any support?

Hi Rob
Good old technology for me I tore pages out of a roadmap book and laid them on the floor. With a highlighter pen I traced a route through: Howden, Goole, Gainsborough, Newark, Melton mowbray, Market Harborough, Northampton, Buckingham, Aylesbury, Walingford, Basingstoke and eventually Winchester!

The route occasionally took me onto busy A roads but on the whole I think it worked well. I must say that some of the signage in northampton and basingstoke was pathetic but to be honest I quite liked the challenge (I ended up waiting at some trafic lights at midnight to ask a kindly motorist for directions)

My good lady wife had driven down in the afternoon by a different route so I suppose she was my safety net.

Thanks for your interest, it really has left me on a bit of a high this ride!!

Wow! Tim respect man respect.

Ian H

That's what you call a long day in the saddle and puts my ride to shame. On Friday afternoon I rode back to my parent's in Bradford, via Tadcaster, Boston Spa and into Otley. In hindsight should have stopped for an ice cream by the river but instead decided not to and climb straight up the old Chevin road. A long and steep drag of a hill followed by not a single yard of flat road all the way home. It was worth it just to see the look on my Dad's face when I rode into the drive.

tim r - fantastic! That's a weekend and a half. Where was the film crew ?
I've long meant to ride down to London with a mate from work, and I wasn't sure if we should break the journey overnight, or whether a one-day trip was feasible. Sounds like you proved you can go a fair bit further than that...
Fascinated to know how it worked - how much food+clobber did you carry, how many meal stops did you make? Is the coffee in Aylesbury as good as they say? Come on, tell us more...
tom

Tim, your ride is still the subject of much discussion in our house even at this late hour!

Your daughter must have been very proud having experienced the journey (motorised)! And we guess her and mates must have all been up to greet, as 1am being early evening in undergrad world....

268 miles, while a heck of a long way, sounds sort of within the realms of cycling experience. Whereas York to Winchester sounds like the stuff of legend! And solo!

Chapeau

Rob and Claire

That ride suitably qualifies for the title of epic!! Wow!

Hi Tim

I thought you were mad when you did the Wiggy 300km, this just confirms my suspicions . You have total respect from me.

Jon

Tims ride makes me feel inadequate. Respect is due - that is proper cycling!
I rode Sundays City RC Hull Road Race at Little Weighton. Just myself and Darren B in red & black which is a bit sad really (as it was hardly Premier calender stuff) and Darren had to pull out with mechanical problems. Nothing much to report - a high quality break of 5 got away and stayed away with an embarrasingly small advantage. I didnt feature much if at all, felt ok and finished mid bunch in the sprint for the minor placings- narrowly avoiding a crash with a lap to go which involved a foot down and a bit of chasing to regain my place at the back. 60 miles in a bit under 2 and a half hours.
Interupted my world cup viewing to ride Wakefield CCs road race at Sharlston last night. I've ridden here on about 4 previous occasions and keep saying never again. I'm not that keen on the circuit - and not that sure how it gets through a Risk Assessment but the finish suits me - well after you've got round the blind bend with 500 metres to go it does! The other thing about evening road races is they are about the most stressful thing you can do - I've driven to this one a different way every time and nearly always get lost - yeah I know I should get a sat nav. This year I had it all sussed but finished up missing a slip road off the new A1 stretch and ended up going the wrong way on the M62. I eventually bumbled into the hq about 6.45 for a 7pm start a complete wreck and only just made signing on. No warm up and consequently felt rubbish. A break of 7 got away on the opening lap never to be seen again consigning the rest of us to the miserable drudgery of riding round for 35 miles for nothing. This wasnt really what I had planned for the evening and came very close to calling it a day just so that I could get home early. But I hung in. Last lap I narowly avoided a bad crash with a couple of miles to go and just hung on the back of the bunch on the outside. The finish is uphill for about 500m from the bend. We got round that and their were no cars coming down the hill so I just gave it both cylinders - just failing to win the sprint by a bike length. Its not hard and its not clever but sometimes you have to ride to your strenths - 9th place and a couple of points. No fiver but the half a Johns in the bar afterwards tasted good! And home for tea at 10:30 after going a different way and getting lost.

Did the Sunday club run as detailed by Rob, very enjoyable, even Chimney bank!

This was my first long ride since returning from 'Calais to the Pyrenees' ride in early May. During the ride and since then I have been plagued with an achilles tendon pain but now seems to be ok.

Done a few club TT's and one short ride a week up to now, no racing until this coming weekend, doing Tom Simpson memorial RR. Then following weekend Brid 10TT on Sat, Otley 50TT on Sunday.

Dave