Clifton CC

Well the first ride back with Clifton CC for me for a while.

H, Me, Ian H, Dave C, Pete (I think), Someone else, Shaun.

Was a great ride with the first bit we was in the company of the training ride, so we was flying along at 20+ mph, really good feeling being in the middle of a large bunch like that and flying along without using much energy at all.

We then split off in Coxwold where we made our way to Boltby Bank, and that was a tough climb! The last time I did that I was in 34/32 and I had to walk, today I managed to get up it without walking in 34/21.

After that we had some nice fast descents and lots of short sharp bits as well as one long drag which I believe was Newgate Bank. We got to the top of that, regroups then descended into Helmsley with me on the front, it felt like a TT, onto the main steep section coming into Helmsley I was overtook by I think Dave C and H, the pace then crept up to something like 45, apparently I could be a good lead out man.

After lunch, which I could not stomach for the first time, very unusual for me to not be hungry, the rest of the ride to Malton was very flat and fast, mostly a tail/cross wind, so we was banging along at a nice steady 23mph.

Toilet stop at Malton, then we banged it back to York, some nice rolling stuff round near Acklam. Dave C and Pete decided to drop off, I think Ian H did too as he was not behind.

The last miles from near Stamford Bridge was pretty tough with a light headwind made being on the front pretty hard.

About 105 miles I got in when I got back to York, was a great ride, I felt pretty good, so I downed one of those ZipVit Caffeine gels that gave me a right buzz and I was off, went round Tadcaster way to get me some extra miles.

Got to Cawood praying the post office would be open, but it was not, I should have ate that snickers in Tadcaster, but I did not, got to Cawood and had to down a Mars Bar and Snickers bar whilst struggling to stay off the floor, quickly recovered for a nice crawl home, then a nice 2 or so hours sleep to recover from the ill feeling of draining myself into the red.


Looking forward to the PG W2TD ride next weekend.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39915689 130 miles, 19.6mph avg.

Sunday Clubrun. Expertly lead by Heather. Good route to Osmotherly and many leadership qualities shown (including hanging back with me when I was struggling on some of the climbs). Some great group riding by Muzzy, Howard, Shaun, Nigel plus aforementioned.

Great day, thanks

Me and Steph Fountain rode the 5 hour NYMBO Trailquest around Hawes (Bainbridge was the start) in Wensleydale. Again like last week we seemed to be travelling to get the bad weather, as it drizzled until about 2:30pm. Fantastic scenery (when it eventually cleared) and lovely bridleways that took us on paths Paul Crane has used over the last two years for the club weekends across the dales. We started out badly with us (mainly me) making a number of early navigational mistakes going off Carpley Green Road (helped by a bridleway which split in two about every 400m across open moorland). Looking back we probably went the wrong way round, as towards the end we ended up riding up bridleways and going down the road (The road in question being Beggarmans Road down into Hawes doing over 50mph). Though this did mean we had some excellent off road decents too. At this point I had a puncture. We then managed a strong finish hoovering up points up above Sedbusk and Skell Gill before racing back to the start with 1 min and 1 second to spare. Both of still felt fresh at the end. Steph was really flying in here quest to win as much booty as possible after her third in the Mountain Mayhem and her semi sponsorship with Saddle Skedaddle (lots of clothes). Steph should have won the Womens title but as it was a national event (with stricter rules) we won the mixed pairs instead! Steph got the glass and I got the bottle of wine. Only downsides were, Steph got stung by a very angry wasp (which kept on trying to sting her again) and our bikes and backs being covered in cow poo.

Jeff was brilliant in this trailquest, after already doing 4 hrs 52 mins we had 8 mins to get back with about 2km to go and he insisted that we went for another 15 points which was a diversion along a road and then a steep offroad climb. We did it and got back with 1 min to spare!

Jeff - Steve has another glass and bottle of wine to give us at the next one so you'll have to do it with me so we can claim our prize - not that I'm trying to bribe you into cycling with me or anything )

Aware of various challenges coming up for some of us in the next week, Kevin mapped out a beautiful long, hilly ‘training’ ride to the beach at Filey for the Intermediates. A tidy group of 8 included Tony, Alistair, Scottish John, English John, Richard, Greg, Darren Q and yours truly.

On a day made difficult by the heat and humidity, we tackled the lengthy climb up to Acklam mast - followed by a mesmerising trip through the valley to Thixendale. We were then joined by a father-son combination enjoying a sponsored ride from Bradford to Filey - that’s 90 miles at a brisk pace for the son who was only 12 years old! Tracking via Wold Newton, we lunched in the cliff top café at Filey, then took in the sea views. Our return began with the steep climb on the quiet road straight up Staxton Bank, followed by a quick run to Settrington Bank.

I found the biggest challenge of the day was taking in enough water & energy to counter the huge water loss; sweat was pouring out of us by the bucket load in the oppressive humid conditions. In fact, at Settrington, I felt strangely ill and light-headed, not good symptoms – a big thank you to John for sharing some water and to the group for easing the pace for a bit. We were all low on water supplies by then so diverted to the Stone Trough Inn next to Kirkham Priory for re-fills, then climbed over the bank to head back to York, covering almost exactly 100 miles. Thanks to Alistair for the map reading duties and everyone else in the group for providing great support for each other in difficult humid conditions.

Good luck to all the etapers heading across the Channel this week to conquer the Pyrenees!

D.

Raced at croft on Tuesday and entered the EYRRL race at Etton on Thursday. Not sure I paid enough attention to recovery after these - had run out of stocks of REGO. Think I am paying for it now - laid up with HC throat infection - hoping it will clear in time to prepare for the City Centre race next week - otherwise you might have a spare Marshall Phil!

Every cloud has a silver lining

GThis was something totally different for me being at Morzine in the French Alps to experience the tour in the mountains and staying in the same location of the first rest day. The location was superb our hotel was on the road thru' the village that the riders where due to come through before the last 12k climb of the day to the finish. The buzz around the place was great & we were able to use all the ski lifts etc for one euro per day which also included the swimming pools locally too. We decided to go up to the finish on the ski lifts & the crowds etc created a fantastic atmosphere, after a 30 minute walk thru' to the actual finish line (approx 3k) we saw all the razz ma taz of the finishing area. But in view of the crowds decided to go back down the mountain to see the actual race thru' Morzine & were stood with Mark C's support team with drinks etc.
By the time the riders appeared with the Astana team driving up the pace, 3 riders had escaped but were caught on the climb. with several groups behind including Armstrongs small gp & then several others before Cav's gp about 20 minutes down on the first main gp.
The temp was about 33 degrees & the drinks guy told us that the have 120 litres available for the team at this point !!
On the rest day I did a 80k ride with approx'1300m of climbing, the last part being the last but one climb of the tour to Les Gates that for me was about 9k of hot hard riding with 3 rest stops in the shade - so how do they do it ?
We then found ourselves having to leave Morzine at 0300 hrs the following morning in order to get to the airport before all the roads in the area were closed for the tour departure.
Despite this I wouldn't have missed the experience.
Bernard