Clifton CC

This month the MTB club run will be on:

SUNDAY 13th FEBRUARY

Meet at Hole of Horcum car park at 10 am

Cafe stop at Goathland

A very pretty ride that goes from Hole of Horcum through Levisham and to Goathland for lunch, back via Fylingdales.

It's a good one for this time of year. Not too muddy, not too technical but a good day out riding. I'd say it is suitable for roadies who fancy having a go at mountain biking too.

Please post on the mtb forum if you would like to come so we can sort out lifts etc.

http://discussion.cliftoncc.org/viewtopic.php?t=3400

I'll definitely be giving this ride a go on Sunday. If there are any others out there of the road inclination who (i) are in need of a few laughs, (ii) want to vary their early season training schedule, or (iii) simply want to land some good natured Ashes banter on the resident Aussie, then please come along and join in the fun.

...And if you're still teetering on the edge of joining in, I've also heard a rumour on the grapevine that the ride organisers, Steph and Simon, will be spending their entire day on Saturday baking cakes and chocolate biscuits for handing out to riders en route!



D.

PS. Sometimes you just have to start a rumour to make it happen!

I will tag along as well if that is okay.

What is the terrain like? At the moment I have "intermediates" on my MTB, will I need "full knobblies"?

How baggy do my shorts have to be?

Should I grow a beard?

Any other things I should bring / do to prepare myself?

Mark

Excellent, the mtbers have decended on the roadies for the last few weeks, looks like you are all going to pay us back on Sunday!!

The other week when we did the route it was all great apart from a couple of boggy bits on the moors. We could dodge some but had to go through some too. There biggest climb is on road, apart from that it is mostly bridleway and moorland.

Baggy shorts and hydration packs are optional, I like blokes in lycra but that's probably just me ha ha.

I'll leave Simon to make the cakes as I wouldn't want to weight you down unecessarily with my efforts

Steph

Hope you all had a good ride.

Sorry I couldn't make it, I was at Twickenham yesterday watching Italy capitulate.

Didn't get back until late, a tad worse for wear.

Punished myself with an hour on the turbo when I eventually rose from my pit. I am sure your ride would have been a lot more fun and I look forward to the reports and perhaps a few pics?

Mark

Well, I’m expecting a broad range of views about today I personally had a great time!

Around 32 riders turned up at the Hole of Horcum car park, a fantastic turn out given the weather forecast. It was great to see a nice mix of mtbers and roadies, and even better to see Simon turn up laden with flapjacks! We divided into 2 groups, led separately by Steph and Simon, and headed out into the mist in the direction of Goathland.

OK, it was a tad damp I spent the entire day looking 5-10 metres ahead so that I could negotiate my way through the bog. I also took way too long to sus out the mtb gears, which had me on the big ring far too often at the worst possible time. Ploughing through endless water and mud certainly makes for a decent fitness workout. In fact, it took us exactly the same time to ride the 65 miles of last week’s reliability ride as it did today’s 21 mile loop around the moor lands.

We were a muddy mess when we turned up at the Goathland café at lunchtime but the manager very kindly opened up a separate room for us. As we gathered ourselves to leave, it was very nice to hear the rain pounding on the roof above us When we got going again, it was fine and we completed the remainder of the ride in reasonable shape, some even having a bit of fun on an impromptu hill climb!

I ended up buying a great value bike from Saddle Skedaddle after a trial today, so I’m now committed to coming back! The challenge for us roadies is to convince Tony G to give this mtbing lark another go before he puts his new mtb on ebay.

I had a great time today and will certainly be having another go. Big thanks to Simon and Steph for arranging and leading the day. Well done everyone for making it a fantastic day out!



D.