Clifton CC

Thought that I may as well kick this one off given that my weekend riding was over just as the rest of you got started!
Set off early on saturday up a cold Wigginton Road out thru' Crayke, cresting White Horse Bank at around 8am. Benefited from the morning sun as I headed over towards Old Byland and down to Reivlaux. The climb out proved to be a little treacherous as there was still frost on the tarmac here. Sallied into Helmsley and made a way back thru' Harome, Nunnington, Hovingham, Sheriff and Haxby where I passed a large outgoing intermediate group flanked by Howard.
A tad under 60 miles, 1600m of ascent and home in time for Saturday Kitchen. All the boxes ticked and an afternoon out with the missus getting her retail fix

Thanks Allan, I would have given you a wave had I seen you ride past. The best weather day in the year so far for me on Saturday! A high quality field of 13 gathered for the Intermediate ride, the most for a while. Off the top of my head, the contenders included: Howard, Shaun, John C, Tony G, Neil, Andrew, Dan, Andy M, MTB-er Ian, Greg, Jon G, Dave & myself. Given the apparent variation in fitness levels, the group stayed together quite well, that is until a formal split came after lunch.

The pace was fairly solid from the start as we headed out through Strensall, Farlington, Stearsby, up the climb near Brandsby, then cut right onto the picturesque road across to Hovingham. Then, North through Nunnington, up to Fadmore and on to the Clapton loop (ACW) – “She don’t lie, She don’t lie, She don’t lie, Cockayne” You underestimate this loop at your peril because it certainly has a habit of dishing out a kicking. There were a couple of regroupings and generally everyone hung on quite well. We even had some Alpe D’Huez style crowd-barracking at the 2nd gate going up the hill on the return leg…ok, I was a crowd of one, but it did prompt a smile on most faces as they came through!

Then followed a manic sprint down through Carlton before parking up at H’s favourite ice cream parlour in Helmsley for refuelling. After lunch, we headed directly South on the main road through Sproxton before turning right up the hill in the direction of Ampleforth and Wass. Somewhere near here, the front 8-9 carriages of the train decoupled from the back 5 carriages, seemingly on a different route. After waiting for a while, we assumed Tony the Tank Engine, who intended to front up again the next day on the Sunday ride, had likely volunteered to lead home the back of the train, although I must admit to have missed this decoupling. The front carriages then took the mainline express route back to York via Coxwold, Easingwold, Alne and Overton.

It was great to get home and give the bike a spring dusting rather than an industrial clean for once. Loadsa hilly miles on dry roads at a solid pace, a great day!…thanks everyone!



D.

With the numbers in the square, K decided to bring out plan B so I led a ride south, it started in quite an explosive manner(my front tyre exploded before I even got out of the sq, with looks of wonder after the biggest bang heard in central York since the biltz from all the bus passengers at the Helmsley bus stop.
So out came Kevin's trusty fold up & my new tube & 10 minutes later we set off again 5 intotal.
In view of the delay we decided to miss the ride out via Elvington etc to Howden & decided on an anti clockwise route to Howden via the Too hoots garden centre(Carlton nr snaith) at 28 miles. Then on to Goole & boothferry bridge only to find no passage for pedestrians or cyclists - but here the adventure started; East Riding Council have laid on a mini bus & trailer for cyclists & mopeds at helf hour intervals on a 24/7 basis for another 8 weeks. This picks up at the junction of the road out of Armyn & the A614 and drops off near the garage on the Howden side of the A614. So we were back in the saddle 20 minutes later after a trip on the motorway over the high level bridge.
So back via Seaton Ross, Thornton & Stamford Bridge with another 42 miles done door to door at 15.4 mph - not counting the motorway trip.

I did some racing this weekend, an important MBO race which I messed up spectacularly, going over the handebars whilst still attached to the bike and then later by getting lost so it took 17 mins to find a control that should have taken 3 mins!

Sunday I did one of the Gorrick races, this was much more fun, a mass start XC race with very tough competition. I didn't fall off this time but I did average 178 bpm heart rate for 56 mins! I sounded like I've been smoking 40 a day for the last 10 years. Had a very close race with a girl from Bristol who said 'Well Done' when I overtook her! And then in my enthusiasm I crashed into a tree... But I said 'Well Done' when she overtook me back and we went on like that for the whole lap about 6 times!! Very British.

Darren, the fatal split came at Coxwold with you chaps going straight ahead, Tony and I opted for a now foolish left turn after a vain attempt by us both to pull all back onto the group. I was disappointed to miss the express train back to York as was due home for afternoon tea and a smoked kipper at 4.15, too bad. First time I've ridden Cockayne loop and thoroughly enjoyed everything pre cafe, the to-ing and fro-ing post cafe was a wee dampener on the first great weather of the year and idyllic scenery. Look forward to the next trip out there.
Andrew

I ventured down to Husbands Bosworth (a few miles off Jn.20 off M1) yesterday and did the LVRRC race. Competed in the As and Bs race. Very good, varied, slightly lumpy (with a couple of sharp rises) circuit. Roads in much better condition than the Organiser suggested in the pre-race briefing. Certainly 10 times better than the worst of them we have round here. The attacks seem to come v. early in the Vets races. I adopted a cautious approach as was not sure what my legs were going to be like after getting up at the unearthly hour of 5:00 am to make the trip. Anyway, after a few unsuccessful attempts a breakaway did occur and then another few riders got away. At this point it seemed the sensible thing for the 25 or so riders remaining to work together to reel back in the escapees. After all, they were not too far down the road. Regrettably only an about half a dozen of us (out of 25!) seemed to be interested in doing anything like approaching a pace line. Got to the point when you wonder if you are being viewed as a bit of a mug when you are taking longer and longer pulls at the front! We did not catch the breakaways and it soon became clear it was going to boil down to a sprint for our group - not for a "brown envelope" placing but for somewhere in the teens. Got myself into a good position with about 1km to go and feeling like I still had the legs to muster an effort. The finish was the toughest stretch of the course with a stiff crosswind but was badly checked by someone in the last 500m who hopped across into a fast moving train on our right leaving me out of the running. Rather than risk everything for a minor placing I opted to sit up and coasted across the line safely behind the herd. …Drove home pretty happy though - good course and thought I had a decent ride - felt stronger as race progressed. However, to do well in these LVRRC races it seems that you have to be prepared to commit ‘early’ to try and get away. Once I develop a bit more confidence and more of ‘race head’ would like to give this go. Reflected that, a year ago I did two of these Vets races and got shelled out of the back after barely a lap on both occasions so I feel as though I have made progress over last 12 months. Bit of break from racing for me now due to holiday but looking forward to more racing come May.

Sunday clubrun for me, out to Osmotherly. I haven't been out that way for a long time and I'd forgotten just how great the lanes are round there.
Someone punctured, Muzzy swung off early and hammered himself all the way home, Howard had far too much to eat, Rob sat rock solid on the bike all day, and someone's bike had a very annoying creaky sound, so just a normal sunday clubrun..great fun.
See you all later

Training ride for me as per the thread on the other forum. Managed to take my turns with Phil's group on the laps of the circuit - found it a little easier than last time but not by much. Didn't react soon enough on the final sprint - Phil and companion had flown the coop before I realised what was happening so another lesson learned.

Need to work on my anaerobic endurance though as any longer than a short blast at full gas and my legs fill with pain (aka lactate)

Training ride for me too, a good couple of laps for me, but then I was forced to take up my customary position on the back of the group, only going through once in a blue flood, bloody great fun though.

Sorry Dave, don't know if you expected me to do a sprint and lead you out at the end, but my legs were utterly dead by then.

16 miles @ 14mph. Smmmmokinnnn!! - well smouldering slightly.

A second great intermediate ride for me this weekend. Really enjoyed my first experience of the Cockayne loop in such fantastic weather and great company once again. About 100 miles door to door.

Sunday was once again a day for a solo effort, this time about 2.5 hours. Darren has persuaded me to maybe give the club run a go next sunday.

Andy

Had a busy family weekend so I took advantage of the fine weather on Friday afternoon to ride out to Wetwang (with bare calves) and check out the course. Muzzy wasn't joking about the potholes - you could lose a cow in a couple of those craters! Great afternoon though, rode back via Fridaythorpe, Millington, Pocklington and made 58 miles in just over 3hrs.

Back out on Sunday for some painful, gasping sprint drills. Does feel like winter may be ending at last...
tom

Sunday - Rich and I did the Whinlatter Enduro, a very hilly 30 mile MTB race. I got a super start but it all Pete Tong at the end of the first lap with a puncture, snapped chain and crash in quick succession. I had to threaten my bike with Ebay to make sure there were no futher brake downs! That left lots of traffic to overtake, I finished in 4h 2min and on reflection I only my self to blame for very poor preperation!!

Simon

Another member of the intermediate clan around Cockayne on Saturday. Sadly was one of the members of the decoupled train along with Tony G, Dave and Andrew at Coxwold crossroads. Even are group of four split close to York when Dave and I were struggling with the pace. That was the only disappointment of the day as it would have been good to finish as a group. Still a good ride nonetheless with great weather finally. But anyway there is always next week. Should be out on Sunday on the Fountains Audax for another go.

Jon