Clifton CC

I did the BC Ian Mountain Memorial Race at the New Sharlston circuit near Wakefield on Sunday. 10 laps of the circuit giving 60 miles in total. Approached it with a little apprehension as I had not exactly covered myself in glory in last two BC road races I have done! This race was again open to Cat. 2/3/4s. Bit of everything in this circuit. Couple of testing climbs; fast descent and an awful potholed stretch of road for about 50 metres. I did little better than my last two outing in BC road events in that I actually finished the thing without getting lapped and had some riders around me at the finish (you have to think of the positives!).23mph ave for whole race but again I found it hard to deal with these fast starts at this level and drifted off the back of the main group with several others after a lap and half. Have to address this in training somehow(?) in order to find those extra gears! Worked in a group of about 9-10 riders for several laps before this got gradually whittled to 4 at the finish as others called it a day.

I route checked some of the Three Bridges on Saturday, though I did run out of time and take a bit of railway assistance. Both controls now know we're coming, and both have rubber stamps so you don't need to faff around getting receipts. They're Mrs B's cafe at the north end of the Humber Bridge, and the usual Waterways Centre in sunny Scunny. I also (hopefully) arranged a half-way feed stop for September's Friday Night Ride to the Coast, which Dawn can tell you more about, and which should be coming north again in September.

A request: if you're going to ride the 3 Bridges, could you get your entry in soon rather than doing it on the line? It'll make my life much easier. You can now Enter online and pay via Paypal, so you can do it right now without even leaving your computer!

Was down to race on sunday but have been a bit off colour the last couple of weeks, so I decided to give it a miss.
I did the K ride instead. Flat roads out through Linton, Helperby etc with a few lumps before a nice toasted teacake in Coxwold, another few lumps after to warm up and a nice wind assisted ride back to York.
Kev told me not to tell anyone how excellent the K ride is because he has about as many numbers as he can handle, so I won't, but it's my new favorite group and thanks for letting me tag along.

Got to give a mention to Sharpie for a superb sixth place finish in the Ryedale GP on sunday, I know he's not a Clifton rider but he's a good lad and it's a great result for a local rider against the top riders/teams.

Another weekend of not riding as I too am still under the weather with the residue of a flu virus. I havent actually turned a pedal now for nearly 3 weeks and have hardly been out of the house in that time. However I am nearly over it now and hope to struggle back to work tomorrow.
I'm not much of a reader so the enforced spare time has meant I've got through a couple of cycling autobiographys - Alan Peipers and Laurent Fignons - both very interesting from riders at opposite ends of Pro cycling in so many ways. It makes you realise how small the cycling world is - in Peipers book there is a chapter devoted to Pete Longbottom with whom he shared a flat and Fignon gives an account of a Tour stage he won from Strasbourg to Mulhouse his last stage win and witnessed by myself and Kevin on the Grand Ballon!

I was down to marshall the Ryedale GP yesterday but had to send my apologies, so it was a shame to miss Jamie's ride. This possibly explains why 2nd cat races are so hard when there are 2nd cats of Jamie's calibre. But surely this is a good thing as races need a few strong riders to stir things up a bit?
Cam - I have intimate knowledge of that Sharlston circuit - its quite a tough little technical circuit so I wouldn't be too despondent about your performance - at least you kept going to the end.
If you feel redemption is in order, I'm doing the 3/4 evening event there a week on Wednesday. On current form I dont think I can justify the carbon footprint I will leave so I would be happy to give you a lift as there isnt a full field. 35 mile evening events suit this circuit best!

Norwich 100 for me on Sunday... A windy day in Norfolk, and on advice (I get heaps of it, but I do actually listen Kev, honest!) I tucked myself into the midst of Norwich Velo CC for the outward leg, which as well as being very sociable left me with loads of energy for the second half. Following an enforced 20min 'lunch' stop I decided i could pick up my pace, dropping my new Velo chums to play tag-along to a rather handsome Italian... The route itself was great and scenic throughout; pretty countryside and countrylanes, then along the coast road with crashing waves and pretty seaside towns before heading back into Norwich and finishing in the Cathedral grounds. 5hr 18min ride time (no electronic tagging etc, I wish I knew where I came!). And a hot choc with the Italian

You never mentioned the hot chocolate with the Italian!!!

No hot chocolate or Italians for me, it was the Bridlington cc 25 mile time trial!
The headquarters was at a yachting club which had a beautiful view over the bay.
I was told by those that knew the course that the breeze would blow us to the turn and then it would be a bit of a grovel back to the finish.
So off I went at 8:08 and things went very well on the outward leg and I had managed to convince myself that the wind wasn't very strong at all. Round the roundabout at the turn an immediately discovered that I was wrong and they were right!
The grovel continued for some time until the finish line appeared through the tears. Anyway back to hq where I discovered that I could no longer walk in anything approaching a recognisable style and the stairs up to the hq were taken almost comically slowly.
Many, many cakes and tea were consumed before normal walking service was resumed.
My time of 67:35 ish will not have Bradley Wiggins shaking in his shoes but I know that I gave it my best shot and in my mind that's all you can do!
Roll on next weekend and my first 50......GULP!

First ever NYMBO Trailquest for me! - a 5 hour ‘Treasure Hunt’ around the lanes, trails and sheep paths of Farndale & Bransdale; saw bits of the Cockayne Loop and Blakey Bank I’d never thought I’d see. Had a lot of fun actually, despite the drizzly white out on the top of the moors.

Spotted Allan in the car park beforehand who gave me some good tips…still committed a comedy of errors though. The start was a bit bizarre, riders going in a million different directions, like someone turned a light on above a nest of bush rats in an outback wheat shed! Apologies in advance to Trailquest veterans for the following egg-sucking tips but I thought I’d list my key learnings as a first timer:
· Much better to carry a map reading board on your handle bars for easy reference (like everyone else!) than carrying the map in a scrunched up ball in your hand, between your teeth or stuffed up your shirt (like me!).
· It’s all about route strategy - avoid blindly following other no-hopers into 5-point time-waster land (like I did! ).
· Don’t charge off down massively technical cliff traverses by yourself during a cold white out (like I did above Low Mill, which led to my undoing! ) – exactly the sort of thing Bear Grylls would warn you not to do!
· Expect long rides such as these through endless sheep trails and farmyards to be a veritable smorgasbord of poo…cow, sheep, rabbit, duck, yeti, the lot! Still getting it off my bike.
· Practice arriving at a gate just as someone else has opened it. Know where your ankles are when you try to close a gate on the run!
· If asked, do encourage other cyclists to join Clifton’s MTB community - like I did…twice! - Should have checked whether the Club & MTB Captains were offering intro commissions!
· If feeling lost, act dumb and ask someone. I stopped a car - a mum with kids in the back. Me: “Yeah, gidday, is Ayers Rock around here somewhere?” Mum’s reply without blinking an eyelid “Goodness, how long ago did you lose your compass!” True. We laughed.
· Get back to the finish before the cut off time to avoid massive penalties – I was way too careful with this, was desperate to avoid scoring a duck on debut!
· Ignore all of the above tips and just go out and have fun! – like I did – although I was probably far too lay back on this first one and was in chat mode for most of it

I can think of loads of fellow clubbers who would do well in this event – you need good fitness, map-reading skills, an ability to plot a route and a keen appetite for the taste of poo on your drink bottle. I’ll be back, and definitely more ‘tuned in’ – might target the next long one in late August when there is a 4-hour event at Malham. I hope other clubbers who haven’t tried it yet are tempted to have a go too! You haven’t lived ‘til you’ve dipped your dibber!



D.

Wow Darren, 220 points on your first ever trailquest is amazing! Most people lose all their points as they don't get back in time, especially on a massively long 5 hour one.

I chickened out myself as I wanted to try a Brownbacks XC race on the Sunday, and I knew I would be completely useless if I'd been cycling like crazy for 5 hours on the Saturday! I do enjoy the trailquests though so probably should have just done it anyway

Race write up

Cam - I have intimate knowledge of that Sharlston circuit - its quite a tough little technical circuit so I wouldn't be too despondent about your performance - at least you kept going to the end.
If you feel redemption is in order, I'm doing the 3/4 evening event there a week on Wednesday. On current form I dont think I can justify the carbon footprint I will leave so I would be happy to give you a lift as there isnt a full field. 35 mile evening events suit this circuit best![/quote]

It's a tempting offer! However, I am hopefully doing a LVRC race this coming Sunday and the Sunday after that, so that will do for me for the time being....but thanks anyway Paul.

Darren - do you mean real routes and real maps and grid refererences and all those hard copy technical things that I have so wrongly abused you of being inept at in the past. Nice one!

It's enough of a challenge for me to ride my MTB and not fall off, let alone read maps and eat poo (is the poo eating a necessity?) at the same time.

For me it was riding with the big boys on the training ride. I'll have to make up stories again of people being on Cancellara-esk electric powered bikes to save my ego. We did the lumpy North route and as everyone out seemed able to climb at a rate of knots I opted for full on shirking, making sure I was never on the front. Luckily for me though, Chris seemed to decide after a while to ride climbs at a nice in the saddle tempo and when I couldn't keep up with Chris I'd snick onto Dave's wheel as he headed upwards in that muscular way he has about him.

By the time we'd done final drag up to Sheriff Hutton I was still (there abouts) with the group rather than well off the back and I was ready to do a bit on the front on the flat run back to York. This was the plan, but it didn't happen because Chris eased onto the front and just stuck at 28mph all the way back. If it had been timed I think it would have been a pretty good time for a 10 mile TT in it's own right.

Training ride for me too on Saturday.

Good run out to Malton, hanging on as best I could, good ride though in warm, sunny conditions. As Steve mentioned, Chris set a generous pace up to Coneysthorpe, but still near the limit for me.

On Sunday I marshalled at the Ryedale Grand Prix, great event. Well done Jamie, also Scott Thwaites.

Doncaster wh LVRC RR for me this Sunday along with 5 other Cliftonites, Tim, Darren, Cam, Andy, Dr D. Good look Tim r on your 50.