Clifton CC

I did the 3 bridges this weekend. A group too large to be safe on public roads set off from the start so a group of around 10 (Shaun, Tony, Dan,Willhub, a couple of other locals who I didnt know, a few guys from Wakefield and me) broke away early. The pace was pretty hot for me, but a great ride out to the Humber bridge through variable weather to a short cafe stop. The next third of the ride to Goole was into a headwind all the way which sapped my energy. Another short cafe stop ensued with a final leg back to the start. The wind had now picked up as a crosswind which seemed just as bad as the headwind! With around ten miles to go I just could not stick with the 21-23mph speed of the group and dropped out to a more comfortable 18-19 mph. Got back 5 minutes after the group with 115 miles on the clock at an average 18.5 mph which is pretty impressive stuff for me. I did the Ron Kit the other week in a similar time (6 hrs 12mins), and even though the kit is 15 miles less it has loads more climbing however I found this ride much tougher. A great day!!
Many thanks to Greg for organizing.

I also did the Three Bridges, it was a good day with minimal rainfall and temp was ok, had a good group with some strong riders in, we got to the Humber Bridge in no time at all! As Allan said the ride to Goole was into a headwind and it was pretty tough, it was nice when that headwind finally turned into a crosswind.

All in all a good day with good bunch of riders and 143 miles on the clock for me, thanks to Shaun for the tow at the end back into York also.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97926969 Ended up with a good pace of 19.6mph door to door.

The Three Bridges passed off well, at least from my perspective. There was plenty of wind but also plenty of sunshine, 45 started and only one didn't finish (sorry to hear you didn't feel well, Julia). I took some photos at the start and I've just uploaded them, you can see them on My Flickr.

I did the 3 Bridge Audax on Saturday too, thanks Greg for a well organised event.

I can echo what Allan wrote, it was a tough windy day! I split into the first group that contained some very strong riders. The tail wind assisted ride to the Humber Bridge was fine but I struggled into the wind to Goole and the promised tail wind home never happened with an equally tough cross wind back to Stamford Bridge. I somehow managed to stick with the group all the way around mainly thanks to Shaun and his support, thankyou! I was quite pleased with the time at 5hrs 25min total moving time at an average of about 19.75mph. We did however cover 105 miles thought!

It is two months since I was last on my road bike and it really showed on Saturday, the 2 point towards the challenge series were will earned!

Cheers Greg, I rode with a quite large group until poor Steve S got stung just between the eyes (ouch) arrived at the cafe at the Humber bridge with Steve and Dawn just as the first group were leaving, regrouping with Connel and his dad (sorry I forgot your name) Steve and Dawn and another guy.

It certainly was quite tough against the headwind to Goole, but a combination of mostly fine weather and very good company made it a very enjoyable days ride.

Ian H

I did the 10 @ Kirroughtree MTB race as a solo rider in SW Scotland on Saturday, and what an experience it was! My first ever MTB enduro, it almost killed me! The race had about 450 entrants, with about 300 on the course at any one time as soloists or teams.

I started ok, check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zVQREHdwf8
Look out for the Clifton top at the 40 second mark, that’s as close as I ever got to the leaders! In the first mile, Clifton’s JayW rode up alongside and intro’d himself, he was doing the event with his fiancé in a mixed pair, and they did very well too.

It was a ‘beautiful’ course for a top MTB rider: lots of singletrack and natural paths with huge technical sections. Only problem is, I’m not a ‘top’ MTB rider! For a novice like me, it was hair-raising and knackering. 10 hours of churning out 10 mile laps containing multiple steep climbs, long flowing single track and big technical descents - JayW described the course as ‘evil, but fun’ – I’d prefer to just call it ‘evil’!

The start was manic but I settled down a bit as the field spread out. Cockiness undid me on the 2nd lap with a spectacular over-the-handlebars fall on a big descent where I body-slammed on a rocky cascade. This left me deep in teeth-gritting territory with a bruised lower back. Thankfully I didn’t end up in the back of an ambulance in a neck brace like another guy did. This setback left me into the bottom dozen soloists (out of 80), although I managed to claw my way out of the cellar dwellers by the end of the day - just.

I was very frustrated at not having the technical prowess to be in the top half, not that I should be too disappointed having only half a dozen MTB rides under my belt. It reminds me of learning to ski or windsurf – loads of pain in the learning phase but great fun when you eventually spit out as an expert. Flippin’ frustrating though, especially when you see everyone else displaying absolutely amazing bike skills.

Some other video of the event is captured here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUSbG4byQMw

It was a sensational event, well organised and great atmosphere. I’m bruised and battered, could hardly stand up the day after, and wished I could have done better – really glad I did it though!

BTW, just found a text book photo here: http://www.nofussevents.co.uk/gallery/gallery/1511/ Click on the ‘10 @ Kirroughtree box’, then type 55 into the rider search box – Please carefully note full presentation of club logo to camera, pedals flat & heels down…MTB Debs would be delighted with me!



D.

Well it was off to York Cycleworks for me on saturday morning for a bike fit session with my tt bike. I never figured that my position on the bike was too far off but any avenue which may release any horsepower at all must be worth exploring I reasoned.
Anyway me and Sam spent two hours tweaking and adjusting cleats, saddle and bars and then I was declared fit to go and terrorise the local tt scene.
Sunday morning dawned and off I went up to a 25 starting at Topcliffe on quite a pleasant morning. Now it was good course and the conditions were favourable and I managed to knock over 4 minutes off my previous best time set the week before. The bike set up will not be responsible for all that time gained but it certainly did not do me any harm at all! I was like a dog with two tails for the rest of the day

Well done to Darren, that sounds epic

In other news, I've now got my official distance for the 24h. My provisional distance had been 369.68 which was ~22.5 miles down on what my computer had said, so I appealed it and have got those miles back: my official distance is now 390.53 miles. Since my targets were 600km (373 miles) and 400 miles at a stretch, I'm happy with that!