Clifton CC

Tan Hill for me.
Good group of 6 in the Square. Strange morning though. Despite the mild forecast (and it felt mild too, though that may have just been in comparison) there was a fair bit of ice around. We avoided it well until Thonton Bridge near Helperby. Came over a small rise to find a car upside down on the verge and a few people stood around. A touch of the brakes behind and Steen and Greg went down.

S&G seamed fine and carried on. More importantly there were two people trapped in the car and the air ambulance was on its way. The trapped motorists were talking to those stood on the verge and hopefully there has been a happy ending. My thoughts afterwards were that, over the years, we've passed a few "rigged" cars in ditches and fields and have always thought they were from a previous day's misadventure and ridden on. We would have thought the same today had there not been a few people stood around.... Doesn't bare thinking about.

Also shows there's more to black ice than air temperature alone, it was a few degrees above freezing. On the other hand you can go out in -8°C and have no trouble.

Anyway, from there on the water was mostly in liquid state and the day was bright. Indeed, the departure from Leyburn was about 20°C warmer than 2 years ago. Steen and G turned back at Hawes which left self, Andy, Mussy and Pete Hook to tackle Buttertubs. Pete was 7th in the Junior Northern Cyclo-cross champs last week and is riding strongly. Mussy and Andy are hardly weakling and I was hanging on a bit.

Buttertubs to the N is the finest view from a road in England I reckon, and upper Swaledale is a close second. No massive problems except a bust chain for me (thanks for the magic-link, Pete).

Back in Leyburn at about 3-15 for some serious calories. Then back down the Vale of York in the dark. Near Rainton we (heading south) and a car (heading north) saw a flood rather too late and we got wet. It wasn't a splash, more a tsunami and we, particularly Andy on the outside, did well to stay on the bike. Furthermore, it wasn't just water - and I've still got a bit of a thick-lip from a lump of ice in it.

Pretty stuffed by the time we got back. Mussy reckons it was our hardest Winter version, but I reckon he has a short memory!

Rob's call went out: you can't be a proper Cliftonite until you've done the winter Tan Hill ride. Aware that I might soon be doing something radical like getting a proper job and moving, I needed to grab my chances, and here was one: weather that Muzzy described as "the best we've ever had" made this an ideal chance to tick the box. Then on Saturday, terrible news struck: Broom Wagon had dropped out of the Tan Hill ride. Who would fill the void? My big fat off season had resulted in a similar big fat profile for myself, so I felt I'd fit nicely into the vacant red light slot.

When the crash happened, I was very grateful that the wheels whizzing by my head stayed by, rather than on, said body part. Nothing wrong except a slightly bloodied hip, with a similar report from Steen. On we went. While we were still crouched over by the side of the road, another car came over the the hill and nearly lost control; it was not a nice piece of road!

When I turned back, it wasn't related to the crash, more a case of general unfitness. Steen (who had similarly been talked into attempting the full route over cooked breakfast in Leyburn) was a true gent and gave me a tow back to York. Total ride time was 10 hours, which still ain't bad for 200+km in December. Still, the off-season ends here!

Sunday was a funny old day. I think I knew what we had to contend with before I'd even got out of our street at half past seven. One of the advantages of riding in the dark is you can see the ice twinkling on the road in your headlight! I'm not so keen on the Helperby road as it never seems to get grittted. As is often the case the ice seemed to get worse as it became light. Myself and Rob were on the front at Thornton Bridge. There wasnt much we could say or do other than try not to panic. Really strange conditions - maybe because it was so calm meant it felt milder but frost wasnt forecast. As Rob mentioned we've ridden this in much colder conditions and felt much safer.
Other than that it was a great ride. Felt a lot over dressed especially over the climbs. I think I was good for the first 80 miles but started to unravel a bit after that - maybe could have done with a long ride leading up to this? Unravelled a lot on the climb after Reeth so just like every other year really, but the final cafe is only a few minutes away!
This ride isnt really the test of endurance its made out to be - I mean we have two cafe stops! But it does require a bit of respect and preparation - certainly not the sort of thing you could decide to do the night before! The soaking we got near Cundall was incredibly bad luck but at that point of the ride I was glad I was a bit overdressed. We were actually very fortunate not to come off. It was just like having a bucket of ice cold water thrown right in your face. We were absolutely soaked but at least we only had an hours riding left. Thanks for the company guys especially Rob and Andy for some really solid riding on the last leg when I really was on my last legs!