Clifton CC

Many of those that could choose which day to ride selected Saturday for the better weather. That left just 5 hardy types in the Square for the Sunday run. Opted for an easterly route to take advantage of the rising easterly for the return.

Cold and damp, but little ice - pitched into the lanes. Crambe, Westow, Langton, Birdsall, Thix, Huggate, Millington. Boy, was it cold above Thixendale! Overheard Mark giving motivational speech to Graham - "sometimes cycling's not about the here and now, but preparation for later" I'm going to use that one. Graham is going well. I think that's 5 consecutive Sunday...

The open fire in the cafe made it hard to leave, but we twiddled the fixies home with good tailwind for 2pm.

Am not out for the next couple of Sundays. I'd recommend going west next week. Brimham/Darleymill had been the intention today.... PM me if you want detailed route advice. But keep it around 70miles until we get into March.

I fancied a good kicking this week, so joined the training ride. A good kicking is exactly what I got, followed by a good dropping. I have an excuse up my sleeve but shan't use it, as excuses are for those who can't stand getting kicked A reversion to tester mode (read: shortcut along the A64) got me home for lunch, after which I went out with the uni for some gentler treatment. This was all well and good until on the way home, we coincided with the Inters on their way back to York! Three club runs in one day: I think this must be some sort of record.

For anyone who is still trying to kill time before the summer months arrive, here's some material for you: I've finally got around to writing up my autumn tour back from Rome and Croatia, so far I've got as far as Salzburg after crossing the Alps. Find it here: Rome to Home - crazyguyonabike.com

Saturday riders turned out looking smug, knowing we had the blue sky and sunny day versus Sunday’s rain / sleet forecast…….
We were not to be disappointed; it was fantastically sunny and great views at the top of every climb – & plenty of those too!
Thanks to my comrades in the 3rd K group: K, Dawn, MarkB & Steve for sharing an enjoyable & sociable ride taking in Howsham, Langton, Birdsall, Thixendale, Fimber, Warter, Huggate, Pocklington.
We opted for Pock café as we’d had our fill of adventurous lanes on the road from Thixendale to Fimber – a very quiet, shady lane, most of the time rideable, but requiring lots of careful wheel directioning to avoid some sheet / black ice-y patches.
Rolled into Pocklington café after 45miles to a well-earned lunch, where we were greeted by some of the Intermediate Group riders, who’d come here after they found Millington café bursting at the seams!
A smashing day out, one of my favourite lines of the day was riding next to MarkB down Thixendale, we were both commenting how much we liked the dry valley: I remarked that I liked feeling of almost touching the v-shaped valley sides as we meandered through the dale, but was certainly surpassed by Mark’s observation that it felt slightly out of this world, almost ‘Teletubbie Land’ to him – I know what he means!
Eh-oh!
Claire