Weekend Roundup 23rd / 24th Feb
Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:50 am
Turned up to the Square to find K razzing up the troops by calling it a CBD – a Character Building Day (…although others would rightly see this as a Curl up in Bed Day!). Dr Dave, Dr Joe, Dr Stu, Dr Andrew, Dr Tony, another Dr Dave and Dr Me headed out into increasing snow with the Inters.
Like the Training ride, the snow dulled the enthusiasm a bit, it was a head-down sort of day. Tony regretted not bringing the Factor 30, (…reckons he could have used it on the chain). We decided to head towards Helmsley thinking it was still within range of York on a snowy day. However, by the time we got to Farlington and Stearsby, the increasing snow wasn’t settling yet but was looking more ominous. We didn’t like the thought of getting stuck in Helmsley so we decided to head West on a big loop around York. On the way to Brandsby we yelled g’day to Rob out on a quick solo. We made our way through Crayke, Easingwold, Helperby, Cundall, Boroughbridge (where Andrew renewed his love affair with tyre levers), Minskip and Knaresborough.
We arrived at Knaresborough to find the combined K and Bernard groups perched in the café. We got there at the same time as two other mountain bike groups from nameless clubs. I was a bit stumped to see that us Inters looked filthy, yet all the mountain bikers looked squeaky clean!…surely there’s a law against that! They must have got into Knaresborough via the infamous A Trail, ie. the A59! I know you wouldn’t catch a Clifton MTB-er turning up to a café without mud on them somewhere; doesn’t mud = effort?!
The brightening weather after lunch lifted our spirits and the group started getting twitchy again. Huge highlight was Dr Joe’s stunning solo victory into Cowthorpe to kick off his pro palmares. Joe has powerful sprinter’s legs and could get very scary once he gets a big enough base in his legs to get over the hills. A few of us may need to review our tactics in these circumstances, finding ourselves dragging the sprinters from one finish line to the next - may need to start stretching the line out a bit on the way in.
Without starting to sound a bit trainspottery, I’ve been riding these lanes for many years and I only noticed yesterday that there’s no village signs entering Tockwith or Long Marston from the Cowthorpe side, yet there’s two entering Rufforth!
It was great to sneak a cheeky 70 miler into the bank on a bleak, snowy day, where you can’t help thinking that every mile is a bonus. Well done to my fellow Doctors.
D.
PS. Looking back on this report with the focus on café stops and village signs, it was obviously a slow news sort of day, but hey, you can only work with what you’ve got!
Like the Training ride, the snow dulled the enthusiasm a bit, it was a head-down sort of day. Tony regretted not bringing the Factor 30, (…reckons he could have used it on the chain). We decided to head towards Helmsley thinking it was still within range of York on a snowy day. However, by the time we got to Farlington and Stearsby, the increasing snow wasn’t settling yet but was looking more ominous. We didn’t like the thought of getting stuck in Helmsley so we decided to head West on a big loop around York. On the way to Brandsby we yelled g’day to Rob out on a quick solo. We made our way through Crayke, Easingwold, Helperby, Cundall, Boroughbridge (where Andrew renewed his love affair with tyre levers), Minskip and Knaresborough.
We arrived at Knaresborough to find the combined K and Bernard groups perched in the café. We got there at the same time as two other mountain bike groups from nameless clubs. I was a bit stumped to see that us Inters looked filthy, yet all the mountain bikers looked squeaky clean!…surely there’s a law against that! They must have got into Knaresborough via the infamous A Trail, ie. the A59! I know you wouldn’t catch a Clifton MTB-er turning up to a café without mud on them somewhere; doesn’t mud = effort?!
The brightening weather after lunch lifted our spirits and the group started getting twitchy again. Huge highlight was Dr Joe’s stunning solo victory into Cowthorpe to kick off his pro palmares. Joe has powerful sprinter’s legs and could get very scary once he gets a big enough base in his legs to get over the hills. A few of us may need to review our tactics in these circumstances, finding ourselves dragging the sprinters from one finish line to the next - may need to start stretching the line out a bit on the way in.
Without starting to sound a bit trainspottery, I’ve been riding these lanes for many years and I only noticed yesterday that there’s no village signs entering Tockwith or Long Marston from the Cowthorpe side, yet there’s two entering Rufforth!
It was great to sneak a cheeky 70 miler into the bank on a bleak, snowy day, where you can’t help thinking that every mile is a bonus. Well done to my fellow Doctors.
D.
PS. Looking back on this report with the focus on café stops and village signs, it was obviously a slow news sort of day, but hey, you can only work with what you’ve got!
