Joined seven on the Inters ride – Ian H, Dave C, Dr Dave, Broomwagon, Jon G, new guy Jonny and the frozen one, ie. me. Rode west towards Wetherby, Dr Dave wasn’t happy for some reason and exited stage left. We continued on towards Otley in intermittent showers where the fun really started. After copping a sleeting on the way into town, Broomwagon heard a crack and discovered his seat post was wobbly at the frame – disaster! We received some directions from a pedestrian and somehow found Chevin Cycles. A quick check found the operation was going to be lengthy so Broomo waved us on. Hope you got back ok Broomo!
We then headed back into the middle of Otley town to access the quiet road to Askwith and Ilkley. On the main drag, we rode in between a line of stationary traffic and a line of parked cars inside us. As I led us through a clear gap towards the lights, a bloke in a parked mini-van suddenly threw open his car door. With nowhere to go, I cannoned into it, slicing open a finger on my left hand and almost breaking my left shoulder. I’d never been “doored” before. After a couple of seconds of deep breaths, my bike and legs still seemed to work so I limped away. I hadn’t taken off my glove to check the damage underneath but noticed on the way to Bolton Abbey that both my glove and left brake lever were turning a lovely shade of red. In the café, I spent some quality time taping my finger together and marvelling at the very large emu egg slowly rising from my shoulder and rendering it useless.
Our bad luck continued just outside of Bolton Abbey when Ian punctured on a cattle grid. After that however, the sun came out and we enjoyed some tremendous views over some chunky climbs through Appletreewick, Greenhow and Pateley Bridge. New boy Jonny was very spritely through these sections.
It was a good ride in the end. I’d put a 100 miles on the clock d2d, which I was glad to do in view of some big rides coming up. The blood flow oozing from my finger is happily starting to ease up today while the mean ‘tattoo’ on my shoulder is looking very impressive indeed. Good news is that I’ll definitely be available for selection next week.
Special thanks to my fellow riders who kept everything under control throughout, particularly Dave C and Ian who were absolutely fantastic at looking after the group on the return leg. Fingers crossed that’s my bad luck out of the way for a while!On Sunday, I took the family out for a walk and pub lunch – driving back, I yelled to Steen & Andrew outside Strensall, chugging back from what looked like a frolic on the Moors – Steen smiled to me so I’m assuming that was a ‘thumbs up’ for the Sunday club run’s day out.
D.
