Clifton CC

Pock pedal for me this weekend. Excellent event which is very well organised by everybody involved. I would like to thank Andy J and crew for another great ride.

Riding with other Clifton members never quite materialised when after the first proper climb found myself on my own. Had resigned myself to a solo ride when 3 guys passed me who I tagged onto going at my pace, 2 of which I spent most of the day with to have a really good day in the Wolds. There was encouragement supplied my Mal enroute as well. Made good progress despite the wind and even got a tail wind just when you needed it after the second stop at Stamford bridge. Had one slightly scary moment at Buttercrambe when we encountered a bull in the middle of the road having come flying round a corner.

Arrived back in Pocklingon after 6 and a half hours which meant with the 2 stops gave me time of 6hr 57 which was good enough for silver which I was pleased with

Jon

1st ever pock pedal for me.a very well done to Andy and everyone involved.started off witha few clifton riders.Alan etc until they shot off into the distance.think I passed then up nunburnholm climb and got into a group with Pete and Mark.big thanks to Pete for helping draught me into the head wind.1 stop at norton and a time of 3hr 47 for the midi route.looking forward to next years pock pedal.

On Monday I cycled on my mountain bike from Boggle Hole near Whitby back to York. I mainly went off-road until I got to Pickering, then used the road for the rest.

From Boggle Hole I went up the road and joined the A171 to Whitby before taking a bridleway over Fylingdales Moor to join the Robin Hood’s Bay Road (Bridleway), which would take me towards RAF Fylingdales.

This was a bit of a mistake as I should have realised as paths on moorland are never where they should be on the map and landmarks are less obvious, so I spent a while wondering if I was on:
1) A Sheep trail
2) A path left by the farmers Land Rover
3) A bridleway
The other problem is they all intermingle and you cannot see much when its flat(ish).

I did however eventually find the Robin Hood’s Bay road mainly thanks to some youths doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.

Progress to Stony Leas was slow with the path being rutted from overuse by motorbikes and a large expanse of bog in the middle, though it was beautiful. Once I got near Langdale Forest however it did get much faster as you are on a proper track.

From RAF Fylingdales I went via Malo Cross to the Hole of Horcum . I then went across Levisham Moor to Levisham. After passing the abandoned church I then crossed the railway at Farwath and used the bridleway over Blansby Park to drop down in to Pickering.
From Pickering I went down a small track which brought me by a bridleway to near Kirby Misperton.
From there I rode via Amotherby, Coneysthorpe, Barton-Le-Willows etc. back to York. The only other bit of bridleway I used was the one over Sand Hutton Common.
All in all it took me about 5 hours and was probably around 50 miles in length. The only problem I had was running out of water around Castle Howard.

YCF 10 V212 (Boroughbridge)

1) Andy Jackson (Team Swift) 20:56
13) Michael Scholfield 23:05
17) Greg Melia 23:37
19) Jessica Bacon 23:47
24) Jamie Raven 24:23
29) Mark Antrobus 25:00
37) James Stovold 25:58
45) Jason Drake 28:17
50) George Masson (Calder Clarion) 33:05

Tonight's race gave us a warm evening (at last) with the wind blowing slightly up the course, to help us on the uphill return leg. Tonight should be a fast night. Whatever happened, Clifton would have one honour: our seven riders gave us the largest presence of any team there.

So … I suppose I should say something about the race itself. There's not much you can say about a 10 is there? Conditions were clement, even the traffic was well behaved, I got a taste of bile in my mouth and I took so long chasing my minute man that I was worried someone would complain about pacing before I eventually passed him a mile from the end.

Well done to everyone on several good rides. Congratulations go to Michael of course. Also to Jamie who beat his PB by one whole second, and to James who set a cracking target in his first open 10. Our top three times put us fourth in the team rankings, behind Team Swift, Yorkshire RC and Huddersfield Star. There's another 10 on here in four days, I'm not riding that but Mark, Michael, Jason and Jess will all make repeat appearances. Now you've got some targets to beat

[Edit: Ooh, it looks like I won on handicap, and Jamie was second. That's nice!)

Is that all reports for last weekend? No other Pock pedallers with epic tales of daring do?

A bit late but… I also did the Pocklington Pedal with what must have been a record turnout for its third year.
Three things made a return from its first year- the length at a full 100 miles. The wind at a full 20+ mph. And the sad sign towards the end of the ride that says “Pocklington turn right, 3 miles” and you think ‘shame that we’ve nearly finished.’ But then you see the cheerful yellow event route sign just below it saying “no, turn left, 12 miles still to go” and that fills you with joy!

There were other distressing moments too. Like having to cycle very slowly past some plain-clothed police, as they were pointing flashing speed cameras at you (others reckoned that they were event photographers, but they weren’t fooling everyone).
And 5 miles into the ride, to my horror I realised that we hadn’t collected a transponder timing chip at the start to wrap around our wrist/ ankle/bike skewer and so feared receiving a DNS. But in fact the timing device was a delicate metal strip which was cleverly embedded into the back of your number plate. So to be sure of getting a time, I tore it out and bent it round the wrist.

Also made the mistake of wearing a favourite cycling jersey. We all have a favourite jersey- the one that gives you extra strength in the saddle. Mine is a Bianchi top as worn by Jan Ullrich when he came closest to beating Armstrong in the Tour de France a decade ago.
Trouble is, wearing a favourite jersey makes you want to ride hard from the start. That resulted in my last 30 miles being ridden in an energy-gel splattered haze, pleading with a kindly fellow rider- a diabetic on his first century ride- to cycle on and leave me behind.
So next time you’re doing an endurance event that requires going steady from the start, put on your most loathed cycling jersey as it'll dampen your enthusiasm and make you pace yourself accordingly.

Anyway, it was a super-organised event. The proceeds help the youngsters in the club and for once we cyclists owned those familiar country lanes (apart from that road through The Village of the Damned- Thixendale. We don’t want that road).
And the sportive’s slight carnival atmosphere with 300+ riders spread along the lanes made a nice change to a club ride. What more could you ask for?
Thanks a lot, Andy J and helpers such as Julia C.