Clifton CC

Lots going on this weekend. A few of you cracking nuts up at Dalby, 2xAudaxes out of Wigginton, at least 4 x clubrides ex The Square. Racing/TTs?

Wiggy 300k for me. Set off from Home for Wigginton through a very loud dawn chorus. Hooked up with Steen, Ian and Sean for the ride. There was also a group including Jeff and PaulS professing to be planning a steady day.

My 3 comrades and I were soon riding at the front of the main group out through Pocklington as the sun came up and out into the Wolds. In hindsight I think we pushed it a tad too hard in the morning and I for one suffered more than necessary later on.

But it was a good-to-be-alive sort of morning. Serious Audaxers don't like to stop for breakfast, so following our bagels in Malton we were left to tackle the ride as a 4. There's a fair few miles in my comrade's legs though, and we made good progress into the headwind to Ripon. 100miles done, only the same to do again....

Next leg to Richmond, a bit bleak around Bedale/Catterick and that pull into Richmond hurts with 130+ miles covered. At last a tailwind then as we headed across to Stokesley. A few showers on the way, but large bowls of pasta waiting in Uno Momento. "Extra spoon of cheeze for ze energi" says the waiter, "and another spoon for morz energi, and ze pepper for ze strength..." We'd averaged about 18mph to here, but that was soon to change.

Right, just the little matter of Clay Bank, Newgate Bank and the B road home from Helmesley. Time to manage my broken and battered body for the last 2 1/2 hours. Avoid all accelerations and just keep a steady pressure on the pedals...... Steen and Ian looked as fresh as when they started. Sean described himself as "blowing hot and cold". He paced me beautifully up the lower slopes of Newgate, I suspect that was a cold patch. I was just blowing....

Anyways, back in Wiggington at about 1840, 10hours 40mins riding time for the 302km. With the ride to and from the start it was almost bang on 200miles.

Great day out, thanks for the company. Hope the other groups had a trouble free day.

As Rob said me and PaulS also did the Wiggington 300 along with 6 of cycling colleagues from work. We were doing this ride as a test for riding in a group for a 250 mile in 24 hours event our work have planned for the beginning of June.
As both me an Paul were faffing we managed to start later than anyone else but made good progress to Malton where we stopped and quite a few of our number tucked into a full English breakfast. Again in Ripon we finished off the last of the café’s baked potatoes and made decent progress to Richmond and then very fast progress (with the wind behind us) to Richmond. Unfortunately we could not get into the Italian restaurant as it was full, but ate pizza across the road on the public benches. I personally had Beef flavoured Monster Munch as a starter, followed by half a pepperoni pizza main course and homemade banana cake (made by my 7 year old daughter for me) for dessert.
Everything really came apart just after this. One of our group (Niel) managed to have a rear derailleur into rear wheel moment on clay bank which lead to considerable delay. He was then single speed for the rest of the way back (It was a Campag Record one too ).
I personally whilst waiting at the top of Clay bank had my rear tyre fail. My bike was just leaning against the wall whilst I admired the view when the air came gushing out of my tyre . Lucky it did it in the car park and not on the way down the other side(2x lucky as I was carrying a spare tyre)!
The journey back was rather slow with frequent stops to get the chain back on Niels bike so we didn’t get back until 10:15pm.
It was a long day, but we were all pleased with how the group performed with nobody in any real difficulty with the length of the route.

Very pleased that Rob and the team got round the Wiggy 300, well done indeed. Also big congrats to Jeff & Paul’s group for sticking at it and getting round – sounds like a long day.

I’d pre-entered the 300, but was torpedoed by an emerging cold late on Thursday. As I drove towards Wigginton at 4.15am, I didn’t feel great at all and had a “WTF am I doing” moment. I needed to be fair to myself and the rest of the group, so I waved the white flag, turned the wagons around at the last roundabout before Wiggy and headed back home.

After a couple of hours sleep and a cocktail of pills, it occurred to me that I may be able to salvage something by turning the legs over in the Wiggy 100k starting at 10.00am. It featured a trek across to Ripley, then over the hills to Ripon, before heading back to Wiggy. I ended up having a very nice day nestled in Bernard’s group, which included Dave I’A, Steve, Dawn, Julia, Mark and Jon G. Before the start, I had a brief encounter with Mal as we yelled to each other from opposite sides of the Wiggy traffic lights. I yelled to Mal: “Are you well?”, he replied “No!” and grinned.

On the way to Ripley, we found ourselves in the middle of the annual Acorn charity ride, with marshals on road junctions and villagers clapping us through. A few brief showers rolled over us near Brimham Rocks so we consoled ourselves by talking about Summer holidays. At the Ripon Spa Gardens café, we caught up with Paul S and Jeff ‘Bear Grylls’ Barber who were half way round the 300. It felt slightly late, like watching climbers on Mt Everest starting out perilously late on Summit Day, however the guys were in good spirits and were looking forward to the 2nd half.

On the way home through the grounds of Beningbrough Hall, we had a classic comedy moment. Bernard’s chain snapped, so we parked up and lent our bikes against a wire fence surrounding a cow paddock. Bernard and Dave broke out the chain splitter tools and set about mending the chain – unfortunately we all then spent the first 10 minutes crawling around the grass on all fours trying to find a dropped chain link pin – passing cars & cyclist wondered what the hell we were doing! I then casually lent against the top wire of the fence - and found it was ‘live’! No-one told Bernard and Dave about this. Well, what followed next was comedy genius – as Dave and Bernard wrestled with the chain attached to a steel bike leaning against a ‘live’ wire fence, the inevitable happened – the next pulse almost launched Bernard into the next paddock while Dave’s pacemaker went into hyper-spasm! – you sort of had to be there, but it was hilarious! People pay money for this type of entertainment. Eventually Bernard’s electrified chain was ‘hot wired’ together and, with a strong tail wind and a very helping hand from Steve, he made it back to Wiggy for tea & cakes.

The weather was generally kind to us given the dire forecast. I don’t regret pulling out of the 300 for an instant, I found the 100k-er was more than enough on a sick day and I was glad to salvage something from a day that otherwise would have been spent on a couch. The Clifton group were superb all day and my sincere thanks go to everyone, particularly Bernard, for a grand day out.

D.

Nice write up Rob, and thanks for leading the way. I could have sworn the waiter in Uno Momento was Italian and not German, maybe I need my hearing tested!

ian5spot wrote:Nice write up Rob, and thanks for leading the way. I could have sworn the waiter in Uno Momento was Italian and not German, maybe I need my hearing tested!

Tyrol?

Etape caledonia around Pitlochry etc for me, did it last in 2008. Nice route, a few lumpy bits but nothing über hellish. Overcooked the KOM bit though, set off up it at a furious (for me ha) pace and certainly paid for it on the last third lol. Said hello to a chap in Clifton gear on the ride. Weather fair to middling and managed to beat previous effort by 11 mins despite 5 years of beer drinking in the mean time haha. It's certainly not a cheap sportive but riding on closed roads is ace

I spotted a window of opportunity in the weather forecast Saturday morning so joined the 8.45 Express. Left on time with about 10 on board and steamed out towards Malton via Stockton Lane, Howsham and Birdsall. Picked up a few more en-route. These rides are only a few weeks old but have already developed a good following.

Ashamed to be in my position and not being able to give a full roll call but it was a handy group of riders with a good turn of speed all the way. By the time we reached Terrington the rain was upon us along with a cold wind so we tapped out a good pace past Castle Howard, up Bulmer then over Strensall Common.

Home in doors by midday with just over 60m @18 mph notched up.

We had 12 out on this month’s MTB club run, the plan was to head down Rutland Rig across to Hutton-le-hole for lunch then through Lastingham and up to Rosedale round the old railway track back to the start at the Lion Inn on Blackey. We had a crisp but dry morning and all went to plan until we got to Lastingham, were Sarah S-W to a tumble right outside the pub, hitting the tarmac with a lot of force. Big thanks to Wayne for stepping in with the first aid and to the pub landlady for calling the Ambulance and all the gang for their support. The weather then took a turn for the worst so after the ambulance left we took a short cut up Lastingham Rig back to Blackey.
An eventfull ride and our thoughts are with Sarah for a speedy recovery.

Simon

I entered the Houghton CC Circuit Series 2 event held at Hetton Lyons Country Park on Sunday. I also entered the first in the series which was held at the Nissan Test Track in Sunderland 2 weeks ago (a very hairy race with bad weather and nervous riders).

The country park was an interesting venue; a tarmacked track on the edge of a housing estate built around a lake, with a combination of fast descents, sweeping bends and inclines. The recent poor weather had left a couple of small streams running across the track also for an additional challenge. Apparently a few of the 'non-cyling oriented' locals have previously been known to drag logs onto the circuit too for that added touch of excitement but this time the weather must have deterred them.

Junior race was overrunning so no opportunity to get on the track for a quick warm-up (must buy some rollers). Commissaire allowed a single neutralised lap as a result which turned out to be fairly rapid.

I believe there were around 70 starters for the 3/4 race so a large group and you could almost smell the fear as a result. Rain started to fall when we all lined up which didn't help the tension; it continued for the rest of the race. The pace was relatively fast considering the conditions but the two prime laps were a little faster, especially on the inclines. Average was 23.5mph.

Made the mistake of wearing ‘clear-lensed’ sunglasses which towards the end of the race were caked in dirt; should probably have just ditched them. Managed to stay with the main group of finishers but could never quite get past the ‘slow descenders’ and get in a good position for the uphill sprint finish. All of the finishers looked like they had completed a cyclo-cross event. In fact one guy actually did; he was pushed off the track into a boggy area of grass and he did well to hold it for 10 metres before the traction disappeared. Luckily there were hot showers and refreshments available to warm everyone up.

Another hour of racing in the experience bank. Ready for the North East Criterium Championships at Prissick on Friday evening now.

I did the Yorkshire Weaver sportive on Sunday from Skipton. The route was 90 miles, over 9,000 feet of climbing, Skipton, Otley, Menwith Hill, Masham and back via Leighton Reservoir, Pateley Bridge and Bolton Abbey.

That area of Yorkshire has absolutely stunning scenery when I had a chance to look up given the wind, rain and regular 20% inclines! While I remain un-convinced that these sportives offer good value for money, they do mean you get to explore areas outside of your normal touring range.

I did the Etape Caledonia a couple of years ago and I think that is one worth paying for - the closed roads thing is brilliant and the sheer number of cyclists in Pitlochry makes for a great atmosphere.

Two more sportives in the coming months for me - Dragon Ride in South Wales at beginning of June and Etape Cymru (another closed road event) at the start of September. Anyone else doing these?

I can’t help ruminating on the irony of me doing the main weekend write up on an MTB event, when only fifteen or so years ago, I’d have been prone to make snide comments about MTBers being Johnny come latelies and posing pansies. Still, I’m no different in having that peculiar human quality of being, most opinionated and authoritative on subjects I know absolutely nothing about. So being somewhat better informed about MTBers and MTBing these days, I find myself at Aske Sawmill near Richmond for Round three (having already done the first two) of the Nutcracker MTB XC series.

I’d entered the Fun category race in the morning and the veterans in the afternoon, along with Chris C in the Masters and John S also in the veterans. I’ve noticed another Cliftoner in the Juvenile category – William T, I’ve never met you but from your time you could show us all a thing or two about riding a bike.

I did this race last year and it was horrible, after all the rain it was a mud fest, with large sections that I just couldn’t ride. In some places it was mid shin depth and after having one of my shoes sucked off I decided it was time to get some new more seriously MTB orientated shoes.

This year the course was nice and dry and it transformed it. I liked it the best of the three so far, the least technical, but with a bit of everything: a stiff climb from the start, then after that a steep winding descent on loose material with a bomb hole and tight turn at the bottom. Then some more wide open grassy sections to a fast dry descent. Through some twisty turny wooded sections with the remaining fifth or so of the course being a real strong man’s section: a stony road up a long drag into a stiff headwind, then a short wooded section, and then the final straight across an open field to a couple tight turns and the finish line.

So it was off in the fun category at 10am for a two lap race. We were off, across the field and then up the steep climb at the start, half the field disappeared up the climb ahead of me and half disappeared behind. Down the technical loose descent and then it was time to try and settle into a rhythm and to try to ride well. No one was catching me from behind, but then again I wasn’t getting nearer to anyone ahead. The first lap passed this way, but for the second I don’t know why, perhaps I was losing concentration, but my riding was crap, with a few offs which I was really annoyed at myself for having. There was one section through the wood which if I’d strolled along it, I wouldn’t have been able to identify anything particularly technical about it, but it played havoc with me on the second lap – consequently two chaps overtook me. I was so annoyed as it was purely down to my crap riding. However, this lead to probably the most satisfying bit of racing I’ve ever done either road or MTB. Leaving the last wooded sections and onto the stony road I could see both spaced out some distance ahead. I settled down into my rhythm hoping to overhaul them before the finish line. I got the first chap on the road and went by fast hoping he wouldn’t get on my wheel. The other I got to his wheel just as we turned off the road and onto the final bit of single track through a short wooded section. I’m really poor on the single track bits but I was determined to stick on his wheel, planning as soon as we emerged from the woods, I would get the jump on him on the final straight across the field. But before we got to the end of the single track I could hear that the other chap that I’d caught and overtaken on the road (and was really quick on the single track sections) had got back on my wheel. Of course we all had the same plan – emerge through the gate and give it every thing we had to nail the other two on the straight. I went off like the clappers and found myself on the front, but I could hear, one or both were close on my wheel. It must have been the best bit of the day for the spectators as in an MTB race most people finish on their own, but here, there were three of us duking it out. The others must have had a lot of supporters as the crowd where shouting their names, but I was on the front and I was determined the get the best line on the sharp right and then left, then right to the finish line a few yards further on. I got my line and held it, that gave me the left too, but on the right to finish I ran wide and I could see through the corner of my eye a wheel coming through but I dived for the line and got over first.

I’d have loved to have had a heart rate monitor because I’d have definitely found my max and I must have been five minutes slumped over the handlebars gasping for breath afterward. And what was this all for, first in my category? Of course not, no-where near but I expected my best placing of this year - I got eighteenth, exactly the same place as the round 2 and two worse than round 1……blast……still it was excellent fun and it just goes the show that a middle aged, overweight, poorly trained, crap rider can still get a bit of excitement MTB racing.

By the veterans race in the afternoon (a race with a higher calibre of rider than fun), I was tired, so I determined just to try to ride well rather than worry about racing, and see where I finished. Away we went and it was no help to my ego that by the time I reached to summit of the first stiff climb the whole field had disappeared off up ahead, oh well……across the field and round a couple of bends and there they all were again, as someone up the front had bottled it on the technical descent and decided to run causing everyone behind to have to do the same. I ran down with everyone else, chuntering loudly that it was easier ride than run down and with smug mode firmly engaged at the thought of people giving up on what I considered a relatively easy descent – between you and me though, two years ago I’d have been calling the organisers all sorts of things for out and out trying to kill us, as I stumbled down the hill with no doubt my bike cart wheeling after me. Once at the bottom we all got on our bikes again and away everyone went again. I plodded on, and overhauled one or two whom I sure would have been in the great grand super extra veterans category. I rode nicely, I think (for a gentle pootle on a MTB) never putting a foot down, but watching the top guys go by as they lapped me and marvelling how they could do the climbs as power sprints that I ground up in my granny ring. By the fourth lap I was smashed and another dent came to my ego when by the time I got to the finish the organisers where well on their way to having packed up – what’s worse they didn’t even record my time for my fourth lap. In the end, I was fourth from last in my category. Weirdly, looking at my lap times for this race where I hadn’t tried to compete, I was on each of the three laps at least two minutes and on my quickest three minutes quicker than my best in the fun category when I was really going for it…….that would have got me top ten in the fun race!

Just like to say a big thanks to steve and everyone who pulled me along on my 1st club run (the 8.45 express!!)..it's only taken me 4 years
It is a very good idea to have thes shorter rides, for those who can't commit to full days of riding. Thanks again.

But of a late post i know but excelent ride on the Wiggy 100 with Bernard, Darren Etc. asmentioned above, A day of sunshone and showers, wet roads one minute bone dry the next but generally avoided the worst i think. Well done to those completing the 300K. The stop in Beningborough hall was indeed funny with Dave and Bernard recieving mild electric shocks from the fence. I am sure Dave and Bernard didnt think so at the time. I was hoping to make the Robin Hoods bay ride but it is looking doubtful so if i dont everybody have a good ride

Jon