Clifton CC

Club run to Hawby for me. Sorry I didn't say cheerio chaps, but the slight lift in pace coupled with my turn off being just up the road was enough for me to throw the towel in. You were up the road by the time my turn off came, I hope you didn't come back looking for me. Thanks for waiting on every single climb, I've got to do something about that. Maybe I'll have my head amputated, a don't use it much anyway and it weighs a lot.

Give over Broomy, you were going well.
A small but perfectly formed group (Andy, PeteN, Broomy, Ken and self) assembled in The Square. Weather looked "a bit black over Bill's mother's" as they say down in God's Own Country, but we stayed largely dry (from above anyway). Indeed the wind transpired to be "block headwind" for a surprisingly low proportion of the day.

Castle Howard, Helmesley then over the Hill to Hawnby. New cafe, for me, at the bottom of the village - sign saying "muddy boots and bums welcome". Met Steen in the cafe who was out to test his cross bike on the Cleveland way. Nice spot - would be a good pit stop for your gang Kevin...

Back via the lung-buster (with incredible view) to the top of Boltby, thence south to White Horse Bank and home via Crayke. Washing my bike by 2-45 with 70 odd miles on the clock. Was thinking of a jaunt around Fountains Abbey area next week, just need to think of an alliteration..

I’m just ‘lurving’ being back on the bike after an enforced lay off. I’d enjoyed a fantastic day out with the K-Less K-riders on the Reliability last week and decided I needed to keep progressing.

So, 10 in the Square on Saturday, with 7 taking the Inters/A route and the remaining 3 setting off on the K-ride in the preferred westerly direction, K wisely manoeuvring for the tailwind home. Karl M, Matt, Graeme, John B, Mike H, a newby from London, Richard, and myself boldly headed towards Settrington Bank with a flattering wind on our backs.

We had a fantastic day out, although would have been happier had it not been so drafty on the way home. We chose the most exposed place at the top of Settrington Bank for a lesson in how to mend a puncture in roaring gales – the trick is to have every person keep a respective foot on the wheel, tyres, bike, levers and pump so that they don’t end up in Scarborough! We weren’t getting much value for our pedal strokes as we slogged back through Sledmere, Wetwang & Huggate to Millington for lunch. I declared I would make a bid for glory when the café was in sight (and for those that know Millington, that’s only about 100 meters when you wheel around the corner), but I somehow lost my lead out train somewhere near Wetwang!

I obviously was a bit short on form going into this and would like to thank all the guys for looking after me so well. The group riding ethic was superb. We kept it tight and steady all the way round, it was an absolute pleasure to be in the group on such a tough day. I managed to bag in quite well, finding no corner too small to hide in, even managed to find a hiding place when the through ‘n’ off started. Thanks sincerely to all, the favour is logged and will be returned with interest.

If it makes others feel any better who may have shied away from the A Ride recently, I’ll be the ‘banker’ in the Square on a Saturday for the next month or so. Those looking for some steady, even miles is very welcome to join us. And if anyone wishes to violate the ‘No Trashing the Group’ rule, I’m very happy to split off and do the same route as a steadier, old-style Intermediate ride. Either way, hope to see you out there soon, only pre-requisite is a sense of humour.

D.

As Broomy & Rob have said above it was the club run to Hawnby for me & really enjoyed it thanks lads. Sorry Broomy about the increase in pace as we were leaving Strensal.