Clifton CC

Three in the square for the Saturdays inters ride: Graham, Simon & myself.
Decided to head up to Thirsk, to hopefully miss any rain & further bad weather.
Roads were fine, but we had a very strong head wind all the way.

A lot easier ride back.

Am a little nervous that nobody has posted anything about the Reliability - hope it went OK?

Wintery clubrun for us. The snow piled in between Howsham and Langton and above N Grimston we replanned the route to stick to the clearer roads. Ended up in front of the open fire in Millington. Tough life.

Tiring conditions though and we all felt 65 miles were enough by the time we got home.

Dalby direction next week.

Rob wrote:Am a little nervous that nobody has posted anything about the Reliability - hope it went OK?

Yes, approx 350 members and yet nobody posting about the first club event of the season.......

Sunday's Reliability as cold morning but not frost/ice. The previous days forecast was not great which was probably one of the factors that led to a 'select group' of riders leaving the Sport Village. In the end there were around 40 riders which is the lowest turnout for some years for the last two years we have had over 100 riders. Anyway 30 riders decided to return back to the Sport Village Cafe for tea & coffee. Including two of the Juniors boys both I think are 14 years old? Well done to all the finishers.

Looked outside Sunday morning and made the last minute decision to do the reliability ride. The roads were nice and clear apart from a little slush near Ampleforth/Helmsley. A big group formed in York and then split up on the hills at Crayke. The first three hours are generally ok but I really start to suffer after that without a cafe stop. Last year I blew on Birdsall but this year I made it to Warthill and was kindly given a tow for the final few miles by two guys who looked remarkably like LL Sanchez and Tom Boonen (but I may have been hallucinating by that point). Maybe it is the time of year but this ride seems harder than many races. Door to door 80 miles with an NP of 243W for 4 hours probably explains it. Thanks to Andy for the organisation. The coffee and a fistful of chocolate biscuits at the Sport Village were most welcome.

Oh well I suppose as a club member who did ride the reliability I better post. It's a shame the weather seemed to have put people off because it was actually quite a good day - there was some slush on some of the climbs and a strong Northerly but it was bright and from Helmsley the wind powered you home. Unfortunately I can't comment on how it was for anyone else as the whole field effortlessly rode away from me at Crayke. Despite that, whilst in times past I've averaged more than a mile per hour faster I felt to be going OK and didn't die my usual death of a thousand cuts on the final climb over Leavening brow - so now I can't work out why I wasn't in the same league as everyone else who rode this event.
Thanks for organising Andy.

With Rob. A four tops morning that turned into five when it started horizintal snowing into my face at Howsham. Strange how 1 deg and a few metres makes all the difference. Snow on the road at the top of Towthorpe Wold yet none at all at Fimber roundabout. As I'd already lost contact with my feet by the time we made Millington I plodded on for home. Similar mileage to Rob although I'm not counting yet managed to fill the best part of 5 hours with it. Still glad to be out - it'll count for something somewhere!