Clifton CC

Bit of a cock-up for the Inters ride this week. After discussing the intended route, 6 riders left the square: Tony G, 'Canada' Tony, Graham, Stu, John B and self heading for Pateley Bridge via Masham. Unfortunately the group split at the turn for Overton with John B and myself continuing along the A19 and the others taking the Overton 'long cut'.
We turned left at Shipton and soft - pedalled towards Helperby expecting the others to catch up but as the miles passed no one appeared and we concluded that they must have decided on a different route. Thereafter we followed the planned ride into the headwind to Masham then down to Grewelthorpe before ascending the moors to Pateley.
John suffered a front wheel spoke failure on the descent to Pateley but fortunately the wheel, although taco'd, passed through the brake caliper OK ( neither of us carrying a spoke key that fitted and hence unable to true the wheel ).
After a pleasant lunch we rode home via Markington and Boroughbridge. 90 miles for me - quite hard with the wind and the absence of wheels to suck!
Heard from Graham that he'd turned for home with a sore knee. Thanks to John for his unfailing good humour and companionship. Will be interested to hear what fate befell the others.......

I was disappointed to experience a "group" ride come unglued, but in the end, we made the best of the unfortunate circumstances and had a decent day out.

Graham and I were on the back row when the split occurred. I was surprised to see TonyG and Stu make a left turn, when Dave and John continued straight. A couple of riders called out, but their cries went unheard in the prevailing wind. Graham assured me that we would regroup at the point where Overton Road almost joins the A19, so the four of us took the "long cut" directly into the wind

IMHO, this was not a good idea, since even in good weather, there's a chance we won't regroup. The ride should always follow the appointed leader, unless there's a discussion and decision to split

We got a short, but thorough soaking leaving Overton and caped up without stopping. TonyG and Stu continued at the front, while I trailed fighting with my rain cape, and Graham even further back.

With no riders at the end of Overton Road, we took a left heading for Beningbrough and I caught the front riders and asked that they ease off and wait for Graham. TonyG turned back and went for Graham while Stu and I waited at the next turn for Beningbrough Hall.

After waiting a while and no riders coming, we turned back to check if everyone was OK, and met Graham riding solo, with no sight of TonyG. Graham said he'd gone ahead to meet us, but we'd not seen him.

The three of us continued to Beningbrough Hall and pulled over about 1Km from the gates so Graham could call JohnB. There was no answer and Graham advised that he would do his own thing due to knee troubles. And then there were two...

Figuring we were alone and with no real plan, Stu and I took a magical mystery tour roaming through Beningbrough Hall, Newton/Linton-on-Ouse, where we stumbled into a Sportif event, including getting instructions from the marshals

We crossed the B6265 and I think we went through Marton Cum Grafton enroute to Boroughbridge, and continued toward Ripon before encountering a road-raged motorist at the A168, after which we changed course, heading to Sessay and on to Kilburn and my inaugural ascent of the White Horse Bank

We blasted into Helmsley for a well earned lunch and returned through Harome, Nunnington, followed by a mix of roads that got us to Strensall and back into York via Haxby.

We made the best of a bad day, and thanks to Stu for his great company and patience dragging me around the route, since my weary legs were no match for his chaingang-honed quads. I certainly agree with Dave in that you have to work harder when there's only two.

Hopefully, a proper group ride will resume next week...

Just 4 Clitfonites tackled the Wiggy 300 this year - AndyG, AndyNG, Steen and self.

Stage 1 started in the dark and the Dawn Chorus and took us out through deserted Woldian lanes, almost to Driffield, then looping round to breakfast in Malton, 90km done. From there Stage 2 was across country, and across our usual routes in and out of York, through Hovingham, Easingwold, and on to Ripon and an early lunch, 150km done. Stage 3 follows the route of the Great North Road to Richmond, 190km done. Stage 4 across country again on the least well known of the route through Great Smeaton and Hutton Rugby to Stokesley and pasta, 235km done. Stage 5: south following the same B road all the way to Wiggington via Clay Bank, Newgate Bank, Gilling and on.

Highlights: Wildlife (the Barn Owl carrying some rodent, being harried by a crow was quite something). Fantatstic last 60km in soft evening sun. The sense of achievement - 200miles including the ride to and from the start. That's the distance from York to London, without ever leaving Yorkshire!!

Lowlights: 140km of headwind from Driffield to Richmond. A wind that miraculously dropped when it should have got behind us for the finale! The inability of many in the broader Audax community to ride in a coherent bunch. How it is that so many riders can be experienced enough to complete a serious ride like this without being able to ride in formation and take appropriate turns is beyond me. Or maybe I'm spoilt by riding with Clifton's finest??

Next up, Circuit of the Moors. See you next Sunday (details to follow).

Re inters ride sat , sorry lads for unforeseen knee problem just before overton bridge,Tony G doubled back and I informed him that I was going to take it easy and the rest of you to go on , the message obviously didn't get through as Stew and Tony kindly doubled back to see where I was .Again sorry for the any inconvenience caused , All been well see you on Saturday , cheers Gray.

Well done to the 300k guys I was planning on doing it but with one eye on the weather forecast and been a bit tired from a recent rail holiday I whimped out and rode the 100k option via Brimham rocks which started at 10am quite a mix of Cliftonites and Wednesday wheelers on this one, was thinking how hard the long section on the. 300k must have been as I made my way out to the Brimham Rocks area but the tailwind after that was very welcome.

Ian H.

Rob wrote:


Lowlights:..... The inability of many in the broader Audax community to ride in a coherent bunch. How it is that so many riders can be experienced enough to complete a serious ride like this without being able to ride in formation and take appropriate turns is beyond me. Or maybe I'm spoilt by riding with Clifton's finest??

Just speculation but maybe the 'Audax psyche' is antithetical to the idea of teaming up to make things easier. The 'self-reliance/individual striving to achieve/overcome' principle applies?

Julia's ride on Saturday deserves a mention here. Six of us left the square and in the absence of Kevin a couple of K riders joined up with Julia for a great ride out to Malton. Julia, Nick, Mark with good legs fresh from his TdY ride last week, Neil, Finola and Trevor on his first ride out with the group this year. Bit of a damp start but we never really got very wet on the run through Bossall, Crambe and Kirkham Abbey up to Malton. I haven't ridden that road for a while and forgotten how good it is. Stocked up at the café in Malton with the biggest bit of Bakewell slice you have ever seen and back through Coneysthorpe, Castle Howard drive and Strensall. Great ride with good company. Managed to get 60 miles door to door with a higher average speed than many of the K rides and home early so all in all a much better day than the forecast had predicted. Thanks Julia.

Firstly, very well done to Rob, Steen and the 2 Andy’s for a superb effort in the Wiggy 300 on Saturday – the long stretch into that headwind would have been a shocker. [Rob & Co. should therefore look away now rather than despair at reading of my experience on the same day below].

My sister-in-law and her husband had asked me to join them on the 60 mile Acorn Charity Ride Sportive from Bishop Monkton to Sheriff Hutton and back on Saturday. Sounds like some of you came across it on the w/e. What a superbly organised event it was too! Official refreshment stops located EVERY 10 MILES!!, smiling marshals on every corner and a huge lunch at the Sheriff Hutton village hall. We soft-pedalled east from Bishop Monkton in the lap of luxury with a beautiful tail wind on our backs. When we reached the turn, the wind obligingly started dying off. This ride couldn’t have been any easier had I been dragged around the route on a trailer bike with a servant riding alongside me towing a mobile barby and feeding me burgers and beers all day. There was only one tense moment when someone suggested missing the first refreshment stop after lunch, but driven by my well-honed Clifton club run experience, I was obviously having none of that - and was rewarded with handfuls of fudge, chocolate honeycomb and fruit juice. 10 miles later at the next stop, we were confronted with the equivalent of a sweet shop with party bags full of sweets (see exhibit A below!) which happily sustained us back to Bishop Monkton for more bucket loads of cakes and cups of tea.

This sportive event was incredible, managed by a full cast of charitable volunteers. After the cake-fest at the end, we were sent on our way with a goodie bag containing a very nice Fat Rascal from Betty’s, a sponsored bidon and various cycle shop discount vouchers. This was a very different cycling experience to anything I would normally experience. There were 620 cyclists of all shapes and sizes who raised £35,000 for charity and the community atmosphere in the village hall at the end was fantastic. This ride is definitely worth checking out if the above description appeals to you. In terms of the usual cycling stats, I will unashamedly admit that I probably ended up on the wrong side of the ‘calories burnt vs calories consumed’ leger.



D.