Weekend round-up 30th/31st May

[Dr Dave]

16 on the Inters ride to Glaisdale this morning - deep breath - Neil, Dave C, Ian H, Kevin, Simon, Tony (Mapleleaf), Tony G, Pete S, Arnie, Mark, John G (a newcomer to Clifton rides) as were Callum and Kirsten, Craig, Self and K ride regular whose name I've shamefully forgotten (many apologies).
Out through Foston to Amotherby where Dave C headed back with an issue he needed to sort out. The remainder made steady progress to Pickering where the climbs began in earnest. Considering the spread of riders we kept together reasonably well as far as Stape where the bunch became rather spread out over the moor to Egton Bridge where we re-grouped. The sun was making a decent fist of it by now and the views over to the sea were as fine as always - this road ranks with the best IMO. Tony G headed off on his own from Egton Bridge, and the remainder meandered around to Glaisdale where unfortunately Arnie had a slight tumble on the steep, sharp L hander up to the valley road. Fortunately a small shin graze was the only injury sustained and we progressed along to the dale end and the crawl onto the moor that is Caper Hill.
Last time this way I felt that this climb was getting easier but today I crawled up - the diet starts tomorrow! (although the head wind might have something to do with it, it didn't slow some of the others noticeably). From the top, in order to avoid a queue at the cafe in Rosedale, the faster riders headed on whilst the remainder regrouped then followed behind. I then had a short delay to fix a puncture before joining the rest at the cafe where I was met with the sight of the long-lost Darren N - who I hadn't seen all year. He related how he had arrived at the Square at 10.03 approx to find that we'd left and had then ridden solo to Egton Bridge before taking Delves lane straight to Rosedale, arriving at the same time as the bunch. Chapeau!
After a quick lunch we elected to give the Chimney a miss (again - funny how the valley route wins out every time I'm there ) and returned via Appleton Le Moors and Gt Edstone (where Mark slipped off the back for good having dug in all the way round - good effort!), Slingsby, Terrington, Sheriff Hutton and town.
Home just before 6 which wasn't bad considering the varied group and the terrain. Longest ride of the year for me at 103 miles.
Thanks to all for the excellent company. I hope the newcomers enjoyed their day out with Clifton CC and will consider a return.

I think I'm out again next Saturday so will give some thought to a route - am wondering vaguely about Masham, Coverdale, Kettlewell and back via Pannal and Tockwith (although possibly a bit far at 110 miles?). If anyone else has the urge to choose a suitable parcours - around 100 miles of scenic, quiet roads with a cafe approx half-way - feel free to post on here .

[Darren N]

Well done Dr Dave for doing a write up within a couple of hours of getting back from a long ride – my brain is normally mash by then, - so great work! As Dave said, I arrived at the Square 3 or 4 minutes after 10.00 – Kevin told me I’d missed the Inters bus and pointed me to Strensall. I was delayed by a few lengthy traffic lights but decided to stay in pursuit – although I did have in the back of my mind that I would stay relaxed and focus on enjoying the nice weather. I was doing fine past Castle Howard and Amotherby however further North, I made my one big navigation mistake of the day by following the main road around past Flamingo Land rather than taking a left onto a smaller lane going further North. This decision dumped me onto the Malton to Pickering Road (unpleasant!) and then I went straight over the big roundabout in Pickering onto the main Pickering to Whitby Road (very unpleasant!) – I should have gone one block West in Pickering to the Pickering train station and headed North to Egton via Stape (infinitely more pleasant!).

Anyway, I managed to check my bearings at a Tourist Information Caravan at the Hole of Horcum car park and headed for Goathland where I briefly saw the majestic sight of a bright blue sea at Robin Hoods Bay – although I also had a shiver go up my spine at the thought of Little Beck in between! The road then took me over a 25 percenter to Egton where, as Dave said, I decided to take a sign directly left to Rosedale rather than keep heading across to the next valley at Glaisdale. Unfortunately this meant labouring up the 33 percenter to get to the top of the Moor. After cresting, I suddenly saw the uplifting sight of a group of red dots about a kilometre ahead in the distance, so I basically pursued them all the way to the café at Rosedale. I may have caught the group earlier had I chosen the correct road out of Pickering. I was definitely a bit surprised at the size of the group – 16! - on a hard ride to Glaisdale – maybe the nice weather had motivated a few into action.

I was sick of talking to myself by this point so much preferred the ride back to York with the group. It really was an impossible task to manage a group of 16 spread across a huge range of abilities. In retrospect (and hindsight is a wonderful thing!), we should have made an earlier call, even as early as the café, to head back to York in two groups, one for the strong types and one for the steady-as-you-goers. Had I known the group had already been spread thin through Glaisdale, I would have piped up at lunch and volunteered to lead the steady ride back. I don’t think the Haley’s Comet approach to Club runs is ideal, ie. a small ball of strong riders hurtling along at the front with a trail of dropped riders trailing in its wake, prior to regroupings. Btw, this is not pointing the finger at anyone because it really was an impossible situation to manage, but in retrospect I think we should have called for an earlier split. Guilt got the better of me as we headed up the hill through Terrington so I decided to drift back and gather up about half a dozen riders. We still arrived at the Monkgate traffic lights in York at 10 to 6 so we weren’t too far behind and the group were happier to be sitting on wheels. This approach worked a treat the week before in the Pock Pedal. Anyway, something to keep in mind in the future. I arrived home with 110 miles on the clock, a bit of an odd day, but I enjoyed the Yorkshire countryside as always. Congrats and many thanks to Dr Dave for suggesting a great route and doing his best to keep such a big group together. I have another ride commitment next week so not out with the Club but hopefully will be back the week after (before 10.00am!) now that my legs feel up to the task.



D.

[Dr Dave]

Thanks Darren - I'd glossed over the 'strung-out a bit' aspect of the ride a bit We've all been the straggler at the back in our time, chewing the bars to hang on, secretly envying those at the front their fitness. I find myself in awe at some riders ability to churn out the miles with no apparent effort and little change in speed when the road cranks upwards (Sunday riders this means you ).

At various times yesterday I felt a bit like a sheepdog dropping back and then moving back to the front trying to keep everyone together and happy. I think it's important that we are inclusive and that no one should feel that they are unwanted in the group. Having said this, mixed ability groups can be disharmonious and maybe yesterday we could have had 2 groups from much earlier in the ride - both doing the same route but at a different pace. I know that in theory the faster riders could slow down but in practice people find it hard to do this as inevitably they adopt their usual pace the moment they stop concentrating on slowing down - which then distracts from the pleasure of the ride as they become frustrated (and maybe even resentful of the slow rider 'who shouldn't be in this group').

As the number of riders increases with the longer days and better weather, inevitably there is a wider ability spread. I am also mindful of the 'ride that went awry' a few weeks back where there was a difference of opinion as to the road to be taken........

Perhaps the solution would be to run the rides more along the lines of other clubs, with a slightly more formalised structure, designated ride leaders, and pre-published routes so that riders can know where they are and where they are going (and can 'load up their Garmins' if they use them ). This would be a change from the way Clifton has done social rides in the past, where Kev on Saturday and Rob on Sunday has been unofficial ride co-ordinator and groups have been non hierarchical and informal. I'm not sure there is an appetite for this but if there are enough riders prepared to take on formal ride leader responsibility, it could be the way forward. Some riders have expressed the view that the routes shouldn't be pre-determined as this prevents wind direction being considered when deciding where to go. My view on this is that the prevailing wind is from the south-west. If we ride according to the wind direction we'd usually go west (towards Leeds, the A1 and a higher population density area) whereas the majority of the quiet, 'better' routes are to the north and east of York.

All good fun to pontificate over - you'll never please everyone but I hope that yesterday's ride was enjoyed by those who came along.

[Cam B]

Bit late to start talking about the NYERRL last Thursday but it finished so late it felt like we were almost in the w/e! 4 laps round the Bulmer circuit in this slightly controversial race what with it clashing with our own TT scheduled on the same night. I will be sure to speak to the other race organisers in League and make sure we don’t get a similar clash next season.
I think most of us who hadn’t raced on this circuit were a little nervous. For me it was racing down Terrington at 50mph in a race situation rather than the climbs...A significant proportion of the field were shelled out but there were still quite a few left at the finish. I was hoping there would be hardly anyone left and just tried to make sure I was at the sharp end all the time. In some ways the wind neutralised the race in keys spots – particularly between Bulmer and Terrington - were everyone took the chance of a breather. I had a bit of a punt with 1 1/2 laps to go and found myself in ‘splendid isolation' for what felt like about 10 mins. Left dangling for a bit too long for my liking.. I sheepishly retreated to the bunch before going to down Terrington again. Richard D had a couple of good efforts off the front in the last lap. Our own Eugene looked the strongest rider in the race and came second (fresh after his second place to Sir Bradley very recently...a 20 min 10 mile...not too shabby is it?). A few other Cliftonites left at the finish including me but I couldn’t quite muster the explosive effort required to get in the points....and was about 15th or...as it is referred to at this level: nowhere 

Did the Velo Beverley RR yesterday. Race delayed for 20 mins by a Tractor rally! It’s just so difficult coordinating bike races, TTs and Tractor rallies to avoid these sorts of clashes... Clifton well represented again on this undulating and exposed course. The win made it a hard race particularly on an interminably long straight bit of road into a headwind. Poor Richard suffered the ignominy of puncturing (?) after less than 1k. At least he accepted it with good grace. One fella suffered the same fate a bit later on and promptly threw his bike into a hedge...Way to go! Eugene looking strong again in this one. I managed to get into a break of 5 with 2 laps to go. We were joined by 3 others a bit later. We all worked well together. Efforts into that headwind was pretty hard. In hindsight I wished I’d stopped pulling a little earlier as was pretty tired at the finish up a testing rise. I think my tiredness affected my mental agility as I got a little confused by the end and the finish caught me by surprise! There was a little bit of hamstring and quad wobbling before this from one or two riders in the break as they prepared themselves for the sprint (you know... like the pros do on the telly!). I could only manage 7th in the end. Probably should have gone earlier but never mind.... It was nice to get in a break that stayed away and pick up a few points. Eugene was first home in the bunch getting 9th closely followed by Muzzy in 11th

[paulM]

As mentioned I was also riding the VC Beverley Road Race at South Dalton. Great circuit, great race - a circuit with a bit of everything. Had been looking forward to this but unfortunately had picked up a bit of a bug which thankfully never really amounted to anything. If I was racing every week I wouldnt have started but that isnt the case so as its only a short drive decided to get there and take it a lap at a time. Under the circumstances I was never going to be setting the race on fire. If I was still in there I would be starting my race about 200 metres from the finish and so it proved. I reckon this race went about as well as it could - Cam in the break which meant me and Eugene could just wait for the finish. The bunch split going through the finish with a lap to go with both of us in the front half and the break just in front of us. So Cam gets 7th and we take 1st and 3rd in the bunch sprint from 3 finishers. Tactically it doesn't get much better than that! I'm not sure about the tractors though - I vaguely remembered them from last year so this might need a date change. As I was driving away yesterday they were coming back up the other side of the circuit at about five miles an hour where we had been touching nearly forty miles an hour with a tail wind!

[Rob]

Hey, great adventures from the RR Boys, and thanks for sharing it on the main forum.

Sunday Clubrun was a fairly tough affair this week. We kept the mileage at the advertised 80 miles, but the winds were challenging up on the high moors above Otley.

We got a bit strung out with the tailwind coming into Wetherby. I'd just been saying to Steen that we were in danger of getting split up, and so it transpired. The two halves of the group never linked up again. Rather spoiled a good ride.

Never mind. North next week. Castleton?

[Broom Wagon]

Sorry Rob we did come back looking for you but you must have gone a different route through Wetherby. You must really have put the hammer down then though (probably thinking you were chasing us), because despite Shaun & Eric driving us on at 25 - 27mph we never caught you. Probably being 20 years older than those two I was glad just to be there at the end - a good work out though.

Not out next week Halifax Sailing club MTB ride http://www.halifaxsailingclub.org.uk/?page_id=19
I really like this one, it's very physical (it starts at over 400 metres above sea level) and technical - with some gorgeous bleak Pennine country, if the weather turns out as forecast it will be a great day.

Hope to be along for Spurn head the week after (one of mine?) and sometime take a day off to recce a route I'm going to suggest for the challenge series next year - Shibden Wall!

[MikeR]

Rather a late entry from the 08:45...
8 of us in the Square for a ride out to Harewood. The wind wasn't too bad at the start and promised to offer a fast ride home. There were some strong legs on the climbs out past Bramham and up through East Keswick - sadly my two weeks off the bike due to illness started to show as soon as the elevation started to increase.

Route took us through the grounds of Harewood and out of the back gate. Unfortunately, unlike the last time we were here, it was locked and a short dismount was required to get us back on the path out of the grounds.

Quick trip to Pool in Wharfedale before turning to come back with the wind up through Kirby Overblow. I eventually waved goodbye to the group outside Sicklinghall and made my way home at a gentler pace. 70 miles door to door and I even managed to average 18mph at my "recovery" pace. The rest of the group managed a decent "Training Ride" pace back to York.