Clifton CC

Sorry PaulW I did not look on the discussion board yesterday afternoon so missed your message. We could have done with the company. Just Jai and myself although we did have the company of RichardD for most of the first half of the ride. He only had three hours out but made himself useful by giving Jai and myself a place to shelter from some of the head winds.
Out via Sheriff Hutton Hovingham Nunnington Fadmoor Church Houses up Blakey cafe in Rosedale Abbey
Back via Appleton le Moors Marton Gt Barugh Amotherby and Castle Howard
The moors looked fantastic covered in purple heather. A great loop in the moors which makes a change from Cockayne and ended up being no further at 84 miles. The wind made it hard going at times but very easy at others.
Jai if you don't know him is a 20 year old student very strong on the hills. He has been spending his summer doing a lot of cycling including riding with the CTC Wednesday Wheeler's. He told me hes the youngest one out, the next youngest is 62.
Thanks for the company Jai

Steen

Shaun and I did a tour of the rosedale moor this morning. Taking in years ley bank from Easingwold. A lovely day to ride your bike apart from a headwind that seemed to change direction as we did. Some strong riding from Shaun on the church houses and aĺl the climbs including the chimney bank. Church houses is Imo the toughest of the whole lot!!!ALOT of bikes in HleHole and away home by hovingham. Great ride see u on tan hill next week

An enjoyable month of cycling for me so far: Had a great week in Normandy 2 weeks ago pootling around, setting off in a different direction every morning to explore the area. Not cycled in France and a revelation for me as to how quiet the roads are compared to here. Climbed no cols to speak off but found a few little lumps and bumps to put a bit of sting in the legs when I wanted to.

Spotted a 3/4 race on the BC website at the Cycle circuit at Middlesbrough so popped up there on Thu night last week. Been a few months since I’ve been there and a superb sports village has sprung up to compliment the cycle circuit that has been there a few years now. Big field in the race. Having ridden here before a few times never seen a break make it to the line so decided to keep my powder dry and make sure I was in good spot on the sweeping right bend into the rise before the line. No good being 15th wheel at that point. Managed to get up there and actually found myself in in 1st place before the bend. Inevitably a few riders came thru but I drove hard and got 6th.
Yesterday, did the Masters/Women/3/4 Mike Binks Memorial race near Stokelsely. Not a circuit I’d done before. It was the support race for the E/1/2/3. Tough stretch was the long drag from Hilton to Seamer into a strong headwind. Lovely sunny day though. At 62 miles just about the longest race I’ve done this season. Felt a bit rough to begin with but rode myself into it. 2-3 guys seemed to get away by half way. I had a dig myself opting to go before the most challenging bit on the course. Got a gap but no-one came with me and gap was not getting any bigger so sat up. With 3 laps to go had another effort and got away with another fella who turned out to be the series leader. We worked pretty well together and managed to open up a decent lead of over a minute. With just under a lap to go the break from the Elite race (with about 7 riders in it) came up to us. I didn’t think we should be latching onto that group but caved into peer pressure when my new mate shouted to get on the back of the group (gamesmanship rather than outright cheating I attempted to convince myself later on ). We then had a blissful 5 mins or so getting nice little tow. Commissaire spoilt the fun by driving up to us and gesturing to us to drop back behind our car which we duly did. Was riding more strongly than my buddy and was taking longer turns particularly on the tough section of the course. Disaster almost struck on this section on the last lap when my mate’s front wheel thudded against my rear wheel. We were barely travelling at 15 mph at that point and his lapse of concentration was about tiredness and battling against a stiff wind. Gap opened between us very quickly and since he looked like he had some sort of terminal mechanical (I saw him later and he said that his bike was alright but his legs had gone!) I rode away. This left me riding the last lap on my own. With the bunch nowhere in sight It was a lovely feeling riding in isolation and with my own car to follow. I’d actually miscalculated the number of riders ahead and thought I may be riding for 3rd. Turns out I was 6th (6th place being my absolute ceiling this season ). One of the harder races I’ve done and satisfying to get some (albeit) moderate success and a few points mainly because I worked really hard to get them. With a bit of a ride back to HQ and another 9 miles to Middlesbrough to catch up with the rest of the family at the in law’s for a late lunch I clocked 80 odd miles in total and had good day out all round