Clifton CC

Well, after committing to the ride, the rain seemed to be easing, and was down to a light drizzle when I set off to the square with a wry smile on my face. However, I was barely halfway when Mother Nature showed who's boss; unleashing a torrential downpour, again easing as I arrived at the square.

Nine hardy souls (some might call us something else) set off from the square; Rich, KevinN, IanH, IanW, James, Dr Joe, Graham, newcomer Supesh (?) and myself. It's been a while since we went through Beningbrough, and thus we took advantage of the recently re-opened railway bridge at Shipton.

The weather certainly toyed with us, and we found ourselves repeatedly lashed by wind, rain and blowing leaves/debris on the exposed country lanes. However, much to our delight, the sunshine made it's first appearance as we arrived at Ripon, and stayed with us for the rest of the day

Lots of flooding on the roads between Ripon and Grewelthorpe, but we made reasonable progress, arriving at Masham 2.5 hours after leaving York. Rather than revisit the last cafe we used, Kevin had the excellent idea to try Johnny Baghdad's Cafe which turned out to be very decent, with excellent coffee.

After leaving Masham, my Garmin suffered a navigation mishap, after climbing the hill up the B6267 we took the first instead of second left and got within a couple of miles of Bedale before turning again for Well, intending to return to our planned route.

At this point, our new friend was showing signs of fatigue and Dr Joe suggested that we expedite our return to York, so we made a beeline for West Tanfield and from there to Ripon and retraced our outward bound route back to York. Our new friend really suffered enroute to Ripon, at which point Dr Joe graciously volunteered to chaperone him back, allowing the rest of us to pickup the pace, enjoying the frequent tailwinds.

We made quick work of the route back to York, arriving just before sunset. with 132Km on the clock for me, merely 7Km short of our planned route.

Despite the soggy start, it turned out to be another excellent day out on the bike, with great company and a nice surprise in the new cafe option.

Many thanks to Rich, IanH, James and Dr Joe for playing sweeper throughout the day, keeping our new guy with the pack. Major thanks to Dr Joe for sacrificing his own day out to allow the rest of us to go a little faster.

Similar to Tony, I set off from the house thinking that the weather was improving, only to be caught by a heavy shower between home and The Square.

Choosing the "K" Ride, on a rare occasion when the man himself wasn't actually in attendance, we departed with Bernard at the helm along with ClaireG, Dawn and Steve. Kevin had proposed a route to Malton but we decided it would be better to play it by ear and let the weather dictate our ride and destination. Heading out via Haxby, Strensall and Crayke, there was lots of standing water but we had a bit of a tailwind early on and it was still very mild for the time of year.

On reaching Coxwold, there appeared to be a large group of horses and riders on the road ahead, so we took a right turn and looped round via Oldstead and Kilburn. The wind picked up on this stage and we were drenched by a combination of a heavy rain shower and water and leaves falling from the trees. Suddenly, it didn't feel quite so mild but it didn't last too long and by the time we reached Coxwold from the opposite direction it had brightened up considerably.

The cafe owners very kindly offered to dry our gloves and wet gear in their tumble drier and we enjoyed a nice lunch with plenty of tea, cake and a lotta laughs. If we thought we were a bit mad to be out, there were actually people playing tennis on the local courts as we exited the cafe.

We returned to York via Yearsley, Stearsby, Brandsby and Farlington before retracing our steps through Strensall and Haxby. I left the others at Lord Mayor's Walk to pop into the bike shop to have the gears on my newly "serviced" winter bike adjusted, having been unable to select the small ring all day - fortunately there weren't any serious climbs.

A nice ride for this time of year, around 55 miles and back in York by mid afternoon. Thanks to the others for keeping it sensible and taking it steady in some tricky conditions involving lots of puddles, mud and fallen leaves and also for being very respectful towards other road users throughout the day.

What a fantastic day indeed, and although at some point i thought the sun would never come out; it did just like clockwork and i lost a bet to that too !!
I arrived home at around 5:30 possibly a little before then having ridden through long marsden-rufforth in the pitch black. Gosh, its been a year since we've returned back down that way when it was that dark, i remember Graham's Gabba jacket was lit up like a Christmas tree from Johns B '' Search light '' Torch.
Subhash did very well i have to say soldiering on all the way to escrik. having slightly miscalculated the total distance and pace of today's ride. but i am sure it'll be no time at all when he'll be dragging me home ( So it wasn't so much a sacrifice as much as it was an investment )

all in all great company, great riding and above all another great club run. Well done Tony for what was brilliant '' SAFE'' navigating on your part.


keep pedaling .....

Four in the square for the Sunday ride - Rob, Andy G, Steen, me. Destination Summerbridge. The threat of rain had been slightly over exaggerated by the BBC. In fact although it chucked it down for about 20 mins between Linton and Staveley and for a few minutes on the road up to Brimham Rocks, the ride was dry and mild. Cafe made hard work of an order for four which delayed us slightly but I was still home just after half two. Pretty tough ride home through Burnt Yates, round Harrogate and Spofforth in the wind. Good roads although the traffic is a bit of a drainer going in this direction,