Today’s ride saw the Knights setting out to Etton and the climb over Gardham and down to North Newbald. The route took the group on to South Newbald and Hotham, North Cave, South Cave and Elleker before the climb up Brantingham dale. From Riplingham it was down to Raywell and along to Skidby and Little Weighton before taking a café stop at Folly’s at Risby.
Enjoying the café stop at Folly’s
Sunday Knights looking good in club kit heading up to High Gardham
This evening’s ride saw the Knights heading south to Thearne via Long Lane and on to Dunswell, Cottingham and Skidby before heading north through Little Weighton over High Hunsley and down to Newbald then onto the climb up Stoneknowe Hill to Gardham. Next up was the 2018 Sprint challenge on the way to Etton before returning to Beverley.
Stephen joins the group with newbie Oliver
Andy in the sun and rain….somewhere under the rainbow
Knights taking a break and enjoying a stunning sky
The weather forecast and outside commitments put paid to the ambitions of some to join the Sunday club ride. Encouraged by the redoubtable Dogtanian (Pug) the three Muskehounds, Athos (Brian), Aramis (Paul) and Porthos (Colin) reported for duty at Market Cross at the later time of 10am.
Monsieur de Treville set us the task of chasing down the power hungry Cardinal Richelieu, last reported heading for South Cave, North Cave and Howden. Setting out over the Westwood, the chase was on with Dogtanian taking the initial lead and Athos taking over at the top of the climb. The first drops of rain (more like mist in suspension really) appeared when heading down into Walkington, however did not dampen the spirits of the King’s Guards and passed after a few minutes.
Next obstacle for the Muskehounds was the mighty Bluestone Bottoms, led up by Porthos then Dogtanian to the base camp at Comberdale Hill. Porthos, making another strong showing, continued to set the pace to the top of the “clump”. It was about this time the skies began to look a bit ominous in the direction we were heading, however undeterred continued down into South Cave. Athos and Aramis now feeling somewhat doubtful about the little bit of dampness on the road and in the air, proceeded gingerly down through the trees, probably wishing they could call into the Little Wold Vineyard instead.
At South Cave, news reached the Muskehounds that Richelieu had now been spotted heading from North Cave to Hotham and Newbald. Nothing to do with brief shower, as Porthos said “You’re not a cyclist if you don’t get damp occasionally”. By the time we reached North Cave the sun had returned making for very pleasant riding conditions. Onward then to Hotham with the wind at our tails we were soon at Newbald where the elusive target was reported to be heading for TJ’s. Swords at the ready, it was time for Stoneknowe hill challenge with Athos showing an impressive skill and speed to lead the group to the top.
Paul on “top of the world”
Dogtanian
Colin & Brian comparing notes on the sprint challenge
At Gardham a brief sighting of the Cardinal (AKA Brett) spurred the Muskehounds to full gallop to try and close the gap on the Sprint Challenge. Maybe next time. At South Dalton we took the Mere Lane to the Bracken road and with a good tail wind the pace was high. Porthos, needing to return early, abandoned at the top of Bracken ascent while the others continued to the café stop at TJ’s. Milady (Rosie) served up our refreshments making no mention of the incident with Widimer (Jim) so I guess all is forgiven.
On leaving the café, the hounds passed through Hutton Cranswick to take Sheepman lane to Watton, Kilnwick and Lockington before returning home on the main road to Molescroft.
Now then boys, it’s a little windy this morning and the bright sunshine isn’t quite strong enough to provide the heat we have experienced of late, so make sure you wrap up warm and choose a route to keep the wind at your back. Some of your friends have decided to give it a miss and there will be only five of you meeting at Market Cross today.
“Let’s head to Londesborough, Warter and Huggate” said Alan, quickly adding “we can then head for Tibthorpe and have tea at TJ’s”. “Yes”, chorused the others, “sounds like a good plan”. The five friends mounted their hobby horses and set off for their adventure. A split in the group appeared right from the off as the traffic lights changed to red after the leading two Alan and Mikey had passed, leaving little Jimmy, Russ and their faithful dog Pug sulking in the rear.
The adventure could easily have come to an early end, when a parked car decided to pull out on Pasture Lane almost side swiping Russ and leaving no room for Pug except to do a “Tom & Jerry” braking manoeuvre. It was then off over the Westwood and the boys all came back together again at the Coppleflat Lane junction. On reaching the A1079 junction at Bishop Burton and carefully following their mummy’s advice about the “green cross code”, the five friends crossed gingerly over to the Cherry Burton road.
Once reaching Etton, it was head down time to reduce the effects of the adverse wind. At the top of Etton/Dalton ramp, Alan suggested a slight change to the normal route by heading to Goodmanham via the Enthorpe road. “O…K….” said Jimmy with a glazed and confused look appearing on his face. “Where’s that then?” he asked. “Just follow the rest of us, you’ll recognize it when you get there” offered Pug. Given the state of the Spring Road this was a good alternative with a lovely downhill sweep into Goodmanham to make up for all the climbing.
Next up was the long drag to Londesborough then to Nunburnholme top with Alan taking the lead most of the way. At the top the boys stopped to admire the fantastic view…. and recover from the climbing effort. Mikey advised his friends that his “mummy” had said he had to be home early so with a cheery wave he set off to find his own way home, while the rest continued the journey to Warter and Huggate. With the main climbs completed and the wind behind, it was off at a gallop to Tibthorpe, Southburn and picnic at TJ’s.
Is that a wasp you’ve swallowed Jim?
The previous bad behaviour of little Jimmy went unnoticed this time, as the object of his faux pas was not in attendance and he was “allowed” to sit with the others. The trouble with picnics is wasps seem to like this form of al fresco dining too. “I’ve been reading up about Bees” said Alan, “Wasps evolved from Bees but Bees are vegetarian and wasps are omnivorous” he opined. This explanation did nothing to alleviate the annoyance felt by the boys at the unwanted intrusion and regretting the decision to eat outside. Not wishing to linger more than necessary, it was time to set off home.
Attention on deck!! We have some new crew members to boost our number today. Bosun Russel introduced his son Cadet Philip to the assembly, looking to boost his cycling fitness. That should help bring the average age down a bit! Geoff and Sandra were the other new faces looking to join us for our ride out to the Fiddle Drill at Goodmanham. The rest of the crew were the usual suspects, Captain Pugwash, Admiral Neil, Rear Admiral Heather, Corporal Jones and Gunners Mate Dave.
Using a “well known” nautical method it was finger in the air time to check the wind direction before setting off into a mild south westerly. Leaving our dock, we took the normal route over the Westwood to the Newbald road. The early climb a chance to billow the sails, or for some to fill the lungs. On reaching Manor House, it appeared that Geoff and Sandra had been blown off-course and decided to find their own way to Goodmanham. The remainder of the crew set off to Walkington and on to the climb up Bluestone Bottoms.
At the top of the climb, Neil recounted an incident with a butterfly (probably a ……Red Admiral….or he would have been if he’d swallowed it). Some may say he should have kept his gob shut but I couldn’t possibly comment. The climbing continued all the way to the top of Comberdale Hill with Gunners Mate Dave leading the way. Once “over the top” it was big gear time to sweep through the trees on the way down into South Cave led this time by Corporal Jones. The convoy regrouped at the bottom before continuing on to North Cave with lead changing between Dave, Russ and Neil.
Once onto the Cliffe Road, the wind was now on the port quarter. With no-one taking on Neil’s suggestion of a chain gang, Bosun Russ took up the initial pace setting before being superseded by Captain Pugwash. Under full sail, a cracking pace was set but eventually it was time for someone else to step onto the front as Corporal Jones zoomed past with a cheery “We have a breakaway”, neither of us realising that the others had stopped to repair a puncture to Russel’s steed. After waiting a few minutes at the Market Weighton junction and no sign of the peloton, we tried to contact the Admiral but with no signal the breakaway continued to the café stop.
At that time, we noted that “last minute” Colin had left a message to say he was running late for the initial rendezvous, unfortunately no-one had spotted the message prior to departure. There was a report that he may have flown passed Mrs Pugwash on a ride with the U3A while heading through South Dalton.
After the café stop and wind still filling the sails it was a fast pace to Holme-on-the-Wolds and South Dalton where we bumped into Nick and Charlotte walking the baby. Afterwards it was the usual return route via Etton and Cherry Burton. A superb ride enjoyed by all.
The adventure began as soon as we stepped aboard the ferry Pride of Bruges bound from Hull to Zeebrugge with Captain Pugwash, Mathew, Neil and Heather meeting up in the bar…….as you do. Following a few refreshments and a fine dinner, it was back to the bar for the evening entertainment…..BINGO!!!! No luck there with all the winnings going to another table.
Next morning we set off in a two car convoy hoping to meet up with Dave and Carol near Reims where they had stayed the night, having taken the Dover ferry to Calais. Things didn’t quite follow the script, with Dave and Carol far ahead they were delegated the job of shopping for various bits and pieces we would need during our stay at Steve & Sharrin’s hideaway.
For our first day ride we set off from a parking spot near Le Fion. After a little leg warmer along the D122 the first climb of the day was Col du Grand Taillet all the way up to Chalets de Trechauffex where we stopped to admire the view and sink espressos and grand café au laits. After retracing part of our route it was onto the long descent of La Forclaz and chance to recover from the previous efforts. Following the valley bottom we headed to Morzine where a well earned lunch was consumed in the baking sun. Our next climb was the Col du Corbier, a short effort by comparison with only 6.1km but at an average 8.3% it was not easy especially for those nursing the effects of wine and toffee vodka. Unfortunately Matt suffered a mechanical at the foot of the climb and had to abandon and wait for the “broom wagon”. I’m sure he was gutted. The long descent from Corbier back to the car was quite exhilarating and worth all the slog up the other side.
Day 2 saw us parking at the Pied de la Plagne to follow the Route des Grande Alps category 4 climb with a sneaky 14% section thrown in for good measure. After reaching Les Gets, another wonderful sweep downhill took us to Taninges. Regrouping at the bottom, it was off along the valley with a steady upstream crawl taking us to Samoens and the base of the high category climb of Col de Joux Plane with an ascent of 868m in 10.5km. It proved to be a rather tough climb and coupled with a baking hot sun and no respite from the continuous effort pushed us all to the limit. Heather took the kudos for beating Neil to the top, much to Neil’s chagrin. A lunch stop at Le Relais de Vallee to recover and thankfully it was all downhill back to the car. Brett flew out and joined us in time for the evenings entertainment of “snail scoffing” or escargot mange as the French would say.
Day 3 was the day we joined Le Tour. Brett set off on his own way while the rest of us headed to Cluses to begin our assault on part the tour route. A short 5km run of relatively flat riding and it was straight into the high category climb of Col de Romme and average gradient of 9%. Once again the heat and unrelenting effort made a tough climb even more difficult. It was with some relief when we reached the top of the climb to find an ice cold beer waiting. Instead of continuing to the Col de Colombiere we opted for the long wait for the tour to cover the same climb. Watching the professionals made our efforts pale into insignificance, quite impressive. When all the procession cleared through it was time for us to set off in hot pursuit cursing inwardly every time we were held up by the traffic heading off the mountain. Kudos going to Matt for his daring exploits in dodging said traffic. Arriving back in Cluses we ended with a tour of the town in search of the car.
Day 4 saw Brett again set out on his own to visit Switzerland while Neil, Heather, Matt and Pugwash went on a magical mystery tour in search of views of Lake Geneva and a generally easier ride. Starting out from Vinzier we followed the Route de Grand Blanche to Bernex then to Saint-Paul-en-Chablais eventually ending up in Thollon-les-Memises where we headed for the boulangerie for lunch. The return journey saw us pass through Larringes then getting a little lost trying to find some quiet roads to take us back to Vinzier.
All set for fun and games at the Derby velodrome….. oh no we’re not…. oh yes we are, only it turns out it was Manchester Velodrome. Fortunately Sharrin realised her mistake at the 11th hour and was able to round up the troops before they’d all set off for Derby. The only casualty of the fracas was Alan, who decided against attending.
The lead contingent consisting of Sharrin, Stephen, Mathew and Pugwash arrived in plenty of time. Thankfully there was a café next to reception where Mathew and Pugwash were able to get a bite to eat to top up the reserves. Next up was our first look inside the velodrome. By this time the second party arrived consisting of Jonathon, Matt, Russ and Andy.
Furnished our with shoes and kitted out in our Knights gear it was time to collect a bike and head for the track. Only two of our party had previous experience of the velodrome, so there was a lot of trepidation at the start, especially looking at the steepness of the banking on turns three and four. Following a safety and information briefing from track manager Bob, it was off to gain some experience and confidence riding around the track and the art of stopping without brakes. As the speed built up at each lap we moved onto the “Cote d’Azure” strip then onto the black racing line, then up to the red line and finally the blue line. Russ was unlucky that he was unable to continue due to problems with his eyesight but still managed to provide excellent photography services.
Next up, it was time to practice the “through and off”. It actually looked like we knew what we were doing. Once we’d all had a couple of turns on the front it was time to replenish fluids. The velodrome atmosphere was really warm and combined with the riding efforts saw sweat running freely.
The next session was the standing start timed lap. Setting off individually to complete one lap as fast as possible. Kudos go to Matt with 20.77 sec equating to an average 43.4 kph.
Next in line was a new session, which although doesn’t have an official title has come to be known as the “Peal and Squeal”. The lead rider, on hearing a whistle would increase speed creating a gap off the front then on the 2nd whistle pull off to allowed the following train to pull through. There was some confusion occasionally with this “game” but we were managing to get the hang of it as the time progressed.
Our final session was a 20 lap scratch race. For the early laps the lead man pealed off every half lap until the final three laps where it was everyman for him/herself. First across the line being the winner. I believe kudos go again to Matt.
A superb time was had by all taking part and any early doubts or fears about riding fixed wheel without brakes around the steep banking were firmly set to the back of the mind.
We started off a perfect ten but there is always someone to spoil the score, but more of that later. Wing Commander Raymond had suggested a minutes silence in respect of the late Alan Longmuir of Bay City Rollers fame of whom he intimated Sharrin was a big fan. Other ideas floated were the wearing of tartan “trews” or tartan scarf. In the end only Jim came out clad in black (isn’t he always?) and the minutes silence was broken by a refrain of Shang-a-Lang. According to Sharrin it was all a mistake and that she only wore a tartan scarf once and anyway was too young to have been a big fan. Just a little fan then…..
After meeting up at Manor House our route saw us heading to Walkington and on to South Cave via Bluestone Bottoms. Always a nice little heart pumper to warm up for the rest of the climb up to the top of the “clump”.
What goes up must go down, and the sweep down to South Cave does not disappoint. After regrouping it was decided that our destination would be the Lakeland Park at Allerthorpe. With the sun beginning to break through and very light winds it made for a very pleasant ride as we made our way along to North Cave and Hotham before cruising up the Cliffe road to the turn off for Harswell then Everingham. Our arrival at Allerthorpe was a welcome respite as the heat of the day started to kick in.
Scrambled eggs seemed to be a popular choice today, so much so, Admiral Neil ended up with two platefuls. Turns out something was lost in translation as he’d meant two eggs scrambled. Perhaps he was mindful of his reputation or just thinking about Alan having run out of fuel on a previous ride but the extra plate was handed over with due grace.
Ray, Russ, Norman, Sharrin & Neil at the top of Bluestone
Knights peleton with m/c outrider
Raymond’s fan club expressing their support on the road
Jim in his gypsy fortune telling outfit
After a little jocular banter about having not replaced a borrowed inner tube, Jim decided not to continue with the group but head directly home on his own… presumably via the bike shop to collect said item ready to repay his “debts”.
The remaining nine set off towards Pocklington to return via Burnby, Londesborough, Market Weighton and the Spring road leading back to Etton. On regrouping at the top of the Dalton ramp, a discussion broke out (whisper it quietly) regarding the etiquette of hanging out the washing!!!! Who knew there were so many options. Alan had already zoomed off ahead so luckily missed out on this scintillating conversation. Mindful of the reason we were all there, it was time to get back to the serious business of finishing the ride.
The Knights annual summer solstice ride sees our intrepid bunch heading for the coastal town of Hornsea and back for drinks and food at the Corner House. In the absence of the Admiral, it was left to Vice Admiral to rally the troops. His offer of drinks and peanuts was somewhat underwhelming but non-the-less heralded a good turn out of ten knights all in their shiny livery. “It won’t be a particularly fast ride” he said, “All are welcome” he said, well that notion soon disappeared into the ether. A following wind on the way out saw the pace remain high throughout.
Our route took us out along the Weel road to Tickton. The crossing onto the cycle path was like a load of rats abandoning ship with some crossing early, some taking to the road while others kept to the cycle path. At Routh we headed south on a “broad reach” until Beningholme lane where we headed east again before turning north to Arnold then through the underpass to Long Riston. Maintaining a speed around 20-23 mph, there was not a lot of chatter as we passed through Little and Great Hatfield on the way to Mappleton. On hitting the main road heading north on a “close reach”, there was still no let up in the pace as we raced into Hornsea bound for a photo opportunity at the sea front. For some it was a chance of “relief” before setting off on the return journey.
After leaving Hornsea it was off on the Bewholme road past the Honeysuckle farm. Despite turning into the wind along the Catfoss road we still maintained around 21mph all the way to Brandesburton. The smell of the beer and peanuts must have wafted in the wind as we continued to push hard and with a final flourish of 23mph along Norwood our destination was soon in sight. Total time taken from Market Cross and back to Corner House came in at just under 2 hours. Kudos to all and no-one was dropped.
Following a successful Knights Summer barbecue, a huge turn out was not expected, however despite lack of sleep and feeling a little worse for wear, some managed to force themselves, not only to turn out but add an additional 20 miles before the start. That’s one way to clear the cobwebs. No doubt the ZZZZZZs will be very big in those households this afternoon.
Suggested café stop for the day was Rambler’s Rest at Millington. Seven knights plus two honorary knights of the Chopper Wilson clan set off over the Westwood on the Newbald road. At the first hill, Jenny realised she hadn’t weighed anchor and was trying to huff and puff her way with rear brake binding on the rim. A quick stop soon sorted the problem. Once all together again at Manor House, it was off to Cherry Burton and Etton. Colin and Mark were the early pace setters as we headed to Holme-on-the-Wolds and then Pugwash, Stephen and Mark to Middleton.
Once onto the climb to North Dalton, it was time to spin or grind our way along. Colin took grinding to a new level, maintaining his highest gear all the way to Huggate. Sterling effort. With a head wind along Millington Dale, there was no suggestion of the freewheel challenge this time, so Andy’s effort of the previous ride still stands. A final climb around the switchback at Millington wood then it was a swift ride into the café for a well earned refreshment.
During our respite, it was clear from some that a flatter route home would be preferable, so we headed to Pocklington and Allerthorpe bound for South Newbald along the Cliffe road. With constantly alternating lead man the pace remained high. Turning onto the Common hill ramp, it was time for the wind to help us on the way through Hotham and Newbald. With half of the group already having over 60 miles in the legs there was no appetite for Trundlegate so it was off for the “easy hill” out of Newbald. On the way up the hill, a small squeaking noise gave warning to Stephen that Pugwash was slowly creeping up behind him. I’ll need to adjust my foot position next time to prevent the shoe rubbing on the pedal if I’m to get into stealth mode.
At the next little hump, it was Stephen’s turn to return the favour, where he must have got a rush of blood to the head to fire the afterburners and zoom past Pugwash in a blur of blue like a kingfisher darting for it’s prey. By that stage, Mark and Colin had disappeared over the horizon to make sure they returned in time for father’s day assignations, leaving the rest of the group to saunter back home.
