You remember that big orange ball that appears in the sky 🌞 bringing warmth and happiness. Yes?… well you could be forgiven if not, as in our little neck of the woods, we’ve been shrouded for days…even weeks with a dull grey blanket of cloud. Some Knights even headed off abroad in the search for the “golden snitch” while the rest of us continue to shiver at home praying for some respite from the freezing damp conditions. With the “heating” turned off, the temperatures have stubbornly refused to rise much above freezing curtailing the attendance at our regular club rides.

There has been a number of intrepid Knights who have ventured out over the last couple of weeks but most of us have been in hibernation, like brown bears 🐻 waiting for the spring, avoiding any chance of “dicing on ice”, preferring to find solace and self-flagellation on a turbo-trainer in our “pain cave”. Today however our prayers were answered and the temperature soared to a balmy 15⁰c. Unfortunately “someone” must have thought it was a bit too hot and turned the fan on full blast. The wind turbines have been spinning round like whirling dervishes creating enough energy to power a rocket 🚀.

“The wind is just about on my max threshold” declared Michael 💪 “but I’m willing to give it a go” hoping to encourage others along. I suppose you do need someone to hide behind when the going gets tough. Not to be outdone, Colin decided to join in the “fun” (can’t have others racking up the miles without him). “Have you any last wishes Colin?” enquired Jim with tongue firmly in cheek. Perhaps he wanted Colin to gift him his bike in the event of the wind scooping him across the Styx. With the forecast giving wind speeds of 24mph gusting to 40mph there were no other “takers”.

Undeterred by all the doom laden warnings ⚠️ 🌬 the two set out from Market Cross straight into the teeth of the wind as they made their way south to Elloughton. They had some respite and assistance over the next leg when they headed westerly through North Cave to North Cliffe before turning towards Bielby. Instead of continuing to Allerthorpe they had a change of plan and turned to Hayton, Burnby then Londesborough before stopping off at the Fiddle Drill in Goodmanham.

After spending 3½ hours in the saddle they managed to cover around 50 miles although not without incident. Turns out Michael is determined to retain his 👑 as the Puncture King by suffering yet another flat. He did manage to impress Colin with his prowess in changing the inner tube. To be fair, he’s had plenty practice!! 😂 What was most impressive though, was the way Michael removed the thorn by sinking his teeth into the tyre like a man relishing a juicy steak 🥩 before spitting out the gristle. What’s more, he managed to put the tyre back on without levers (the power of the thumb 👍). All that time on YouTube has not been wasted then!

Hopefully I’ll see you all out on the road soon.

Well talk about a “jammy sandwich”, no nothing to do with the tapas, but the weather. It turned out to be a cool but sunny day sandwiched between two slices of soggy wet and windy days. Ten Knights took advantage and turned out for the start of this Friday’s ride to the Fiddle Drill at Goodmanham for Xmas Tapas.

After setting off we headed to South Dalton with Heather 😬 leading the way. “Straight on here Heather! ….. Left turn here Heather!” shouted Russ encouragingly from behind. Once we’d regrouped after passing through the gates into Dalton park, Neil zoomed off ahead. “Where’s he going?” queried someone. “Photo Op time” came the reply but as Neil disappeared around a bend in the road we began to wonder how we’d know when he was ready. Not to worry though, just as we were about to mount up there was a mighty roar from the distance.

On leaving the park, we turned left towards Kiplingcotes where by luck or by design we were joined by Colin, just in time for the climb up Arras hill and over to Sancton. Regrouping at the bottom of the hill, we waited for an opportunity to dodge the traffic to get to Houghton lane which then took us to Cliffe Road. “Left here to North Cliffe then right to Harswell and Everingham” advised Neil, however by the time we reached Market Weighton road it was felt that there wasn’t enough time to complete the intended route and still arrive on time at FD. Michael and Colin left the group at this point going to Allerthorpe instead while the rest headed for Pocklington along the busy A614 with Stephen peeling off home via Market Weighton. By the time we arrived at the Fiddle Drill we had five minutes to spare and the group was now down to six. Even a picture of the tapas was not enough to encourage others to join us except for Sean and wife Gillian who’d made their own way to the cafe.

Although Jim didn’t partake in the tapas he decided to join us for his version of “Dine & Dash” except he did a forgetful “Tea & Flee” instead. While five of us tucked into our wonderful tapas plate, Neil had decided to ‘share’ one with Heather, however as we struggled to finish ours, we found his beady eyes swivelling in our direction. “Are you not going to eat that?” he enquired before swooping in vulture like, mopping up some of the left overs.

After a very enjoyable Xmas Tapas it was nearly 1.5hrs before we were ready to set off home again. “Which way are we going back?” asked somebody and with general approval the reply was “Shortest and quickest” which in this case was along the Kiplingcotes valley to Etton. Many thanks to the staff at the Fiddle Drill for making such a festive table.