“Weather forecast is showing rain for 1200” advised Matt “Can we meet at Etton with an earlier start time of 0900?” he added tentatively. Shortly after he must have had second thoughts. “Is 9 too early maybe 0930?” he asked. The replies poured in from those who could attend, “I’ll be there” was the general consensus “but what time?” queried Melvin. Eventually we settled on 0930. Unfortunately not everyone got the message. “It’s such a ‘Trial’ to get people on ‘Time'”. Someone had not read all the messages and arrived at 9am while some others ended up running late.
Thirteen knights turned out but as the appointed start time arrived “Where’s Colin?” asked someone “Hiding round the corner waiting until it’s 09:29:59” suggested another. In the end Matt invoked rule #87 “The ride always leaves on time” but not before sending a message advising of a change of route due to road closures.
Rolling “down the ramp” the ‘team’ set off towards Kiplingcotes and the climb up the race course road to Cross Gate. At the foot of the first climb there was a “whoosh” of yellow as Matty “Vingegaard” set off at pace to lead the bunch up the steepest section. Little did we know that he had an ulterior motive. As we reached the first junction, there was Matt performing the duties of traffic cop waving his arms around egging everyone on. “All clear” he declared allowing us to continue without stopping.
At the top of the climb we stopped to regroup before heading downhill heading towards Middleton-on-the-Wolds. Our next climb came soon after as we reached North Dalton and set off to Huggate. Part way through the upwards slog, Iain put in a rare spurt making his way forward through the peloton like a soigneur handing out bottles to team mates. “What’s he up to?” we thought. “Has he spotted some WOW girls?” Turns out he was close to a segment PB and decided to “go for it”.
After regrouping at Huggate it was time to enjoy the mostly downhill run to Tibthorpe followed by a flat section through Southburn to Cranswick. With rain forecast for early afternoon or was going to be “trial of time” to see if we could get home dry. However it didn’t stop us having a lovely lunch break at Manor Farm Shop.
For the route home we followed our usual track over Bracken lane to Mere Lane and South Dalton where the main road had been newly resurfaced turning the road into a gravel track. Somewhere between Etton and Cherry Burton we felt the first drops of rain threatening to fall. Fortunately we managed to get home before the ‘main event’.