Ten Knights signed up for this Friday’s ride to Cranswick via Huggate and Tibthorpe however someone failed to get out of bed in time for the start at Manor House but managed to join us en-route at Cherry Burton. The unbroken sunshine was struggling to lift the temperature but helped maintain the spirits of the group as we headed into the cool North West wind towards Holme-on-the-Wolds.
While heading towards Middleton-on-the-Wolds we nearly lost Barry, who’d made a lone “breakaway” up front then started to take a wrong turn before a kindly shout brought him back to the peloton.
The next section was a bit of a roller coaster towards North Dalton. The “breakaway” this time was led by Pugwash along with Steve and Mike. We eventually stopped opposite the old Star Inn pub to regroup. We thought it strange when there was no sign of the rest. Turns out Colin managed to hit the deck while manoeuvring his water bottle on a downhill section. Fortunately he suffered only superficial wounds but had to abandon and was assisted home by Barry.
On the next leg up to Huggate the breakaway consisted of Steve and Iain while the rest of us sauntered in their wake. “This hill is not so bad at this speed” suggested the chairman of the “I Hate that Hill Club”. Finally we turned downwind as we dodged the potholes on the road down to Tibthorpe.
While in the Farm Shop cafe at Cranswick the conversation turned to Pro cycling, “What sort of speed do the pro’s reach on downhill sections?” asked one. At which point, the experienced voice of Raymond piped up “Well, when I was a pro…” There was a brief pause before the whole table erupted in laughter. “Was it something I said” he thought before continuing to to suggest speeds reaching 95mph. 🤔
When we eventually returned to the road, the temperature felt as if it had dropped a couple of degrees as we once again faced the head wind on the way along Burnbutts. A little later as we reached the next junction, Raymond took up “policeman” duties to guide us across. Just as he set off to follow us there was a load groan “aaaaah” “You in the wrong gear Raymond?” we asked. “Yes” he responded then added “When I was a pro… my coach always used to tell me to check the gear before setting off”.
We then continued along the Bracken road returning to South Dalton along Mere Lane. On the hill south bound to Etton, Michael decided to make a break for it closely followed by Matt. Head down with a following wind, Michael looked like a man on a mission, even Matt gave up the “chase”. “I’ve got ‘live’ Strava segments” he explained later when we’d all regrouped at Etton.
On the final climb at Bishop Burton Matt made a break for the front. No one else had the inclination 😒 to tackle the inclination to chase him down and just tootled up, well at least that’s our excuse and we’re sticking to it.
