Sunday 13th September
Medium Ride
Four of us gathered at Hornbeam for the medium ride, Mike, Lynda, Fiona and myself (John). Three of us were new members so perhaps the experienced riders knew something we didn’t – possibly the south westerly winds gusting 40 mph which were forecast, or possibly a glitch in the booking system.
Either way, Route 43, to Kirby Overblow, Harewood, Eccup reservoir, Wike, East Keswick, Wetherby and Spofforth proved a great 31 mile ride with some lovely views and some challenging climbs, most notably the notorious Weardley Bank (73 m of climbing and an average gradient of 6.1 % – we won’t be posting any Strava segment comparisons!)
Dave said we averaged 12 mph for the 3 hr 40 minute ride. If that doesn’t compute it’s partly thanks to an excellent stop for refreshments the garden of Red Hill Farm at Spofforth, directly off the cycle way which we caught just in time – apparently it will be closing this weekend or next weekend for the winter. Anyway I think we all came back enthusiastic for more group rides and two of our number (the ladies) a little envious of the two who had the e-bikes (the gentlemen). John C
Medium-plus Ride
After a hard ride last Friday, I planned to cut today’s ride short by leaving the route at Cattal, which would be around 40miles. There was chat at Hornbeam about which way to depart. To be honest, I wasn’t really listening. But when we departed we didn’t take any turn for the Showground. After querying this, I realised that I had an anti-clockwise route in my mind whereas we were actually going clockwise. So, although I could have turned off at about 50 miles, I kept going and my 40miles morphed into 60miles…! Must read the route properly next time…. Anyway, the ride:
