Sunday 9th. July

Medium Plus Steady Ride

Only one taker, Peter, on his shiny new Ribble e-bike, very smart. On our way met up with the brisk group, met up at Tates for coffee break, photo shoot. On our way through Deer Park and on to the moors, giving Peter chance to test his new bike out of the hills. Made it look easy! Thanks Peter for waiting for me at the top of the hill. Lovely weather and great ride. Thanks for your company Peter. Enjoyed. 56 miles and 3,038 feet climbing.
Cheers! Mike W

Medium Ride

What a ride that was – Route 226 is one of those “old-fashioned” Wheel Easy routes where you go left when you think you should be going right and you go right when you think it’s a left and consisted of a number of lanes and roads not often frequented. Serpentine is perhaps the word and all the time either up or down and then suddenly there is a realisation that all that pedalling has brought you to ……. well, somewhere not very far away from the start! Ten riders to begin with but there were as many twists & turns and incidents within the group(s) as there were with the route. A cracker for winter I think – a ride that including a climb of Hartwith Bank is guaranteed to keep one warm no matter the temperature. As for today it was humid & warm turning to sunshine and heat. 34.5 miles and 3,000 ft of climb. Tall Tim

Just to let all of my co riders on todays Medium Steady ride led by Tim Ling know that I did eventually find my mobile phone on the road close to the cafe stop at Mackenzie’s in Blubberhouses. It had been run over and the screen was in a thousand pieces but Hey Ho I found it.

An enormous thank you to Paul Blackham for retracing our steps with me all the way eventually back to Harrogate via the smoke house and thank you to my fellow riders for your patience. A lesson learned. Never again will I attach my phone to the handlebars in spite of getting a brand new Quad Lock specifically for this purpose. However I clearly didn’t ensure it was attached safely and correctly…!!

Another lesson we may also need to learn is how to use the “find my phone feature” on most phones. How many of us know how to use it especially on another phone the first one being lost..!! I must also offer a large thank you to the staff at Mackenzies who are really helpful and understand of an old fuddy duddy and technology..!!

I shall be dropping them a line. Again thanks Paul Blackham… would have been truly lost in every sense of the word without your help! David Stross.

Medium Brisk Ride

Medium Steady Ride

What a ride that was – Route 226 is one of those “old-fashioned” Wheel Easy routes where you go left when you think you should be going right and you go right when you think it’s a left and consisted of a number of lanes and roads not often frequented. Serpentine is perhaps the word and all the time either up or down and then suddenly there is a realisation that all that pedalling has brought you to ……. well, somewhere not very far away from the start! Ten riders to begin with but there were as many twists & turns with the group(s) as there were with the route. A cracker for winter I think – a ride that including a climb of Hartwith Bank is guaranteed to keep one warm no matter the temperature. As for today it was humid & warm turning to sunshine and heat. 34.5 miles and 3,000 ft of climb. Tall Tim

Short Ride

Yet another lovely ride with a lovely bunch of people! Barbara, Sylvia, Karen, Margaret, Dennis, two Davids and a John set off to ride to Darley for coffee via Route 301 Reverse. Up Leadhall Lane to Beckwithshaw and onward to Little Alms Cliff in Sylvia’s wake! After catching our breath we rode with purpose up to and over the A59 at Dangerous Corner where a very kind driver let us cross safely. By now we could practically smell the coffee so enjoyed the ride into Darley via Sheepcote Lane where we crossed paths with the Medium Steady group who were coming up as we were swooping down, and Walker Lane to the Post Office. Dennis and Margaret left us at this point because they both had better offers. Kudos to the staff at the café who, despite there being a large number of people attending a football match, served us quickly and with friendly smiles.
The ride down the valley to Birstwith was as great as usual and the group tackled the drag up to Clint with relative ease 🙂 One of the Davids set off home via Hampsthwaite while the rest of us had a lovely ride to Ripley, and were cheered on (just like in the Tour de France) by a lovely family whose children were thoroughly enjoying the moment just as much as we did!
The remaining David left us at Ripley and the rest is history.
Thanks again to all who rode. 28 miles and 1870 feet of elevation for me, John C

The Big Un

There are some advantages to cycling alone – they do say ‘faster alone’ – further with a friend’.  However it can also make for along day.  The Ride Leader (me) asked the group (me) for several route suggestions and each one turned out to be unanimous and brilliant  – what a surprise.

By now you’ve gathered that no-one needed the stress of the Big Un after the Club’s challenge rides the weekend before.  I had manned a feed station so didn’t have that excuse so I was ready at 8:00 for the early start after the previous nights torrential rain  The ride out to lunch at Reeth (12.00) was the calmer part of the day via Masham, Middleham and Leyburn as the heat of the day built  The ascent from Leyburn to Grinton was tame compared with the long pull up to Tan Hill. against the wind and with numerous mini-climbs this was quite a tough stretch.  I opted for a recuperative pint at the Inn and got the usual off-hand service – it really is an odd place.  

The Group (me) had already decided not to do the full loop down Wharfedale but climbed Buttertubs from Thwaite just to descend back a again reaching top speed of 40mph.  The ride down Swaledale back to Reeth was a delight with beautiful views in the warm sunshine.   Luckily the Dales Cycle Centre were showing the Tour de France live, a great accompaniment to their excellent cakes.  

With threat of thunder storms a combination of direct route and flat route home were needed. A little used route east of Reeth to Stainton and Brandon brought me east of Leyburn and thence to the main road (quiet by now) to Bedale.  The storms were nearer with magnificent but alarming lightening bursts.  At Carthorpe the rain struck preceded by huge swirling winds.  Half an hour under a tree kept me mainly dry and a beautiful evening ensued for the run back through Wath, Bishop Monkton , then up to the A61 to Ripley and home via the Greenway by 21.30

So, a longer run at 125 miles and 8,500 ft of climbing  but a fantastic day after the previous days storms.  no-one complained to my hearing and everyone hopes for a repeat next year.     I will endeavour to be more organised and either run it on the same weekend as the Challenges or leave a bigger gap to enable more to enjoy it.  Also, we could incorporate a sort of mini Awayday with a loop starting from Grassington .  All ideas welcome

Peter Lawley