Wednesday 26th November

When I got to the show ground there was no short ride allocated and the other rides had been cancelled due to the potential for ice and slippery conditions. About 12 people turned up and I said I would be going on a short ride to Wetherby via Burnt Bridge, Walton Head Lane, Kirby Overblow, Sicklinghall and coming back via the cycle path to Spofforth, Follifoot and Rudding Park. To my surprise and delight 7 hardy members joined me for the trip (Gordon, Roger, Tony, Tim, James, Howard and Derek). There was a bit of ice on Walton Head Lane but it was easily navigable and there weren’t any mishaps. We stopped off at Kofi and Co for refreshments and a chance to warm up our frozen limbs.

Conversation was varied as is usually the case on a Wheel Easy ride and consisted of topics including dentistry and orthodontics over the years and later on “Bone conduction headphones”. 6 of the riders took the road route to Spofforth while Roger and myself took the cycle path which proved to be eventful as there was a fallen tree blocking the entire path which involved Roger assisting me in lifting my trike over the branches, just as we were finishing negotiating this obstacle who should come the other way but Sarah and Linda who were out on a ride of their own so after helping them with their bikes we said our good byes and headed off for Spofforth, Follifoot and the showground where we met up with the rest of our group. All in all it was 20 miles at 10.7 mph average moving speed with 415 metres of climbing. Although quite cold it was a very enjoyable ride and my thanks to everyone who joined me and especially to Howard for back marking.

Gordon Haynes

On a very cold autumn Wednesday morning a very small number gathered in the cold showground car park, the puddles were still frozen and I’d already skidded down to the lights at the bottom of Rudding park lane on the drive in, it was a risk of ice in the shade even in an hours time.

A short brave group with a few wanderers left for a short ride to Wetherby, while the remaining 5 of us set off across the car park, avoiding the ice puddles as we chatted going slowly across the car park, with Tim Rhodes and I taking the wind at the front despite the wind being light this morning, Mike Clark and Mike Wills grouped behind us and Colin was back marking and making sure nobody was dropped en-route. 

Discussions covered varying subjects, usually including something to do with bikes and others not!