Was a much milder day as we met at the Unique Gym car park ready for the rides yesterday. Notice that I did say rides as we had 2 going out. I was leading the long ride of about 50miles over to Bolton Abbey whilst Tracey was leading a shorter ride for beginners over to Shipley and back.
The ride was arranged to set off at 10:30 but unfortunately we were a bit delayed waiting for some spare bikes to arrive from the club and we eventually set off at about 10:50am
Chris, Caspar (from now on to be known as Flatspar, more on that later), Andy and I set off from the Uni taking our well used shortcut into the city centre via the new City Park before climbing up to Lister Park on our way to Saltaire where we would be picking up some other riders.
We got to Saltaire at about 11:15am and found Mark, Adam, Gareth and new rider Dave with his step son ready to ride with us. A quick chat later and we were off heading downhill to Bingley where we got a bit spread out owing to the number of traffic lights, once we got into Crossflatts it I sent the others on whilst I waited for Dave and Chris, and it became clear that Dave and his stepson were struggling a bit to stay with the pace, it is always harder for an MTB to stay with a road bike I know I’ve tried. They decided to call it a day and make their own route from their on. So Chris and I set off to catch the others who were actually just around the corner.
From here we rode into Keighley and then out towards Steeton, was not impressed when I saw that the Steeton lights were on temporary ones and it was down to one lane, the next challenge was getting over the roundabout to Silsden but fortunately traffic was light and we headed off to the first hill up to Addingham. Andy set off in the lead and kept a good pace all the way to the corner where he realised that the hill continued, so he eased back. I was surprised to find that both Chris and Flatspar (all will become clear now), our two best climbers were no where in sight at the top. We waited a while and then I walked back to see if I could see them coming up the hill, no sign at all, I tried to ring them but no reply. Adam caught me and Chris was on his phone Caspar had got a flat which they had fixed but they were now at Crosshills having missed the turn to Silsden, this meant that they were about 15 minutes behind us owing to the hills, we decided that the best thing was for us to crack on as our planned route would add in a bit of a loop around Addingham but they could take a bit more of a direct one.
From there we all enjoyed a long descent towards Ilkley before turning off and around the back of Addingham heading towards Bolton Abbey. Loads of people around at the Abbey and loads of snow (see pic) We made our way through and Gareth and I stopped to wait athe entrance drive down to the Pavillion Cafe. After a short wait I left Gareth there to make my way down and got to the cafe to find it shut (re opens end of March ), hoever those nice people had put on a coffee wagon so got my self one and waited, and waited and waited. Gareth then turned up and we waited and waited, then we got the call that the rest had stopped at the village shop, but they were on their way.
We all joined up at the Pavillion for a rest and Chris and Caspar were back with us, I apologised to Caspar for the cattle grids leading down as earlier this week he had come off his new carbon road bike on one at the bottom of the Cow and Calf and broke his rear hanger so was on his old bike and was having flashbacks. Once rested we set off back to the roundabout on our way over to Otley.
The route now followed the A59 which is a long steady climb with a number of false horizons, but great for building some leg strength, I was well pleased with myself as I big ringed it all the way to the top, as did Adam. Mark, Gareth, Adam and I all got to the top where we waited or the others to arrive, they were a while as Andy was struggling on his bike which kept throwing off his chain when we was putting pressure onto the pedals, these three had a close call when some numpty (we did use other names when we saw it happen) Audi driver decided to over take 5 other cars right in front of the riders only just managing to pull in before the riders. A short stop for everyone at the top before heading downhill on the twisty section over Blubberhouses moor, this is always a great descent. We turned off this road a bit further down towards Otley with a short steep climb and once we got to the top stopped to let everyone catch up, as Chris, Andy and Flatspar were behind again. Mark was none too impressed at this point when he saw the road ahead of us which went decidedly uphill.
We waited a while and then I set off back to find the others and try to ring them no sign and no reply on the call, so after a bit of waiting I went back to the others. However as I topped the rise to where they were waiting there was no sign, it was not until I looked up the hill ahead that I realised that they had gone on, I set off to catch up and finally caught them after the big climb before the descent into Otley. Turns out that Flatspar had got another flat and Andy was still struggling with his bike and was going to catch the train home at the earliest point, so we were now down to four. We all cracked on enjoying a fast descent into Otley and then meandering through the traffic.
As we came through Otley Adam said he thought that Gareth was starting to struggle and they might call off for a rest at a local hostillery, so at the Fox pub in Menston we stopped, Gareth was fine and we all set back off towards the decsent down Hollins Hill, Adam took the lead and went off like a rocket with me chasing him, I just managed to make the lights at Hollins |hall but only just (amber gambler) at the bottom we re grouped and then at Ellis Briggs Mark dropped off to get his speed looked at as it said that he had done 8 miles only, then at Valley Road Adam and Gareth dropped oo to go home leaving me on my own.
So then there was only me riding back to the Uni. Once back I contacted the others to check they were okay and set off home, Andy had caught a train home from Shipley and now had his bike in the shop and Chris and Flatspar were home safe.
This was the longest ride we had arranged but I knew we had to step up the milage as many of our riders are doing either the Coast to Coast or the Hamm Ride or both and getting the miles in is important.
The next ride is Sunday 19th February and will takes us over the tops to Lancashire, start point is the same and start time is 10:30am hope to see you there
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