Another Great weekend at the York cycle show
First Cycle-camping trip in a while. Did not quite feel up-to doing the full distance there and back so ended up getting a lift half-way on the outbound journey and riding the remaining 28 miles to York from Thorne. Had not used my cycle-camping gear for a while but managed to fit it all in the Milan SL OK. Went though Selby and then picked up the NCN cycle route which partly follows an old rail path. I have ridden this route many times before and enjoyed it however I had not ridden it within the last 3-4 years and sadly the surface of much of the path has been ruined by tree roots making it almost unusable. Had dinner at the on-site catering, chips were fantastic. Met up with a bunch of my mates, Brian R, Neil "Hotta" hood and Ian Squires. Not so many BHPC riders there this year due to some unfortunate date clashes with Cyclevision and Shennington 24hr.
Saturday was a good day, nice weather, not scorching hot like some previous weeks. Lots of interest in the bikes on the stand, Ian Squires had taken a selection including "Bream" (Geoff Bird's HPV Heaven T6) and a Rans Screamer tandem which we had a short ride on around the campsite. Neil Hood Had his awesome Restretto there and I was able to sit in it, it is surprisingly comfortable
Later an Awesome Scottish lady turned up with a very shiny red Quest. There were quite a few very young riders there in skinsuits who took interest in the bikes
Barney Harle turned up with his double deck tandem and he took me for a ride
(of about 200 yards
). Rob Hague and Carol Hague were there as usual along with some trikes, Rob sounding as happy as always. The Highlight of course was the evening pub ride, sadly let down somewhat this year by the "Slecht wegdek door boomwortels", I really hope it is fixed soon, I doubt the dutch would ever let a cycle-path get into that condition. John Turvey was there who has been going to the York show for as long as I can remember, riding a very well used Greenspeed trike. I had some scampi and chips and Becky Taylor had a Pizza. The table had a big umbrella in the middle and a gust of wind tried to remove it and the others were impressed by my catching skills. Going back to the campsite I took the road, could not face the tree roots yet again, most of the others though took on the tree roots so I had to ride solo. For the ride back to Grimsby I took the A19 instead of the railpath due to the tree roots. Managed to reach the Humber Bridge in 1 hour, 30 mins (26mph avg speed, with camping gear on-board).