It dawned on me that York Rally is a week tomorrow.... so maybe I should actually make a decision about which night to do this and add it to the calendar.
The results of the
poll imply a certain Saturday-ish leaning, and that's probably the best for us so that's the plan.
Meet up at the racecourse, I guess, for a midnight departure on what I suppose is technically the pre-ride all of 10 minutes away to the model of the Sun
on the
York-Selby planets path.
There may then follow the option of attempting silly stunt park shenanigans on mildly inappropriate bikes before the official off, for those that enjoy that sort of thing.
We will then ride to the outer planets on a pancake flat (apart from the odd tree root) traffic free route to Pluto. There are a number of bridges, including one of my personal favourites, along the way. One of them is ideal for Pooh Sticks, although I feel persons equipped with headtorches and good eyesight may have an advantage in this game.
From Pluto we will continue to Riccall, and I will at some point this/next week think up some route or another from there back to York (this may involve a heavily extended commute one day!) through the lanes - not quite as flat as the planets path, but it is entirely possible that the biggest climb will be a bridge.
I expect the total distance to be between 30 and 35 miles - and I might include a comedy off-road section just for the lolz.
The pace will not be so much slow as glacial. Dress up warm!
Comedy bikes welcome - my little sis is in training, and has just done her first 15 mile ride for years, and may well attend on her lovely green 3-speed shopper.
If you choose to indulge in filthy bike-swappery in the dark of the night, on your own head be it. I reserve the right to point, laugh and take embarassing photographs.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can find a route with a fjord.
I can offer no mechanical assistance whatsoever in the event of problems, because I'm utterly incompetent at such matters. There is also no convenient halfway cafe, although Yorkshire has a fine array of hedgerows for your contemplation and enjoyment and I can provide CAIK and flapjack and scones and will be bringing the 2 monster thermos flasks of coffee, as well as quite possibly (because she's worth it) the smaller one of hot chocolate for Kim. Assistance with the porterage of Tasty_Baked_Comestibles is always appreciated, because I'm fundamentally rather lazy, but even with the hyooooooge panniers full I can usually keep up with m'boy so not strictly necessary.
Did I mention that it won't be fast? I think at Cannock he managed a moving average of a little under 8 miles an hour....
If it's cosmically awful weather we won't be attempting anything heroic. But a bit chilly or a bit of drizzle wouldn't put us off.
So who's in?
The plan is to ride til dawn (which isn't actually very late) and hope to be somewhere near to York when it happens, then either return to the Rally and fall asleep in tents or, for those that prefer, creep into the Den and make sneaky early morning bacon butties, until the SmallestCub wakes up and scares you all away
