A 200 in Yorkshire and a 200 in Lincolnshire linked by the Humber Bridge. I rode to the start from Borugh Station, a very pleasant 11km in warm sunshine with no wind. I sussed out a new road which will be useful for my Humber Bridge 200 Perm and have the benefit of avoiding Swanland Bank, not that it’s very difficult, and Jenny Brough Lane.
A small crowd was amassing at the start, I was pleased to see Mr Wilkie, not seen him for about 2 years. Some clubmates were there and rumours that others were in the cafe were circulating. They showed up on time giving 8 of us from VC167 and about 30 in total. A midday start we headed out on the roads I had just travelled to get here !!
I assumed my usual position near the front out of any potential trouble. The whole field more or less stuck together to the first check point then as usual groups departed together. I was in a club group, four or five of us. We must have taken a wrong turn, we approached a side road from the wrong side and while we were pondering, some other rides approached from ahead of us. We regrouped and headed towards Helmsley. It was hot and some hills reared up. This split the groups but I was one of the stronger riders and remained near the front. We didn’t stop for long here, 105km done and the town was very busy, it always is on sunny days so we headed out to Malton for the Yorkshire Tea Rooms, only 30km away. It’s one of my favourite cafes, don’t know why, the service is often slow, but they don’t seem to mind groups of cyclists and the toilets are very spacious and cool allowing me some time to organise myself. We ate well since this was the last cafe stop on the whole ride, things would be starting to close now. As we ate we chatted to Graham, a Scotsman who were were to spend more time with on and off during the ride, nice chap, wish I’d got his surname.
Andy and I headed out together and had a comfortable ride to Thixendale, I don’t come here very often, once before if I remember correctly, with Banjokat in 2006. An info, control but we allowed ourselves the luxury of a cold drink. We overtook a large group from Hull DA, the hosts of the ride, resting in the village, Mr Wilkie seemed to be leading them. He’s an experienced rider and I think he was helping some new riders round their first 400.
I planned a variation of the route to save us going round Jenny Brough Lane, it worked out fine, left instead of right onto Occupation Lane then a blat down the A164 to the Bridge. We’ve used this road before and it really isn’t bad for cycling on, no slip roads, wide with good sight lines, not all A roads are the same. The organisers caravan was open at the halfway point, his helpers were serving food and we sat around drinking tea and eating and preparing for the night section for about an hour. It was quite relaxed and a good atmosphere, most people had had a good ride so far, the weather was great, no one seemed to be complaining about excess heat though it was quite hot.
Off we went, just the two of us, we can make it if we try. Across the Humber Bridge, lights on and into the night. The first part uses my Humber Bridge 200 route so I lead us along at a good pace, nearly took us off route as I assumed we went through Barton-Upon-Stather rather than by pass it to Flixborough. We were OK though, Andy was vigilant and soon corrected all my mistakes this evening ! Across the Trent on that over engineered lifting bridge at Gunness then to Epworth and Bawtry. We met Chris Crossland and his companions at the garage but they left before us. It was about 23:30, assorted drunks came and bought stuff and questioned us, the garage attendant kept the doors locked and I don't blame her.
Now we had the prospect of 88km to the next stop in the dark on mostly country lanes. I don’t like long stretches like this. Saw some wildlife, a badger, hares and bunnies. Some birds of prey as the sun started to come up. We had company on and off, met Chris’s group and dropped them, spent a bit of time with Graham and admired his lights, a B&M Cyo. Sun came up before we got to Louth, I let my batteries run flat to save discharging them before recharging them. It was never very cold on this night ride, didn’t need legwarmers, I don’t think that has happened before, on top I wore long sleeve thermal, short sleeve jersey and gilet, track mitts. The Louth control was the organiser and his car in a car park. Serving rice pudding, tea and cakes and a sit down. It would have been quite different had it been bad weather but we were lucky today and not getting indoors since five o’clock the previous evening wasn’t a problem. My spirits were not flagging but they were buoyed to learn that only two riders had passed through before us.
The morning was bright and we headed out to Caistor. It was hilly, unwelcome, draggy, up and down with no flat for 30km. We passed some WWII runways, this is Bomber County, large slabs of concrete with grass growing through the joints. 625 Squadron, Lancaster Bombers involved in night raids on German cities. There was a memorial on the corner of the field; this was RAF Kelstern, “We Avenge”. (
More info). Then we couldn’t find the info. control, we guess it has been redeveloped since the route was last surveyed so we just wrote down what we thought might be the answer. Seemed everyone else did the same. Thankfully the final run in was downhill or flat and we had a very relaxed finish to the event.
A relatively easy 400km ride, no difficulties, great weather, great organisation and hospitality. The route might have been a little better particularly the second half to allow riders to get indoors during the night. Perhaps a control at Blythe Services instead of Bawtry and lose the extra distance somewhere else, perhaps missing out some hills in the last 60km. That said I'll probably do it again, I like the midday start enabling car free cyclists to get there and back by public transport.
