Saturday 14th June dawned bright and sunny with just alittle bit of wind. The forecast was for showers late afternoon so I felt confident we could get around our route and back without getting wet. Little did I know how wrong this was to turn out to be.
I crawled out of my pit at 7:30 to make sure my daughter had enough time to digest her breakfast before her swimming lesson, then after Mrs T and TLD had been dispatched to the pool I donned my cycling gear and headed in the general direction of the railway station car park, for the first time. I had some important posting to do so I stopped off at the Post Office, and I came out I thought I had left my mobile at home, so I headed back that way. Once I got there I realised that I had put it in my jersey pocket so I turned around and set off for the train station for the second time.
When I reached the car park there was already one cyclist waiting, and this being Northallerton I thought he must be there for our bike ride, so I went up and had a chat, thinking it was Deano. It turned out that yes he was there to join us, but was Ben from Ripon Loiterers. We had a chat whilst waiting for Dean who turned up about 5 minutes later. A quick check round to see that everyone had anything and we were on our way at about 9:20.
Down the back lanes between Northallerton and Thirsk was a pleasent experience, as it usually is, but more so today as the stupid traffic seemed be avoiding that road(maybe due to the county show being on the next day). As we road I took time to chat to Ben and Dean, finding out about them and kind of riding they like to do. Ben was on a Dawes Galaxy Tourer, Dean on a Claud Butler San Remo that he had fixed and me on a Claud Butler Roubaix (with gears). Ben professed to being a "fair weather" cyclist so I worried that if it rained he would bail. Deano just kept going and going, the fixie not bothering him as we chomped up the miles.
The first rain hit us between Asenby and Borobridge, albeit a very very light shower which we quickly rode through and discovered that we were riding along roads where the rain had already been. Onwards we went, getting to Borobridge in just under an hour, leaving us plenty of time to hit our target of 11:30 in Knaresborough. The first slight navigational mishap came in Marton-cum-Grafton where some wag had moved the signs around 120degrees at a 3 way junction so it appeared that the way we wanted to go was the way we had just come from. A quick chat with a local reassured me that we should keep going straight on, and sure enough the old A1 loomed up before after another mile. Down through Arkendale than onto Ferrensby went without mishap and just as we turned onto the Knaresbourgh road, with about 3 miles to go, it started raining again. It stopped just before we got to Knaresborough, a relief for me as I knew I needed to see properly to go through all the twists and turns to get to the castle. As we road up the main street in Knaresborugh I was nearly wiped out by an idiot in a Cavalier who thought it was perfect ok to put out of a side street and drive towards a cyclist. He soon found out my feelings on his manouveur! Up through the market place, round the back into the castle car park saw us at the lunch stop. Second mishap of the day, I rode up to the cycle rack, lent over and found I suddenly had some problems getting my left foot out of the pedal! A very near clipless moment! At this point Dean still looked as fresh as a daisy but Ben looked like he was suffering. A quick phone call was made to find out SteveGT's whereabouts, he was in Knaresboro but wasn't sure where we were, I managed to direct him and he joined us a couple of minutes later. We initially sat outside but then it started to rain again so we moved inside to enjoy a rather nice repast, at reasonable cost(including free coffee refills!). Total distance so far: 32 miles.
After lunch and "comfort breaks" we set off again, the sky starting to clear and promising us some really nice afternoon riding. Off we went through Scotton, Occoney, Bishop Monkton and onto Ripon. The group swapped around a bit during this section, different people suffering at different rates from the intake of food I think (I have to admit I nearly saw my beans on toast again during on minor climb). At Ripon we rode a section of the ring road, the only really busy bit of road we were on all day. as we turned off at the last roundabout to Sharow we realised that we had lost Ben, so Dean and Steve turned back to be met by Ben coming up the road towards them. He had picked up a leaf or something in his cassette which had been worrying him, but in typical fashion the moment he stopped it must have dropped out so he couldn't find it!
Onwards, forever onwards towards Rainton where we stopped and worked out who was going where. Ben decided to call it a day and head back via Melmerby and Bedale, Steve needed some batteries and after discussing the options decided to follow us to Topcliffe. So off we went saying a fond adieu to Ben and a quick stop at Topcliffe saw Steve's batteries replenished, so headed off back towards Menston.
Then there was two.
As we hit Dalton I noticed that I was getting a clicking noise from the left crank and foot did not feel secure in the pedal. Knowing that I had recently lost a bolt from this cleat and the threads might not be the tightest in the world I elected to keep cycling to get back home and I would sort it there (the other option was to stop and potentially lose the second bolt which would have meant a call to her indoors to come and collect me, not an option at this late stage of the ride). From Dalton we rode through swooping country lanes down to the village where I grew up, past my late Nan's house, past our old house and the church where I got married the first time then into Thirsk. A quick tussle with the one way system saw us riding out towards South Kilvington and first and only less than minor climb of the day. From SK we headed up to Upsall, my left foor clicking getting louder and louder so Dean was way ahead of me on the climb. Once at Upsall, a left turn throught he village saw trhe last bit of climb and us ready for the superb dash downhill to Kanyton and the last 5 miles home. Just as we hit the top of the hill the heavens opened so the dash downhill was ruined by slick roads and rain blindness, it was still fun though.
Last bit, through Knayton, then the back roads through Crosby and back into Northallerton saw us back at my house enjoying a nice cup of coffee by 15:00. Total distance covered, 72.2 miles (the .2 was probably the faffing about going tot he post office, back home then back to the car park again!)
Later that afternoon was spent with me and Mrs T relaxing in our very own private hottub at Crab Manor (
Crab & Lobster - Hotel and Restaurant - Welcome) and enjoying a huge meal in the company of my younger brother and his girlfriend.
I can honeslty say that the hour long soak in the hot tub certainly helped me stop seaizing up as Sunday morning I could walk sort of properly, my right knee hurting due to the right leg having to compensate for the loose cleat on my left foot.
All in all a grand day out, one I would certainly recommend, and one I would repeat.
