A long cycle ride

I was up early this morning as the last few weeks I have been late getting to the training sessions. Went to set off in plenty of time but, horror of horrors, the car wouldn't start! We managed to jump start it from (my) Peter's van and I got away in reasonable time and arrived in time.

There were only three of us this week. Mike, the support rider, Peter who is a stronger rider than he looks and myself. We set off from Otley town centre and got our muscles warmed up before we set off on the lanes. The weather forecast had said it was going to be windy and rainy today but it was cold and overcast.

We soon climbed the first hill and I didn't feel too bad. Mike was disappearing into the distance as I set off up the next bigger hill but Peter usually isn't far behind him. This time though he was having problems with his gears and I passed him. Just when you think the hill is coming to an end you turn right and climb a worse one. I reached the top sounding like Darth Vader but Peter was nowhere in sight. Mike headed back down to see if he could help but Peter was on his way up.

This set the scene for the rest of the ride. Everytime we were heading uphill either they would both disappear from my sight and wait at the top or Peter had problems with his gears. We got to our usual cafe and stopped for coffee and a toasted tea-cake.









We set off back again and the weather was holding our for us. Almost immediately there is a steep hill to climb. Then when we reached the main road it took us ages to cross the road. More ups and downs and we rode through the lovely village of Follifoot. Then we get back onto a main road again. This bit isn't a hard hill but it is a long, steady climb.

Along the way we saw about eight red kite birds. Just as we started climbing yet another hill there was one in the field alongside us. It can't have been more than 20-25 feet away from us, beautiful!

The last real hill was a bit of swine. One cyclist passed me going up it and I asked him if he had a tow rope. I passed a couple of walkers and asked them for a push! I eventually got to the top without getting off. I think it took it out of me as the rest of the ride I struggled a bit even on the flat. When we were on the outskirts of Otley I mentioned that I was tired and Peter or Mike got in front of me so that I could slipstream them.

We arrived back at the car park having done 42 miles. I might ache a little tomorrow!