I set off in bright sunshine and cycled from home up to Shelf. First obstacle was Pepper Hill a very steep and twisty road. Sadly I didn't make it up there. I had to get off, get my breath and get a drink. HAving pushed the bike to the top of this first hill I climbed back on and pedalled the flat bit until I got to the second climb. Amazed myself by getting up this one without getting off.
Got on the Brighouse and Denholme Road up to the Queensbury traffic lights where I got stuck in traffic. I walked across the lights and was climbed aboard once more. Having negotiated the rise to the highest point in Bradford it was a pleasure to have a drop past The Raggalds Inn and down to the lights at Thornton Road where a sharp left took me up to Denholme Gate lights and then a delightful whizz down into Denholme village.
A bit of a climb out of the village and I was out into more open country. Past The Flappits and then a long downward ride into Keighley. Only problem going downhill at speed is that you don't have time to inspect the potholes and get out of the way of them. Ouch! Encountered a few stupid drivers along the way but on the whole most were patient.
I left Keighley and headed up to Steeton. There were some climbs but not as bad as my memory tried to tell me. Then it was more downhill into Eastburn and joined the end of the bypass and headed for Skipton. The last mile or so into Skipton seemed quite a hard one despite there not being any real hills. It just seemed to go on forever.
When I got into the town centre I decided to park the bike up near the church and castle. Chained it to some railings and went for a pleasant wander around the market. Bought some jelly babies and then went to my fave cafe and got a scone and a hot chocolate with marshmallows.
A quick phonecall with Peter and the decision was made that he would pick me up at Keighley. I set off back and took the road past the bottom of Bradley and re-joined the bypass. A fast flat road got me to Keighley quicker than expected despite a few potholes that tried to slow me down or stop me altogether.
Another phone call to establish where Peter was and I found he was some way off so we agreed that I would take the Riddlesden road and meet somewhere along there. So I set off again. A good pace and I was soon up the hill and on the level again. The villages flew past, Riddlesden, East Morton, Crossflatts and I was nearly in Bingley. Through the town centre and another phone call to Peter clarified that he wasn't too far off. We arranged to meet in the car park.
Got into the car park and I nearly fell of the bike as I caught my foot in the pedal. Blow me if the chain didn't come off. Thank goodness that didn't happen earlier. So that was 43 miles done and dusted.
Peter picked me up and I got home, had a shower, an hour or so on the computer and then I got ready to go canoeing. Not quite as busy this week but still nearly capacity. Did quite a bit of paddling up and down and then Mike asked me what I was tring to do. I wasn't actually tring to do anything in particular just tipping the canoe at an angle. So we went through high brace. I did this so many times that my arms ached.
I think I had quite a good workout today.
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