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!

A busy weekend.

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Saturday morning I had an appointment with the training group starting in Otley. Didn't dash round as I thought I had everything sorted ready to go. When I was getting ready tI couldn't find my long-sleeved t-shirt so made do with a short-sleeved one. Then as I was about to leave I couldn't find my gloves. Thankfully i remembered they were in the dryer, phew. However I was late setting off and got a phone call on the way there asking if I was coming.

Arrived at the car park in Otley to find no spaces either for myself or any of the rest of the group. Not only that but one of the support riders, Richard, hadn't been told it was Otley this week so had gone to Guiseley. So we all drove to the outskirts of Otley and set off from there.

Richard brought Haley with him this week. She is the only other female rider this time so we will be sharing rooms. The morning was glorious but cold. We eventually set off about 10am and took the lanes out towards Knaresborough. Hell, the first hill we went up my legs felt like they were made of wet paper. I struggled up and was puffing and panting like Darth Vader. Then I discovered I hadn't brought my drink with me. Lucky for me Richard shared his drink with me.

We took an off road course at one point, an old railway line that has been adapted for walkers, horse-riders and cyclists. Not long after that Peter got a puncture.
While they were fixing that I was chatting to Mark who I discovered had got through prostrate cancer and was still beating me up those goddamn hills.

We eventually got to the cafe in Knaresborough and had a cuppa and a bite to eat. When we were about to set off back, Mike discovered that he had lost his sports glasses. They were nowhere to be found. I also got to know Haley a bit. She seems like a really nice lass, a scouser.

Then he tried to fix Mark's bike seat and foud that it was actually broken. Some gaffer tape and ingenuity later Mike decided to ride that bike and Mark rode Mike's bike. Mark had to get back for work so Mike, Mark and Mark's mate (I think he's called Phil?) took off together and left Richard, Peter, Haley and myself to ride back together.

Again I was struggling with the hills and Richard stayed with me and Peter headed off at the front with Haley.

As Peter didn't know the route back he went straight on at the place we have normally turned off at and headed straight for the roundabout at Pannal. I was secretly relieved to not have to do more hills. So we headed home on the normal Otley to Harrogate road.

We arrived back at the cars not long after Mike and co. Really disappointed with myself today as I have really been flying the last couple of weeks.



Sunday. Coach Ramble - Ilkley to Bolton Abbey. Not long after I got up I realised there was already a covering of snow and it was still coming down in huge flakes. This could be interesting.

Isobel and I set off and not far from arriving at the pick up at Jacobs Well I tried to turn right but the car went straight forward. Luckily there was no problems with this and I was eventually able to correct this and arrived just in time. However the bus was running late so we had a little wait.

Peter Dawson arrived and parked behind me and we noticed that he'd had a bit of a bender on the way there. He's hit a low wall and caused quite a bit of damage to the front of his car.

It continued snowing heavily all the way up to Ilkley, via Addingham and Silsden. Everything looked so pretty. However we got on some tracks that were downwards sloping and very slippery so a few of us decided to slide down on our backsides rather than slip and fall on them.

We arrived at Bolton Abbey and Arnold was going to add a loop on to the walk but we were later than expected so we didn't have time to do that so he said we could do what we wanted as long as we met the coach in the car park at 3pm. Some of us walked the paths climbing high above the river. Going up was slippery at times but coming down was a nightmare. At one point some strangers lent me two walking poles so that I could get down the hill. One of their party was at the bottom so I passed him the poles so that he could get up the same hill. I had to do another descent on my bottom as it was too slippery to attempt standing.





We then walked across the ford and past the Cavendish Pavilion back up the hill and met the coach. Altogether we had done about 8 miles but it felt like more to be honest.

We went to the Craven Heifer for a carvery afterwards. We were home for about 6.30pm.

Cycle training to Knaresborough

Yesterday was the second time I have been out training with the group. Six of us turned up at the car park in Otley led by our captain for the week Richard T. It was cold and foggy as we left for our journey to Knaresborough.

We headed out of Otley towards the main road that leads to Harrogate but no sooner were we on that road than we turned off there and headed up the country lanes. Potholes, shale, mud and poo were quickly encountered and everytime I shouted a warning of some sort I had some amusing or amused response from John who was behind me. He wondered why I was doing 'jazz hands' which was to indicate that there was some sort of obstacle or hazard in the road that could tip him out of his seat.

Richard had put Dean at the front so that he could coach him in changing gears and so that it slowed the faster riders down and kept us to a decent pace for the day. Dean did absolutely fine despite riding an unfamiliar borrowed bike with gears that are on the frame rather than the handlebars.

We eventually rejoined a main road and headed up a long drag of a hill. This is where Richard, John and Graham raced off looking like they were barely going uphill and I passed Dean. We all re-grouped at the top of the hill where Dean eventually joined us looking a bit tired. Some steady level road soon gave way to a roundabout at Pannal and then another uphill section. Blimey I couldn't even see the first four and Dean would eventually lose sight of me. Again we had a breather at the top of the hill and then it was downhill most of the way into Knaresborough.

At the last hurdle we found they had closed the road. A large tree had fallen into the river and floated sideways down until it hit the bridge. Loads of debris had washed up behind it causing a dam effect. They had to get some heavy lifting and cutting equipoment in to clear it. We waited here a while as we had lost Dean and Peter. After a nice chat with one of the guys from the Environment Agency we decided to carry on to the cafe as we had remembered that Peter had said he knew where it was.

Dean and Peter did indeed make their way there and we had a pleasant stop for refreshments and some banter.

We set off back up a hill (where do they all come from?) and stopped and waited every so often for people to catch up.

We headed into Harrogate and then back out again on the roads that I am familiar with when I am driving. Things weren't too bad from here on. When we got to Weeton station Dean decided to get the train back home as he was quite disheartened by this time. We tried to tell him that we hadn't far to go but I think his heart had fallen into his socks by this time. I know the feeling from last time when I didn't believe in myself.

Having waved Dean off we set off again with me in the lead. I pedalled hard all the way back to Otley passing a dead rat along the way which prompted an amusing 'are we going to Hamm or Hamelyn?'from Peter who was right behind me.

We arrived back in Otley having done 32.5 miles and I really didn't feel too bad.

Tonight I have been swimming at Tong Pool again. I did 64 lengths of intervals in 45minutes. My other half, Peter also came with me tonight as he has a lot of aches and pains so hoped the swim and the water might sooth things. He said he was feeling better when we left.