‘The first of the end of season training rides took place on Saturday with a group of 13 starting from Skidby Mill car park.

With it been back end of the season the ride wasn’t necessarily designed to enhance speed but more to develop techniques on how to ride in a bunch and more importantly getting a racing group established for next year, so it was pleasing to see so many turn up. The names were Mark Walker, Amanda Dean, Neil Dean, Chris Burton, Mike McAllister, Andy Carroll, Chris Brown, Tom Unwin, Will Thomas, Phil Jackson, George Leighton, Rich Vickers (Velo Club Beverley) and Nick Rogers (Team Swift) (apologies if I’ve missed anyone) we were later joined by Dominic and Derek who, as I understand, aren’t currently club members but took an interest in what we are doing and are considering joining the club, which hopefully they will.

After a gentle ride through the lanes between North Cave and Eastrington we headed back via Laxton and Blacktoft where we decided to up the pace and get a form of ‘through and off’ type of riding established within the group. Without realising we were hitting speeds of 28 mph which proved too much for some with the group of 15 whittled down to a group of around 7. Trying to get a group of 15 organised, some of whom have done little to no group riding before, was never going to be easy, however once we had split into the two groups the group riding became that bit more manageable and everybody seemed to know what they were doing. We had about a half hour of fast riding but by the time we got to Broomfleet we had decided to ease off and wait for the two groups to come together before heading for home. Despite having to drag ourselves up Brantingham Dale in order to get there, it was a thoroughly enjoyable morning covering around 48 miles at an average of around 18.5mph.

My rider of the day I think had to go to Mike McAllister. He was telling me he hasn’t done much group riding, yet once we got going he seemed like a seasoned racer and still looked fairly fresh by the time we finished at Skidby.

For next week I think we’ll start with a fairly easy ride up to Etton to warm up the legs and then work our way back and take in a couple of laps of the Walkington and Little Weighton road race circuits. I shall also split the groups into two to cater for the different abilities and have them split by a few minutes with the second group aiming to catch the first before the end.  The distance, as it will be most weeks, will be around 45 miles.

I hope all those who attended enjoyed it and will be keen on turning up next week.

Mark Walker
Road Race Secretary

…and from Mike McAllister, HTRC Member

Mark – Thanks again for a fab ride, and accolade of “Rider of the Day”. I think it helped I was hiding at the back of the group on the outward and into the wind part of the ride. It was a great experience especially the the ‘through-and-off’. I was surprised by how easy it was to stay in the group especially after having to go back and find the £10 note I’d dropped, getting back to the group, even though, when we were just setting off and cycling at a very leisurely pace, it was hard going!

Fingers crossed for good weather next weekend.