It may be December and cold but we still had 11 riders turn out for the tenth end of season HTRC group training ride…

We had most of the usual cast including myself, George Leighton, Will Thomas, Neil Dean, Andrew Carroll, Mike McAllister, Danny Posnett, Rich Guymer and his young protégé Callum Keenan and Beverley Velo’s very own Gary Knowles along with Bill from Hull and East Riding Road Club.

 

Following on from last week, George had decided to devise a route across the bridge for a change. However, the recent bad weather and flooding caused a bit of a conflict of interests within the group as to where we should go. Some of the riders where possibly expecting water levels up to their knees and thought a ride north would be a better option.

 

After much discussion we decided to take a gamble and head for the bridge and beyond, though Rich and Callum decided to head for Newbald instead. We took the route through Swanland and Hessle before we encountered the bridge. Once on the bridge I chatted to George and said ‘gee George wouldn’t it would be a good opportunity to take some photos here’. No sooner had I said that, Mike came past with his camera in his hand. I was a little bit worried that he was going to veer off the side of the bridge whilst taking his pictures as there’s not really a lot of room for error up there. Fortunately for us we didn’t need the RNLI to come and save him and we made it across the bridge altogether.

 

Once on the other side you could see the aftereffects of the previous Thursday’s tidal surge, with fields underwater and drains overflowing. We were lucky not to encounter any large amounts of standing water, as the drain we were running alongside was just about at the point of overflowing. After a small climb away from the river, we ended up on the usually busy A1077. Today though we had it to ourselves, as the road was closed due to flooding. So for once, no cars bibbing at us for riding two a breast.

 

Fears of flooding soon evaporated though as we took a left turn up the climb out of Horkstow – a small village just south of South Ferriby. I’ve never done this climb before and was quite amazed at how steep it was. Most of us kept together but Andy’s legs weren’t quite on top form. After a brief wait we got going again and travelled along the very scenic ridge above Saxby and Elsham where we encountered many cyclists on their Saturday run, including HTRC’s very own club president, Paul Kilvington.

 

Just before the descent into Melton Ross, we lost Bill who, as I understand, was on strict orders to get back home for 12. So the eight of us carried on into Melton Ross where we had yet more conflicts of interest. My original route was to circle the airport and come back via Ulceby and Thronton Curtis. Some of the group weren’t convinced though and questioned whether I was some kind of plane spotter. Not sure about that but Humberside Airport is perhaps the worst place to do some plane spotting as there only seems to be about one plane there a week. My authority won through eventually and we ended up following the line on my Garmin alongside the airport expecting to come to a junction which would then take us back North. The junction never appeared though as we ended up at a dead end. The route my Garmin had taken us, unbeknown to me, was along a bridle path. ‘Oh no’ I thought, I’d protested vigorously to come this way only to take us to a dead end. With egg on my face (not literally of course) and my pride dented, I took the cowards choice and blamed young George, it was his idea to come this way after all.

 

Neil had the right idea and after a group pursuit of a passing van we ended up back at the same junction in Melton Ross where all the ‘fun’ had started. We gathered ourselves once again and headed back towards Barton. I raised the idea of having a small session of through and off on the way back but was flatly turned down. After the recent trauma of getting us lost, I think any authority I had at this point was well and truly gone.

 

So we headed back across the bridge once again. Mike didn’t make the mistake of nearly falling off the edge this time, but a large twig did get caught up in his front wheel and snapped the supports off his mudguard. Cheap plastic you see, can’t go wrong with good old fashioned steel mudguards.

The pace at this point had been relatively slow, but that all changed when the attacks came from Andy, Danny, Mike, Will and myself on the descent down Boothferry Road. All in good spirit of course but it’s always nice to top 30 mph.

 

The drama wasn’t quite over there though. Long after we’d split up on the way home, Danny apparently took a tumble on the railway lines on Spring Bank. They seem quite the danger as Andy has previously fallen there too, so if you’re heading that way be careful as they can catch you out. Hopefully Danny is OK and will be out next week.

 

So the main lesson of the day was never trust a Garmin computer and when in doubt, just do what Neil says, which is why he was my rider of the day.

 

Next week will probably be the penultimate ride of the series so no excuses for not getting in some through and off. We’ll maybe have a ride around Market Weighton area and come back and cover a lap of one of the RR courses.

 

Photos of the ride available via Flickr courtesy of Mike McAllister

 

Mark Walker
HTRC RR Secretary