The second of the end of season ‘group etiquette’ rides took place on the 1st November in almost spring like conditions. The weather this past week has made it feel like April not November – however I’ve probably just jinxed the weather and we’ll probably have snow next week.

The weather brought out a good crowd of 10 which included myself, Neil and Mandy Dean, Danny Posnett, Mike McAllister, Shaun Nicholson, Andy Carroll, Josh Ravn, Mark Fordon and Graham Morgan.

Unlike last week, we had no injury or illness doubts so we could safely add a few more miles on. The plan was to head towards the flatlands of Gilberdyke before a ride back to the Walkington circuit for a bit of through-and-off and get those newbies familiar to another of the local road racing circuits. Whilst the sun was shining there was a bit of a strong breeze which meant it would be a tough ride out west.

Me and Andy were on the front for the first section, with the veteran deciding to sprint for signs through Brantingham. He duly won but the challenge from me was somewhat non-existent.

After navigating our way through Ellerker, we headed further west towards Broomfleet. We were more exposed to the elements at this point so the wind was getting tough to negotiate. Neil had replaced Andy at the front, who was in turn replaced by Danny, but not before we had Mandy shooting passed us sprinting for, not a sign, but a railway line! Can we give her the title of team sprinter I wonder?

After the unplanned intermediate sprint we then headed through Broomfleet, passed the industrial works just outside the village and on towards the small hamlet of Faxfleet. It was most definitely a headwind at this point but the pace was still fairly high with Danny now on the front, and despite what he says, I think he’s still got some decent legs from the last few races of the season, so keeping my wheel even with his was a challenge and by the time we got to Blacktoft I’d had to ease up and get off the front. I wasn’t the only one suffering, as when I drifted back I saw that the pack was now in two groups. Danny decided it would be best to sit at the back as a consequence and we re-grouped just as we started our trek north towards Gilberdyke, going in the opposite direction to the TT course.

By this point Danny was with me at the back and Graham and Josh were at the front. I was speaking to Andy and we suddenly noticed the pace was increasing as we were talking and we were both going up gear after gear. Granted it was backwind but we’d gone from 17mph to 26mph. There was a clear reason for this as Graham had hit the front. With the speed we were going at, we negotiated the smooth north bound section of road in no time, but when we turned right the road surface was dreadful, particularly on the left hand side which I was on. Avoiding pot hole after pot hole I managed to bounce my way to the front and join up with Graham. I wasn’t keen on staying there too long though as the pace was still high.

We then merged onto the B1230 road after going passed Gilberdyke and stuck to it through North Cave with the view to tackling the climb passed Rudstone Walk. However, before we got there, there was an immediate 11% ascent straight out of North Cave and with Graham and Danny on the front, we immediately had riders going backwards. Mandy was first followed by Mike. Mark F duly hung on but struggled a little on the steepest section of the climb and was gapped slightly. Shaun and Josh just about hung on having had to come from the rear of the group. I was also at the back of the bunch when the climb started so I had to put in a big effort just to get back to the head of the bunch. When I got there I encountered a small group led by Graham and Danny. Neil was still up there as was Andy, who was once again impressing me with his new found climbing skills.

After a small respite, we then came to the T-junction before the main part of the climb with the group swelling to 6 with Shaun and Josh bridging the gap. Neil was going backwards but this was to look for Mandy as they had to leave early. Mark F was doing a great job and was not far behind at all.

Once we hit the main climb Andy started to suffer and fall backwards. Josh was next and he was quickly followed by Shaun. All of this was thanks to Graham, who was setting an infernal pace at the front. I was grovelling and suffering just to hang on. Danny, who was at the front with Graham when the climb started, was also feeling the pain and moved to the rear of us. Fortunately the steep stuff ended fairly quickly and I regrouped a little to get to the front and set my own tempo. We then waited at the crossroads at High Hunsley for the others and I asked Graham how hard he was going up the hill. ‘Err I dunno about 60 – 70%’ he said. ‘Only 60-70%!’ it thought. My heart sunk somewhat. He wasn’t even on a super lightweight bike either so I couldn’t reassure myself that his choice of equipment was far superior to mine. I daren’t get close to him when he’s going at 100% but its really good he’s riding for us and not racing against us and it will only push the rest of us on by training with riders like him.

One by one the riders regrouped, which gave Mike the opportunity to take some more photos. I think Andy snuck a few in too for good measure. Poor Josh though was clearly feeling the effort. Fatigue had caught up with him after riding on a daily basis throughout the past week. He’d done really well so far and still mustered the strength and willpower to carry on as we started the traditional through and off part of the ride now that we were on the Walkington course.

The first part of the course was backwind and mainly downhill, so we hit some fairly fast speeds of over 40mph in places. However it was always going to be a struggle to keep it together on the long drag back up to High Hunsley. We each took our turn, but about a third of the way up the drag, we lost a rider, then another and another, until we had just me Graham, Danny and Shaun, who was riding really well. The problem you have when you’re doing through and off with a reducing pack is it becomes much harder for everyone else and there’s very little opportunity to recover. This caused Shaun to go out the back and with the three of us it would have been perhaps wise to say, rider one does 30 seconds on the front then followed by 30 seconds with rider 2 on the front and so on. As we were close to the top of the climb we just ploughed on in the usual formation but it wasn’t easy. I sat up with just a few metres left, keen on saving my legs for Sunday’s club run.

We once again waited for everyone else in the lay-by at High Hunsley before we headed home. It was still a quick ride back due to the backwind which meant by the time I’d got in I’d averaged 18.9 mph with 52 miles covered. It was perhaps the best of these rides we’d done since I started last year, although the great weather played a factor in that.

My rider of the day has to go to Graham. The guy’s a machine and the way he rode today showed me just how strong he is. Like I said previously, this will only serve to help the rest of the group throughout next season.

Many thanks to all that turned up and hopefully next week we’ll have more of the same.

 

Photos available from Flickr (courtesy Mike McAllister)

 

 

Mark Walker
HTRC RR Secretary