After a week off coping with the after-effects of a bad cold, I was back for the 5th instalment of the HTRC Training Rides on Saturday 22nd November.

 

However after the celebrations at the HTRC Annual Dinner, I was amazed that anyone turned up. After last year, where only 4 turned up, I’d originally decided to forgo this Saturday, but having missed a week of riding the previous week I was keen to make amends and turn up and go for a ride, regardless of whether that was on my own or in a group.

 

So, to my amazement, I was joined by Matt Johnson, Richard Dean, Rich Guymer, Mike McAllister Danny Posnett and local superstar Alex Dalton – which had me concerned seen as I was in no shape to challenge him should he be going full gas with just 5 hours sleep behind me.

 

We headed off through the conventional route of Skidby and Little Weighton, where we happened to bump into the area’s other star rider, Steve Guymer, who was out for a ride with the powerhouse that is Mark Fordon. Steve very kindly reminded me of what I got up to on the previous night (you don’t need to know the details) before he headed off just after we left Little Weighton.

 

The original 7 then continued on towards High Hunsley and towards Newbald with the weather worsening and the rain becoming heavier. Me and Rich Dean were on the front for the first section of the ride and continued to do so passed Sancton and on towards Market Weighton, where the young guns of Alex and Matt took to the front with the pace inevitably lifting.

 

The first major difficulty of the day was the climb up to Londesborough with the steepest section causing a split with Rich Guymer just a few yards off the pace. He re-joined after a slowing of the pace just in time for the mud splattering section up to Burnby.The road here is filthy on the best of days but with the road wet our faces got coated in mud. I couldn’t see out of my glasses and had the dilemma of wearing them with limited vision or taking them off and getting mud in my eye. The best course of action was to put them on my nose but this only had minor benefits in stopping the grit flying into my retinas.

 

 

After Burnby we took a left and headed towards Hayton, across the A1079 and on towards Bielby. Danny was on the front and I was starting to feel the pace, especially as the wind was now in our faces, even if only slightly. He was clearly in better shape when he informed me he was going at 63% of his max whilst I was at a straining 73%. I stayed alongside until Everingham, where I decided to ease up and allow Matt to come to the front. This partnership didn’t last too long either as both Danny and Matt eased up before we came to the A614 junction just outside of Holme on Spalding. This left Alex and Rich on the front and the pair of them put in a huge shift on the front right up to South Cave.

 

We’d usually have a bit of through and off around here, but due to the lack of sleep I was quite happy to just sit on the back and coast home.

 

Coasting wasn’t on the menu though as far as Matt was concerned. By the time we hit the lower slopes of South Cave hill he hit the front and was absolutely nailing it. You could see the strain he was having on Rich Dean as his back was ebbing from side to side trying to exert as much power out of his body as possible in order to keep up. I was suffering too but perhaps most surprisingly was Alex, as he was instantly dropped, or so I thought. My guess was that he was originally going to go easy up the climb but in seeing us go passed him he must have changed his mind. So just before the steep stuff came he flew passed me at an incredible pace. I’ve never seen anyone go so fast up that hill. I knew I had no chance in trying to follow, so I ended up going at my own pace. I pegged Alex a little but he was still a good 200 metres up the road by the time we hit the summit. Matt, who looked to be in trouble after his original dig, regrouped himself and was hot on my heels, followed closely by Danny and Mike. Rich Dean wasn’t too far behind either but the other Rich left us to it and headed home at his own pace.

 

Matt had also turned off to head home leaving the 5 of us to whizz down towards Raywell. Mike was seemingly doing his best to half wheel me up until Raywell and onto Eppleworth road where me, Rich and Alex turned off. In the end I’d covered 47 miles at an average of around 17.5mph, which was quite staggering considering the state I was in around 12 hours earlier.

 

 

Rider of the day is a close one between between Rich Dean and Alex but in the end I think the young man edged it. We cyclists tend to come up with every excuse in the book when we get dropped on a climb but sometimes you have to just say chapeau and I was beaten by the better rider. He also put in a long shift on the front which made my life somewhat easier between Holme on Spalding and South Cave.

 

It was a proper winter’s ride, as told by the amount of time it took to clean my bike, but hopefully next week we’ll see the sun make an appearance.

 

Have a look at Mike McAllister’s pics from the ride

 

Mark Walker
HTRC Road Race Secretary

 

Mike McAllister added:

 

Thanks for the report Mark, I didn’t get too many pics, though I like the last one of you, a nice Belgian tan!

 

I was waiting to see if Alex stretched his legs, he looked pretty effortless up South Cave hill, impressive.

 

Fingers crossed for good weather next week and thanks again for keeping the sessions going.

 

Cheers
Mike