Ride out from North Leeds 22nd March

[Aperitif]

Have a good safe ride all you pie eaters pigeon fanciers intrepid rouleurs up there!

 

[ColinJ]

Have a good safe ride all you pie eaters pigeon fanciers intrepid rouleurs up there!

We'll try.

I'll be off to catch the train to Leeds with my bike in about 90 minutes time. The weather here (about 30 miles west of Leeds) is looking pretty good - sunny spells and fairly mild. It's a bit windy though. This will be the first ride I've done for years (apart from official events) that has been planned by someone else, in this case colly. It's going to feel a bit strange not knowing where we're going.

We are passing close to Harewood House, a few miles north of Leeds. The outdoor scenes in 'Emmerdale' are filmed in a fake village set in the grounds.

The last time I rode with colly, he ripped his biggest sprocket through the splines on his hub and ended up freewheeling evn though he was pedalling!

PS I'm sorry to hear about your wife's thumb Uncle Phil - that sounds nasty! I hope it heals up soon. See you both some other time.

 

[colly]

Shame you couldn't make it Phil I am sure you and Clair would have enjoyed it. I hope her thumb mends fast, and you marinyork.

In the end it was just three of us, me Colinj and Calum.
After collecting Colin and Calum outside Leeds station we parked at Oakwood Clock and set off around 11.20 ish and followed this route:

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=5324

My bike computer ran out of battery life so I'm not sure how long we took actually riding. Colin logged it all on his GPS thingy so when he gets on he will have all the detail. It says on bikehike it was 56 and a bit miles.........hmmm............ it felt like a good deal further than that. Mainly due to the wind.

It started off as a gentle breeze and grew stronger as the day went on. By the time we got back to the outskirts of Leeds it was really blowing. Colin has a couple of pics of Eccup Reservoir showing the size of the waves the wind was whipping up.
Curiously it was either in our faces or trying to knock us sideways for 95% of the trip. Coming down into Askwith from the moors over Otley was hairy to say the least. The wind was coming at us from the right in huge gusts. I chickened out early on and crept down slower than I could have riden up.

We stopped in Otley for tea and cakes at a small busy cafe. The girl behind the counter said we should have seen it the week before 'it was really busy', as it was it was almost standing room only.

Having said that it was still a good ride out. I managed to leave my camera at home so not any pics from me of the countryside or ride. I do have some pics taken when I have been out before so if there are any that are ok I will post them later.

 

[ColinJ]

Colly - that was a very good route! Despite the horrendous wind conditions I really enjoyed myself.

I've only been in that area a couple of times before, and most of today's ride was on roads I've never previously ridden. I'd certainly like to go back some day when it is a bit warmer and there isn't that wind!

I clocked it at 59.5 miles (including the trip back into the city centre from where your van was parked).

When I got to the station, my train was waiting for me at one of the platforms near the ticket barriers so I was able to just stroll over to it, get on board, then off it went.

I'm feeling a bit tired now so I'll mess about with the GPS and photos tomorrow and post something here (and on my blog). I didn't even have the energy to cook that meal I was planning. I ended up buying a couple of sandwiches and half a bag of chips from the shops in Hebden Bridge.

 

[colly]

I didn't even have the energy to cook that meal I was planning. I ended up buying a couple of sandwiches and half a bag of chips from the shops in Hebden Bridge.

Shame about the meal but I know what you mean about being tired. I'm more tired now than I was a couple of weeks ago after 100 miles.
I hate to gloat but my better half had a lovely roast leg of lamb waiting for me when I got in, complete with a nice bottle of red and some really nice berries and cream.

 

[ColinJ]

I hate to gloat but my better half had a lovely roast leg of lamb waiting for me when I got in, complete with a nice bottle of red and some really nice berries and cream.

Well, I suppose that's one of the benefits of being married.

I, of course, can be very selfish and go out whenever I like without having to take a partner's feelings into account.

In an ideal world, I would opt for life-sharing and free-time-negotiation but for now I'll make the most of what I've got.

Here's a picture of us at Almscliff Crag (L-R: Me, colly, Calum):

And here's one showing the waves on Eccup reservoir:

We only averaged 17.6 kph (about 11 mph) on the way out to Otley. We stopped for about 30 minutes at the cafe there and then that slow climb up to Weston Moor with that vicious gusting wind really slowed us down for the first part of the return leg, until we turned and finally caught more of a tailwind. Despite bombing along at times, we only averaged 16 kph (10 mph) riding back into Leeds.

Early on the descent to Askwith I hit 47 kph (29 mph). I'd normally do a lot more than that going down that kind of hill but that sidewind was scary. I made sure that I was well towards the centre of the road since the wind was coming from our right and I wanted plenty of room. I almost caught those two club riders that had passed us, but after a gust of wind sent me halfway across the road, I decided to be sensible and did the rest of the descent at 20-40 kph (12.5-25 mph).

Thanks for the lift out of the city centre in the morning colly. It wasn't a bad run back to the station in the evening - fewer cars and it was mainly downhill.

 

[Calum]

Nice pics!

Despite our dire average speed, it was a great ride! Glad you made it onto that train alright Colin, there wasn't a lot of time to spare.