Sunny saturday

[vernon]

Today'a audax was a breeze for me. It was my tenth of the year and doing some of them on my Woodrup, pedalling at a high cadence to keep up, has benefitted my fitness. I got round in five and a half hours and managed the climb to Brimham Rocks without having to dismount and push like I had to last time I did the ride. Keith and Ann Benton, the organisers were very surprised when I got back to base well ahead of my normal finishing times form their audaxes. I'm home, showered, fed and ready for the Zombies gig later this evening.

I feel good!

 

[vernon]

Do not give Postman the job of leading a ride........

If it's any consolation last weekend I was aiming to cycle to Snaith and back via Barwick in Elmet, Aberford, Sherburn in Elmet and Selby.

I didn't bother with maps (a first!) as I was carrying a smart phone with sat nav and I assumed that the roads would be well sign posted making the sat nav redundant.

Three things went wrong. The phone couldn't lock onto the satellites and couldn't use phone masts to triangulate because there was no signal and there was a lack of signposts around Aberford. I had no idea of the lie of the land and added around eight miles to the ride. I did get to Snaith and my return journey was more direct from Sherburn in Elmet - I didn't fancy another dose of the 'Aberford Triangle'.

There's a lesson to be learned for both of us:-

Never set of on a ride without a decent road map covering the wider area than the narrow strip that defines the ride. Stray off the computer generated directions and/or lose the use of Satnav and geolocation via a smart phone can scupper the best of plans.

Get yourself a road map of West and North Yorkshire and use that for your rough planning. Use something like www.mapmyride.com to plot the exact route and get an idea of the gradient profile and distances. Take the map with you on the ride. It can rescue in more ways than one like finding the nearest station if you want to bale out early.

 

[snorri]

Too much cold wind for enjoyable cycling, but some folk are happy.
"Best conditions in Europe" they say.....http://www.cairngormmountain.org/Webcam

 

[Trickedem]

Thanks for all the nice comments. I now have sunburn on one arm and achy knees, but I finished my 400km audax in just over 25 hours, having had a couple of hours sleep at the midpoint, then a couple more kips on the way. It was absolutely freezing on Sunday morning and I have never rejoiced so much at the sun coming up as it rose above Margate.

 

[Nearly there]

A ride to keswick then over whinlatter for me yesterday decent weather too.It was the fred whitton today weathers not been the best good luck to all who took part.