I have a bit more energy now after a decent sleep so I'll post a few more words about our ride...
Sorry - no photos other than the one that Julia has already posted.
The forecasts had been consistent for days so I was confident that it would remain dry, and it
did. They were also right about the wind conditions - we had a cross/tailwind on our way out and a cross/headwind on our way back. The forecasts I saw described the wind as a '
light breeze'... Well, it might have felt like a light breeze if sitting on a deckchair in a sheltered garden, but exposed to it on a bike I would describe it as more of a '
blustery wind'! We were sometimes going along at 25-30 kph (15 to 19-ish mph) on the outward leg and that felt easy. Coming back 20-25 kph (12 to 15-ish mph) felt harder. We had lovely sunshine for much of the ride. I ended up taking my base layer off at the cafe stop because I was getting too warm.
I met
@Julia9054, Al and their friend Richard, plus
@neil_merseyside at York station shortly after 09:00 and off we went.
Our route out of the city took us past York racecourse. It looked like there was a park run on, and possibly a car boot sale too. I know that Covid is still going on, but things slowly seem to be going back to where they were pre-pandemic.
We made good progress to Howden where we had a short break and then set off again. It was pleasant riding along with the wind-assistance. We got as far as the village of Newport when there was a loud '
CRACK!!' behind me. If it weren't the sound of a pistol being fired, then somebody had just had a proper blowout. It was the latter...
Al's rear tube had just gone bang. AFAIK there are only two ways that can happen: (1) You pinch the tube between tyre bead and rim when putting the tyre on, or (2) You get a hole in your tyre big enough for the tube to bulge through. It was case #2. We saw that the sidewall was worn slightly above the wheel rim and there was a small hole in the centre of the worn patch.
Bloody typical! I had been thinking of taking a spare tyre along just in case someone had a tyre failure. Someone had it happen on one of the early Dales forum rides. Unfortunately, I had decided this time that I was already carrying too much and had left the spare at home. What to do now...?
I remembered that there is a bike shop at North Ferriby, about 19 km (12 miles) further along our route. They had kindly fixed my bike
FREE when my lockring came loose on an earlier Humber Bridge ride. Ok, how to get the bike there...? Either a bodged repair, or a taxi trip. (Or somebody riding there to buy a replacement tyre and bringing it back, but we didn't have enough hours of daylight for that option.) We bodged the tyre...
Al stuck a patch over the inside of the hole in the tyre. I have been carrying a length of duct tape with me on rides for years for just such a bodge repair! I put 2 layers of duct tape on top of the patch. We reinflated the tyre and all seemed good.
Oh, one other thing... We wondered why the tyre had got worn. On inspection we found that one of the rear brake blocks was not quite angled properly. It looked suspiciously like it had probably been rubbing against the tyre. We straightened that out. Off we went.
We got to the bike shop and Al went in to buy a new tyre. They kindly fitted it for him there to save time. Another
FREE service for a CycleChat rider on a forum ride, so I think they deserve a shout out here... If you want to spend your money in a good bike shop, with friendly, helpful staff, and you are in the Hull area - pay a visit to
Vive le Vélo in North Ferriby
From there it is only a short ride to the bridge. We decided to stick to the plan, and go via length of the Trans Pennine Trail sandwiched between the railway line and the river. The surface was ok and there wasn't much standing water. I wouldn't do it in poor conditions though.
Was hoping to see you guys on the foreshore as I went past & was ready to give a toot, but I saw no cyclists
(approx 12:15hrs)
We would have been a bit later than that even without Al's blowout but because of that it was nearer 14:00.
A quick ride over the magnificent bridge, a few turns, and we got to our lunch stop.
If on schedule, you will be tucking into a decent (but not cheap) lunch at the cafe beside the bridge about now.
If you aren't there yet, there will be no hot food (again).
We arrived at the Water's Edge visitor centre cafe at about the time that you posted and they were actually still serving hot food this time. I wonder if they are making more of an effort to attract customers in these difficult pandemic times?
We had our '
decent lunches' and were heading back over the bridge before 15:00.
The next bit is my least favourite.
The few miles after the bridge always feels like hard work to me, no significant hills but a lot of gentle ascent.
Well, there is one
fairly significant hill - from Welton to High Hunsley. It isn't a leg-breaker, but It gives me a good workout on my singlespeed bike.
After the climb there is a rapid descent to South Newbald and then we began the slog back to York. For a while we were sticking together at around 24 kph (15 mph). We were generally heading almost NW towards Stamford Bridge, but the route has twists and turns in it so we kept turning into the westerly wind. NW wasn't too bad, but anything more S of that was hard work.
Neil and Richard seemed to be finding it ok - they gradually rode away from Julia, Al, and me. Eventually, Julia had got a gap on me and Al too and then Al suddenly let out a yelp -
CRAMP! I said that I would try and catch the others to get them to wait but it soon became clear that I was going to struggle to catch Julia, and
we would struggle to catch Neil and Richard. The only way it was going to happen was when we were discovered M.I.A.! I finally saw the other 3 get together up ahead and wait at a junction so I rode up to them and told them about Al. We waited a short while and then saw him coming in the distance. He had some food and drink and a paracetamol when he got to us and then we set off again but with a few kph knocked off the speed so as to spare his sore leg.
By then I was starting to feel pretty tired and the last few kms to Stamford Bridge seemed to take a long time. After that we turned SW for the run back into York and that wind
still hadn't let up...
The sun was setting. Lights on. The low sun was causing me a few problems so I was having to ride one-handed some of the time and shielding my eyes with the other.
We finally made it back together. Neil left us just as we came into the city to go and get a lift from his wife and the remaining 4 rode back to the station. We had missed our 7-something trains so we went for the 8-somethings instead.
Brilliant day out 108 miles for me, home about 10:15 had a swift G&T and now walking the mutt.
I'm glad that you enjoyed it
despite me wittering on to you a bit too much!
BUT Rear mudguard stay failed (from buffeting on bike carrier) and at least one stay gave a nasty bite to the rear tyre, it's tubeless so I think I'll try a plug as practice, or else it's an internal patch or maybe scrap it
Ooh, that could have led to another nasty blowout!
Thanks everyone! I'm glad that we finally got the ride done after various delays.
Unless we keep having decent weather until the end of September, I probably won't organise anything else this year. See you next spring, for my first season as an OAP!
