It's
Northern Dave's Big Boxing Day Sale - read one ride report, get a second ride report absolutely free! Terms and conditions don't apply.
First up, my Christmas Day ride. Sadly not reported on yesterday but here now it all it's festive glory!
With an hour to fill, it was just a short scoot around local lanes on the Giant. All roads seem to lead to Coal Road lately, then a right onto Skeltons Lane for another wind assisted shove all the way to the end before the bumpy descent of Sandhills into Thorner. It's always lumpy and bumpy but a mile of general downhilliness is always a good thing. Through the village and past the church and I stayed on the main road for a change and climbed Church Hill, which didn't seem too bad today. The reward for all that effort is that the next mile or so is nearly all gently downhill again and most of it was wind assisted, all the way past Bramham Park averaging a mile at over 22mph, which was nice. Into the dip at Wothersome, where the delight of downhill is tempered by the sharpest climb of the ride back out of the other side...
Normally I'd carry on towards Bramham but with one eye on the clock, I turned sharp left onto Thorner Lane to start the homeward leg of the circuit. Through the next dip and despite the forecast saying it would be dry all morning the heavens opened. Up the other side and it was showing no signs of abating so I stopped to put my waterproof jacket on. I'd barely hopped off the bike before another cyclist loomed into view and asked if I was OK or needed a hand. It's nice when that happens, and even nicer if you don't need the kindly offered help, so he was quickly on his way with a 'Merry Christmas' with me following a minute or so later after wrestling my jacket on in the breeze.
Obviously the third law of cycling dictated that my the time I'd turned onto Milner Lane the downpour had stopped...
Along Milner Lane past Hetchell Woods and I realised I'd not yet taken a ride photo, so I stopped at the next gate for a pic with the sun trying to get through in the background...
Back on the bike as someone else went past with his new Christmas toy....only his was a Ferrari
Down the hill and then the short climb into Thorner, a short shift down Main Street and then onto Carr Lane for the climb back out to the A58, getting passed by our Ferrari driving friend again.
A scoot down the A58, up Coal Road and then local roads down to home with a tour around the block to push the mileage on.
14.29 miles (23.0km) in
1h 4m at an average of
13.2mph with
830ft climbed.
A good ride, only a handful of cyclists out though but good to get some exercise in before Christmas dinner
And here's a map:
And now for your bonus 'read one, get one free' report from today's ride:
Again time limited, but for a bit of variety I headed towards Barwick Road and hadn't got more than a quarter mile from home before the heavens opened. I'd half suspected rain, so already had my waterproof jacket on but it was also a
lot colder than yesterday. I'll admit that it did cross my mind to turn for home at this point, but I stuck it out and as I arrived at Barwick Road it had
almost stopped raining.
Down the hill to Cock Beck and the climb up Leeds Road. As I arrived in Scholes I got a gold plated MGIF close pass from a teapot who as soon as they got 20 feet in front of me put the indicator on to turn right into their drive and stopped dead in the middle of the lane...
Anyway, muppetry aside it was on to the Coronation Tree and the rain started again, so I turned left through the village on Main Street, eventually crossing the old railway bridge and dropping down to the A64 for a full speed blast along to the next junction where I turned off onto Thorner Lane.
The rain was backing off again, so I carried on down Sandhills into the village. As I might have said before, this road is a bit bumpy and by the time I'd descended onto Main Street the rear mudguard was chirruping it's displeasure in no uncertain terms, so I stopped on Carr Lane by the pub for a bit of roadside fettling, followed by a photo:
Back on the bike and I started the climb out of the village but within 100 yards the rear mudguard was at it again (despite being silent after adjusting it when I'd spun the wheel seconds before...
) so I stopped again outside the former church and had another go.
A couple of passing dog walkers stopped to exchange seasonal pleasantries and commented on how warm my 'boots' (overshoes) looked, which was pretty random.
Back on my way again and with the mudguard much improved (if still not totally silent) up the hill, down through the S-bends and up again to the A58, down to Coal Road and then along before dropping down onto local road to home, with the now obligatory loop around the block to round the mileage up.
10.21 miles (16.43km) in
46m at an average of
13.0 mph with
538ft climbed, in an average temperature of just
2.2°C and a
lot of precipitation
One driver and mudguard issues aside, a good (if damp) ride even if it will have barely made a dent in yesterdays calorific intake.
Likely to be my last ride now until the weekend as we've got "stuff to do" Weds and Fri and I'm rota'd in at work on Thursday - although that might not be a bad thing given the forecast!
Now to get on YouTube and see how best to adjust that rear Race Blade Pro to shut it up properly...
Oh, and the map:
