Apologies for being a day late with this. I'm blaming the weather...
I'd got a busy day lined up yesterday, so up early with the intention of getting in a metric half (at least) before attending to other stuff.
Except when I popped my head of out the door it was monsoon season.
I'd prepped the Giant (with mudguards) anticipating it might be a bit moist in places, but by 'eck!
So, did some other stuff for a couple of hours and hit the roads as the sun came out at 10am, knowing that I had to be back home by 1pm come hell or high water.
The roads were definitely wet, but there was a lot of blue sky to be seen - and what clouds were about were being whizzed along by a fair old wind.
Up onto Coal Road and then Skeltons Lane, before the long descent of Sandhills into Thorner, wind assisted and setting my second fastest time ever down the hill despite being on the 'winter' bike.
Through the village and up Milner Lane onto the ridge, getting buffeted at every gate and gap in the hedges by a persistent crosswind. Straight(ish) on to East Rigton, then Compton Lane along as far as Jewitt Lane, where I turned due south into the teeth of the maelstrom.
Once over the initial rise, this is nearly all a gentle downhill run back to Thorner Lane but I was having to put a bit of effort in to keep the speed in double figures.
Anyway, once onto Thorner Lane and along through the lesser of the Wothersome Dips and then the run alongside Bramham Park where they've already put the first traffic management signs up for the Leeds Festival at the end of August.
Left onto West Woods Road just before the A1(M) bridge and a mainly wind assisted push along to the roundabout at Wattlesyke and down the hill into Wetherby. Wind assisted again which helped me top 40mph for the first time on the Giant
Into Wetherby and a loop of the town centre, before heading up Hallfield Lane for a couple of pics at the
Church on the Corner (St James), which I've tried to do a couple of times before but always been thwarted:
Back on the bike and back into downtown Wetherby, before looping back out on Walton Road, over the A1(M) bridge and into the countryside heading towards the racecourse.
Have I mentioned it was a bit windy? It couldn't make it's mind up along here, varying between a tricky crosswind and a stubborn headwind, and I started to think of what would be the more sheltered options for completing the ride...
When I got to the first turning for Thorp Arch, I joined the cycle path I found the other week that continues parallel to Walton Road, but which is sheltered behind a tall hedge from the road and the wind.
This was very nice - smooth tarmac, no-one else about and now out of the wind it was starting to get quite warm.
But before long I'd reached Walton and after completing a loop of the village I headed south past the prison and into Thorp Arch, then across the river into Boston Spa, before tackling the usual route to Clifford.
By now anything heading east, west of south seemed to be into a headwind, which was interesting
, but at least I got some respite from working too hard on the descent into Bramham.
Up the hill and back over the A1(M) and I then retraced by earlier route all the way back to Thorner. Heading north up Jewitt Lane was much nicer, heading south down Milner Lane not so much.
Into Thorner and out onto Carr Lane, sheltered from the wind for the first part of the climb, but I was nearly unseated twice on the middle section as I passed field gates
A final grind up the hill to the A58, a slower than usual scoot along there and up onto Coal Road and again, straight into the wind, before dropping onto local roads to home and stopping the Garmin a hundred yards early to get:
33.33 miles (53.63km) in
2h 28m at an average of
13.5mph with
1,840ft climbed and an average temperature of
20.3°C
Pleased enough with that - it's another point for the half century challenge and despite the horrendous weather earlier and later in the day it stayed dry and sunny throughout for the ride, but that swirling, constantly changing wind was a challenge.
Being out later also meant that the roads were a busier than usual, but there were still plenty of cyclists about and a surprisingly high number of joggers, particularly on the country lanes.
I also record my rides on MapMyRide, (just In case there is a problem with the Garmin) and when I checked it had recorded a ride of 41.5 miles, which then vanished when I tried to save it and I can't find it anywhere now....how very odd. Something similar happened last year, so who knows what's going on...
Anyway, to end, the map:
and back up the lane again. Erin informed me she would ride all the way to the top without stopping. 
Flattering, but I wasn't that fast even on the hill. My speedo showed a more realistic 16.
