I should stop making plans, as you know what happens to then, don't you?
Anyway, after much faffing I was out of the door on the Pro Carbon and on the familiar tarmac of Coal Road, Red Hall lane and the A58 onto Whin Moor Lane and Gateland Lane into Shadwell. Have I mentioned yet that it was a bit breezy? Helen Willets on the BBC said winds of 13mph this morning. I said Hmmmmm.....
Left in Shadwell up Main Street all the way to Slaid Hill Lights and onto Wike Ridge Lane and then Tarn Lane for the run across the top, now wind assisted so much more fun. Across and on to Ling Lane past all the des reses and back to the A58 for the speedy descent to the right turn into the first Thorner Lane of the day for the drop down to the beck and the slog up Scarcroft Hill and on to Milner Lane.
Awind assisted push along the ridge, which was fun but made me think I was going to pay for it later. Then Holme Farm Lane to Rigton Green and a deserted Bramham Lane all the way across Jewitt Lane and back up onto another Thorner Lane. Left and on through the dip, hitting 37.5mph
before carrying on towards Bramham, turning left just before the village onto West Woods Road and the undulations all the way to Wattlesyke Roundabout.
Traffic was quite busy here and it was where I encountered the driver of the day, cutting so close just after I came off the roundabout that the door mirror on their Discovery came within a foot of my elbow
, so close in fact that the driver of the following car looked across and asked if I was OK as they passed (safely)...
Anyhow, muppets apart, it was on down the hill and across the roundabout (not literally) and in to Wetherby, where traffic was queuing over the bridge.
Left at the roundabout and out through the town towards Sicklinghall on a road I've ridden many times, but never in this direction - probably because it's mainly uphill in this direction
Battling the wind (oo-er!) I decided to take the left into Linton and while not totally sheltered from the breeze it was at least gently downhill. Into the village and I was reminded how picturesque parts of it are - almost Cotswold-ish, if that is a word. I haven't cycled through here since the bridge over the river was damaged in the Boxing Day floods of 2015 and has been closed since (re-opening "Summer 2017", apparently). The closed bridge had the advantage of there being virtually no traffic in or around the village and what there was all behaved impeccably, so I enjoyed the lumpiness back into Wetherby and then along the other side of the town centre, descending down to the Wilderness Park by the river for a breather:
Sadly, there was no sign of the usual ice-cream van, so I had to make do with an energy bar
Back on the bike and up the hill, before heading out of town towards the A1(M), over the bridge and along past the race course, before eventually taking the right towards Thorp Arch. The TdY came the opposite way up here a couple of weeks ago and it's clear that they'd 'dressed' the road surface for it
Anyway, the least said about that the better and I was grateful to take the left to loop around onto Long Causeway past the church and drop back down into the village just before the descent down over the bridge and back up the other side.
Left again in Boston Spa and all the way through the village, down the dip and up the other side, before a sharp right onto Bar Lane for the straight into the wind descent towards Clifford and the climb all the way up Main Street, which is rewarded by the rapid plunge into Bramham.
Looped round up to the A1(M) bridge, stopping just before what I knew was going to be a slog into the wind for the next few miles to get some Haribo Tangfastic on board
Over the bridge and back towards Thorner, now straight into the 'breeze' and working hard for it. Decided to take the direct route to Thorner, as it's slightly shorter and slightly less exposed than the more scenic way round via Milner Lane and to be fair it wasn't
too bad once I'd got the legs spinning after the climb out of Wothersome dip (or as
@Old jon calls it 'Dead Badger Hill'
).
Eventually reached Thorner and thoroughly enjoyed the rapid descent of Church Hill, before hanging back for a group of horseriders on the bends in front of the church. Into the village and right onto Carr Lane, not fancying tackling Van Zyl Hill with my tiring legs, for the familiar up, down and more up to the A58 for a third time today, before a quick (ish) run along to Coal Road, and up the hill where I was passed by an absolutely gorgeous white Aston Martin DB11 just before hitting the local roads to home.
The driver gave me a load of room, but kept slowing for the speed bumps so we were alongside each other for a short distance - on which basis I'm now claiming to be as fast as an Aston Martin...
From there it was a familiar and happily mainly downhill run into the wind to home.
36.13 miles (58.14km) in
2h 43m at an average of
13.3mph with
1,998ft climbed. If only I'd been paying attention I'd have gone round the block to get the extra 2ft in, but I'm happy with that considering the frankly now boring wind. Plus it's another entry in the half century challenge, and there were lots of other cyclists out there which is always a good thing.
And, to tidy things up at the end, a very squiggly map:
. So do I get involved in the new game of square chasing ?? Still unsure ?
you could always go for most squares if you wanted something different!
.
.
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but decided to hang on as long as I could . Through Swithland we slowed down for a couple of horse riders which was a good job as 1 of them was my sister 
. Back to Rothley and we turned onto to the long route at the lights at the crossroads and we finally split into 2 pairs as we let the faster 2 go and me and my new ride bubby Jerry slowed the pace down to 18mph 
. After a bacon roll and coffee and cake consumed just the matter of the ride home . Rothley ,Cropston ,Anstey . 59.5 miles done in lovely conditions 
which considering its was raining when I got the bike out this morning was better than expected. Really nice friendly well organised ride . Seems to get bigger each year and a few quid raised for Alex's Wish a good day on the bike .
