18th August 2013 - Day 3 - Dunnington to Bridlington

The last day was a 60 mile death ride!

Actually - not really. It was going to be a very easy day. The weather was looking great and it was totally flat bar a small blip in the middle of the day and and even smaller one at the end!

As every other day started, we packed our bag to be transported, packed the gear for the bike, filled up the water bottles and headed off for breakfast.

Some cereal and scrambled egg made a change from the other days. Davey had some cereal and then asked for sausages with 2 slice of bread so he could have a sausage sandwich. What he got was 3 triangles of bread and 3 sausages. Not to be robbed of his sausage sandwich, he used a triangle of toast for the other sandwich and meticulously cut the sausages so they fitted in the sandwich with no overhang and no wastage...I was amazed - hence the look

We got on our saddles rather gingerly - though it wasn't long before we had settled down to what can only be described as a rather gentle, pleasant ride in the sunshine.

As we got to the climb of the day, we realised it really wasn't all that bad. It was pretty long and a gentle slope with a few small steep bits thrown in to keep the body temperature up.

We stopped for a bit to take a few photos of the locals. It seems I wasn't the only Scot living south of the border!

Once at the top of our huge climb, it was an equally long, gentle descent. With the wind at our backs, we were rolling along at 20-25mph without having to really touch the pedals. We were going well for speed, time and ease of ride.

Before we knew it - and much to our amazement, we reached Driffield. We had planned to stop at Driffield for Lunch, but when we planned this, we had no idea we would be there by 11:30!

We were stationed many years ago at Driffield (or an army camp not far outside the town) as Junior Leaders doing our HGV training. From what I recall we were often banned from the town - the local lads didn't take too kindly to a bunch of soldiers acquiring the local resources (that's as polite as I can put it) but we still went down town.

It hadn't changed much and I wish (now I had revisited the old place) that I had taken some pictures - but alas - we had a schedule...our train out of Bridlington was at 14:30 (or was it 15:00) and there wasn't another one for an hour (or was it two!)....anyway - we were aiming to be at Bridlington at 14:00.

We decided to jump in a wee cafe and have a bite to eat. Davey had beans on toast (yes Davey - people do eat beans on toast AND for breakfast!) and I ordered a sausage bap. Well - imagine my surprise when this garnished delight turned up at the table...

We were in stitches. I'm not much of a salad love, but even I could've come up with something a bit more lively looking. And also - who has a salad with a sausage bap!?

After 30 minutes, we decided to head off. 17 miles to go and all mainly on single track back roads.

The end of the ride is always the weirdest. You've just covered 170+ miles and you suddenly realise - you're not entirely sure what the end looks like or indeed exactly where it is!

We cycled along a very busy front until we came across a couple of bikes and riders standing beside a sign that looked familiar - the end of The Way of the Roses!

It was beautiful. Not just the sign - but the weather and Bridlington itself.

We had a few people come up and chat to us asking how the ride was...it was nice.

Also - one lad we saw at the end was the same guy we saw at the beginning - the one that Davey took a photo for!

Davey popped off to the shops to buy the Mr Whippy's and we ate them at the seafront before saying goodbye to the other riders and Bridlington and headed for the train station to get the train to York.

The night out in York was not only to be uneventful but pretty slow paced. Pretty much every pub was almost empty - bar the "local pub for local people" we visited where as soon as we walked in we realised we had made a grave error of judgement! We left after our pints which we drank swiftly.

Whilst historic, York left alot to be desired in the nightlife stakes. It was certainly not a patch on Newcastle last year!

And that was that - it was over. Another lads trip for charity and a great one too.

The stats for the day were:
Trip Distance 58.16
Trip Time 3:59:17
Avg Speed 14.58mph
Max Speed 36.21mph

My MapMyRide profile for the day is here


Davey was King of the Mountains again - well done Davey.

It really was a great trip though. Good fun - good weather - great company - and a good route. We had a brilliant time. Thanks Davey.

We mentioned other trips but, as last year, nothing was set - so we left the trip leaving next year open - though Davey did say if I don't get down to 16 stone I'm not invited - and he seemed quite adamant about that. So I have some work to do.

The ride was in aid of St Helena's Hospice - a local charity in Colchester. Their site is here and you can always still donate at my JustGiving webpage here

Thanks for reading - and Davey - I'll see you on that trip next year!

17th August 2013 - Day 2 - Grassington to Dunnington (York)

The second day saw us with 65 miles to do.

 

The Route

The profile

The plan was to get somewhere where we could have lunch and there was Wifi. Davey wanted to watch the Aberdeen v Celtic match at 12:30. Looking at the map, we decided our best bet was likely to be Boroughbridge which was about 40 miles in. That's 40 miles in 4 hours and as we averaged 12mph the previous day, with all the climbs therein, we were confident it could be done.

It was meant to be raining from the start of the day and all day...and we weren't particularly looking forward to it...cycling in the rain is pretty miserable at the best of times - starting out the day like that is just not fun.

However - when we woke up, we were both frantically checking the weather every 5 minutes and it seemed the gods were looking out for us today - rain was delayed.

We got ready, packed the bags - remembering this time to NOT pack my wet proof (yeah right) jacket in my rucksack which was being picked up by the baggage company - and headed off downstairs for breakfast.

After a nice breakfast, tea and orange juice, we got our bikes and headed off - with the clouds looking pretty ominous.

The second day started with us using a diversion to the normal route. I didn't see the point of heading back the way we came to get on the route just to end up the same road - the road out of Grassington met with the cycle route anyway.

We were rather dismayed to find out that there were still some considerable climbs - nothing huge - just wee steep buggers...some longer than others. It wasn't at all too long before our bodies had warmed up and our thighs were being reminded of the day before.

Still, we battled on in a very cold day with a nasty wind. It wasn't too long before we were making top speeds again with long gradual downhill sections. Of course - where there's a hill going down, there's often a hill going up. We looked ahead and Davey said "Are we going up that!?"...unfortunately I could only confirm that was the case.

So on we travelled - keeping up speed where we could in order to stay ahead of the impending rain that crept ever closer.

Not too far into the morning, we came across Greenhow Hill. It ran into Pateley Bridge. It was a 16% 2.5 mile descent - and I don't mind telling you - I was pretty scared. Only being on two wheels, with 4 small pieces of rubber to clamp onto the wheels to slow us down - we struggled a bit to keep the speed down. Also - because it was just a constant, winding descent, you had to keep on the brakes. Thoughts turned to cramp in the hands and having enough rubber on the pads to last!

Seriously though - our hands were really sore going down. When I wanted to change my hand position to alleviate the cramp, my speed picked up scarily fast...meaning needing to grab the brakes harder to not only stop speeding up but to also slow back down!

On a bike ride, you're meant to look forward to the downhill sections - we were very, VERY pleased when we got to the bottom of that beast!

What even more astounding is before we hit the hill, we saw people cycling the opposite way to us - and that surely meant they cycled up that hill! Looking at it from the bottom when we got there, we simply couldn't believe anyone could cycle up it. It just looked (from where we were) like a vertical wall of tarmac!

After a wee rest, we belted on - still no rain (and by the way - had there been rain coming down Greenhow Hill I don't think the brakes would've been up to it!).

The route continued to climb and drop up to Ripon - but more downhill thankfully!

As we were belting along we came through a wee village called Roecliffe. We went hairing round a corner and I noticed two manikins sitting outside a pub - and I remember seeing other peoples pictures about the pub (The Crown Inn) and a few mentions about the quality - and shouted after Davey - "Maybe we could check if there's wifi here...it's only 2 miles to Boroughbridge - but it's 12:15 now". So we checked and they did indeed have wifi.

It was a very nice pub. Food was great but the football was rubbish. The Aberdeen keeper got sent off in the last 10 minutes of the first half, Celtic scored the penalty and Aberdeen were down to 10 men...Davey lost interest and we decided to head off early to our destination. It was 13:30.

Davey is actually watching the footie here on his phone - not pondering!

Not long into the ride, it started raining...slowly and light at first, then heavier and heavier. I got the lights out my bike and put them on - no point in taking risks...it was getting rather dark.

We had some horrible bits coming into York - over a relatively muddy field and also York itself wasn't too pleasant to ride through. Amazingly I think it took us close on 3 hours for the last 20 miles. That doesn't seem right - but I know we didn't get to the B&B until about 17:00!

We were wet, cold and hungry.

Unfortunately the B&B (Fifth Milestone Cottage) had told Davey the pub was across the road...but it turned out to be a mile away. This isn't something that would necessarily bother us - but it was pouring down with rain...we decided to stay in the room and ordered a Dominoes. Davey had a massive laugh when I asked the guy on the other end if he "did any skoosh"!! (fizzy pop).

Anyway it was a quiet night. No beer :-( and stuck in the room. But we were pretty tired - so it wasn't long before we were pushing out the z's.

The next day looked - on paper - to be a doddle. Pretty much flat with a longish, gentle ascent in the middle followed by a wee blip before Bridlington.

Feeling good.

Details for the day were
Total Distance 65.60
Trip Time 5:08:58
Avg Speed 12:74
Max Speed 45:27

My MapMyRide profile is here

16th August 2013 - Day 1 - Morecambe to Grassington

So after tossing and turning all night (not necessarily through anticipation but also being in a bed that isn't mine) I get up and get ready for breakfast.

A quick stop to get Davey and we're off for brekkie. Not being one to shy away from a Full English, I enjoyed what was on offer - but not going mad. Two glasses of orange juice and I was done.

Davey went for the healthier muesli (the scrapings from a bird cage!), a yoghurt and a couple of slices of toast and jam.

We went back to the room, got our gear and checked out.

The first day was a 60 mile jaunt from Morecambe to Grassington with the majority of climbs being present on the first day - including the dreaded climb out of Settle. I had seen enough videos and images on the interwebs to know that was going to be tough!

The route

The profile

Again - to our annoyance, we had to travel 5 miles in the opposite direction to our destination. We headed off to Morecambe into a considerable head wind. It was a pleasant ride as it happens with no major roads involved and when we were on the roads, there was a generous cycle lane - something sorely missing from my apparently "cycle friendly" town of Colchester.

We got to Morecambe front and it was pretty difficult to stand up it was so windy! We took a couple of photos and headed off - but before we did, we took a pic of another cyclist who had turned up to do the ride on his own.

The start - 170 miles to go

Yeah - those smiles would disappear now and again over the course of the day!

So we headed back up the 5 miles we had already travelled (that still annoys us!) and headed off for Grassington.

Coming out of Morecambe and Lancaster and through Halton Green was flat, off road and uneventful. From Halton Green to just before Aughton was a gentle climb followed by an equally gentle descent to Hornby - that saw us 14 miles in and nicely warmed up. The sun was out and we had our first climb - albeit a wee one.

This was the bridge across the River Lune at Caton (I think)



From Hornby to Little Stainforth was a fairly constant climb with some downhill breaks - but the general direction was up.

Some lovely scenery



It was downhill to Settle and a welcome break - but what goes down must go up...and it would.

Settle (I think!)

We stopped at the Talbot Arms in Settle (35 miles in) and had some lunch...and a nice sugary coke and topped the water bottles up. We were in the beer garden and the sun was beaming down - but it still didn't make us feel better about the climb ahead. Davey (well - us both really) has a very nice cyclists tan on his legs! If you see him - ask him for a look - he's very proud of it!

So we headed off after lunch and the climb started immediately. It was simply THE steepest road I had ever seen in my life. Right away we were down to our lowest gears. It was so steep, I could feel my front wheel going "light" (literally coming off the ground) as I ground out each pedal. Davey was doing well taking the lead - though it wasn't about leads - it was about making it. But he managed to stay on the bike...

...unfortunately - I didn't. I needed to get off and walked about 200 yards before finding a small plateau to get back on and try again. Davey had stormed ahead by this time and was a good couple of hundred yards or more ahead of me. But we ground it out and ground it out and got to the top. It was a gruelling 2 mile climb.

The very top of the climb out of Settle (and by no means the steepest section at all!)



Well done Davey for a very gruelling climb and managing to stay on your bike.

Coming out of Settle if was a very welcome downhill stretch towards Airton.

We carried on over the undulating tarmac on minor roads and had to take a detour off the WotR route to get to Grassington - which we reached 59.7 miles in (including the extra 5 at the start) at about 17:00hrs.

Our accommodation for the first night was a pub B&B called the Devonshire Arms and they served a lovely cool beer (or a few).

 

The accommodation at the Devonshire Arms

 

And the outside looking into Grassington square

 

We went to bed about 22:00 ready for our start the next day.

Overall the day was great. Settle was extremely tiring but the sun stayed out and we had the wind pretty much at our backs. We had a nice lunch in Settle and a welcome beer and burger in the Devonshire Arms.

The next day was looking like rain and we weren't really looking forward to cycling in wet gear all day - but there was nothing we could do about it - and bed was calling.

Stats for the day were:
Distance - 59.7 miles (that included the extra 5 miles towards Morecambe at the start)
Riding time - 5:04:51
Avg Speed : 11:75mph
Max Speed : 45.70mph

You can look at my MapMyRide profile for the first day here





15th August 2013 - Pre-Trip Day

The night had been a rather sleepless event. Lots of wee thoughts about whether everything was packed.

Had I forgotten something small or seemingly insignificant which I would later regret? It didn't really matter...short of unpacking and re-packing everything just to confirm which deep down I already knew - I had everything packed - morning arrived.

We had a 4hr 30min drive to Lancaster and intended to leave at 10:00. As is always the case, 10:45 came and we departed (after I changed my nice top because I did what I always do - put my bike on the bike wrack and get oil on my top!)

The journey was pretty uneventful to be honest. Apart from some minor traffic queues here and there (and the lovely truckers that think it's ok to hog the second lane of a dual carriageway because they're doing 1 mph more than the vehicle in front) we were making fair time.

We stopped at Corley Services on the M6 and had some lunch.

I got to the Premier Inn at about 15:30, booked in and said my goodbyes to Sharon (my wife) and Cathryn (my youngest daughter) and watched forlornly as they left.

I went up to my room rather excited now. In around 16 hours we'd be on our way across England.

After a wee while, I was pretty bored. There's only so much exploring you can do in a hotel room. I had drank the two complimentary drinks presented in the room and watched some rubbish TV. So I kicked back and read my book - waiting the arrival of Davey who was due in around 19:30hrs.

Looking out the window I could see it was pouring down. I knew Davey was getting the train down and felt a bit guilty I had got a lift to the door. But my mind turned to other things - hunger. It was now 19:00 hours and I was slightly peckish...but I thought it only fair to wait for Davey.

When he arrived, he was drenched. We were only 2 miles outside of Lancaster centre but it had rained considerably (and still was when he got off the train) so he had a shower and we headed down to the restaurant.

A quick look around saw curry was available! Well - as Davey said "It'd be rude not to"! So we partook in a curry...though Davey made the fatal mistake of chucking some Vindaloo on his plate.

It was at this point I realised I had left my credit card at the services! I hadn't really planned on using it much anyway - but still - it had to be cancelled. I contacted Sharon and she done the bizzo.

We discussed the route for the following day - and realised we had a 5 mile cycle to the start of the journey - a 5 mile ride which we would have to repeat on the way back - past the very same hotel we were staying at (when you are cycling a large way - wasted miles are not welcome!)

After tea and a couple of beers and some discussion about the route for the following day, we headed to the rooms and got our heads down.

Preparation

This is a blog about The Way of The Roses bicycle ride http://www.wayoftheroses.co.uk/index.php

It's a relatively new ride having only been created around 2010

This ride was done with my old friend Davey Blackmore (he's not old (well - he's older than me!) - "old" as in a friend I've known for many years). Andy McIntyre was also meant to go - the Three Muskateers on another trip (we had done the C2C the year before) - but unfortunately he was unable to attend at the last minute. We dedicate this ride and the effort put in to your mum Andy.

Thanks to Davey's incredible talent and insatiable thirst for organisation he organised the trip and split it into the following route

Day 1 - Morecambe to Grassington for 60 miles
Day 2 - Grassington to Dunnington for 66 miles
Day 3 - Dunnington to Bridlington for 58 miles

He booked all accommodation, train journeys and bag transfers.

The accommodation was:
Premier Inn, Lancaster - http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/LANBRE/lancaster
The Devonshire Hotel in Grassington - http://www.thedevonshirehotel.co.uk/
Fifth Milestone Cottage in Dunnington - http://www.milestonecottage.co.uk/
Premier Inn, Blossom St, York - http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/YORTAB/york-city-blossom-st-south

For bag transportation we used Brigantes
http://www.brigantesenglishwalks.com/index.php

All research had been done. Apps downloaded, maps bought, videos watched and blogs read. All thoughts of requirements had been gone over and over with the final week getting some extra kit.

I used an Android app called ViewRanger. You are able to plot your route on the computer and then upload it to your phone. It then shows the route you've plotted with a blue line and the GPS on the phone shows your exact point. It came in handy several times.

I also used an Android app called MapMyRide which tracks your progress, elevation, speed etc. You can save that to the website at the end of each day and share each days activities on social media sites. I'll link to my MapMyRide pages for each day as the days are discussed.

So everything was ready - the wheels had long been put in motion and the trip loomed