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
I love the way you made time to watch the footie!
ReplyDeleteI'd usually be scared to be at the bottom of a big hill knowing I've got to try to cycle up it but that hill you went down sounds scary indeed.