NorthernDave
Never used Über Member
- Location
- The real Northern Powerhouse
A time limited ride today, still cold but not quite as Baltic as yesterday. So I abandoned plans to use the hybrid and stuck with the Road Comp.
With only an hour or so, and feeling in need of a change, I set off towards Scholes up the hill, then on towards Barwick. Unfortunately some muppet from the Highways Dept has painted some horrible rumble strips right across the road on the curve from the Coronation Tree up the hill. Slippery and unsettled the bike - great idea...
Anyway at the crest of the hill the downhill starts, 2 miles of it firstly into Barwick but checked near the New Inn by temporary traffic lights. Through the village, past the maypole and down to the bridge over Cock Beck where the down ends and the up starts as I climbed Cattle Lane for lumpiness all the way to Aberford. While not as cold as yesterday, there were still frosty patches where the sun hadn't yet reached and frozen puddles at the road edge so I was taking it steady.
In Aberford I turned left along the old route of the Great North Road, passing a couple of MTB'ers coming out of Parlington Woods on NCR66 - both muddy but smiling. It was almost enough to make me wish I'd been on the hybrid...
Past the Almshouses and out to the B1217, battling a stronger than forecast breeze, then the climb up towards the M1 roundabout, round that (close pass, despite taking the lane...) and onto the A642 for a bit of up but then mainly down into Garforth.
I've had issues on this road before, although the last couple of rides have been OK, but today I had 6 close passes between the M1 roundabout and Tesco
One driver passed me too closely then pulled in so close to the kerb that their nearside tyres were on the inner of the double yellow lines.
Anyhow, checked at more temporary traffic lights, then the climb over the railway bridge and down the other side, sticking to the road today as I turned right at the lights onto Barwick Road, back under the railway and down the hill before climbing over the M1 bridge (quite quiet today) and round the twists to the bridge over Cock Beck and the start of the climb up Long Lane into Barwick. Despite several changes of direction I seemed to be keeping the wind in my face, which was nice.
Into Barwick and stopped again by the temporary lights and the it's a straightforward steady climb up the hill until almost at Scholes, before the descent around the bend into the village - except this normally nice descent has been spoiled by those blooming rumble strips
Left at The Coronation Tree and along Leeds Road, before the drop down to Cock Beck (still into the wind) then local roads up to home.
14.8 miles (23.8km) in 1h 8m at an average of 13.0mph with 869ft climbed and an average temperature of 2.0°C (so twice as warm as yesterday).
Good to get out, even in the cold, but there were a lot of muppet drivers out there today (those in the report above are only the half of it) and it almost took the shine off the ride.
What was different about today? All I can think is that I normally wear dark coloured cycling tops, but today I was wearing a hi-viz orange windproof jacket in an attempt to keep warm...
I will keep plugging away at this route though as I reckon it can be done in under a hour - one day.
Sorry no pics today, but here's a map to round everything off:
With only an hour or so, and feeling in need of a change, I set off towards Scholes up the hill, then on towards Barwick. Unfortunately some muppet from the Highways Dept has painted some horrible rumble strips right across the road on the curve from the Coronation Tree up the hill. Slippery and unsettled the bike - great idea...
Anyway at the crest of the hill the downhill starts, 2 miles of it firstly into Barwick but checked near the New Inn by temporary traffic lights. Through the village, past the maypole and down to the bridge over Cock Beck where the down ends and the up starts as I climbed Cattle Lane for lumpiness all the way to Aberford. While not as cold as yesterday, there were still frosty patches where the sun hadn't yet reached and frozen puddles at the road edge so I was taking it steady.
In Aberford I turned left along the old route of the Great North Road, passing a couple of MTB'ers coming out of Parlington Woods on NCR66 - both muddy but smiling. It was almost enough to make me wish I'd been on the hybrid...
Past the Almshouses and out to the B1217, battling a stronger than forecast breeze, then the climb up towards the M1 roundabout, round that (close pass, despite taking the lane...) and onto the A642 for a bit of up but then mainly down into Garforth.
I've had issues on this road before, although the last couple of rides have been OK, but today I had 6 close passes between the M1 roundabout and Tesco
One driver passed me too closely then pulled in so close to the kerb that their nearside tyres were on the inner of the double yellow lines.
Anyhow, checked at more temporary traffic lights, then the climb over the railway bridge and down the other side, sticking to the road today as I turned right at the lights onto Barwick Road, back under the railway and down the hill before climbing over the M1 bridge (quite quiet today) and round the twists to the bridge over Cock Beck and the start of the climb up Long Lane into Barwick. Despite several changes of direction I seemed to be keeping the wind in my face, which was nice.
Into Barwick and stopped again by the temporary lights and the it's a straightforward steady climb up the hill until almost at Scholes, before the descent around the bend into the village - except this normally nice descent has been spoiled by those blooming rumble strips
Left at The Coronation Tree and along Leeds Road, before the drop down to Cock Beck (still into the wind) then local roads up to home.
14.8 miles (23.8km) in 1h 8m at an average of 13.0mph with 869ft climbed and an average temperature of 2.0°C (so twice as warm as yesterday).
Good to get out, even in the cold, but there were a lot of muppet drivers out there today (those in the report above are only the half of it) and it almost took the shine off the ride.
What was different about today? All I can think is that I normally wear dark coloured cycling tops, but today I was wearing a hi-viz orange windproof jacket in an attempt to keep warm...
I will keep plugging away at this route though as I reckon it can be done in under a hour - one day.
Sorry no pics today, but here's a map to round everything off:
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