Today was the annual riding of the York-Leeds-York Sportive.
Last year it was cold, clear and windy. Today it was grey, foggy and rainy.
Anyhow, being a Yorkshireman I wasn't going to let a little thing like a soaking stop me, so I was picked up at 7:15 and at registration in Murton half an hour later.
By 'eck it was busy - according to the organisers there were over 1,100 riders taking part today and it certainly felt like it as we joined the queue to set off.
Up the road into Murton village then left, under the A64 and into York, before cutting across past the University and along into Fulford.
A hectic bit of riding on the main road (A19?), before soon peeling off to head past the sewage works (less stinky than last time), and onto the ridiculous 200-yards of dirt track to get onto the Solar Cycleway to use the bridge over the Ouse, before dropping down back onto the roads at the other side and riding on to Acaster Malbis. Up to now there had just been a bit of drizzle, but it started to rain and this stayed with us for the next 5 or 6 miles.
That said, it's nice flat countryside and we were able to rattle along the quiet lanes at a decent speed and soon arrived in Appleton Roebuck, where we turned left for Bolton Percy on roads that were more puddle than tarmac in places.
Up the slight rise over the A64 (again) and into Tadcaster, where we joined a group of about 40 riders waiting for the traffic lights.
The routes split here - we were just doing the 'short' route, so straight on and back out into the countryside heading for Wighill.
Roadworks in Wighill meant temporary traffic lights and lots of cones - we were in a group of about 10 at this point and sailed down the hill under a green light only for some muppet to pull out of his drive and straight at us. Fortunately we were all able to duck between the cones to get out of his entitled way.
Through the village and more rolling countryside on soaking wet roads (although it had finally stopped raining by this point), through Healaugh and heading to the food stop in Askham Richard.
The route into the village last year was on a narrow 'road' that had a really poor surface and they'd only sent us down it again. Except this year it was covered in mud and puddles from the recent bad weather as we found out about half way along. As someone said, we should have been on mountain bikes!
Anyway, we emerged unscathed but filthy into the village and stopped for a quick nosebag.
The pork pies and sausage rolls were excellent, as were the chocolate millionaires and brownies
Back in the saddle and out of the village on properly surfaced roads, a quick left and right and the descent towards Bilborough and the climb into the village itself before dropping down almost to the A64 and climbing over the bridge to cross the dual carriageway. Back down the other side, eschewing the temptations of the Golden Arches and on towards Colton. This is a nice road to ride - quiet, mainly fairly well surfaced and about 4 miles of very gentle descending
with pretty much the only climbing a couple of bridges over railway lines.
This meant that we were soon back in Appleton Roebuck and from there it's a fairly simple retracing of the outbound route back to the finish.
The descent from the Solar Cycleway was 'interesting' as the mud had been churned up by all those bikes and I had a bit of a wobble, and traffic on the A19 was exemplary giving us plenty of room.
The last few miles seemed to fly by and we soon arrived back at Murton, with a final wiggle down the road and a quick sprint across the finish line to secure bragging rights.
40.28 miles (64.82km) in
2h 53m at an average of
14.1mph with a devilish
666ft climbed
So, despite the rain a really good ride and my longest of the year so far although it's probably as flat a ride as you can do in Yorkshire. It felt good too as I've not had the usual amount of bike time this year so I wasn't sure how I'd get on, but really pleased with that.
It sets me up nicely for the
Wiggle Vale Vélo in a month and it's this months ride in the Half Century Challenge banked.
And to end, the map:
PS - I can only assume that sunshine symbol on the map is Google's attempt at humour.
If it wasn't raining it was grey and foggy. The sun has not made an appearance around here today...
!!
admired the sea, watched the sunset, met the cats, hand fed a wee bird and lots more 
(even let hubby have a test ride)
