Out this morning into the sunshine - first outing of the year for the sunnies, the bib shorts, short sleeved top and the fingerless mitts.
It was still a bit chilly first thing though so I'd added knee and arm warmers too.
Just as well - I felt the cold for the first couple of miles, but as I pushed on the day warmed up and all was well.
The inevitability of Coal Road gave way to Red Hall Lane, the A58 and Whin Moor Lane into Shadwell then on to Slaid Hill lights. At this point I was 4 miles in and had seen about a dozen joggers and not a single other cyclist.
Onto Wigton Lane and the gentle up before the dip down through Alwoodley Gates and across the A61, hitting the lights on green for a change.
Alwoodley Lane from there is generally up and I was passed by a couple of riders before reaching King Lane for the drop down to Golden Acre Park and the climb up the side, before dropping down past the quarry onto Otley Road.
Unsurprisingly busy on here, but with roadworks by the shops I got a breather at the temporary lights, before continuing through the village and on to the Dyneley Arms.
From there it's downhill all the way to Otley, over 2 miles, so I took full advantage.
Otley's a busy little place and I was soon through there and across the river. I'd normally take a break at the park but decided to push straight on with the climb up Farnley Lane, which never gets any easier but you do eventually get to the top, where today I decided to have a breather and take a couple of pics:
It was so warm by this point that I took the arm warmers off.
I left the knee warmers on though - the world isn't quite ready for that degree of whiteness just yet...
So, off down the hill, which is always good fun and I'd unintentionally got myself into a gap between any cars so I had the road to myself and managed to (just) top 40mph on the way. And the breeze was cool enough to have me thinking maybe I should have left the arm warmers on?
Over the bridge and along the valley bottom, in the sheltered sunshine and enjoying every minute.
At the end of the road I had two options - right and over the river for Pool-in-Wharfedale or straight on to Castley, like last week.
However Castley Lane had signs up warning of road works and loose chippings so that was the decision made, right it was!
Hopefully the chippings will be sorted for the TdY in a couple of weeks which will go along there...
Over the bridge and right again along the valley floor and back towards Otley, resisting the temptation to stop at the butty van despite the aroma of bacon wafting across the road.
A scoot through the back streets of Otley, past Chevin Cycles and onto Gay Lane, then the climbing started, up all the way back to the Dyneley Arms (almost).
Nowt for it but to spin the pedals, keep going and enjoy the view across the valley.
Eventually through the lights and it's a steady drop then all the way through Bramhope, feeling slightly smug filtering past all the cars queueing for the temporary lights. The climb up King Lane follows, then ups and downs (mainly ups) to Alwoodley Lane and a retracing of the outbound route to Wike Lane where I decided to add a little loop on as the weather was so nice. Through the dip and up onto Tarn Lane to the fringes of Scarcroft, then down the hill into Shadwell and the climb back up to the A58.
A scoot along there and up Coal Road, before hitting local roads down to home, with a final loop around the block to round the miles up.
35.1 miles (56.48 km) in
2h 28m at an average of
14.2mph with
1,843ft climbed and an average temperature of
11.7 C, although it felt a lot warmer in the sun.
Happy with that, it's another point in the half century challenge and it was great to get out not wrapped up in 15 layers trying to keep warm.
In fact the only downside was the re-emergence of the flies...I haven't missed them!
Here's hoping the weather holds for tomorrow as I've got an imperial half planned. I had toyed with getting the best bike out for it, but given the forecast I'll stick with the Giant and it's mudguards.
And to end, the map:
. I am considering increasing my monthly target to 75 miles, will see how May goes.
) where I paused for a quick food stop before heading up the Tanat Valley which looked wonderful in the sunshine.
I enjoyed my drink while taking in the view from the terrace then headed on again to do my clockwise lap of the lake, which again started off at a comfortable pace that got quicker on the way round.
The rest of the trip down the valley to Llynclys was okay but it was quite a bit busier than earlier on with people heading into Wales for the weekend.
This slowed things down a bit and I was also getting slower up the hills too as often happens towards the end of a long ride. The most direct route back was therefore the best option and I made my way to Pentre, Great Ness, Montford Bridge, round the edge of Shrewsbury and finally back to home. Despite flagging a bit I caught and passed a couple of riders on the way so I can't have been doing too badly.
Hence not writing this up last night.
