I'd intended to get out early to beat the heat, but after a poor nights sleep it was gone 7:30am when I finally set off on the Pro Carbon.
I'd got all day, if I wanted it, so I'd selected an old roughly circular 101km route on the Garmin which had a couple of 'get outs' if it got too much.
Already warm, but also oddly breezy which felt right in my face riding up Coal Road. Which was as far as the routing on the Garmin got, declaring I'd reached the end of the route with just over a mile showing...
Hey ho, I'd got a rough idea where I was heading so I just kept calm and carried on.
Red Hall Lane, the A58 and Whin Moor Lane brought me to sunny Shadwell, then the steady climb up to Slaid Hill lights which were on green (this is very unusual!), so through and onto Wike Ridge Lane for the short blast through the dip and up onto Tarn Lane for the run to the top side of Scarcroft, with the warm breeze still in my face despite several changes of direction - clearly today was going to be one of
those days!
Down Ling Lane and back onto the A58 for the long downhill run to Bardsey, through the lights and on to Collingham, where a wiggle on the A659 took me to the bridge to Linton and the up and downery that follows all the way to Wetherby.
Tight left at the roundabout and up the hill, climbing back out of town, before the descent to Stockeld Park and the down and up to Spofforth.
No stopping at the castle today, right at the roundabout and along the causeway to Ribston Road, which climbs away from the junction and then undulates nicely through the rolling countryside all the way to Little Ribston.
Past the gates to Ribston Hall where a guy on a tourer was stopped for his breakfast, and on south now to the turning onto Ox Close Lane and more gloriously countryside 9if you ignore the bridges over the A168 and A1(M) all the way to Cowthorpe.
That sharp little climb out of the village then more of the country lane out to Cattal crossroads, where instead of turning right down Rudgate I carried on into Tockwith for a change. Left at the Boot and Shoe and onto Kirk Lane and then onto South Field Lane round the former airfield perimeter.
I'd spotted this single track road on the map and thought it would be a easy way to add a extra mile or two onto a familiar route but it's in a shocking condition - parts of it are 40% pothole and 40% uneven patch repair, so it made for slow going on the road bike picking my way through it. A shame as it's a nice enough route apart from the shoddy surface.
Back out onto Rudgate and the run down to the crossroads, where after a brief pause for a gap in traffic it was straight across and more gentle downhill between the fields all the way to the Walton turning and onto the quiet lane towards the village.
Along the main street and out onto Wetherby Road for a hundred yards to the turning for Thorp Arch.
Through the village and down onto the bridge, where today I decided to stop for a break and a couple of pics:
Back in the saddle and the climb up into Boston Spa, then down Main Street for the long way round to Clifford via Barr Lane.
Through the village and then the descent down into Bramham, where for a bit of fun I decided to tackle the segment up Town Hill
At the end I looped back round onto Aberford Road and headed south towards Bramham crossroads then the long generally downhill run into Aberford.
At this point I was really starting to feel the heat and was getting low on water - and Aberford doesn't appear to have a shop...
My initial plan had been to loop out to Lotherton Gates then the long way round to Garforth to add a few more miles on, but instead I took the right onto Cattle Lane for the ups and downs to Barwick, passing a big group ride of Seacroft Wheelers heading out.
Stopped in Barwick to release a fly that had somehow got between the lens and insert in my sunnies, then the steady climb up to Scholes, before dropping down Leeds Road and over Cock Beck, before turning onto local roads towards home and right into a surprisingly stiff headwind that had me dropping down into the small ring at the front and made the last mile quite a bit harder than I'd expected.
42.25 miles (67.99 km) in
2h 56m at an average of
14.4mph with
2,001ft climbed and an average temperature of
20.9°C
Not the ride I'd planned but I enjoyed that, and I made the right decision to cut things short as I was absolutely on my chinstrap when I got in. That warm but stiff breeze combined with temperatures that hit 30°C several times made me work for it today.
That said, a bit to drink and something to eat and everything is good in the world again, it's another point for the Half Century Challenge and I even set a PB...
Loads of cyclists out today, from club runs to family rides to solo cyclists and who can blame them?
And to end, the map - and I can only assume someone at Garmin has a sense of humour with the temperature and weather symbol in the corner
tour mode it was a blast
