Out just after 8 on the Giant with an eye on another metric half for the challenge.
Bit chilly first thing, but lovely and bright despite a forecast of greyness. Almost inevitably the bike steered me to Coal Road, then Skeltons Lane, but for a change I stayed on the A58 for a bit longer than turned onto Carr Lane to Thorner reversing a route I usually take out of there.
There is a bit of single track on there past some houses and as I was approaching (downhill) I spied a car approaching from the opposite direction, right on the crown of the road, so being a considerate sort of chap and in no particular rush, I stopped to let the car through. The driver thanked me by slowing down to walking pace for about 100 yards and purposefully looking the other way.
I set off again and almost immediately spotted another car approaching - however this time the driver ducked straight in to the side of the road and stopped on seeing me,flashed her lights to let me through and gave me a cheery morning as we passed (I said thanks).
Through the village and out again up Milner Lane, then Holme Farm Lane and follow my nose through the lesser Wothersome Dip and on to Bramham, where a skirt around the village saw me onto Toulston Lane and back out into the countryside.
I haven't been this way in what feels like ages, and was soon over the county line into North Yorkshire, then right to head along garnett Lane across the A659, then the wiggle over the A64, before the long descent down into Stutton.
I stayed on the main road through the village, dropping down over Cock Beck and then climbing up on the single track road towards the A162 - taking it very steady as there was what appeared to be the remains of a frost on the adjacent field.
A small group of cyclists caught me at the junction as I waited for a gap. I said "Morning", but I think they were more focussed on the traffic. Up the hill and left onto Raw Lane for the long and mainly gently downhill run to Ulleskelf, which seemed harder work than usual today for some reason.
A loop around the village and then I paused at the bench by the bus stop for an energy bar and a couple of pics:
This bench is still clearly the hot spot for socialising in Ulleskelf as in the bin today was an empty box of wine and empty box of Jaffa Cake misshapes. This place must rock when the sun goes down.
Anyway, back on the bike and past the airfield and into Church Fenton and the long straight-ish road over the railway line and all the way to Barkston Ash, then a spin up London Road to the Saxton turning where it was left and between the fields all the way into the village.
Through there and it has to be said a bit of a slog up past Linda's Bench into a bit of a headwind, before dropping down onto Copley Lane for the familiar run to Lotherton Gates.
I realised I was probably going to come up just short of a metric half if I took the direct route, so looped round via Hook Moor into Aberford, getting the benefit of a lovely tailwind all the way up Bunkers Hill past the Almshouses and into the village, hitting both sets of temporary traffic lights on green.
Got flagged down by a lost motorist needing directions and once I'd sorted him out, the ups and downs of Cattle Lane beckoned.
Approaching the farm I was passed by a cyclist on an flat bar bike who to be fair was shifting along - but when he got about 100yds beyond me quickly pulled in with a deflating rear tyre.
This is where it all went wrong, and I got membership of the same club
@MikeG has been in today (post above).
I slowed down to check he was OK / had everything he needed - he said yes he was fine but I'd unclipped my left foot in case I needed to stop. As I went to set off again I'd slowed down too much and wobbled over to the right, where my still clipped in right foot, at the very bottom of the stroke, refused point blank to unclip while my "free" left foot waved uselessly in the air.
I had time to utter a very quick 'Shoot' before I was sprawled all over the road.
The other cyclist helped me back up and to the side of the road as a passing motorist also stopped to see if everything was OK - knee hurt, ribs really hurting where (I think) my elbow had been sandwiched between them and the tarmac. Clothing all intact, which was something.
As someone is bound to ask, the bike is virtually unscathed, being protected from the worst ravages of the tarmac by several stones of idiot. A very little bit of scuffed bar tape, the bar end plug came out (but went straight back in), there is a scuff on the side of the pedal and a tiny mark on the saddle edge and that's it, so I got away with that, especially as I fell onto the transmission side.
To be fair, it's the first proper clipped in moment I've had since I switched to 'proper' pedals in the spring, so it was probably overdue. Bloody embarrassing though and a bit painful but nothing Dr Ibuprofen and a bit of time won't sort.
The cyclist offered to ride on with me once he'd fixed his puncture to make sure I was OK, but once he'd insisted for about the fourth time that he was OK sorting it I pushed on as my knee was giving me a bit of gyp and I wanted to make sure that I got home while I still could.
I said thanks at the time, but never thought to ask their names, so if you were the other cyclist (wearing a Tour de Yorkshire top) or the chap in the BMW, thanks again - fortunately it wasn't anything serious but it's nice to know that there are people out there who take the time to check on others.
I don't think I've ever descended down Cattle Lane to the bridge more steadily, and I just sat and spinned up the hill into Barwick, but fortunately once I'd got the knee moving again it settled down. The ribs were a slightly different matter though so I just took it steady.
Through the village, more up before drop down into Scholes, enlivened even further by 3 stupidly close passes in the space of a mile or so, then down the hill on Leeds Road and local roads to home, avoiding the usual road as it was surface dressed over the late summer and is now lumpy as owt and I didn't fancy getting shaken about on that on top of everything else.
32.74 miles (52.69km) in
2h 41m at a steady average of
12.1mph with
1,548ft climbed and an average temperature of
8.1°C
So, another point in the Half Century Challenge and an eventful ride that I won't forget for a while. The knee is a bit banged up and developing a lovely bruise but it's nothing that won't sort itself out, although how I didn't hole my nearly new(!) bib tights I have no idea - the blood will wash off and they look like they'll be good as new. The ribs are a bit more painful - I'm 99% sure I haven't broken one (I've done that before and remember the pain) so I'll just have to take it steady for a few days.
I've clipped in and out goodness knows how many times prior to this without incident, and have managed to successfully unclip both feet multiple times on the remainder of the journey so I'll just have to put it down to the law of sod.
Or that magpie that I didn't salute. Bloody magpies.
And to end, the map:
)
