Awoke this morning to persistent and occasionally heavy rain - this possibly serves me right for enjoying all the unpredicted sunshine over the rest of the weekend....
At this point Mrs ND decided that she'd prefer not to go for a bike ride after all.
Anyhow, at about 3pm things brightened up (relatively speaking) and it stopped raining. Mrs ND was still against going out, so I decided to go out on my own for an hour or so on the hybrid - well I have been spending a lot of time with my other bike lately...
Started off on familiar ground - Wood Lane to Scholes, then down Bog Lane / Barrowby Lane to Manston Lane and Nanny Goat Lane up to Garforth - virtually all on bridleway and not too muddy considering the weather. Onto Barwick Rd / Long Lane (NCN R66), then back off road through Parlington Woods. Just after the haunted tunnel I was stopped in my tracks by a fallen tree blocking the bridleway and had to dismount and carry my bike over it. Pretty much this whole section was very muddy - much muddier than I thought it would be. Back in the saddle and off towards Aberford. Passed a trio of MTB'ers heading the other way - mentioned the fallen tree but they'd come that way earlier so were aware of it.
In Aberford I decided that I'd head back to Garforth on road and pick up R66 again there for the climb up to Thorp Park by way of a change. This was not a good idea...
The hybrid felt desperately slow on tarmac after 4 days of being out on my road bike and the B1217/A642 down to Garforth is frankly a horrible road to cycle on, in terms of both layout and other users. I don't think I'll go that way again through choice.
Anyhow, back onto R66 and into a headwind that was to feature pretty much all the way home. Hit 30mph down Austhorpe Lane, then missed out my usual loop round Pendas Fields to head straight up home in the face of darkening skies.
In retrospect I should have taken the road bike out on the rapidly drying tarmac rather than going off road into a sea of mud, or chosen a different return route, but that's the benefit of hindsight for you.
Facts and figures:
15.82 miles in 1hr 18m at an average of 12.1mph, with 624ft climbed which will do under the circumstances.
Much more encouraging is that my cycling mileage for August closes at
345.6 miles, which I something I couldn't have contemplated back in February when I returned to cycling after 20-odd years.
That makes it all worthwhile.
) either end are a mystery as the house sits at 372' and I came down the 'top' hill to the house from around 460'. Odd!
