First ride of July and I'd a plan to get a banker in for the Half Century Challenge.
Looking out of the window at the sun shining down, I put some sunblock on before heading out in bib-shorts and a short sleeved jersey.
This may have been slightly optimistic.
Yes it was sunny, but where had that wind come from? "Light breeze" said my weather app...
Resisting the temptation to turn round and get another few layers, I decided to get going and the cycling itself would warm me up, wouldn't it? Local roads and then up Leeds Rd to Scholes and the Coronation Tree, then straight up the hill before the downhill run to Barwick, taking a right onto Long lane for the mainly downhill run to Garforth, with a heck of a cross wind on the exposed bits. By the time I'd reached Garforth the wind had conspired to make me think today was probably going to be 50km rather than 50 miles...
From there up the A642 across the M1 and out to Aberford, through the village then up the hill to Lotherton Gates, then Copley Lane out to the Saxton turning and left through the fields and into the village. Straight on and up the hill and onto the B1217 past the Towton Battlefield site and into the village itself.
Big dark clouds were gathering and it was pretty obvious that rain was coming, so I tried upping the pace to keep in front of it, but shortly after turning onto Raw Lane for the run to Ulleskelf it caught me and I pulled into the Kirkby Wharfe turning to put my 'waterproof' lightweight jacket on (more on this later).
Back underway and up into Ulleskelf and through the village, taking Boggart Lane and stopping by a field of poppies for a drink and 5 minutes:
The scene seemed particularly poignant this week.
Back on the bike and through Ozendyke being quite pleased to be maintaining a speed in the high teens, only to get passed by a solo racing snake who made it seem like I was stood still
and into Ryther, taking a right onto Mill Lane to loop around the southern side of the airport towards Church Fenton. Passed a group of 4 or so cyclists stopped atop the bridge over the railway line, who all said hello, and then on to Moor lane between the open fields and with nowhere to hide from the headwind.
Into Church Fenton, passing a guy on a hybrid and over the railway bridge and then the long straight run down to Barkston Ash with still a threat (or more) of rain in the air.
A quick right / left on the main road and back towards Saxton, still into the wind, then retraced my earlier route back past Lotherton Hall and into Aberford.
From there it was
@Old jon 's favourite route into Barwick and on to Scholes, still into the blooming headwind. As I reached the descent down to the Coronation Tree the wind and rain really picked up and I was forced to pedal downhill to keep a decent speed up.
Abandoning plans to go the "long way" round to home, I took Leeds Rd straight into the weather. It got vaguely ridiculous at this point as it's only a slight rise through the village before the descent down to Cock Beck, but the wind meant I had to drop onto the small cog at the front to maintain progress. Where on earth had this come from???
Down the hill, pedaling all the way
and as I turned onto local roads for the last mile or so to home the heavens really opened, reminding me that my lightweight coat really is only showerproof...
Having quickly reached a state of maximum moistness there was no point taking shelter so close to home, so I just pushed on and got the ride finished.
34.29 miles (55.18km) in
2hr 26m at an average of
14.1 mph, with
1,571ft climbed. Not quite the ride I'd planned on setting off, but at least that's a metric half century in the bag for this month.
In keeping with true cycling tradition, within 10 minutes of getting home, the sun was back out and the sky was blue...
Tomorrow looks a much better prospect from a meteorological point of view
