Now this is a rare event, two rides in two days...
The forecast for today was grey and overcast, but we'll come back to that later. I'd been on the edge of being too warm yesterday and it felt quite mild when I popped my head out of the door first thing, so today saw the first outing for the 3/4's this year - apologies if you were dazzled by the glare from my whiter than white legs...
Up Coal Road, Red Hall Lane, the A58, Whin Moor Lane and into Shadwell for the descent through the village before climbing back up to cross the A58 again and then Carr Lane into Thorner, which seemed oddly busy despite it not quite being 9am.
Milner Lane, where the overnight rain had at least washed some of the hedge trimmings to the sides of the road and onto the ridge - only to find the farmer had been in and out of the first couple of fields and left a splattering of mud behind.
Given this I decided to miss out East Rigton and Compton Lane / Bramham Lane (which were bound to be mudfests) and turned right onto Thorner Lane heading towards Bramham. Just before the A1(M) bridge I took a left onto West Woods Road and headed north to Wattlesyke Roundabout and then down the hill to Wetherby, maxing out at 34.6mph, matching my fastest speed so far this year...
A quick loop around Wetherby town centre and down to the riverside for an energy bar and a photo:
Back on and up the step climb out of the car park, heading for Walton Road and finding a fellow cyclist who was struggling with a puncture.
Stopped and offered what assistance I could, before heading over the A1(M) and on, eventually to Thorp Arch, looping round via Church Causeway and dropping down to the single track bridge over the river.
Despite me being established on the bridge, that didn't stop a teapot in a Volvo heading the opposite way drive straight across, clearly thinking I'd just magically get out of his way. Fortunately there was just enough room for me to move over, as he certainly wasn't stopping...
Up the climb at the other side and down Boston Spa Main Street, all the way out to Barr Lane, where I looped back down to Clifford and the long climb up through the village. Which is rewarded with the long(ish) downhill towards Bramham - just over the brow of the hill the opposite lane was full of parked cars. The bus driver heading up the hill (Harrogate & District, some of the best bus drivers in the industry) stopped as I had right of way, but this clearly vexed the Golf driver behind him who swerved out, overtook the bus and then pushed through the gap despite me being there...
The bus driver rightly shook his head at such antics. There must be something in the water out that way.
Through Bramham and up the hill, where I stopped to take my jacket off as the sun had come out and I was getting a bit warm.
From there it was straight down Paradise Way to Bramham Crossroads and then on down the hill to Aberford.
As I plunged into Aberford, I realised that if I headed straight home via Barwick I was going to come up short of a metric half, so I headed up the hill to Lotherton Gates, then turned right and back under the A1(M) again. I don't really like this road (too narrow / too fast), so turned back into Aberford from the opposite direction completing the loop and then turned onto Cattle Lane for the familiar route home via Barwick and Scholes.
35.02 miles (56.35km) in
2h 38m moving time at an average of
13.2mph, with
1,841ft climbed and a maximum temperature of 13.0°C although it felt a
lot warmer in the sun. The only downside to the warm temperatures is that the first flies have already started appearing.
On getting home, the bike was filthy (again) so it was out with the bucket and sponge for a full clean and lube
And finally, a map:
sheep looked like she was saying "ewe are in danger" so I legged it, zoomed up the hill, faster than I ever have 
a helicopter appeared overhead, felt like I was in the TDF, lol 
Passed a friendly roadie coming opposite direction 
