Opened the curtains this morning to find near perfect cycling weather, so it was out on the Pro Carbon to get some miles under the wheels before the rain arrived.
Off up Coal Road, Red Hall Lane, the A58 and on to Whin Moor Lane for the familiar groove to Shadwell, but turned left up the hill and on to Slaid Hill lights, where a quick wiggle saw me onto Wigton Lane, which has a deceptively gradual rise (especially into the breeze), but then drops away nicely down to the A61 at Alwoodley gates, where I times the lights perfectly to go straight across onto Alwoodley Lane. This has a couple of short dips, but is generally uphill all the way to King Lane, where I turned right, down the twisty hill past the golf course, through Five Lane Ends and down to Arthington Road and the climb up the hill behind Golden Acre Park before turning on to Kings Road for the drop down onto the A660, which would take me almost all the way to todays destination.
Right here and up through Bramhope, still climbing steadily on an increasingly busy road, before the gentle roll down to the lights at the Dyneley Arms, which were red (I always seem to hit these at red!)
Anyway, eventually they changed so it was straight on (although one day I will ride down Pool Bank), round the S-bends and the long descent down into Otley, getting overtaken by two serious cycling types who passed silently just before the roundabout, where I headed straight on down the hill into Otley itself.
On entering the town I spotted the signs - today was Otley Show Day and by heck was it busy even at this relatively early hour. Though the town and on towards the bridge over the river, where traffic was really snarled up heading for the showground. Eventually made it over the bridge and pushed my way through the queuing traffic to turn right onto Farnley lane and into Wharfemeadows Park for a stretch and a couple of photos:
After an energy bar it was back on the bike to tackle the steepest climb of the day up through Newall towards Farnley.
My lack on bike time showed up here as I huffed and puffed my way to the top, so I was pleasantly surprised to set my fastest time this year up the hill (although well behind my PB)
Anyhow, what goes up must come down and I was rewarded with the long descent down the other side through Farnley Park, hitting 39.9mph (yes, I know...
) over the River Washburn and onto Leathley Lane for the ride along the valley bottom all the way to the Harrogate Road junction, where after hitting a bit more traffic it was right and back over the Wharfe and into Pool, before another right and heading back towards Otley on Pool Road, back into the breeze again.
On reaching Otley I skirted round the edge of the town centre, cutting up Gay Lane and starting the climb back out of town, reversing my inbound route up Leeds Road and then onto the A660 for the long climb all the way up the side of the Chevin, which was just a question of finding a gear I could spin in and keeping it going until I reached the top. Another red at the Dyneley Arms lights (see, I told you
) gave me a minute to get my breath and then it was more retracing the outbound route through Bramhope, although downhill this time which was much more fun.
Up Kings Road past the quarry and just before I reached the T-junction to turn right a rider flew down Arthington Lane on a Pro Carbon - the first time I've seen another one out on the roads, so I set off in hot (OK, warm
) pursuit to see if I could catch him.
It soon became apparent that I couldn't
so I settled into a steady pace up the hill on King Lane, before stopping on Alwoodley Lane for some Tangfastic to see me through to home. from here it's mainly downhill to the lights at Alwoodley Gates which were red as I filtered past the queuing traffic, but turned green just as I reached the ASL
Up Wigton Lane and then retraced my route as far as Shadwell, but stayed on main Street down the hill through the village, crossing Bay Horse Lane to climb up to the A58 before the brief downhill run to Coal Road and the climb back up the hill.
At the junction with Skeltons Lane there was a sign out saying that Coal Road was closed, but all the motorists were simply driving round it, so I did too on the basis that any diversion was going to stick me on busy A roads and if the road was actually closed I could nip through onto the local roads at a couple of points where cars couldn't go.
I got passed by a glorious scarlet Ferrari FF here, just about where the Aston DB11 passed me last weekend (who'd have thought Coal Road was supercar central?
), but very quickly the traffic all ground to a halt, with a couple of big trucks at the front of the queue. So I did what any self respecting cyclist would do - filtered all the way down the offside, before turning onto local roads at the front of the queue
Anyhow, it's a relatively short, mainly downhill run to home from there, and I was home almost before I knew it
It seems that Coal Road was closed for the dreaded
'surface dressing' - so bear that in mind if you're heading out that way in the next few days. Some local club runs often head out that way on a Sunday, so it might be worth avoiding. I know I will be...
34.2 miles (55.04km) in
2h 34m at an average of
13.3mph with
1,751ft of climbing. I'm happy enough with that considering the long steady climbs on this route and I wasn't in any particular rush - plus it's another entry in the half century challenge, it was lovely weather and there were a lot of other cyclists out there too.
That said, today was the worst day I've ever had for muppet car drivers. I had more close passes that I can mention, several on Otley Road, supposedly the location of West Yorkshire Police's much publicised clampdown on motorised idiocy. Hopefully it's just a one off, on a route with some busier roads - although they were plenty wide enough for most drivers to give me enough room - so goodness knows what is behind it.
Anyway, enough of that - here is a map to finish things off:
