Today promised to be nice, weatherwise, so I switched back to a short sleeved top and shorts, with arm and knee warmers to start with.
By 'eck it were chilly riding up Coal Road in the mist...
Still, enough pedalling eventually warms you up.
From there it was Skeltons Lane and the long descent of Sandhills into Thorner where the sun very
nearly came out as I cycled along Main Street, but then ducked back into the clouds as I climbed Milner Lane and headed along the ridge to East Rigton, then took Bramham Lane for the deserted singletrack lane all the way to Jewitt Lane. This lane suffers from mud during the autumn and winter and I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to ride along it given the current state of it. Today it was passable, but parts of it were only just rideable, especially around the s-bends.
Anyhow, up the rise and onto one of the Thorner Lanes and a swift run towards Bramham, although taking it very steady through the normally flat out dip due to the puddles and wash out from the fields. Across the A1(M) and into Bramham, with a wiggle through the village before cresting Town Hill and heading out into the countryside again on Toluston Lane.
Eventually crossed the county line into North Yorkshire and for some reason remembered the sense of achievement I got the first time I reached this point. Now it barely registers - funny how things change.
Down Garnett Lane and across a very quiet A659 and then the A64 bridge before the drop down into Stutton where I stuck to the main Weedling Gate through the village, across Cock Beck and up the single track road to the A162. Right and up the hill past Grimston Park, eventually reaching the top and turning onto Raw Lane for the mainly gentle downhill to Ulleskelf. Over the railway line, diverting through the village and then on to Church Fenton, where I stopped for a quick pic:
View attachment 374979
View attachment 374980
Back in the saddle and through the village, toyed with the idea of heading to Sherburn-in-Elmet but decided against it and crossed back over the railway line and headed for Barkston Ash and the A162 again. Normally I'd do a quick left / right onto Headwell Lane and head for Saxton, but today I carried on a bit further north and took the next left onto Saxton Lane, which is actually much nicer and also leads, unsurprisingly, to Saxton.
Through the village onto Cold Hill Lane and between the fields, dropping down onto Copley Lane and heading for Lotherton Gates.
There was a lot of mud on the road in places and I warned a couple of cyclists heading the opposite way to take care, but this was nothing compared to the mudfest on the B1217 Collier Lane just after the entrance to Lotherton Hall. Loads of mud, clearly dragged straight out of a field by farm machinery and several inches deep in places forcing me to ride almost in the middle of the (60mph) road as far as the A1(M) bridge. Judging by the smell it might not all have been mud either...
This was simply ridiculous - reported once I got home but by the time the council are back at work on Monday I'll bet most of it has been cleared by passing vehicles.
Anyhow, back on tarmac I could actually see it was up the drag to the M1 roundabout and then a short climb before the descent into Garforth, used the filter lane again to get past the queuing traffic (no thanks to the Ford faux-by-four who moved over trying to block me going about my lawful business
), under the railway line and over the M1 again before nailing it up Long Lane into Barwick, setting a new PB
The climbing continues from Barwick most of the way to Scholes, before it's generally (but not all) downwards on Leeds Road and over Cock Beck again, before hitting local roads up to home.
35.75 miles (57.53km) in
2h 31m at an average of
14.1mph with
1,532ft climbed and an average temperature of just 11.7°C (so the arm and knee warmers stayed on
)
Another good ride despite the lack of sunshine, and one more for the half century challenge so I'm happy with that. Quite a few other riders out, but numbers have definitely started to drop off in the last few weeks.
And for obvious reasons the bike got a hose down before being put away today
To end, the map:
View attachment 374983
.Had to stop at the top for a rest 
and let the heart rate drop talk about going into the red !! . After this effort I relaxed the pace and completed the rest of my normal loop to St Bernards to Quorn and commuting route home 33.6 miles in the bag at 16.1 mph and 2100ft of climbing . This loop contains a bit of everything climbing ,fast descents ,rolling roads a couple of fast s bends I think that why I use it as my fall back 50km ride
