Night Riding In Winter - You Don't Have To Be Mad To Do It But It Helps

Tuesday Night Club Ride - 17-02-15

From Left to Right  Kevin, June, Justin & Andy

Thank you to Kevin for lending me his phone to take the picture on today's post. My i-phone was just rubbish at taking a photo at night. Either it was  too dark or too over exposed looking like there had been some kind of radioactive incident.

Even so there have been some unfortunate tricks of the light. June has got some devilish glint in her eyes and Justin has got this creepy look about him.

So we had gathered at the meeting point for a Tuesday Night Cottingham Road Club Ride. In the summer these rides can be idylic with strong evening sunshine, not a breath of wind and there can be large turnouts. When the rides take place in darkness from beginning to end and conditions get less pleasant, more hostile and, let's be honest, more dangerous the numbers dwindle.

On Tuesday night the temperature was 3 or 4 degrees, light winds and no rain but there were some damp patches and standing water on the roads. The group consisted of  Justin, Andy, June, Kevin and myself.

Firstly it is imperative that the pre-ride protocols are followed, namely :

• Pre-ride banter eg. One of our number rather than maintain his bike properly bought a new one ! Can you imagine it ?!
• Discussion about latest biking equipment or biking related technology.
• Slagging off hard core club members that have failed to turn out. ( optional )
• Thanking our lucky stars Tony (Clubman of the Year 2014) is in Australia and not able to make us all suffer even more than we are about to.
• Discussion about the route including out and out lies such as "steady one tonight" and "I don't feel good at all tonight"

So we headed off westwards down Eppleworth Road, turning right as we passed under the A164 and up the short,sharp hill past Skidby Mill before going down into Skidby itself. Then we start the long drag up towards Little Weighton.

Justin and Andy can contain themselves no longer and shoot off up the hill. I do not go with them because

a)      I can't           and      b)    ....well, there is no b)

I do my version of Chris Froome in 2014 Vuelta a Epana i.e I go at my own pace in a time trial fashion and hope that that they will come back to me. It doesn't work, it would seem I am not Chris Froome. We go through Little Weighton and turn left onto Rowley Road where we have a little regroupment before pressing on.

I do a bit on the front up Rowley Road and get in to the left when a lorry with lights blazing comes up behind us. No it's not a lorry with lights on full beam it is the lighting rig that Justin has got on his handlebars !

At the end of Rowley Road we turn right onto Riplingham Road and head up to the top of Beverley Road. Oh no not Beverley Road descent again ! This time in the dark. Justin and Andy zip off and max out at just under 40 mph ( according to Strava ). I take it a lot steadier and hope I am not worrying June & Kevin behind me with my erratic bike handling.

A significant problem for me going down is oncoming cars with full beam on rendering me disorientated for a few seconds until my eyes can see properly again.When I get to the bottom I am a little shaken up. Justin and Andy have big smiles on their faces like they have enjoyed the descent hugely. I wonder which hill they just came down?  Surely it wasnt the hill I just came down?

We regroup again in South Cave and then pass through North Cave, Hotham and onto North Newbald. All reasonably flat apart from the climb out of South Cave and Common Hill near Hotham which provide a couple of little stingers to the legs.

We all tuck in behind Justin for this stretch. As per usual he is a man on a mission. You get up to his back wheel, he senses you are there, he goes a bit faster. You get up to his back wheel, he senses you are there, he goes a bit faster....you know where this is going. Eventually there is a trail of broken cyclists littered across half a mile or so behind him.

June and I were discussing his ride leading at one point and June seemed to be under the impression Justin worked in the hospitality industry and he was a bar steward or something. At least I think that's what she said.

Still on the bright side as we approach North Newbald we go past the bottom of Trundlegate without turning onto the ascent. Excellent, that's a bit of a result, but we must be going up the hill somewhere ? What torture lies in wait ?

Stoneknowle Hill is a steady climb out of North Newbald for about 1.5 miles. It is not steep, some segments are 4 % but it goes on for a long time and can provide a tough challenge if you are pushing along. I go up next to Justin and decide it is about time I did just that and pushed myself on this ride.

Justin chats away merrily as we go up but very soon all conversation dries up from me as I concentrate on breathing. During the climb my heart rate tops out at 185 bpm which is very close to as high as it goes so I know I have given it a good go.

We start going downhill again and at the top of a long straight descent towards Etton  Justin declares "Shall we give it hell for leather down here Alan ? "

I consider whether I am going to be a man or a mouse and decide that actually I rather like cheese.

" Not for me Justin" I reply pathetically, to which he replies " Goooo-Onnnnn !!" and off he goes !

 I follow a fair distance behind, rather conservatively I thought, but when I get home and upload the ride to Strava I discover this is the only section on which I have got a PB. Funny how things turn out.

We are heading back for Cottingham now. Etton, Cherry Burton, Bishop Burton and Walkington. There is nasty little short climb at Bishop Burton called Bishop Burton Granny Hump on Strava which is not a very attractive name.

This is usually towards the end of rides and the combination of the short sharp rise, the fact that you are already tired and the poor condition of the road make it a real energy sapper. I find myself giving it a banzai and shouting out " Come On ! "  For a brief while I am ahead of you know who but then he lights the afterburners. This guy is one hell of a bar steward.

We all regroup after the Granny Hump and we are starting to wind down now for the end. The route takes us back to Little Weighton Road but this time going back down into Skidby. This is a favorite section for Andy and Justin who tank off down the hill.

Once through Skidby we all come together again at Skidby Mill and coast in together back into Cottingham. To my surprise we had covered 36 miles a good distance for a Tuesday night ride in winter. For me they were quite punchy miles a lot of hard efforts and then backing off to recover so I was pleased with it.


We had laughed, met a new club member in Kevin and had a terrific work out. Not bad for a Tuesday night.   I must come up with a training plan though....

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