Lumpy and bumpy

In the absence of a clearance to run from John the Fizzy yesterday a ride with l'Herb and the Harrowgays (Angry, Wood and Jacko) was arranged.  As K and Mrs Herb were booked for a day of musicals and beer in Leeds we had to be back early, so the team assembled in Otley at 8am for a short but hilly circuit of Ilkley Moor dubbed the Tour de Rombalds.

Along the Askwith road to Ilkley into a freshish breeze was an opportunity for the us to assess each other's fitness before the road headed upwards.  We all seemed to be in similar shape, but l'Herb has been bike commuting 3 times a week and Jackson has been poncing about at spin classes so we could have had a couple of dark horses there.

We turned off towards Addingham Moorside and as usual "The Yoyo" Anson screamed past everyone at the bottom of the climb.  Also as usual he slowed down fairly quickly and eventually it was the Herb leading us out up the steady ascent.  I managed to catch his wheel after a bit of an effort towards the top, with Gym-Bunny Jackson a few yards behind.  Wood was next and predictably, following his early efforts, Angry was some distance back.

The drop down into Silsden was fast and bumpy, and all the while we were looking leftwards towards the "Murder Mile" as the climb back up onto the moor is known.  This is a bit of a beast - not quite as steep as Park Rash but not far off on the vicious hairpin half way up.  The Gym-Bunny took the lead up here, and again I managed to grab the wheel and hang on within a few yards of him.  Herb suffers a bit on these very steep climbs as his winter bike has a triple which leaves him spinning away as we grind it out, so when the summer bike reappears there may be a change of performance.  Once again Angry (getting angrier by the minute) was last over the top.

We then dropped into East Morton for our last big climb, a hill I've never ridden up but have wondered how gnarly it is as I've driven up it (and also as I've sat in meetings at work as our board rom gives a very good view of cars and vans crawling up the steep part).  A very steep section just out of the village leads to a steadier but still tough section.  I came past Jacko at the bottom and stayed just in front with him on my wheel to the top - I think two seconds and a first place probably just gave me the polka dot jersey for the day.

A wind assisted whizz along the moor road led to decision time - the original plan had been to drop into Menston and finish by skirting along the Chevin.  In the end we headed round the moor to Burley Woodhead and dropped down in to Burley down a brilliant straight, smooth descent, where all of us probably topped 40mph.  The ride back to Otley was uneventful for Wood and I, as the time trial specialists hared off along the main road.  "Hared" being apposite, as I pootled along in a tortoise like fashion, then turned off along the old road into Otley and emerged in front of the speedy boys, as did Wood who had followed me.

Unbeknown to me Wood had raised an inflammatory fist as he came out in front of the lads, which proved too much for the Gym-Bunny to bear, who hammered down even more power as he came round the bend.  Unfortunately this blast of adrenalin-fuelled acceleration exceeded the adhesive properties of his 23mm tyres and he came off fairly spectacularly.  I bimbled back to the car oblivious, but it was a fairly ripped up little Bunny that arrived a few minutes later with a ripped arse, overshoe and gloves, along with a nicely scraped rear mech.

All in all a nice 27m jaunt with some tough climbs.  As I'm still benched from running for another week we're going to try and get another ride in tomorrow, probably from Embsay.