Category Archives: Club ride

Club ride, Frontpage

A Deluge, A Bus Shelter And The Dying Fly

CLUB RIDE TO FITLING – 06/11/16

In the summer there is very little motivation required  to go for a bike ride. In warm and sunny weather you can’t wait to don the lycra and get out there and pedal.

Some people even jet off to sunnier climes such as Majorca and Tenerife where the conditions are so perfect they are transformed into cycling gods biking near 100 mile bike rides day after day. 

Amazing. 

( Note to the Missus : I’m not going Annette. The plane will go into the sea like a dart ! ) 

Hull in November is a very different story.

Continue reading A Deluge, A Bus Shelter And The Dying Fly →

Club ride, Event, Frontpage

I Spy, Thunderbolts And Hedgehogs

CRC CHARITY RIDE -24/06/16

REMAIN or LEAVE ?  This was the big question that had been occupying my thoughts for many weeks if not months.

Constantly mulling it over in my mind. I had lost a lot of sleep.

It certainly felt like one of the biggest decisions of my life and I couldn’t afford to get it wrong.

If I went for REMAIN would I be taken into unchartered territory by a larger group led by an unelected cabal ? Would my wishes for the direction of travel be diluted and diminished, drowned out  by many other opinions and agendas?

If I went for LEAVE and took back control of my destination would it effect my relationship with the others for ever ? Would I be shunned, unable to work with them anymore, cast out , isolated ?

This year’s Cottingham Road Club ( CRC ) charity bike ride was going to be laps of a 40 mile circuit for 24 hours non-stop. Each member could choose how many laps they were prepared to take on.

At the end of every lap I would be faced with the critical decision regarding doing another lap. Shall I REMAIN or LEAVE ?

What ?……..What else did you think I was talking about ?!

Continue reading I Spy, Thunderbolts And Hedgehogs →

Club ride, Frontpage

Counting Limbs, A Bunch Of Bovines And A Hilly Ride

CRC RIDE – BACK TO THE HILLS – 14/05/16

The previous weekend the Cottingham Road Club ( CRC ) outing had been a pan flat ride ( well nearly ) to Naburn  near York. The weather had been glorious, the first warm and sunny weekend of the year.

The cafe stop was idyllic,  lounging in the sunshine at York Marina on the River Ouse. There was  beer quaffing and at least one of our number seriously contemplated a dip in the river.

Luckily Geoff was not aware of the main sewage treatment works for the city of York less than a mile upstream.

43 olympic swimming pools worth of sewage processed every day and yes I actually googled that stat.

That’s a lot of sh….  ”  Hi Alan, that was a great ride on Sunday wasn’t it ?! ”

Roll forward a few days to the Wednesday CRC starter ride and Geoff was still buzzing about the weekend

” Surely, that is what cycling is all about ! ” he said to me

Yes it is Geoff, yes it is.

Things were going to be vey different this weekend though….the hills were back.

Continue reading Counting Limbs, A Bunch Of Bovines And A Hilly Ride →

Club ride, Frontpage

Wind, Wheel Sucking and Withernsea

CRC RIDE 26/03/16 – FORCE 10 FROM WITHERNSEA

On the Easter Bank Holiday weekend the Cottingham Road Club (CRC) ride was going to be a relatively long route in the flatlands to the east of Hull.

A 60 mile loop from Wawne to Withernsea and back and not a hill in sight. Fantastic.

The only time the road was going to kick up was possibly over a sleeping policeman or the odd bridge or flyover.  Bliss.

Maybe on this ride there would be no battling against the forces of nature?

Maybe on this ride there would be no need to push yourself to the limit and beyond?

Maybe on this ride there would be no gobsmackingly huge challenge to overcome?

And,

Maybe on this ride I wouldn’t get dropped

Er…..no.

Continue reading Wind, Wheel Sucking and Withernsea →

Club ride, Frontpage

Hill Lovers, Spartacus And A Kid On a Scooter

CRC RIDE  – THE LOCAL HILLS …..ALL OF THEM – 20/03/16

I am beginning to think that within Cottingham Road Club (CRC) we have a secret society, a Fifth Column or maybe it is even a religious cult.

The members of this cult have unhealthy appetites and try to corrupt others to partake in their perverted pastimes.

You can spot them if you know what to look for.

They have crazy, wild looking eyes, greet each other with a funny handshake, draw each other close and whisper their evil motto ……..

” I Love Hills !! ”

Yes I am of course talking about the unholy abomination that are……. The Hill Lovers. Dah ! Dah ! Dah !

Continue reading Hill Lovers, Spartacus And A Kid On a Scooter →