Ride 039.

 
Clay bank Info Board

Approaching the gate at Ingleby Bank

"What are we doing here...?"

"We've all done it before Col, it's your turn."

The sun shines on Terra

The steep track past Turkey Nab and onto Battersby Moor

Oz and Col's attempt at choreography does not impress

Downhill with a tail wind - pure heaven

Coleson Banks

Coleson Banks

Coleson Banks

Coleson Banks

Why are low-level bridleways always like this?

"There's a bike under here somewhere..."

Teflon Chris didn't need to clean his bike in the stream

 

Date:      6th January 2005         Distance: 21.25 miles

The first ride of a new year, the year when we are going to ride further and faster, longer and more often, in glorious weather; friendly ramblers greeting us with sunny smiles. The same futile optimism as every year. A weather forecast for 70 mph wind and heavy rain couldn’t put off us grizzled old mountain men, although Howard, neither grizzled or old (and with potentially many more years to ride than us) sat this one out from the comfort of the settee. Speaking of settees, regular readers may be wondering what happened to Simon ‘Grannyring’ Robson, our youngest compatriot. It seems he is taking a sabbatical from riding, spending the latter four months of 2004 in pursuit of lager, kebabs, a 147 snooker break, a return from the bookies (he’s never realised the bookies has 5 windows to pay in and only one to pay out) and a house, which he moved into at the beginning of the year. Now he’s a B&Q boy mortgage monkey, in common with many others nowadays, putting their lives on hold in favour of paint charts and tile cutters. Apparently we’ve became a society where how your house is decorated is infinitely more important than what you do outside it.  

We hard-core half-wits met at wind-swept Clay Bank car park, quickly donning every item of clothing and flinging ourselves down the Ingleby Greenhow road at speeds approaching 40 mph. Directly into the relative shelter of Greenhow Plantation and a nice fire road pedal to Bank Foot Farm, before the heart-bursting climb past Turkey nab onto Battersby Moor. Chris and Col lulled into a false sense of security by 5 miles of easy riding had no inkling of what lay ahead, especially when we turned into the wind. It was a struggle. Joining the Cleveland Way, a smattering of rain did not make the prospect of 4 more miles into the wind any more attractive, a quick consensus of opinions in the teeth of wind and we were heading North East, downhill with the wind at our backs, deciding if it would be coffee or tea at Glebe Cottage. For a change we went down Coleson Banks rather than the Baysdale Road. It’s much better now the dolomite someone kindly spread over the lower section has consolidated; riding down without rattling fillings or detached retinas is now a possibility. 

After our coffee break and a perusal of the map, I thought it might be an idea to check out the bridleway between Easby and Brookside Farm by way of an interesting diversion. None of us had ridden it before and probably none of us will again, it began well enough on a firm double track before skirting some fields of the stickiest mud ever encountered, necessitating frequent stops to declag the bikes. The stream at Brookside Farm came in handy for a spot of bike washing. 

Road took us from Little Ayton to Ingleby Greenhow, where we rode through the ford by the churchyard before more road back up to Clay Bank. Not a bad day despite having to give in to the weather and change our planned route, we still got a few miles in and the rain rewarded our optimism by merely drizzling.

 Height Profile: (click to enlarge)

 


 

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