Ride Reports
Saturday 5th August 2017
A Ride to Kirkby Stephen by Paul Baillie
Myself, Ian Tunbridge Rick Wiggans Paul Whaley and Michael Birchall left the cobbles just after 9am in sunny weather for a long ride without any major hills. We took the rolling roads through Scorton, Quernmore and Brookhouse, before a short stretch of main road towards Hornby, where we turned left and crossed the Lune. A quick pitstop at Gressingham and were were soon steadily cruising along the road to Kirkby Lonsdale. The sky was blue but the roads were very wet here and there was one big black cloud hanging just above us, but we stayed dry, for now!
Once we got to Kirkby Lonsdale I started to wonder why we hadn't yet caught Steve Mack and Eric Hall, who had set of Lancaster in front of us, with he plan of being scoped up and riding with us to Sedbergh. A combination of a steady pace, along with a couple of pitstops and strong riding from the breakaway meant we never did catch them!
A nice ride through Barbondale was enjoyed before a few spots of rain started to fall as we plunged down into Gawthorpe. 2 of us were very underdressed for this type of weather so decided to up the pace a bit in a effort to keep warm as the rain really started to come down heavily.
This is where things started to unravel! I knew there was a right turn ahead and I also knew Whaley didn't have the route on his Garmin, so as we reached the turn, Mick rode on and I waited for the others to arrive. Whaley seemed not to hear my shouts of WHALEEEEY and carried straight on towards Sedbergh. Seeing as this was the second time in a week I'd lost him on a ride I did feel a bit bad. I also felt cold so pressed on, thinking he'd see the error once he got to Sedbergh then re-join the route. He didn't.
Ian decided to stop for lunch in Sedbergh leaving Rick, Mick and me to roll along the newly surfaced road to Garsdale. A left turn here saw us climbing up to the highest point of the day, followed by a lonnnnnng descent to Kirkby Stephen and lunch, at just over 60 miles.
Mick had gotten a puncture on the descent so him and Rick rolled to the cafe a short while later to find me and Whaley in situ. Paul had ridden there using the road we were to use again on the way home!
A quick borrow of the Cafe owners track pump and we were back on our way. I was determined to keep us all together for the return leg, even though the route was pretty straight forward. Climb away from Kirkby Stephen. Left towards the Fat Lamb pub then plunge down to Sedbergh. We made decent progress down here and on towards Kirkby Lonsdale and Caton. A detour form the usual grind towards Quernmore saw us climb up towards the reservoirs near to the Uni then drop down and turn left, past the mushroom farm and home via Forton.
All in all, a good day out and some cracking scenery. Stats from my Garmin were - 113.1 miles 6724ft climbed and an average speed of 17mph
Once we got to Kirkby Lonsdale I started to wonder why we hadn't yet caught Steve Mack and Eric Hall, who had set of Lancaster in front of us, with he plan of being scoped up and riding with us to Sedbergh. A combination of a steady pace, along with a couple of pitstops and strong riding from the breakaway meant we never did catch them!
A nice ride through Barbondale was enjoyed before a few spots of rain started to fall as we plunged down into Gawthorpe. 2 of us were very underdressed for this type of weather so decided to up the pace a bit in a effort to keep warm as the rain really started to come down heavily.
This is where things started to unravel! I knew there was a right turn ahead and I also knew Whaley didn't have the route on his Garmin, so as we reached the turn, Mick rode on and I waited for the others to arrive. Whaley seemed not to hear my shouts of WHALEEEEY and carried straight on towards Sedbergh. Seeing as this was the second time in a week I'd lost him on a ride I did feel a bit bad. I also felt cold so pressed on, thinking he'd see the error once he got to Sedbergh then re-join the route. He didn't.
Ian decided to stop for lunch in Sedbergh leaving Rick, Mick and me to roll along the newly surfaced road to Garsdale. A left turn here saw us climbing up to the highest point of the day, followed by a lonnnnnng descent to Kirkby Stephen and lunch, at just over 60 miles.
Mick had gotten a puncture on the descent so him and Rick rolled to the cafe a short while later to find me and Whaley in situ. Paul had ridden there using the road we were to use again on the way home!
A quick borrow of the Cafe owners track pump and we were back on our way. I was determined to keep us all together for the return leg, even though the route was pretty straight forward. Climb away from Kirkby Stephen. Left towards the Fat Lamb pub then plunge down to Sedbergh. We made decent progress down here and on towards Kirkby Lonsdale and Caton. A detour form the usual grind towards Quernmore saw us climb up towards the reservoirs near to the Uni then drop down and turn left, past the mushroom farm and home via Forton.
All in all, a good day out and some cracking scenery. Stats from my Garmin were - 113.1 miles 6724ft climbed and an average speed of 17mph
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