Ride Reports
Saturday 20th April 2019
Bowland Knotts – 66 Miles - Shane Blackmore
B Ride Report 20/04/2019
Arriving at the cobbles on a glorious morning I wondered how many riders would be joining me after discussions regarding ride distances and that not many want to attempt the planned 100 miler the following Saturday, given that the planned ride was one of the harder B rides.
I received a message from the Chairman who was planning to meet us at Slaidburn as he did not have the legs for Bowland Knotts.
To my surprise, fifteen B riders assembled on the cobbles for the days challenging ride including Annette Tucker and Simon Ashby who had chosen this ride for moving up to the B Group.
Leaving Garstang we weaved our way through Scorton, Quernmore, Halton, Caton to Wray which included a couple of brief encounters with the A Group. Stopping at the post office for refreshments prior to the main challenge of the day although Ian Gibson decided the post office was not good enough and continued onto the café a little further on.
Leaving Wray we headed to Keasden and to the summit of Bowland Knotts. Simon Ashby made it to the top unfortunately in agony due to cramp in both legs after a brief break ensuring Simon was fine to continue we started the descent and headed for the café stop in Slaidburn.
Arriving at the Café I could see no sign of our Chairman and realised why when I looked at my phone he had sent another message asking for our ETA and that he would aim to be there at 11:30 may be the sun had already got to him giving us two hours to get to Slaidburn via Bowland Knotts or he was planning to meet the A group.
Sarah Jane Gibson suggested another route out of Slaidburn which I was considering until Ian stated I was a lot more climbing than the usual way which did not get the approval from the rest of the group.
Leaving Slaidburn the usual way we headed to Dunsop Bridge and then to Chipping. This is where we lost two riders Ian Gibson decided to take Simon for Ice cream to celebrate his fantastic achievement but did not invite anyone else Ian would pay for this later. As the rest of us headed back to Garstang without ice cream riders dropped off as they made their way home finally arriving back in Garstang with a group of nine we all said our goodbyes.
It was a fantastic day for cycling and a great effort by everyone especially Simon and Annette even more so when you consider the average mileage for the B group was around 75 miles and 4500 ft of climbing with an average speed of 12.7 mph.
Finally back to Mr Three café stops Ian Gibson and his broken bike metal fatigue?? Too many café stops I think.
Also a big Thankyou to David Hodgson and Dave Corless for taking up the role of rear gunners for the day.
Arriving at the cobbles on a glorious morning I wondered how many riders would be joining me after discussions regarding ride distances and that not many want to attempt the planned 100 miler the following Saturday, given that the planned ride was one of the harder B rides.
I received a message from the Chairman who was planning to meet us at Slaidburn as he did not have the legs for Bowland Knotts.
To my surprise, fifteen B riders assembled on the cobbles for the days challenging ride including Annette Tucker and Simon Ashby who had chosen this ride for moving up to the B Group.
Leaving Garstang we weaved our way through Scorton, Quernmore, Halton, Caton to Wray which included a couple of brief encounters with the A Group. Stopping at the post office for refreshments prior to the main challenge of the day although Ian Gibson decided the post office was not good enough and continued onto the café a little further on.
Leaving Wray we headed to Keasden and to the summit of Bowland Knotts. Simon Ashby made it to the top unfortunately in agony due to cramp in both legs after a brief break ensuring Simon was fine to continue we started the descent and headed for the café stop in Slaidburn.
Arriving at the Café I could see no sign of our Chairman and realised why when I looked at my phone he had sent another message asking for our ETA and that he would aim to be there at 11:30 may be the sun had already got to him giving us two hours to get to Slaidburn via Bowland Knotts or he was planning to meet the A group.
Sarah Jane Gibson suggested another route out of Slaidburn which I was considering until Ian stated I was a lot more climbing than the usual way which did not get the approval from the rest of the group.
Leaving Slaidburn the usual way we headed to Dunsop Bridge and then to Chipping. This is where we lost two riders Ian Gibson decided to take Simon for Ice cream to celebrate his fantastic achievement but did not invite anyone else Ian would pay for this later. As the rest of us headed back to Garstang without ice cream riders dropped off as they made their way home finally arriving back in Garstang with a group of nine we all said our goodbyes.
It was a fantastic day for cycling and a great effort by everyone especially Simon and Annette even more so when you consider the average mileage for the B group was around 75 miles and 4500 ft of climbing with an average speed of 12.7 mph.
Finally back to Mr Three café stops Ian Gibson and his broken bike metal fatigue?? Too many café stops I think.
Also a big Thankyou to David Hodgson and Dave Corless for taking up the role of rear gunners for the day.
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