I came up to Yorkshire this weekend for two hilly time trials for Mother’s Day, and fortuitously was able to do two cycle races as well. After 27 hilly miles on Saturday, the legs were not quite as good today. But, I still got round the Ilkley course in a good time. Just squeezing in a 25 mph ride, and taking a couple of seconds off the course record.
The course starts in Addingham and heads north on the B road towards Bolton Abbey. At Bolton Abbey, you turn left on the A59 up the long drag towards Skipton. The long drag averages only 2%, but it is a hard road, if the wind is in the wrong place. Then before Skipton, you turn left back towards Addingham on the A65.
If anything it felt colder than yesterday, I left the leg warmers on and concentrated on staying warm. You can often tell in the first miles, how you feel. Saturday I knew it would be a good ride, today, I knew it would be a bit harder. The wind was probably in the right direction – giving a little help up the long drag. But, on turning left back to Addingham, it was very hard work. Some side-wind gusts had me reaching for the handlebars. I managed to keep it going up the hill to the reservoir, because once you’ve made it there you only have a little bit of downhill to go. By the reservoir, I lost a bit of time getting stuck behind a slow moving bus. Still, it didn’t matter in the end because I held on for first place. Henry King (and previous course record holder) of the promoting club Ilkley CC was just five seconds behind. – King also rode the Circuit of Ingleborough and today it was a lot closer. 1st lady was Leanne Farrow of Ilkley CC, 3rd was Ben Jacobs of Alba Rosa and 2st junior Nathan Allatt (Holmforth CC) in a good time of 26.
The HQ was in the salubrious location of the Ilkley lawn tennis and squash club. It was a definite step up from your old 1930s wooden village hall. I felt slightly out of place in my sweaty lycra, but they didn’t seem to mind.
It was good to ride this event because I’ve often used these roads for training and could cycle to the start from my parents home in Menston.
- Average power for ride (10.1 miles) – 298 watts 25.6mph
- By comparison Saturday’s Circuit of Ingleborough was 27 miles (296 watt average) 25.9mph.
- So it looks like Ilkley was harder than Circuit of Ingleborough.