Oh, you want more?
The pie at the end was phenomenal.
Still more?
Ok. Rocked up at 9am on Saturday morning, 4 hours after the organic alarm went off. It had been dry on the drive up, but I knew the rain was coming in, and the ride was forecast to be wet for the first couple of hours or so. Sure enough, at about 8.30 the heavens opened. As I parked up in the car park, Ewan in the car next to me opened his window and I opened mine, and we exchanged hellos and commented on how bloody stupid it all was. The car was rocking in the wind, and the rain was horizontal. I was in no mood for this at all. Despite this, I got myself changed in the car, then nipped out to the boot, before getting back in the car. 30 seconds out in the elements was enough to drench me. This wasn't going to be fun. JH turned up being ridiculously cheerful for the conditions, saying it would be character building. I told him I was quite happy with the amount of character I had already, thanks all the same.
Finally talked into getting out of the car, bike was sorted and off we set. The first 3-4 minutes are up a steep hill, which is always a pleasant way to warm up. Then a fast descent of a mile or so, which was enough to show me that my brakes were not going to be confidence inspiring today. Another few miles of preamble before we came into view of Shibden Wall, the first serious climb of the last 2 editions. But it wasn't to be today, JH had tweaked the route to take in a few other climbs, so first we had Hough to get up.
Now this is where it all gets very vague for me. I'll be honest, I was f*cking miserable because of how soaking wet I was. It just wasn't fun at all. I don't know if this was the reason or not, but I don't really remember a lot of the first climb (and a few other parts of the route), other than it being fairly tough, but at least I got up it with no problems. Then we're off down to Shibden wall, which started off a lot steeper than I remember. Very tough, but I got up it without losing out too much to Ewan & Chappers. At the top I noticed Chappers shaking very badly, definitely a candidate for hypothermia in shorts and a base layer! He bailed not long after this, which was probably a sensible move. I've not seen mention since of how he is/was, but hopefully he's fine!
After that, off to Trooper Lane, via the scenic sights of the centre of Halifax. I didn't make it up it the first year, and I almost failed last year. This year it was again tough but I felt within myself, and not far behind Ewan - until we got to the fenced off bit near the top and had to dismount to get around it. Oh well!
The awesome descent after Trooper Lane was basically horrible, on the brakes for a lot of it due to how soaking wet it was. Another scenic tour of Halifax, and some flat cobbled sections for Trevor's benefit who's off to do Paris Roubaix at the weekend.
Then there's a climb which I can't remember (still fairly miserable, cold and soaking wet at this point), and after this a different descent into Luddenden, which was probably for the best as the super fast one from last year (where Trevor's rim overheated and blew) would have been suicidal in the conditions. Next up was Old Lane, which most people will have seen from the video. I was going fairly well on this until I lost traction and unclipped, which had the hilarious consequence of causing Will to stack it
Tried a few times to get on and ride up but failed, so walked up a bit until I was able to launch myself from a lamppost and get up the rest of it. As JH says - I was averaging 400w just to stay upright for the first section. It's not easy!I think by this time the rain had mostly stopped, and my mood brightened somewhat. Nice tailwind up Cote de Oxenhope certainly helped, spinning up at around sweetspot intensity chatting with Ewan. Waited at the top for the others, then Will took off on the descent. I gave him a couple of minutes head start and then went off after him. To his credit, he reached the bottom before I did, which considering his 'love' of descents and the wet road was very good going for him.
Into Haworth, and Butt Lane, a short cobbled climb where Ewan, Chappers and I had a race last year. I went for it, averaging almost 500w for the segment, placing me 8th overall on Strava. Awesome fun. Stung a bit though!
Then up Haworth high street, before going back down a bit to refuel with a much appreciated Yorkshire Pasty & a caramel slice. Will had gone on ahead to go to the loo, and when he came back to find us literally couldn't see us waving at him from 50 yards away. This is where we started getting concerned for his eye sight!
Trevor departed us at this point, so we were down to 4 from the original 6.
Another climb here that I don't really remember. Then a fast decent into Goose Eye. From here there's a shallow cobbled climb. Ewan and I went on ahead whilst JH waited for Will. We got to the top and waited. And waited. And waited. JH reached us, and said Will had gone past him, talked to him, then gone off a different way. 2 MTBers came up and said they'd seen him climbing some ridiculously steep hill. We went back down the cobbled climb (bonus cobbled descent!), to see if he'd come back down. 20 minutes of faffing later, contact was made, and as expected Will had realised we'd gone the other way, but wasn't going back down the steep hill for love nor money! Arrangements were made to meet him further on, and back up the cobbled climb we went.
Then there was a bit of getting lost in a cul-de-sac, before heading off up a closed road. Eventually we reunited with Will, and were off up Hainworth. I remembered hating every moment of it last year, but coped with it much better this year. Ewan got quite a gap on me on this climb, but I was just happy to get up feeling quite a bit quicker than last year.
One last climb, and then a short drag back to the pub, smack bang into the headwind. Will pulled the entire way along this, and I struggled to hold his wheel (with the benefit of him taking the brunt of the wind), with Ewan struggling to hold mine. Will had waited 6+ hours to find his legs!
Back to the pub, several of Timothy Taylor's fine selection, and the pie and peas were mana from heaven.
Much credit as usual to JH for organising, and although the Northern Witch was unable to control the weather this time, his on the fly route changes mostly kept us fairly sheltered from the headwind. I may have been miserable to start with, but I did warm into it, and it was a great day out. Very much looking forward to the next one.
and great to meet up again if only briefly 
