deb said:

8.30 from crossgates along marishes to thornton dale  then forest drive through dalby

Hi, Kiwi Rob here, just composing my first reply so bear with me…Thought I'd jot down a few lines for the Sunday ride ( 29th May ) Post Mortem… Five met at Cross Gates ( Paul, Brendan, Lucy, Anne and Richard ) and picked up myself and my guest Simon from Ayton, making a nice compact group of seven. As planned, we saddled up and headed for Brompton, taking the quiet lane onwards to Snainton, then left and shortly after making the turn to continue along the Marshes road to the junction with the Malton - Pickering road, a fairly strong head wind but nothing like the force 10 we had to contend with the previous Sunday when we were out around Whitby!

Brendan left us at this point as he had a lunch appointment in York ( doing 100 miles for the round trip ), so he went left and into the wind, while we took the easy option and coasted into Thornton-le-Dale with the wind behind us…Straight over the road and into our first incline of the trip, up towards Dalby. Swooped down towards the mountain bike community and we grabbed a hot drink at the cafe ( oddly, I refrained from the cakes and pies, very unusual for the Fat Kiwi !! ). Back on the bikes and along the forrest road, saw a couple of groups of fellow roadies about, one from Whitby heading opposite to us…

Anyway, just when you think it's gonna be an fairly uneventful Sunday ride, two of the crew had a very stylish crash at ( of all decents ) the bottom of Bickley Gate. Unluckily for Lucy, she hit a rough crappy patch at the bottom turn and airrated her shorts abit. Fortunately no serious damage inflicted. As for Paul, he managed to avoid putting a tyre imprint on the back of Lucy's shirt and narrowly avoided making love with the beckoning stinging nettles…A couple of minutes later, having dusted herself off, we straightened her brake hoods abit and off we rode…Out the other side, up the two short climbs and we're in Hackness. Here we said our good byes, made arrangements for next Sunday and  rode off to our respective homes. A really enjoyable Sunday jaunt, even considering the wee spill, about 40 miles approx. Next Sunday ( 5th June ) I think we're planning a Wolds circuit of around 50 - 60 miles if you're keen…

Must say I'm really enjoying the company of the club rides after spending the last 12 months training mostly solo, looking forward to plenty more miles with the club around this beautiful countryside of yours. Cheers, Kiwi Rob