First Ride Out Of The Year

So I got up this morning all giddy knowing it was the day of the ride.

I know it wasn’t a big ride out for me but it’s the first organised ride we have done in 2010 and the first time I have had my bike out properly in months.

I looked out the window just praying that we hadn’t had snow overnight and I was extremely pleased to see that we just had a bit of frost on the cars, on the street and a couple of small patches on the ground in the shadows.

So I got myself geared up and ready to roll. Rode in to Leeds to meet at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and set off early thinking I would get a coffee in the cafe that someone said would be open.

Got to the Playhouse and struggled to find the entrance to the car park to start with, but got in eventually.

Its’ just a bit of a maze of roads outside it and it isn’t signposted well for the entrance.

So I gets in to the car park and pulled up bang in front of the entrance so that everyone coming would see where I was.

Walked over to the Playhouse then to try get a coffee only to find out that it was closed.

No cafe open = no coffee = me wishing I hadn’t decided to get there early.

Shortly after the rest arrived, we all said our hellos and then set off to Knaresborough.

It was a steady ride out to following the A61 most of the way.

Only took about 35-40 minutes to get from Leeds to Knaresborough but  my hands were bloody cold.

Got the bikes parked up and no sooner had we taken our helmets and gloves off and a guy all the way from Scotland turned up!

We stood about and gassed for a couple of minutes about the bikes, with one guy giving me a lecture about using my bike on the salted roads and that all my nuts and bolts will start rusting!

A few comments that I seem to spend too long cleaning my bike as it was pretty clean were made then we wondered over the road to the pub to get a brew and a bite to eat.

We had a couple of coffees and a good nag then meandered down to the river to get some snaps and have a nosey.

The guy from Scotland went off on his own heading North and the rest of us then all rode back to Leeds with people filtering off their own ways.

All in all it was a great day and ride out. It was cold, probably about 1 or 2 degrees celcius I would guess, but the skies stayed clear all day, the sun was shining down, there was a good bunch of people out and the roads were pleasant.

What more could you possibly want for a January rideout?!

Write up by Jon. Video by Ryan.