Three riders were at Rawdon for a cold and overcast ride. Many members were saving themselves for tomorrow’s reliability ride.

One of the attractions of riding with Airedale is being one of the younger members so it was disappointing to be the oldest rider out on the ride (protected rider status anyone?). It is even more galling when you are 32 years older than the youngest rider.

Conversation flowed on the way out to the cafe, topics included home renovations, the state of the economy and Pokémon.

The cafe destination was a farm shop just outside Hampsthwaite and it was warm and the food was good so gets a thumbs up from me.

The ride back followed the Reliability Ride route in reverse and as I descended Norwood Edge I looked forward to wheezing back up it in less than 24 hours.

It was an enjoyable ride particularly as the weather was not as bad as had been forecast. The ride was 48 miles for me with 4600 feet of climbing; average speed was 13.5mph.

Cheers, Steve