Eight riders met up this week for a ride out to Ian’s favourite cafe, Paceline Cycles in Crosshills.

Things started well, the weather was cold but spirits were high as we made our way out towards East Morton. Then disaster struck, Ryan suffered a major mechanical, damaging his derailleur hanger, causing his bike to be unrideable.

We did the only responsible thing in the situation – get Ian to zip tie the bike back together and direct Ryan to the nearest train station, which luckily was downhill and not too far away.

Shortly after, Jonathan dropped his chain, which caused a temporary increase in his heart rate, but luckily didn’t result in an injury.

We continued until Silsden where we said farewell to Jonathan, who turned back due to Leeds United’s promotion push and Sky’s insistence on moving the kick off time of all Leeds’ matches.

The remaining six riders arrived at the cafe and watched Ian run off to gaze longingly at some expensive carbon (but not before confiscating his credit cards).

The ride back was thankfully uneventful and we made it to Rawdon without any more incidents. The ride was 48 miles for me with 4000 feet of climbing, average speed 13.5mph.

Cheers, Steve