Six riders assembled for a flat(ish) ride out to Askham Richard. Tom only planned to join us for the first part of the ride as he had to get to Elland Road for 3pm for some inappropriate football chanting, a last minute equaliser and to set fire to a burger van to vent his frustration with the result on the way home.

The rest of us made rapid progress to the cafe all feeling that we were on a good day. My legs felt great, this cycling lark is easy, I thought to myself.

The cafe was as good value as ever and we sat out enjoying the mild weather.

It wasn’t until we headed back to Leeds that we realised that we had been enjoying a strong tailwind. This made for a much more challenging journey home (legs not so strong after all).

We paused on the way home to do the AOCC freewheel challenge. Steve managed to steal the crown from reigning champion Dan (the unnecessary bag of salt and vinegar McCoy’s crisps consumed at the cafe proving to be decisive).

Another great ride out, distance for me was 68 miles with 4000 feet of climbing, average speed was fast out and much slower back.

Cheers, Steve

P.s. After uploading my ride to Strava was pleased to see it was rated as a Massive Relative Effort (it certainly felt that way up Weardly Bank!)