The annual AOCC Fish and Chip ride to Scarborough took place last Saturday. An epic 100 mile ride to the quintessential English seaside resort.

The big news at the start was Jimmy debuting a new bike. A confident move tackling a 100 mile ride, on a bike that had been collected from the bike shop only the day before.

The conditions were perfect as we set off from Leeds, the sun was shining, the clothing tight and we had a tailwind, result!

The positive start was marred slightly by an early puncture for Ryan, but a team pitstop got us back on the road in a few minutes.

The eight riders made good progress working as a group, rotating regularly, sharing the work on the front. We arrived at Cawood at around 10am and enjoyed a leisurely cafe stop.

Back on the road, we continued to work together and ticked off the miles, with the knowledge that the climb at Hanging Grimston was fast approaching.

As we hit the climb the group splintered as everyone tackled the climb at their own pace. Some generous gate holding was very welcome (thanks Jimmy and Dan).

Once the climb was behind us, we regrouped and sped on towards the second cafe stop at Sledmere.

We arrived at the cafe to be confronted by a feeble cake display and a limited range of drinks, initial impressions were not great. Disappointed we headed round the corner and into the farm shop. This was a treasure trove of pastries, cakes and other treats. Spirits lifted, we made our selections and sat outside in the sun to eat them.

My Wahoo was showing we had 29 miles left as we set off from Farm Shop. The tailwind really helped to reduce the effect of 74 miles in my legs.

Just over 8 hours after we left Rawdon we arrived in Scarborough and stopped for the obligatory photo by the litter bin (and the sea).

We headed to the pub and had a couple of beers in the sunshine before ordering fish and chips. Before we knew it, the taxis had arrived, we loaded up the bikes and made the journey back to Leeds.

It was a fantastic day out, perfect weather and great company. The ride was 103 miles for me, with 4000 feet of climbing my average speed was 16.5mph. If only every ride came with a tailwind….