or a bridge too far?

A good number of riders gathered at Hirsty Towers at 8 yesterday for the ride to the Humber bridge,   and back

Lewis was team leader and faithful domestiques were El Pres, Mick the ref, Les, Craig J, Martin, John Parkinson and Louise( one of Dave’s colleagues who has only ever ridden to the windmills) I tagged along for good measure.

 We’d drafted a few different routes and garmins tweeted merrily in the morning air as we rolled out through Thornhill, Horbury and Netherton to Calder Grove

 Les helped with local knowledge to find a new route into Askern, to a refurbished lakeside cafe where after FEBs etc  Phil, Les and Mick left us, but we’d had  a fun ride at a steady pace with a few short stops for everyone to catch up.

 The showers passed before we rode again and we set off for the south side of the bridge via Thorne, Gunness and  South Ferriby.

 I’d like to say we had a great ride through quiet roads in new countryside but as often for Thorpers these days i can’t.

 Just outside Thorne, after a slight shower as we approached a level crossing, I shouted a warning to the group to be careful as the lines would be dangerous.  The crossing was also at an angle to the road and marked by a sign saying “Skewed crossing”

As we started on the crossing i thought the surface was a bit hard, and in order to protect everyone i’d better lie down and cushion their fall.  Like a scene from the first week of the Tour bodies flew all over.  John P managed to bunny hop ( ride) over me, Lewis bounced down the road and Craig decided to bend my chainring with his thigh and put a series of bloody Shimano sized holes in his legs.

 Thankfully and remarkably there was no serious damage to the riders, a few cuts , plenty of bruises and aching limbs but nothing too serious.

Bikes-were a bit bent, and my pannier rack had taken the brunt of Craigs weight, handlebars faced one way whilst gear levers, saddle etc the other but we soon straightened them out.

 As we rode off I found that thanks to Craig’s thigh I could only use my granny ring and had visions of spending the rest of the ride spinning at high revs .  As we drifted into Thorne and wondered what to do an innocent resident put some litter in his bin in fine slippers and dressing gown so i swooped on him and asked if he had a pair of pliers.  He looked aghast and came out with an adjustable spanner so we teased the bent bit straight tested, adjusted and off we went.

Lewis especially displaying great character riding on with blood running from his injured leg, putting some good sprints in for town signs on the way home

 Fantastic countryside, a hold up while a barge left the humber for a grotty canal and we rolled across the Humber Bridge, which was awash with ghouls and ghosts with fake blood ( wimps) at about 1 30 to lunch at the visitor centre, good value and fairly quick service.

The route back was towards South cave via back roads bridges etc and then we hit the Gilberdyke road ( or whatever the testers call it), for a known route back via Boothferry, Snaith, Womersley and Ponte

A visit by the puncture fairy, which shredded a tyre and needed use of packing to ride home slowed things, and coffee in McD’s at Airmyn broke the journey

About 12 hours total time and we were back at Hirsties , for some welcome refreshments and thoughts that all rides should end with curry, ice cream and Guinness.

stats from home 219.83 kms, avg speed 23.4 kph,  total time 12hrs 44, riding time  9hrs24

route info, [1] http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111949233