I'd been looking forward to this ride for a long while. The Wold Top Sundown 60 sportive, a 60 mile bike ride through the Yorkshire Wolds, starting and finishing at the Wold Top brewery where a free pint and fish and chips awaited. When I lived in Scarborough I used to ride round by the brewery regularly, so it would be nice to reacquaint myself with the old roads. I'd booked camping as well, as I didn't fancy having to drive back home after a long and challenging ride. I'd not been camping in decades, so was kind of looking forward to the adventure. I set off early on the day and had a good journey across the Pennines to pick up the A64 for York, turning off to pick up the A166 through Gate Helmsley and Stamford Bridge. This was a very scenic drive, but gave some hints about the ups and downs that I'd face later on. At one point I spotted some Sportive HQ signs along the way, and knew that was the route I'd be following later. It didn't help when the road went uphill, that was a pleasure to be had later on! I eventually arrived at the brewery and followed the signs for the camping field. On getting out of the car I knew it would be fun putting the tent up as it was pretty windy, however I picked my spot and pitched the tent, secured the guy ropes and crossed my fingers. I went to sign on, got my token for the showers and got the bike ready.
The place was milling with all sorts of cyclists, several looking very professional with their expensive bikes, some looking normal and some looking quite portly. That's the beauty of cycling, literally anyone can do it, you don't need to be stick thin like the pros. Good job really. At a quarter to twelve we were briefed, warned about a couple of potential hazards on the route and then were set off in small groups. I hung around at the back, as I'm not a big fan of riding in groups, and was one of the last few to set off. The drive up to the brewery is quite steep, so when we went through the start gate we had an outstanding view of the Yorkshire Wolds stretching out for miles before us, and had a superb downhill descent to start us off. The first eleven miles were a nice gentle uphill, with the wind blowing from the right, and we were treated to gorgeous views of lush green fields either side, some with sheep and cattle grazing in the sun. I'd ridden this road before, until at West Lutton I found myself on new territory. The road continued to rise, and after Duggleby got steeper for a mile long climb. After this we had a terrific descent of a mile at up to 10%, which ended at a road junction where we turned right to North Grimston. The descending continued gently for another six miles and then climbed for two miles to give another very steep descent into Kirkham, which ended at another junction shortly after a sharp left hand bend. Fortunately we'd been warned about this and I braked in time to avoid potential disaster. Entering Kirkham I stopped to take a photo outside Kirkham Priory, which is an English Heritage property.
Remounting I crossed the beautiful stone bridge and the York - Scarborough railway line, passed Kirkham Abbey Signal Box and then the road reared up, in places 10%. It was only a short climb, at half a mile, but I passed a few cyclists who were going up on foot. I made it to the top, where we turned left and were treated to a welcome stretch of downhill before entering Riders Lane, which we'd also been warned about. I found this to be not a problem, typical of many farm roads I'd ridden on, with grass growing in the middle the main hazard. I knew we were going to be faced with a long climb before the lunch stop, and when we turned left out of Riders Lane it began - five miles to the top, from sea level to over 700 feet, with gradients of up to 12%. I managed to settle into a good rhythm for most of the climb, passing some cyclists, being passed by others and passing more walking cyclists. I passed one guy who was stopped at the side of the road, preparing to restart, and as I did I heard what sounded like an agonising cry. I slowed and asked if he was ok, he said yes, and we rode on together for a while. He was riding an e-bike, and we discussed their virtues as we went along. He was from Cleethorpes and told me his son was up ahead. The climbing continued but eventually I came to the top, and settled in for the downhill to the lunch stop at Thixendale Village Hall. It was a beautiful winding descent, the road was smooth and flowed really well, and was situated in the middle of two Wolds giving walls of green either side. At one point I passed a small herd of Highland Cows. After three miles of descent I came to the lunch stop, parked the bike and went to attack the food. I settled for a couple of Jaffa cakes, choc chip flapjack, a banana and an orange segment, refilled one of my water bottles and had a cup of coffee. One of the volunteers was asking me about my Wold Top cycling top, and as I was explaining that I used to live in Scarborough but now lived in Sandbach, another rider overheard and said he used to live in Alsager! After twenty minutes I remounted and set off again, the road continuing to descend into another farm road which had some rather nasty potholes in places, at times obscured by shadows from the trees, which made for some rather interesting bunny hopping at times. I'd taken my arm warmers off at the lunch stop, but of course the sun disappeared for a while and the wind made it rather chilly! At Fimber the road ended with a short sharp climb before I turned north east along the B1251 towards Sledmere. I'd driven this part of the course on the way in, so the climb after the next roundabout came as no surprise. The wind was now in my face, making it hard to push the pedals in places. I passed the lovely looking Sledmere House and then turned off in the village to continue heading north towards Helperthorpe, the road becoming a steady gentle descent to rejoin the road we'd ridden out on earlier. A couple of miles further on I turned right for a two mile long drag of a climb up to Eddsfield Airfield. With the wind in my face, there was nothing to do but slog it out, and try to quell the nagging voice that was telling me I was knackered! After the airfield I passed the East Riding Crematorium, the road descending again to head to Octon and then on to Thwing. At one point I fancied I could see the North Sea to my right. After Thwing the road began to drop sharply, but before it did I caught sight of the drive up the brewery far off to my right, and also, ahead of me, the road out of Wold Newton that I knew I would be taking. I'd ridden that when I lived in Scarborough and knew it was a monster of a climb. Before that though, I enjoyed the swift descent which was over all too soon, and at Wold Newton I crossed the main road and began the mile of climbing, with gradients up to 10%. I saw another cyclist in the distance and eventually caught and passed them (slowly!), exchanging our views of the headwind as we passed. At last I reached the top of the climb, and dropped into Fordon, turning right at the crossroads to head back towards the brewery, which I knew to be very close now. Finally I got to the brewery entrance, and started the final climb. The drive is just over half a mile, with stretches at 10 and even 20%, and it almost killed me. I was close to stepping off at one point, fatigue pushing some negative thoughts into my head, but I stubbornly kept turning the pedals and got over the worst of the climb, finally hauling myself up to and through the finishing line. I was very tired, but happy, and headed to the control to sign back in and receive my food and drink vouchers. I headed to the car, even happier to see the tent still up, put the bike in the back and went back for my fish and chips. I looked to find somewhere to sit and eat them, and asked another cyclist if the space on the bench next to him was free. He said yes, then said "Sandbach man?". It was the guy who used to live in Alsager again, and we had a good chat about things as we ate. After the food it was time for a drink, so I went into the bar and got a pint of Headland Red.
As I was sitting slaking my thirst, the guy with the e-bike sat down at the adjacent table with his son. It turns out his battery had run out just before the final climb of the brewery drive, so we had a good laugh about that. I had another beer, then got showered in a much more impressive shower block than I had been anticipating. Suitably clean and less smelly, I got one more beer at the bar and took two bottles back to the tent. At this point it was getting late, and the sun started setting. The views were just stunning, and I would have sat watching it for a long time but the biting wind made it bloody cold, so I contented myself with popping out a couple of times to get some photos. It was that cold that I dug out and put on my thermal base layer and socks for the next day's ride and sat and finished my beers. I then crawled into bed with my clothes still on, tired, a bit chilly, but contented. It had been a great day, with some fantastic scenery, and I'm looking forward to next year's event already.
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