Frozen Sunrise Ride

January 14th, 2012 Posted by markw

I was already up early this morning for my daily practice, so after that around 7am I looked out of the window to see what the weather was like. The clear skies, moonlight and frost made everything look blue. It looked cold. Normally I’d just dive back under the duvet and enjoy a warm mug of tea, but something posessed me to change into my cycling gear (my warmest tights, two thermal layers, thermal balaclava and warm gloves with merino undergloves) and go out for a bike ride.

I was worried it might be a bit wobbly, but actually the gritters have done their job and the roads were great – very little black ice. Coming out of the village the sun was starting to rise and there was a fine layer of mist rising off the fields like a cotton wool blanket. The sky was a light blue but you could see it was very clear today.

Turning left along the road towards Bishopthorpe, I tried to keep away from the edge of the road because of the camber, which when it’s icy has a tendency to drag your back wheel down and make you spill. I don’t fancy that. I also can’t use any cycle paths for fear of ice (I reckoned it was -2C – the computer says average was -2.4C with a maximum low of -5C) so I stuck to the main road in and over skeldergate bridge. At this point I followed the ring road for a short way and then turned left up Piccadilly. I rode up through the centre of town (I think I went the wrong way down a couple of one-way streets but the traffic wasn’t there so I wasn’t causing a problem!) and then down past the minster, where I stopped to take some photos and have a drink.

Following past the Minster and through the Bar at Monkgate, I turned left along Lord Mayors Walk, and then Left again along Gillygate.

Turning right at the lights and along Bootham the roads became quiet again, passing all the students going to Saturday morning school at St Peters. At Clifton Green, I took a left and went past the Youth Hostel, then crossing the River Ouse again over Clifton Bridge. Then the long slow climb up past the RSPCA. I was starting to get a bit cooler, so the climb was somewhat welcome as it meant I warmed up bit.

Then the only climb of the ride – Carr Lane. Well, it’s not a big climb – but it takes you up away from the river and into Acomb. Stopping to get some cash in the high street, I carried on through and past where we used to live in Foxwood, and then crossed over the ringroad and out towards Askham Richard.

The ducks didn’t seem too happy on Askham Richard pond as it’s started to freeze over!