Autumn Time Trial

There appeared to be a few things against tonight’s gathering, mainly it being properly Autumn and being wet and dark. Thankfully, Shane Townsend came up with a brilliant idea that got round both of these issues. Shane runs the bike shop at Hassop Station and suggested to his boss Duncan that we could have a ride on the hire bikes up and down the Monsal Trail. What a brilliant idea! All the bikes are the same so there is no advantage to having a better bike, they all have dynamos and lights so night riding is no issue and they had enough for all of us. Perfect.

We ran it as a time trial with 30 seconds gaps. Shane rode off up the trail on an electric bike to the end of the first tunnel and stamped everyones arms as they went past. It was about a 4 mile loop with a slightly rolling course and a fast turnaround at the far end. Duncan and Rob were kind enough to take care of timing, counting everyone off at the start and timing their sweaty broken bodies over the line at the end. For a flat and short course, everyone was completely broken. Balls out for quarter of an hour tends to have that effect.

With a pint at the end to quench our thirsts while we gave out prizes it really was a near perfect night. Sun and warmth were the only things missing.

So many thanks again to Hassop Station; Duncan, Rod and especially Shane. We’ll be back to food at the amazing Cafe too!

Great photos all courtesy of Dom Worrall, great work again lad, cheers!