Good Friday off-road club run

mwyer

I'm intending to do an off-road ride on Good Friday. If anyone else is interested then I'll start from the Tuns at 9am. We can repeat the route from last year's Good Friday that went down so well.

Mark.

dhadsley

Count me in. I was just thinking of posting something myself.

wilburtrump

Will I get round this on a CX bike? I’m pretty rubbish at staying upright but don’t particularly mind lying down in muddy puddles.

mwyer

Most people would get round on a CX bike. I'm not sure about you though Will! Come and have a go, what's the worst that can happen!

Seriously though, there's nothing that will frighten a CX bike.

Senecio [Daniel D]

Count me in!

Steve J

Hi Mark,

How many miles are you planning this ride to be. Just bought a mountain bike so keen to be shown the local trails.

Steve

Dan Hall

Hi Mark, I’m also interested but short on time. Any idea when we would be back in Ashwell?

mwyer

The route is about 40 - 43 miles.

I guess we will take somewhere between 3.5 - 4 hours riding time plus 30 minutes cafe stop at Ardeley or Hare Street. Ardeley might be a good place to turn back from.

I'll try and post the route up tomorrow.

Mark.

Dan Hall

Thanks Mark. Count me in.

mwyer

Sorry I've come down with a cold and might not make it tomorrow.

Anyone going got a Garmin? I can email you the route. Exactly the same as last years with a couple of tweaks for improvement.

It's exactly 40 miles.
Coffee stop options at Ardeley or Hare Street. Only have coffee and cake at Hare Street or you will be there for hours.

Mark.

mwyer

Route description is:

Ashwell Street up towards Arbury banks out onto Bygrave Road
At Bygrave turn left on no through road, under A505 and out towards Wallington.
Turn right back towards Royston, cross over Buntingford Road and drop down by A505. Take track left parallel to A505 and up towards Clothall. Cross over road and take long track to Luffenhall (Epson descent).
At Luffenhall descend Frog Alley, turn right then over B road and up the hill towards Ardeley. Take track straight ahead at top off hill and turn left towards Ardeley.

Option Cafe stop at Ardeley and point for some to turn back.

Otherwise bypass Ardeley on Tranche de Ardeley and head towards Moor Green. cross over at Moor Green and down to old roman Road to Cherry Green.
At Cherry Green turn left to take path down to Aspenden.
Straight up to Buntingford, right and left to Owls Lane. Drop down to Hare Street.

Cafe stop at Hare Street but only coffee and cake otherwise you will be there hours. Can be turning or pick up point.

Turn left on B road back towards Buntingford and right on track to Wyddial. Left towards Wyddial and then track down to A10 at Chipping.
Straight over on track back towards Mill End/Green End. Before Sandon take track on right (G-Ride track) and then left towards Therfield.
At Therfield descend to MacDonalds RAB on A505. Straight over to the Stret and turn left back to Ashwell.

Peter D

Hopefully Sam and I will be there tomorrow (in a change of plan). I have a Garmin if you'd like to email me the route Mark.

Dan Hall

Hi Pete. I’ve emailed the route to your work address. I’ll upload as well but my Garmin is ancient. Expect a few wrong turns if I’m the only one with the route.

rayers

Thanks for organising this Mark. Thomas had a great time.

wilburtrump

Sorry I didn’t make it today, last night ended up being a lot later (nothing to do with booze!) than I thought.

Senecio [Daniel D]

9 out today, Mark W, Dan H, Dave H, Richard L, Peter D, Sam D, Harley P, Thomas R and myself. Sorry t miss you Will. We gathered at the 3 Tuns and had a chat with the roadies; a good sized group for the smooth stuff. We set off south and discovered a clay field just south of the A505 which has remarkable adhesion properties! Anyway after cleaning our bikes twice we managed to shake off the mud on the next road section. A bridlepath gave rise to faster off road action before a bit more road and a substantial ‘puddle’. This was so good we got the teenagers to ride through it again so Dan could get a photo. (Should have bought spare socks!) Tea/coffee/food at Ardley End where we met up with a sizeable group from Bedford. We elected to take a more direct route back and encountered a raging ford on the road to Luffenhall; Thomas showed us how to ride through that one!

What a great way to spend Good Friday with like minded people working together on a great bicycle ride; very proud to be wearing the CCA jersey. Thanks to Mark for the excellent route and Dave for his route home.

Dan Hall

I have some great photos but still struggle how to post on the forum. Check out the CCA twitter account or the FB youth section. to see the puddle