14 July 2008

After the perfect weather of 2006 it was always going to be too much to hope that we could have two really good years on the trot. Oh yes - did it rain!!

On the Friday night, just hours before the start of the ride several parts of the route looked more like rivers than roads, and the area outside the Three Tuns pub at the 3rd drink stop was under a couple of feet of water. The phones were going constantly with the same question - Is the ride still on?

Saturday loomed dull damp and with a weather forecast from hell. This undoubtedly affected the number of participants on the day. In spite of upping the entry slightly, we were about 80 starters down on 2006 and we estimate that 1,494 hardy souls actually braved the start at Wetherby. Unbelievably, most riders then got from start to finish in fairly warm and dry conditions as a break in the weather held up until mid-afternoon when several heavy showers scattered riders at the finish to run for their transport or to see how many people you can get in the tea tent at once!

We were using our new route for 2007, with the first ten miles drastically changed for safety reasons to run up the A168. This was to avoid the crossings over the B1224 and A59 and a dangerous right turn off the B6265. The open aspect of the wider road allowed the faster riders to clear the bunch and congestion was definitely down as riders approached the new 1st drink stop at Great Ouseburn and then rejoined the old route at Aldwark.

We had revised the set up of the lunch stop to make more room for queuing and parking bikes and this all seemed to work very well.

Sponsor company, Premier Farnell provided a full programme of childrens' entertainment at the finish this year and the kids all enjoyed a go on the games, ball pool and bouncy castle as they waited for dad or mum to arrive at the finish.

Very few riders retired from the 2007 event, there were no reports of any serious injuries and everyone seemed to have enjoyed the challenge again this year.

All that is left to do is collect all the sponsor money in and see if we can beat the 2006 record total.

Many thanks to all our sponsor companies, volunteers, charity workers and, of course, the riders themselves for making the event another great success. I hope that we see many of you at the presentations on the 11th of November.

Follow the links below to see the 2007 photos and a selection of comments from the riders.