Payback time, last months stunning weather was eclipsed by the coldest, wettest April since the last Ice Age or whenever. Undaunted we somehow dodged the majority of the bad weather to get ourselves out and about with a minimum of soakings, even managing to ride our own particular Coast To Coast route, a variation on the Way Of The Roses, taking us from Morecambe to Whitby over three days.

2^nd. 38.5 miles. A Way Of The Roses preliminary, with seven out of eight coast to coast contenders present for a practice run - the exception being the virtually untrained Captain (who eventually saw sense and withdrew himself). We did a 40 mile circular route from Sheepwash near Osmotherley, via White Horse Bank, rated 7 out of 10 in The 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, the majority of us managed the bank without recourse to pedestrianism, although a breather at the half-way car park was taken by most. Once recovered we rode from the gliding club at the top, to Hawnby and lunch at the ever reliable café. The road back to Osmotherley via Snilesworth proved a less than popular route back to the cars, the three hills requiring more than a little sweary power to aid their ascent.

5^th. 12.5 miles. Three days from the last ride and we suddenly found ourselves plunged back into winter, a foot of snow at Gribdale and more higher up. Carrying bikes, we ploughed through thigh deep drifts across Codhill Heights - bizarrely in blazing sunshine. Even more bizarrely, the Guisborough side of the moors was bereft of snow which allowed for some modification of the planned route. Eventually we were feeding our faces sat outside Number 5 Coffee House in the sunshine, drawing bemused glances from the other patrons as we dripped on the floor and complained about our cold, wet toes.

10^th. 18.5 miles. A chance for Jordan to try something completely different and try some of Hamsterley’s manmade trails. We did most of them, avoiding the obviously muddy tracks. Unusually we had no injuries or accidents, even The Pensioner managed to keep things shiny side up - mainly by avoiding anything wooden. The new section which follows Transmission and Accelerator - Nitrous is now open, a worthwhile extension to the previous two sections. Managed to cram in eighteen and a half miles of ups and down before we retired to the A68 café for dinner.

13^th. 14.5 miles. Another before nights quicky and a surprisingly high turn out for a wet Friday, half a dozen of us. We made our way from Gribdale over Codhill Heights - thankfully without the thigh deep snow and into Guisborough Woods. The trails are beginning to suffer from the daily deluges, becoming increasingly muddy. The descent of the trail known as Handrail claimed many casualties, only my superior skill and expertise prevented me from joining the others floundering about in the mud. Superior skill and expertise at picking tyres that is, the trusty Bontrager Mud X’s showing their worth on the slippy trails. Climbing back up to Highcliffe, we took in a few more of Guisborough Woods’ trails before slithering up Roseberry Common and down again to Great Ayton for coffee and cake.

20^th. 36 miles. Way Of The Roses. Morecambe to Settle.

21^st. 76 miles. Way Of The Roses. Settle to York.

22^nd. 54.5 miles. Way Of The Roses. York to Whitby.

24^th. 18.5 miles. First mountain bike ride for eleven days, although we did manage to squeeze in 166.5 miles Coast to Coast during those eleven days. (See separate report). Some easy spinning was required to help our legs recover from the weekend’s mileage. We just rode what is becoming a regular route, from Scaling Dam to Lealholm, then up by Danby Castle to Crossley Side, followed by the big push onto Ainthorpe Rigg. From there, nice descending delivered us to the door of The Stonehouse Bakery and the tempting array of comestibles. The ascent of Danby Beacon afterwards didn’t quite fit in with the easy spinning theme for the day but it succumbed to gritted teeth and sweary power. All that was left was the somewhat damp ride across the moor back to Scaling Dam, it looks as though I may relent and refit the rear mud guard, driving home with a wet chamois pad is no fun.

27^th. 12 miles. Back to the before nights quickies and there is so much water about any crashes will require the RNLI not mountain rescue. A quick ride over Codhill Heights to Guisborough Woods, passing a small waterfall on the Sleddale Road and numerous new watercourses in the woods. We rode a few old favourite tracks in Guisorough Woods and introduced The Pensioner to some of his favourite type of food - the free sort, in the form of wild garlic, which he’s somehow managed to miss for the past sixty-odd years. Making our way to Captain Cooks Monument, smelling like we’d won first place in a garlic eating contest, we all failed (as usual) to ride the steps all the way up, stalling at the memorial stone. One day. Pipeline seems to have another crop of fallen trees blocking the route - odd the way they appear to fall directly on the track. Soon it was all behind us and we were merrily munching away in Glebe Cottage.

30^th. 21 miles. Last ride of the month and it had to be over twenty miles to bring this month’s mileage total over the three hundred mark. Some unaccustomed sunshine accompanied us up The Mad Mile from Square Corner and along the Drove Road to Sneck Yate. The ever popular escarpment to Sutton Bank was ridden with enthusiasm, savouring the stunning views across the Cleveland Plain. After lunch, sat outside at the Sutton Bank visitor centre café, we made our way back to Boltby Forest, then Andy’s long awaited descent of Atley Bank, down to Kepwick; the gullies were damp and rocky but the flat section in the middle was like riding through an Everglades swamp, a few alligators wouldn’t have looked out of place. From Kepwick we picked up NCN Route 65 which, rather cruelly, uses the steep fire road up through Silton Woods to regain the road at Square Corner, just what you don’t need when there’s already twenty miles under your pedals.