Old Brods Cycling Club

There were a healthy number of Brods enrolled on the Halifax Imps memorial ride that started at the Piece Hall and ended at the Brods clubhouse for pie and peas. We had decided to meet at Hipperholme lights and ride down to Halifax but a call from Phil indicated that 2 gallons of Guinness consumed with CJ had caused numerous problems to his constitution and he was going to have to ride straight to the Piece Hall. Dave, Mark and myself rode in early morning sunshine and the Piece Hall looked a fine sight as Phil, Freddie, James and Dan joined us in Loafers for coffee. We signed on for the shorter ride which turned back at Broughton outside Skipton. At 9am a hundred riders set forth up Pellon Lane and made their way to Wainstalls via Mount Pellon.

As we made reasonable progress up a gradual climb it soon became apparent that we were entering low cloud and the temperature dropped, dampening mist soaked our Brods tops. James was already out of view as he was tacking the full ride to Airton. We dropped back down to Oxenhope and once again we were in sunshine, as we rode alongside Oakworth Station Dave’s heart missed a beat as a lady was seen on the platform, sadly it was a tramp gathering dock ends and not his sweetheart Jenny Agutter waiting for “father” to return from the war!

Once again we were in good warming conditions as Slippery Ford came and went, a coffee and cake stop at the White Swan at Carleton village was next on the agenda and we made a good descent to Elslack pausing for some time before a gap in the traffic allowed us to cross the busy A59. As we rode alongside the river Aire it has to be said that Phil’s rear wheel was rather noisy but the break at the pub would allow him to inspect the extent of any damage.

Ensconced in a comfortable room in the pub there were groups of cyclists enjoying home made cake and fine coffee. We discussed the return route out of Keighley and it has to be said there was limited enthusiasm for the proposed,torturous climb up Hainworth Lane on cobbles, the flatter main road was seeming to be a better option. As we sat astride our bikes outside the pub Phil did a rear wheel inspection and started a procedure that was later compared to a game of Kerplunk, he extracted spoke after spoke whist trying to retain some degree of strength in his wheel, Dan offered up a spoke tensioner and a passing lady said she could get her tools from the shed but no, Phil just kept on extracting more spokes. He indicated he was ready to ride on and when Dave indicated there were other loose spokes Phil’s voice went soprano as he refused to test any others.

We rode along a good quiet road to Connonley even the sharp climb to Cross Hills failed to test us unduly, in Cross Hills we started to realise that Phil’s unstable rear wheel could not bounce its way up the Hainworth Lane cobbles, so us being proper mates would have to stay with him on the main road. The weather stayed generally fine and as we rode into the Brods car park Clive and Amanda were there to greet us.

We sat in the clubhouse and drank White Witch which washed the pie and peas down, Sue offered Phil the large chunk of remaining pie which was placed in Julie’s boot to be consumed later. We had a great day out with pie, cake and beer, the cyclists were very impressed with the clubhouse and money was raised for the dependents of Daz a 3RT cycling club member who sadly died recently in an accident on the road.

Andrew Shippin