It would not be an exaggeration to say that June has been a great month weather-wise (reportedly the hottest on record) and thus cycling-wise. We have enjoyed some beautiful sunny days, some fine early morning starts and one of two rides where the wind was our friend the whole way round. And thus on dry grippy roads, we have been wending our way through the highways and byways of East, North and occasionally West Yorkshire reacquainting ourselves with familiar routes and discovering some that are new. And that is the beauty of a “longish” (by our standards) ride with a few of “the finest”, you get to see familiar roads in a new light and find new ones to delight over. To illustrate the point, two short sections of road spring to mind. The first is the short “cut-through”, from Bossall, just after the Church, to Buttercrambe. An easily overlooked route, a single track road, which we use to avoid the main Stanford Bridge to Buttercrambe road, not least because the road surface is appalling, but also because many car drivers who use it, think it an opportunity to break car related PB’s racing along at speeds mostly seen on the motorway! It is a real tranquil route, gently meandering for a few miles, with a gentle slope or two and in the summer a tree canopy that provides relief from the sun, but also shapes a kind of magical landscape, where you might easily be fooled into thinking contained some magical, mythical creatures. (Ok that might be pushing it a bit too far and getting a bit too poetical, but hopefully you get the point). It is virtually traffic free, and I think of the couple of times we have completed it, we did not encounter a single car. Definitely one to checkout. The second will be more familiar to many cyclists who ply their trade around these parts, and must be one of the great sections of road North East of York: Thixendale Wold, is not only great walking country, with fine views in all directions, but cycled from Leavening toward Thixendale itself, it must rank as one of the best sections of road cycling around these parts. It is quite literally a joy to ride, done with a big beaming smile of your face, at quite a lick, as it it mostly downhill, and generally traffic free with just the occasional car. It is a gentle descent, that is best done in your own bubble, one to be enjoyed for its own sake, with no chatting to mates, or photos to be taken; just a simple stay in the saddle, select your highest gear and pedal. So with July, August and September to come, before 18 of Yorkshire’s Finest head for mainline Spain for cycling joy and a few beers, we’ve still plenty more days in the saddle and if the bods at the Met office are to be believed, then more fine weather to come.