A Slice of Freewheeling Fun
The Yorkshire Post Magazine, March 25, 2013
Next year, the Tour de France will bring the sport’s elite athletes to Yorkshire, but as she hits the road with the Cappuccino Cycling Club Nicky Solloway finds there’s a much more civilised way to bike. One which comes with added cake.
Halfway
through a Saturday bike ride with the Cappuccino Cycling Club, we’re comfortably seated in a courtyard cafe in the market town of Boroughbridge, cradling cups of steaming hot coffee.
Our route around Ripon has taken us on a brisk ride through sunny country lanes, crocus-filled villages and up a few town streets, before stopping off at the Old
Foundry Kitchen. Then the plates of cake arrive, but not just any old cake. They’re huge slices of coffee sponge sandwiched together with a thick layer of buttercream and topped with a generous coating of glacé icing.
My new mental calorie counter estimates each slice is probably around 400 calories. I hesitate for a moment. Have we used up enough kilojoules pedalling up that steep lane outside Ripon to justify such an indulgence?
Mixing a tough 35 to 40 mile bike ride with a coffee stop and cake is proving a winning formula for the Harrogate club. The emphasis is on enjoying yourself while getting fit, and cake is very much part of the equation. We all tuck in energetically.
Started a year and a half ago, the women’s section of the club goes out every Saturday throughout the year and is one of a growing number of female cycling clubs across the country.
According to Sport England, nearly two million people now cycle at least once a week and it’s on the rise.
The golden summer of sport last year which celebrated Britain’s first Tourde France winner as well as cycling successes at London 2012, has inspired the nation to dust off their saddles and dash out for the latest Lycra tights and Gore-Tex overshoes.
