Subject: Defining Yorkshire.

Yesterday the Yorkshire Dales was in all its majesty. The shots of the peloton descending amongst the dry stone walls, dipping and turning through the open moors which on some days are stark, somedays beautiful open stretches of countryside which typify Yorkshire. 
Yesterday it was the woman's World Championship Road Race and our girl, Lizzy Armitstead, born and raised in Otley a small market town about 10k from where I grew up in a village called Esholt, was one of the favourites to win.  Otley was one of the focal points in our cyclist experience. It was at the gateway to the Plain of York, and on through Ripon to the East Coast, and the holiday towns of Scarborough and Whitby. 
Gathering together with friends and club cyclists, at the cyclists cafe in Otley's  high street which cyclists from all over used for an early morning mug of tea with which to eat a sandwich.
Armitstead who has become the leading female road cyclist learnt her skills on these unforgiving up and down roads and much was made of the local enthusiasm as she raced through at the head of the field at the start of the race proper. They had started in Bradford and traced the route of many of my rides, out through part suburbia, up Hollingsworth Hill, down past Harry Ramsdens, the world famous fish and chip restaurant and on into Otley. 
Yesterday the weather was good and the helicopters were up in the air showing us aspects of the countryside we couldn't appreciate from the road. The undulating nature of the geography, the large houses set in gracious gardens  in which the occupants lived another life to us on our bikes. The River Wharfe and the wide bridge at Otley, the scene of pleasant boating weekends where you could hire a boat and row up and down the river.  Once whilst rowing on the river I came across a dead body which had been in the water for some time and was pretty gruesome as the police dragged him out of the water.

Today the bodies are on the bikes as the rain lashes down. The cyclists who are more used to riding in the sunshine on the continent, look particularly miserable but the crowds, impervious to the weather, cheered  and cheered as the riders pass showing that indomitable spirit which defines the people of Yorkshire.