Otley Cycle Races

Well I had a great end to a rubbish day today.  At school the kids were irritable due to the oppressive heat and long hours of fasting, and my patience was sorely tested.  Then riding home some jerk of a blue van man tried his best to take me out in the village.  I was passing a parked car and a car was coming in the opposite direction on a bend and the van man decided to go through the gap, why?!  Luckily my cyclist intuition warned me that he might do something stupid so I was ready and able to take evasive action.  

Arriving home totally cheesed off Tony said he was going to the orienteering via Otley and the annual cycle races were on so I hitched a lift with him and spent a couple of very enjoyable hours sitting on a kerb on a corner blipping the juniors and the women and then finally the elite riders - great fun - and the local folks and cyclists were out in force around the circular route.  It was very different to sitting for hours waiting for Le Tour to whip through in 30 seconds as the cyclists did lots of laps with just minutes in between, exciting stuff!  Tony arrived and we decided to have fish and chips and a cuppa before heading home.  Walking back to the car we came across several orienteering pals also out enjoying the spectacle.