First post in Belgian

For my first post I thought I'd write about something I did for the first time yesterday, but a little background information to start.
I live in York and as Duncan said work as a mechanic in my LBS, it is my first season road racing but have been riding road bikes for a few years after starting on a BMX as a kid and moving on to fixed gear too. I was born and bred in Bradford, where my parents still live, in a small village called Tong (famous for it's garden centre and not much else).
So, yesterday I found myself with a few days off work and growing tired of the same old training routes I decided to ride back to my parents for the weekend. Setting off in the afternoon I went through Tadcaster and on to Boston Spa before making my way in the little lanes to Otley. All familiar roads to drive on but I'd never ridden them before. The big challenge was always going to be climbing out past the Chevin, a thought that had been with me since York. I chose the old chevin road, what a climb! It was 39x26 all the way, seated and just tapping it out. I made it up with legs burning and sweat pouring. From there on home there wasn't one bit of flat road, I almost got to thinking how riding in flat York had made me soft before I realsied I was a short downhill stretch from home.
While I'm back there'll hopefully be time to go see the Yorkshire Summer CX event at Temple Newsam on Sunday. Might have been riding it myself but my cyclocross bike hasn't turned up yet, but I will be ready for the Autumn and my first off road races. I'll be trying to do as many of the Yorkshire events as work allows and maybe the odd journey across the Pennines if the mud looks too good to resist.