Re:
August Bank Holiday usually means a bit of a run out for me. I was going to use the Concept 90, but my dearest wife has just painted the walls through the hall to the front door, which meant me wheeling the 90 through the house and past said walls... I DO NOT want to think what would have happened had a pedal given the walls the merest kiss, so it was No.1 Rourkie once again.
I left home at 7.30am as the weather for to day was once again forecast to be hot and dry and from the number of combines, grass cutters and hay turners in evidence locally it seems the farmers agree.
Out of Weston via the back lanes and across the levels to Sandford, left there to Churchill and across the A38, another mile and a bit to the bottom of Burrington Combe. I really wanted to get up Burrington before the sun got any proper heat going.
Bottom of the Combe.
I am not a fast climber, I am too tall and too old and too late to this road riding game, so 20 minutes later, this is the view towards Bristol.
The downhill just round that corner is a blast, and takes you down to the centre of Blagdon. Right onto the A368 and off we go, anticlockwise around Chew Valley lake, stopping at a picnic area to have a pee and top up the bottles.... not with pee, I'm not Bear Grylls.
From Chew I worked my way over to Winford, braved it out with an arrogant toss in one of those massive camper van / houses on wheel... I won. :mrgreen: Out of Winford over the A38 (again) and down a little cycle lane towards Long Ashton and the delightful Belmont Hill.... which is not in the least bit delightful at all. Up Belmont I could feel it was warming up, fortunately there are lots of overhanging trees, so I was glistening rather than melting. Once up Belmont it was a cut across country down the delightful Horse Race Lane in Failand, where the value of property is such that if I sold my large five bedroom bungalow I could just about afford a shed. I said good morning to two slightly unfit ladies riding two huge and very fit looking horses, all four looked at me with utter distain. :mrgreen:
At this point my 20 gears were temporarily reduced to a mere 10 as the front mech cable slipped. Not a problem I just peddled like a maniac and freewheeled down to Portbury village where I whipped out me tool (OOOHHH :shock: ) and tightened the cable clamp back up.... bl**dy sh*t roads around here.
At Portbury, there is a very useful foot / cycle bridge over the M5, which is just a short ride from Portishead.
I took the cycle way into Portishead, rather than follow the hordes of non sweaty / fragrant smelling Castelli clad cycists towards the Gordano valley (which I doubt they were heading for, more likely the local Costa). Portishead was absolutely bonkers, I must have missed the announcement about the bloke giving away £50 notes that all the drivers clearly knew about. I was only there because I was heading for the coast road.. why I was heading up a flipping great hill when there is a perfectly good, dead flat, well surfaced road all the way down the valley which I will eventually join just outside Clevedon is beyond me, I think the heat must have got to my head, either that or I was being influenced by the rather tasty chocolate Cliffe Bar caffeine jel I had not long consumed, either way, it was the coast road I headed for, and this was my reward.
Portbury docks is a major offload port for cars and vans made in Japan, and these monsters never fail to impress.
From the coast road to Clevedon, then via Kingston Seymour to Yatton and a sneaky cut through on the Strawberry Line with many calls from me of ON YOUR RIGHT and so to the A370, back to Weston, down the back roads where I lost and recovered the contents of my tool roll (bl**dy roads) and up the hill to home.
Turns out it was 99.8km, but I was too tired and hot to be bothered with another 200m. 1150m of climbing and 22kph ave, not speedy but steady progress.
Oh, the bar roll made by my son (Mack Workshop), has jels, munchy bars, the camera, a puncture kit, a spare CO2 capsule and my magic cramp 'cure' in it and is still mostly empty. Saves having all that cra...erm, stuff in my jersey pockets.
August Bank Holiday usually means a bit of a run out for me. I was going to use the Concept 90, but my dearest wife has just painted the walls through the hall to the front door, which meant me wheeling the 90 through the house and past said walls... I DO NOT want to think what would have happened had a pedal given the walls the merest kiss, so it was No.1 Rourkie once again.
I left home at 7.30am as the weather for to day was once again forecast to be hot and dry and from the number of combines, grass cutters and hay turners in evidence locally it seems the farmers agree.
Out of Weston via the back lanes and across the levels to Sandford, left there to Churchill and across the A38, another mile and a bit to the bottom of Burrington Combe. I really wanted to get up Burrington before the sun got any proper heat going.
Bottom of the Combe.
I am not a fast climber, I am too tall and too old and too late to this road riding game, so 20 minutes later, this is the view towards Bristol.
The downhill just round that corner is a blast, and takes you down to the centre of Blagdon. Right onto the A368 and off we go, anticlockwise around Chew Valley lake, stopping at a picnic area to have a pee and top up the bottles.... not with pee, I'm not Bear Grylls.
From Chew I worked my way over to Winford, braved it out with an arrogant toss in one of those massive camper van / houses on wheel... I won. :mrgreen: Out of Winford over the A38 (again) and down a little cycle lane towards Long Ashton and the delightful Belmont Hill.... which is not in the least bit delightful at all. Up Belmont I could feel it was warming up, fortunately there are lots of overhanging trees, so I was glistening rather than melting. Once up Belmont it was a cut across country down the delightful Horse Race Lane in Failand, where the value of property is such that if I sold my large five bedroom bungalow I could just about afford a shed. I said good morning to two slightly unfit ladies riding two huge and very fit looking horses, all four looked at me with utter distain. :mrgreen:
At this point my 20 gears were temporarily reduced to a mere 10 as the front mech cable slipped. Not a problem I just peddled like a maniac and freewheeled down to Portbury village where I whipped out me tool (OOOHHH :shock: ) and tightened the cable clamp back up.... bl**dy sh*t roads around here.
At Portbury, there is a very useful foot / cycle bridge over the M5, which is just a short ride from Portishead.
I took the cycle way into Portishead, rather than follow the hordes of non sweaty / fragrant smelling Castelli clad cycists towards the Gordano valley (which I doubt they were heading for, more likely the local Costa). Portishead was absolutely bonkers, I must have missed the announcement about the bloke giving away £50 notes that all the drivers clearly knew about. I was only there because I was heading for the coast road.. why I was heading up a flipping great hill when there is a perfectly good, dead flat, well surfaced road all the way down the valley which I will eventually join just outside Clevedon is beyond me, I think the heat must have got to my head, either that or I was being influenced by the rather tasty chocolate Cliffe Bar caffeine jel I had not long consumed, either way, it was the coast road I headed for, and this was my reward.
Portbury docks is a major offload port for cars and vans made in Japan, and these monsters never fail to impress.
From the coast road to Clevedon, then via Kingston Seymour to Yatton and a sneaky cut through on the Strawberry Line with many calls from me of ON YOUR RIGHT and so to the A370, back to Weston, down the back roads where I lost and recovered the contents of my tool roll (bl**dy roads) and up the hill to home.
Turns out it was 99.8km, but I was too tired and hot to be bothered with another 200m. 1150m of climbing and 22kph ave, not speedy but steady progress.
Oh, the bar roll made by my son (Mack Workshop), has jels, munchy bars, the camera, a puncture kit, a spare CO2 capsule and my magic cramp 'cure' in it and is still mostly empty. Saves having all that cra...erm, stuff in my jersey pockets.
