Autumn Catchup
It's been quite a while since I last updated this site. We've had a good Autumn and start to Winter, losing very few weekends to the rubbish weather. A couple of things of note have happened: Mick has finally bought a road bike and Graham has been putting his feet up.
Mick's first ride out proper on his shiny new B'twin was on Sunday 16 Dec. (We'll ignore the time he went out in icy conditions & promptly fell off) I have a feeling that "Where's Mick?" is a phrase we won't be using in the future.
Whilst Mick's been shopping Graham has been getting his money's worth from the NHS. He's taken losing weight to extremes and has been shaving off bits of bone to shed a pound or two. Personally I would just eat a few less pies! Graham's recovering at the moment by spinning on his turbo trainer, anything to avoid those hills ;-)
The Photo above is of Malmesbury Abbey taken on one of the last rides before the op. It was a fantastic, but foggy morning.
Just to prove the weather wasn't all bad over the last few months the couple of photos shown below were taken whilst out and about on cold, clear Sunday mornings in the Devizes & Pewsey area.
Sun 1st July
Suncream & Suspenders
7 am Sunday morning, the forecast on xcweather showed fairly cool conditions but unbroken sunshine. So imagine the surprise when Graham turned up kitted out for a winter ride in a waterproof coat and leg warmers! In truth Graham hasn't taken off his leg warmers since he bought them. We haven't had the heart to tell him that you don't need a black lace suspender belt to hold them up, it would shatter his self esteem. Anyway back to Sunday, whilst Graham pumped up his tyres Tony, who had paid attention to the xcweather forecast liberally applied factor 15 suntan lotion to any exposed skin. We then met up with Nathan (Mick had eaten too much birthday cake the day before, and was feeling too sick to cycle), who was also dressed for summer conditions. We headed into the south-westerly eating up the miles to Farleigh Hungerford (Graham needed to beat Nathan's time up Farleigh Hill, but failed... again!). Then onto Norton St Philip, Kilmersdon and up the hill to Holcombe, before turning the corner and heading for home at Stoke St Michael. The weather hadn't been quite as predicted by xcweather. In fact it rained all the way back from Westbury to Seend. Annoyingly it turned out that Graham was right to wear his waterproof (but not the suspenders).
A 50 mile cycle up into the Somerset hills; it made a nice change and we'll probably do it again.
Nathan won't be on his bike for a while, his wife is due to calve very soon. Best of luck to both of them from the rest of The Club.
Route is here.
7 am Sunday morning, the forecast on xcweather showed fairly cool conditions but unbroken sunshine. So imagine the surprise when Graham turned up kitted out for a winter ride in a waterproof coat and leg warmers! In truth Graham hasn't taken off his leg warmers since he bought them. We haven't had the heart to tell him that you don't need a black lace suspender belt to hold them up, it would shatter his self esteem. Anyway back to Sunday, whilst Graham pumped up his tyres Tony, who had paid attention to the xcweather forecast liberally applied factor 15 suntan lotion to any exposed skin. We then met up with Nathan (Mick had eaten too much birthday cake the day before, and was feeling too sick to cycle), who was also dressed for summer conditions. We headed into the south-westerly eating up the miles to Farleigh Hungerford (Graham needed to beat Nathan's time up Farleigh Hill, but failed... again!). Then onto Norton St Philip, Kilmersdon and up the hill to Holcombe, before turning the corner and heading for home at Stoke St Michael. The weather hadn't been quite as predicted by xcweather. In fact it rained all the way back from Westbury to Seend. Annoyingly it turned out that Graham was right to wear his waterproof (but not the suspenders).
A 50 mile cycle up into the Somerset hills; it made a nice change and we'll probably do it again.
Nathan won't be on his bike for a while, his wife is due to calve very soon. Best of luck to both of them from the rest of The Club.
Route is here.
Sun 17th June
Mick decided that cooked breakfast in bed and a promise (it was Fathers' Day) was more important than cycling. Some people have got their priorities all mixed up ;-)
That left Nathan, Graham & Tony to head out towards Norton St Philip into a reasonable headwind, though thankfully nothing like the strength of the wind on the Saturday. The route took us via Southwick and Farleigh Hungerford. The hill past Farleigh Castle playing havoc with Nathan's cracked ribs on account of the heavy breathing required. Good job he was dosed up to the eyeballs on morphine & Farmer's Glory.
The route was made up on the hoof, but in the end turned out to be just perfect to get us to the pub at opening. (truth is we kept cycling until it was 11:00) We had covered approx. 50 miles, some of it at speed trying to get on the Strava leader board. Officially (according to the GPS) Nathan beat Graham up Farleigh Hill, but the reality is a bit different! Spout Lane will have to wait until another time, unfortunately the arch over the canal was a bridge too far.
Route is here
That left Nathan, Graham & Tony to head out towards Norton St Philip into a reasonable headwind, though thankfully nothing like the strength of the wind on the Saturday. The route took us via Southwick and Farleigh Hungerford. The hill past Farleigh Castle playing havoc with Nathan's cracked ribs on account of the heavy breathing required. Good job he was dosed up to the eyeballs on morphine & Farmer's Glory.
The route was made up on the hoof, but in the end turned out to be just perfect to get us to the pub at opening. (truth is we kept cycling until it was 11:00) We had covered approx. 50 miles, some of it at speed trying to get on the Strava leader board. Officially (according to the GPS) Nathan beat Graham up Farleigh Hill, but the reality is a bit different! Spout Lane will have to wait until another time, unfortunately the arch over the canal was a bridge too far.
Route is here
Sun 3rd June
Having recently moved house, Graham had made the school-boy error of mistaking cheap, (and abrasive) polyester, with the rather more forgiving woollen carpet. As a result the task of christening the dining room led to 2nd degree carpet burns (again!) and he had to cry off. That left Nathan, Mick & Tony to start off on a new route out to Marlborough. The first 25 miles was fairly easy pedalling, on mainly flat roads up, via Compton Bassett, to Broad Town. After a brief stop to take on fuel we started the main event, a dual climb first up to Broad Hinton then up Hackpen Hill. Hackpen Hill is quite steep and none of us had been up it before, but we all conquered it without needing to stop, push or mouth-to-mouth . Then it was all (ok almost all) downhill to Marlborough where Mick tucked into a well-earned piece of chocolate cake while we stopped for a few minutes to gird our loins for the journey home. We finished off with a couple of pints in the Barge, having ridden 54 miles and climbed over 2000ft. It was a great route that we'll definitely repeat.
Click here for the route
Click here for the route
Sun 27th May
It was a warm Summer's morning, perfect for a ride. Given the great weather we (Graham, Mick & Tony) decided to break the 40 mile barrier. With an easterly wind there was only one route to do..West Woods and Oare via Milk Hill. On the descent from Milk Hill Tony & Graham formed a very short chain gang and sped down to Clatford at 20mph. On the long climb up to Oare we passed West Woods. A few weeks earlier and we would have been treated to a display of bluebells (see photo). Sadly they had all gone. The ride down Oare Hill was great, but there were a couple of very dangerous potholes (Wilts County Highways take note). We finished off with a pint in the Barge having done 41 miles. Graham topped 50 miles by the time he got back home!
click here for the route.
click here for the route.
Sun 13th May
mmmm.... Bacon!
It was a great late Spring morning and the first chance to get out on our bikes for best part of a month. Rubbish weather and Beer Festivals had prevented us from taking exercise on a Sunday morning for too many weeks, so it was great to get back into the saddle. To enable Graham to come out to play we had to combine our ride with a trip to feed half a dozen Oxford Sandy and Blacks (pigs) because he was on feed duty. I bet the Bath Cycle Club don't stop en-route to feed half a dozen pigs; Townies!
Pigs happy, we set off under a blue sky into the Vale of Pewsey toward Alton Barnes. The roads were really quiet because we had set off early, just the occasional foreign cycle tourist to keep us company. We climbed Woodborough Hill for a change and set off straight back down then into Devizes via Monument Hill. Going through Devizes Mick had to take emergency action to avoid being swiped by a idiot in a car, who clearly had the spatial awareness of an amoeba. Our final stop was at the Spar shop so Mick could buy some bacon for his breakfast, something he won't need to do in a few months time!
It was a great late Spring morning and the first chance to get out on our bikes for best part of a month. Rubbish weather and Beer Festivals had prevented us from taking exercise on a Sunday morning for too many weeks, so it was great to get back into the saddle. To enable Graham to come out to play we had to combine our ride with a trip to feed half a dozen Oxford Sandy and Blacks (pigs) because he was on feed duty. I bet the Bath Cycle Club don't stop en-route to feed half a dozen pigs; Townies!
Pigs happy, we set off under a blue sky into the Vale of Pewsey toward Alton Barnes. The roads were really quiet because we had set off early, just the occasional foreign cycle tourist to keep us company. We climbed Woodborough Hill for a change and set off straight back down then into Devizes via Monument Hill. Going through Devizes Mick had to take emergency action to avoid being swiped by a idiot in a car, who clearly had the spatial awareness of an amoeba. Our final stop was at the Spar shop so Mick could buy some bacon for his breakfast, something he won't need to do in a few months time!
Sun 15th April
We were honoured to be cycling with velo royalty on Sunday. Simon, one of the founder members, who is now far too speedy was recovering from the mother of all hangovers so was sufficiently incapacitated to not realise he was only cycling at half his normal speed.
With a cold, north wind blowing we decided to head up towards Grittleton, by the M4 via Biddestone. We came back up Studley Hill, where Graham stopped off to show his dad his shiny new racing bike. His old chap exclaimed that the "saddle's like sitting on a razor blade!" and recalled the good old days "when bikes were bikes". After putting down his copy of Yellow Pages he recounted the tale of when he used to work at mill. He had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before he went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when he got home, his Dad and mother would kill him and dance about on his grave singing Hallelujah. Graham nodded as if to be interested, but had heard it all before. Anyway, the cycling (37 miles) was great and we had time for a swift couple of pints in the pub at the end, where we were joined by a couple of, shall we say, more agricultural cyclists:-)
click here for the route.
With a cold, north wind blowing we decided to head up towards Grittleton, by the M4 via Biddestone. We came back up Studley Hill, where Graham stopped off to show his dad his shiny new racing bike. His old chap exclaimed that the "saddle's like sitting on a razor blade!" and recalled the good old days "when bikes were bikes". After putting down his copy of Yellow Pages he recounted the tale of when he used to work at mill. He had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before he went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when he got home, his Dad and mother would kill him and dance about on his grave singing Hallelujah. Graham nodded as if to be interested, but had heard it all before. Anyway, the cycling (37 miles) was great and we had time for a swift couple of pints in the pub at the end, where we were joined by a couple of, shall we say, more agricultural cyclists:-)
click here for the route.
Previous rides
Sun 1st April
As you can see from the photo above, it was a fantastic spring morning. Graham's war wound was still giving him gip and Mick had succumbed to the evil of home-made cider. I thought I was going to be on "me Jack Jones", but was very pleased to see a new boy, Kevin waiting on the canal bridge. Unfortunately for Kevin he had ridden the day before, expecting a genteel Sunday morning. Still, no pain, no gain! We had a great ride out to Milk Hill, coming back along Consciences Lane to avoid the centre of Devizes.
Note to Wiltshire Council: The road to Alton Barnes is great, but suffers from the worst tarmac patching I've ever seen. It's actually dangerous because you have to move out into the middle of the road to avoid it. I hope you didn't pay your contractors for that rubbish.
Click to view map of route
Note to Wiltshire Council: The road to Alton Barnes is great, but suffers from the worst tarmac patching I've ever seen. It's actually dangerous because you have to move out into the middle of the road to avoid it. I hope you didn't pay your contractors for that rubbish.
Click to view map of route
Sun 18th March
Slightly depleted numbers today. Graham couldn't come out to play; gave some lame excuse (pun intended) about a judo injury aggravating an old war wound. The smart money was on 1st degree carpet burns.
It was a great day for a ride, Mick Nathan & Tony set out towards Heddington, past the budhist temple and onto the base of Blacklands Hill. The climb up Blacklands was taken in our stride with Mick not even getting down into bottom gear. We headed for home at Coate, then up some short climbs at Etchilhampton. 29 miles through some great Wiltshire countryside on a lovely spring morning, followed by a couple of pints. It doesn't get much better than that. Click to view map of route Sun 4th March
Let's just say It wasn't a typical Spring morning. We set off towards Rowde in the wind and rain, but our spirits were high. Mick, Graham and Tony had braved the weather for a 25 mile ride to Urchfont and Easterton. As we headed for home we turned into the wind with the rain getting heavier. By the end of the ride we were soaked though & freezing cold, but at least no-one can accuse us of being fair weather cyclists.
Click to view map of route Sun 19th FebNathan, Mick, Graham & Tony set off on a sunny & cold morning towards Broughton Gifford, stopping for a moment to admire Great Chalfield Manor. After a short bit of off-roading and a slight detour we went through Atworth, then into Lacock. Graham had brought some money especially to buy a cream soda at the Post Office, but was bitterly disappointed to find that they no longer stocked his favourite strengthener. After passing the fabulous Lacock Abbey we faced the big challenge of the day, Bowden Hill. This was the first time that Mick had attempted the climb but he laughed in the face of fear, tweaked the nose of terror and flew up (OK, it might have been more of a flap!) The effort was rewarded by the long downhill back to Seend.
Click to view Map of Route Sun 12 Feb
It was a cold, overcast Feb morning. The overnight temp was approx. -4deg C. The weather had whittled the team down to a solo rider, me! I decided to head off towards the Vale of Pewsey on my Ribble winter trainer, sticking to main roads to avoid any ice. The route took me up Caen Hill, through Devizes and out on the Horton road to Alton Barnes. Honeystreet was jolly cold, as was the free-wheel back down Caen Hil. The ride was 30.5 miles and it took me about an hour to thaw out. Well worth it though.
Click to view Map of Route Sun 22 Jan
_We set off at 8:30 with new boy Jerald in tow and were shortly
freewheeling down Bell Hill at 40mph. We turned into a strong headwind
towards Bulkington, which was against us all the way to Westbury. After
32 miles we finished in the Barge with a couple of pints of Swordfish -
perfect.
Click to view Map of Route Sun 8th Jan
It was our first bike ride for the New Year. In truth it was our first bike ride since the summer jaunts to the local pubs. Graham, Nathan, Mick & Tony set off on a perfect, windless, winter's morning towards Worton then on to Potterne and Urchfont. A few miles later we turned the corner at Erlestoke and headed back to Seend Cleeve, where we waited for the Barge to open. We had covered 24 miles. A great start to 2012.
Click to view Map of Route |